Saag Paneer is the authentic North Indian favorite. It is made with cooking mustard leaves and spinach with spices and cottage cheese, which makes it a delicious and nutritious dish. Make it in the instant pot for a quick and easy one-pot recipe.
"Sarson ka saag te makki di roti", which means mustard saag with bread made from corn meal, is what my Punjabi family loves for a scrumptious weekend meal. This is a very common meal made in villages in Punjab.
Mustard leaves have a a very interesting taste, they are slightly bitter but still very pleasing to the palate. See picutre below. That is one of the main reasons to cook them with spinach. I like to prepare saag with both mustard leaves and spinach, it gives the more authentic taste. If you don't have mustard leaves at hand, you can prepare it with only spinach as well. But I warn you, it tastes so much better with mustard leaves.
Saag is such a favorite. I have a variety of Saag recipes in case you want to try variations - Saag Aloo, Palak Tofu, Palak Paneer and Saag Chicken.
You can eat saag as is, without any additions to it. In this recipe, I have added paneer to the saag as my daughter loves it. To make it vegan, you can skip the paneer or replace it with tofu.
Some people add radishes and/or broccoli while preparing saag, which is great too. You can also add cauliflower. It helps to get a thicker texture. Radishes help to reduce the bitter taste and balance the flavor. I like to add broccoli when I am making plain saag without paneer. Broccoli/Cauliflower can be added in addition to the greens. Add them before the pressure cooking step.
How to make Saag Paneer in Instant Pot?
This is a very quick, one-pot recipe. Start the instant pot and add in the ghee, green chili, ginger and garlic. Then add in the chopped onions and sauté for a few minutes. The ingredients can be cut into large pieces as we are going to blend them later.
Then add in the mustard, spinach leaves, water and pressure cook for 4 minutes. Release the pressure naturally for 5 minutes, then do a quick release. Add in the corn meal (makai ka aata) and use the immersion blender to grind it to a smooth paste. You can also use a normal blender to grind and then transfer the saag back to the instant pot.
Add in the paneer and cook it for a few minutes. Saag Paneer is ready to be served.
Serve saag paneer with makki ki roti or naan. Add in a dollop of ghee or butter and enjoy!
Instant Pot Saag Paneer
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Ghee or Oil
- ¼ teaspoon Cumin seeds (Jeera)
- 2 Green Chili Pepper optional, adjust to taste*
- 1" inch Ginger chopped
- 10 cloves Garlic chopped
- 2 Onion medium sized. Cut into large pieces
- 1 bunch Mustard leaves (Sarson) chopped. About 9oz
- 1 bunch Spinach (Palak) chopped. About 9oz
- ¼ cup Water
- 10 ounces Paneer or Cottage cheese cut into small pieces
- 2 tablespoon Corn meal (Makai ka aata) fine ground
Spices
- ½ teaspoon Ground Turmeric (Haldi powder)
- ½ teaspoon Cayenne or Red Chili powder
- 2 teaspoon Coriander powder (Dhaniya powder)
- 1 teaspoon Salt
Instructions
- Heat ghee in the instant pot in saute mode. Add jeera, green chili, ginger and garlic.
- Once the ginger and garlic turns golden brown, add the chopped onions. Saute for 3 minutes.
- Add the spices to the instant pot. Then add the mustard greens, spinach and water.
- Change the instant pot setting to manual or pressure cook mode for 4 minutes. When the instant pot beeps, do a 5 minute NPR, which means release the pressure manually after 5 mins. Turn off the instant pot.
- Add in the corn flour. Use an immersion blender to blend the saag to a smooth paste.
- Turn on the instant pot in saute mode. Add in the paneer and cook for about 3 minutes.
- Saag Paneer is ready to be served.
Notes
Note: Nutrition values are my best estimates. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.
Nutrition
You might also like these North Indian recipes made in the Instant Pot:
Menaka says
Hey I love this recipe and had a question about the macros. What is the per serving quantity?
Meeta Arora says
Hi Menaka - About 1 cup of saag paneer is one serving. I do want to mention that the nutrition values are using a calculator, so please do recheck with your favorite tool if you are watching your diet.
Stacey says
Hi Meeta,
I know that this may sound silly, but I live in an area with a lot of Hispanic grocery stores. What kind of green chili are you talking about? Jalepeno, or some other kind?
Thanks.
Meeta Arora says
Hi Stacey - Not silly at all. I get this question many times, and have been updating recipes to include the details. I added to notes that typically use thai, birdseye or Serrano pepper. Do adjust the amount to your taste as the size of the green chili peppers can vary a lot.
Maria says
Hi Meeta,
Just left a review for your Instant Pot tarka dal which was delicious. Rinsed out the IP and then made this using paneer that had been in the freezer (not sure how long it had been there either 🙂 and cooked spinach left over from dinner a few nights ago and added other components. Also pulled naan from the freezer and popped under broiler. Dinner was amazing. Thanks for such incredible recipes that never seem to fail.
Maria
Meeta Arora says
Hi Maria - Thank you so much for taking the time to review the recipes. So glad that you all enjoyed the Indian dinner.
Shivangi says
Just made this and WOW!!!! Delicious and perfect! Tastes like it’s from a restaurant! In fact - better than many restaurants 🙂 Thank you!!
FYI I added kalonji to the tadka and it adds a very nice flavor!
Piping Pot Curry says
Hi, That makes me really happy. Thank you for sharing it back 🙂
Dilini says
Can I use frozen spinach for this recipe? What would be the quantities?
Thanks
Meeta Arora says
Hi Dilini - You can use the same amount or a little less of frozen spinach in this recipe. Hope you enjoy it!
Swapna says
Can I make this with frozen mustard and spinach leaves. If so, what is the cook time?
Meeta Arora says
Hi Swapna - I have not tried, but have seen many people use frozen spinach/mustard in saag, so give it a try. I would keep the water amount same, we are not adding much already. Would love to hear how it turns out. Thank you!
Juhi says
Can I subsitute cornflour with all purpose flour?
Meeta Arora says
Hi Juhi - I dont think all purpose flour will work well in this recipe. You can skip adding the flour if you don't have corn flour (makai ka aata).
Danielle says
Hello! I’ve just started getting your recipes and LOVE them! In this one, can normal American courage cheese be used? At restaurants I’ve just had it with paneer.
Meeta Arora says
Hi Danielle - Thank you! The normal American cottage cheese will not work in this recipe, as we want firm cheese. Halloumi cheese and firm tofu are some options. You can also make paneer at home if you like. There are many recipes to make it in the instant pot. Hope you enjoy the saag!
Megan says
This is such a delicious recipe! We made it tonight with cottage cheese, broccoli, and chickpeas. It’s become one of our staples and so I thought it was high time I left a comment 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing your creations!
Veena says
Can I sub flour if I don't have cornmeal?
Tammie Duckworth says
Outstanding recipe. I used spinach and kale since that is what I had on hand. Also realized at the last minute that I was out of cayenne pepper so I subbed crushed red pepper. Added a splash of heavy cream while blending simply because I prefer it that way.
Even with my substitutions it was excellent.
Meeta Arora says
Hi Tammie - Glad to gear you enjoyed the Saag.