Paneer Recipes

Which Paneer Curry Should You Make?

Six of the curries above look near enough identical in a photo and taste nothing alike. Here is how I would pick between them.

• Paneer Butter Masala — whole spices bloomed in ghee, onion, cashews and passata, finished with cream and a little honey. The crowd-pleaser. Start here if you are cooking for someone who thinks they do not like Indian food. 45 minutes.
• Paneer Makhani — the one with no onion in it at all. Just cardamom, mace, cashews, ginger-garlic and passata, which is why it tastes rounder and less savoury than butter masala even though the two look the same. The quickest of the restaurant-style curries at 38 minutes.
• Shahi Paneer — cashews and almonds soaked 15 to 20 minutes, then blended. That soak is the whole trick: it is what makes the gravy pale and silky instead of red and grainy. 50 minutes.
• Kadai Paneer — the only one where you grind your own masala first, from coriander seeds, shahi jeera, fennel and dried red chilies. Green pepper stays in proper pieces. The most texture of the six, and the biggest flavour payoff for the extra ten minutes. 50 minutes.
• Matar Paneer — the everyday one, with peas. This is what actually gets cooked on a Tuesday. 45 minutes.
• Palak Paneer — spinach, and the fastest thing in this entire collection at 25 minutes. There is an Instant Pot version too if you would rather walk away from it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I make paneer at home or just buy it?

Buy it on a weeknight. Make it when you have a free afternoon. My recipe turns 2 litres of whole milk into roughly 225 to 275 g of paneer, which is about one shop block, and there is only around 20 minutes of real work in it. The catch is what comes after: it needs 2 to 3 hours pressed under weight before you can cut it. What you get for the wait is a softer, milkier block than anything sold in a packet. I curdle mine with buttermilk rather than lemon juice, which brings it together more gently and leaves less of a tang.

Why does my paneer go rubbery?

Because it has been in the pan too long. Paneer is already cooked when you buy it, so nothing you do to it makes it more done, it only makes it firmer. In my curries the paneer goes in at the very end and simmers 3 to 5 minutes, just long enough to warm through and take on the gravy. If you are searing or frying it first, do it fast and hot, then get it straight out of the pan.

What is the fastest paneer dinner here?

Palak paneer and paneer bhurji, both 25 minutes start to finish. The bhurji is my default when nothing is planned and I want dinner on the table without thinking about it: paneer, onion, tomato, spices, scrambled together in one pan.

Can I freeze paneer?

You can, but be honest about what it does to the texture. Freezing pushes water out of the block, so it comes back firmer and slightly crumbly. That is no problem at all for bhurji, pakora, or anything you are crumbling or deep frying, and it is noticeable in a delicate gravy where you wanted soft cubes. Wrap it tightly and use it within a couple of months.

Is paneer actually high in protein?

It genuinely is. A serving of the paneer bhurji on this page comes to 28 g of protein, and the homestyle palak paneer 21 g. That is the reason paneer does the same job in a vegetarian Indian kitchen that chicken does in most others, and why so many of these recipes end up carrying a meal on their own.

I add new paneer recipes here as I cook them, so save the page and check back. And if you make one, leave a rating — it helps other cooks find the best of the bunch.