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 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.
How to make Palak Paneer in Pressure Cooker?
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.
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.
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.
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. 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.
Here is a 1-minute video of making Palak Paneer in the Instant Pot:
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- 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
- 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
- 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. 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.
- Stovetop Variation: The exact same preparation can be done in a sauce pan. Do not use a non-stick pan, if you plan to use an immersion blender to puree the spinach.
- Fry Paneer: This is a personal preference. If you like to fry the paneer, you can fry in 2-3 tbsp oil in a pan or air fry it. Then add the fried paneer to the blended spinach.
- This recipe was created in a 6qt Instant Pot DUO60 Multi-use Programmable Pressure Cooker.
Note: Nutrition values are my best estimates. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Can I substitute ricotta cheese for the paneer? I was going to make my own paneer, but I have ricotta cheese that I bought for a recipe that I ended up not making, and I’m wondering if it would work here, or is it too soft? Thanks.
Hello Judith – I don’t think ricotta will work, as in this recipe we need cubes of paneer, which may not be possible with ricotta. Hope that helps!
Super yummy! Followed recipe to a t and it was perfect.
Hey Whitney – Glad to hear you enjoyed the Palak Paneer. It is our absolutely favorite as well 🙂
Maybe this is a dumb question. Can you buy frozen paneer? If so is it only at an Indian store?
Hey Jyoti – Yes! You can buy frozen paneer. Just thaw is before using, and add it as in the recipe. Where I live, paneer is available even at Costco, however in many other places it might be only available at Indian grocery stores. If there is no indian grocery nearby, you can either make paneer at home using milk and vinegar or you could use lightly sauteed tofu in this recipe. Hope you enjoy it!
Hi Meeta,
I tried this recipe and it was great. I do not have an immersion blender, so I used my countertop indian blender. I am planning to get an immersion blender because I would like to use my instant pot to make soups. I wanted to ask if you had any issues using the immersion blender inside the inner pot to blend the hot palak gravy, especially since there isn’t a lot of liquid inside for a recipe like this.
Do you remove the inner pot and let it cool down a bit before using your immersion blender? I would just be careful not to scratch the bottom of the inner pot with the blades of the immersion blender, and of course be careful of any splashes that may happen while using the immersion blender. Any other advice?
Thanks so much – my family loved the recipe.
Hey Dhanya – Glad to hear your family enjoyed the Palak Paneer. Great questions about using immersion blender in the instant pot. For soups, you are right that there is enough liquid and quantity, so it is easy to use an immersion blender. For palak paneer, I usually just tilt the pot, so there is enough quantity on one side where I can use the immersion blender. I do have to be careful to not scratch the bottom of the pot. It is totally fine to let it cool a bit before using the blender. Hope that helps!
Can you use frozen Palak?
Hey Samia – Yes, frozen spinach will work too for this recipe. I hope you enjoy it!
Thanks for the recipe Meeta . I tried it today exactly as per your instructions. Turned out so yummy and was very easy and fairly quick . Thanks for posting this .
Hey Gargi – So happy to hear you enjoyed the Palak Paneer. I love that it is so healthy and quick to make in the instant pot!
any tips if you have frozen paneer? Do I thaw it out first then add it at the end still?
Hello Tej – Yes, you are right. I do thaw the paneer first and then add it. If I am planning for the next day, then I move the paneer from the freezer to the refrigerator the day before. Otherwise, just keep the frozen paneer in hot water for some time to quicken the thawing. Hope you enjoy the palak paneer!
This is the first recipe I have made from your blog and it will not be the last. It was so easy to make and so tasty. This sauce will accommodate anything so later this week will make it with potatoes and cauliflower.
Thanks again for the recipes.
Hey Jean – So glad to hear that you enjoyed the palak paneer. I totally agree that this healthy sauce can be used with a variety of veggies. Thank you for sharing your review 🙂
Ive made this a few times and its a really good recipe.The only thing I think was missing for me was a bit of fresh cilantro which I will try next time.
Hey Brenda – Thank you! I am happy to hear you have made this palak paneer multiple times. Cilantro is a great addition. One other thing traditionally topped is a tadka: 1-2 tablespoons of ghee/oil heated and cumin seeds and some chili powder added. Then this is topped on the ready to serve palak paneer. For everyday purposes, I skip the additional effort, but it is great when you want to indulge 🙂
We moved to a beautiful part of the Pacific coast but the nearest Indian restaurant is over an hour away. Looking forward to giving this a try tonight.
Hey Brian – Living by the coast sounds great. I hope you enjoyed the palak paneer.
I made this recipe tonight and while good, it was WAY too salty with the 2 tsp. I’d recommend publishing it with 1/2 tsp recommended, or even just leave it as “to taste”. Either way 2 tsps is way too much. I’m going to make it again tomorrow with 1/2 tsps and see how that goes (I suspect it’ll be much better). Overall a very good, and quite easy, recipe though!
Thanks for the recommendation Rachel. I will update the recipe tomorrow. Do let me know how you like it with half teaspoon salt.
Loved your recipe.. so simple yet so yummy!
Glad you enjoyed the palak paneer. Thank you for sharing your review!