Palak Paneer is one of the most popular dish from North India. It is made with Spinach and Cottage Cheese, cooked with ginger, garlic, onions and aromatic spices. This is a simplified one-pot version of the authentic palak paneer, made in Instant Pot, which takes just 20 minutes to prepare. This is a nutritious Vegetarian, Gluten-free and Low Carb dish.
Instant Pot Palak Paneer is made with Spinach and Indian Cottage Cheese. There is another popular North Indian dish, Mustard Greens Saag, which is very similar, however it is made with both Mustard Greens and Spinach. If you want to make this dish Vegan, check out the Palak Tofu recipe. And if you like to include Chicken in place of Paneer, check out my popular Chicken Saag.
Don’t forget to check out my post on 23 Best Instant Pot Indian Recipes.
How to make Palak Paneer in Instant Pot?
This is an easy to make dish, you don’t need too many ingredients. The basic – onion, tomato, ginger, garlic and some spices. And off course spinach and paneer. I used a whole box of baby spinach from Costco.
1 – Start the instant pot and saute the ginger, garlic and onions in some oil, along with aromatic cumin seeds. Then add tomatoes and spices. I chopped the onions and tomatoes. However you could cut them into large pieces as we are going to blend them later.
2- Then add in the spinach and pressure cook for just 2 minutes. I prefer to release pressure after 5 minutes of the cooking being done. This helps to retain the beautiful color of the spinach.
3 – I use an immersion blender to blend the ingredients. You can leave it coarse or blend smooth, based on your preference. If you don’t have an immersion blender, transfer to your countertop blender or food processor to blend.
4 – Stir in the Paneer and some garam masala, and let it rest for 5 minutes. This will help for the paneer to get soft and soak in the flavors. I don’t fry the paneer, however if you prefer it lightly fried, that would work perfectly too. Palak Paneer is ready to be served with rice, naan or parathas.
Recipe Video
Instant Pot Palak Paneer Recipe (Pressure Cooker)
Ingredients
- 1 lb Spinach (Palak) washed
- 2 cups Paneer or Cottage cheese cut in bite sized cubes
- 1 tbsp Ghee or Oil
- 1 tsp Cumin seeds (Jeera)
- 1 Green Chili Pepper chopped
- 1 Onion medium, chopped
- 5 cloves Garlic chopped
- 1" inch Ginger chopped
- 1 Tomato medium, chopped
- 1/4 cup Water
- 1 tsp Garam Masala
Spices
- 1/2 tsp Ground Turmeric (Haldi powder)
- 1/2 tsp Red Chili powder (Mirchi powder)
- 1 tsp Coriander powder (Dhaniya powder)
- 1 tsp Salt adjust to taste
Instructions
- Start the instant pot in sauté mode. Heat oil and add cumin seeds.
- When cumin seeds start to splutter, add ginger, garlic, green chili and onions. Sauté for 2 minutes.
- Add tomato and spices. Stir and let it cook for 2 minutes.
- Add water and deglaze the pot (see notes). Add in the spinach. Press cancel and close the instant pot lid with vent in sealing position. Set on manual or pressure cook mode for 2 minutes.
- Once the instant pot beeps, do a 5 minute natural pressure release, which means release the pressure manually 5 minutes after the beep.
- Blend the ingredients in the pot to a creamy texture using an immersion blender.
- Add the paneer and garam masala. Let it sit for 5 minutes, so the paneer soaks in the flavors.
- Palak Paneer is ready to be served with naan, roti or paratha.
Notes
Note: Nutrition values are my best estimates. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.
Nutrition
Check out other Instant Pot Curries you might enjoy:
Shannon says
July 10, 2019 at 2:58 pmI’ve made this about 5 or 6 times now! Family loved it including my 1 year old
Amy says
May 29, 2019 at 1:54 pmHi, how do you recommend blending the ingredients if you don’t have an immersion blender?
Meeta Arora says
May 30, 2019 at 9:18 amHi Amy – You can transfer to a regular blender to blend the spinach. Or if you don’t mind the spinach a bit chunky, you can chop it fine before adding to the instant pot. Hope you enjoy the palak paneer.
Devi says
May 9, 2019 at 4:56 pmA staple in our house now…. easy and simply delicious!
Meeta Arora says
May 9, 2019 at 9:00 pmHey Devi – So glad to hear you all have been enjoying the palak paneer!
Monica Perales says
April 30, 2019 at 12:41 pmThanks for this delicious recipe! I’ve always discarded the spice pouch after cooking – but is that whatI’m supposed to do?
Meeta Arora says
May 8, 2019 at 11:38 amHi Monica – Yes, that is the right thing to do. The whole spices impart their flavor to the curry, then they can be discarded. Hope you enjoy the palak paneer!