The Ultimate Guide On Making Fresh Homemade Paneer

This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy

This post was originally published in November 2021. It has been updated June 2025 with updated instructions and higher quality images.

Watch the recipe

YouTube ↗

Cooking With Anadi

12K subscribers · creamy, firm cheese that sautees, fries, or broils

Subscribe

Watch the full method on YouTube →

Paneer is soft, luxurious and is to this date the ultimate treat in my vegetarian household. Be it Palak Paneer — paneer in a creamy spinach sauce, Shahi Paneer – paneer in a tomato-ish sauce rich with nuts and cream or Paneer Tikka — my favorite appetizer, big chunks of tandoor grilled paneer which transports you to a world of euphoria.

I always say that paneer is the best vegetarian protein source. It truly is a blank canvas that you can incorporate in your cooking as you would chicken or tofu. I personally find paneer more delicious than tofu, as it’s softer and it has its own mild taste! It’s perfect for marinades, to grill, to barbecue, to bake, or to add directly into curries! You can do so much with paneer!

If you’ve never had paneer before you’re in for a treat! Even if you’re not a vegetarian, I guarantee that if you try a paneer dish where you may normally have chicken, you won’t miss the meat at all! If you’re looking to switch up your menu and eat less meat, then paneer is going to rock your world!

Why Make Homemade Paneer?

Personally, I would never make homemade paneer if I was still living in India. You can walk up to any grocery store in India and grab all kinds of fresh paneer to use in their home cooking. Options are much more limited when you come to North America. As of 2019, I have not found a store where I can buy fresh paneer in my area. There seems to be a monopoly on the brand which is offering paneer and hand on my heart, having had the real thing — it is a bit of a let down. It does not have the soft texture and absorption properties that fresh, real paneer boasts. However, to be totally transparent, I almost always buy it from the store anyway, simply because when you make it at home you do need a lot of milk but it doesn’t yield that much!

Furthermore, the process to make homemade paneer is for the most part easy with one catch. Patience. I would have to admit this is a treat given the time and ingredients used to make this. Every time I do make it myself, however, I have to admit it’s way better than what you get at the store!

Here are reasons why you should make your own paneer!

• You can’t find it packaged anywhere
• Fresh and preservative-free
• You can make it organic if you use organic ingredients
• Tastier and softer than store-bought
• Rewarding! It’s a lot of fun to see how all that milk turned into a delicious soft cheese!

Tools Needed

• Large pot
• Thermometer
• Wooden spoon
• Spatula
• Colander
• Cheesecloth
• Large bowl
• Cutting board

Ingredients for Fresh Homemade Paneer

Believe it or not, you only need two ingredients to make Homemade Paneer, so you won’t be breaking the bank with this! Remember to scroll to the bottom of this post for the FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD to see the quantities for each ingredient and for all the instructions to save for later! You can easily scale the amounts based on how much paneer you want to make! Here’s what we need:

• Milk: You can use 2% milk in place of whole milk but I wouldn’t recommend going below 2%. After all, you are extracting milk solids from the milk to make paneer which includes some fat. Skim milk or 1% would never have enough of fat content to make enough - if any - paneer. For best results, I would recommend whole milk. I’ve used both 2% milk and whole milk and using the whole milk made it much tastier and even softer!
• Curdling agent: Options here are vinegar, lemon or lime juice, yogurt, or buttermilk. I’ve found the best results are with buttermilk. You get extra creaminess in your paneer while still getting that acidity, and it’s not overpowering in taste.

You’ll also want to have a non stick pot to boil your milk, a colander to strain out the liquid, and a cheesecloth to get the milk solids!

How to Make Paneer

To get going, you want to add 2L of whole or 2% milk in a large pot and heat the milk to the slowest boil on medium heat.

As soon as you get to this stage, turn the heat low and heat the milk until it starts to foam. Be sure to stir the milk from time to time so that it won’t burn.

This will impart a strong burnt flavor in the paneer. Here is where the patience part of the recipe comes into place. You can use a thermometer to check when the milk is below the boiling point and ready to be curdled - around 194 F to 203 F.

As soon as the milk starts to foam, add 250 mL of buttermilk or 120 mL of lemon juice or lime juice. Give it a quick stir. You will soon notice that the milk will start to curdle.

The milk will start to separate. Collect the “paneer” or “chenna” towards the center of the pot. As soon as the liquid that has separated starts to look thin like water, cover the pot and set it aside for 15-20 mins.

As the pot cools down, prepare for the final step. Taking a large piece of cheese cloth, at least 13’ x 13’ in length, lay it out on a colander or strainer and place it on a large bowl to collect the liquid.

Using a skimmer, gently transfer the chena from the pot and place in the cheese cloth. Be careful as to not break the chena. I call this chena because believe it or not, this used to be a delicious breakfast.

Every other morning, we would have fresh chena, which is basically paneer which is still hydrated on toast with a fresh tomato chutney. Absolutely Delicious!

After you have transferred all the chena to the cheese cloth, tie the ends of the cheese cloth together and squeeze to extract as much water as you can.

Now you have two options: the slow method or the fast method. If you have extra time on your hand, 24 hours or more, tie the cheese cloth to your kitchen sink and let gravity give you a helping hand. After 24 hours, all the excess water would have dripped out and you would have a handsome hunk of fresh paneer.

To speed things up a bit, which is what I did, transfer your paneer from the cheese cloth to a plate and place something heavy like a stainless steel pan or cutting board on the paneer, yes on it and balance heavy items such as unopened cans of beans, tomatoes to apply pressure. Within 2-3 hours, all the excess water would have dripped out.

At this point you may use the paneer in your dish. This would make about 250 to 300 grams of paneer. I generally like to use this over a period of time given all the time I just spent to make it!

Answering Your Questions About Homemade Paneer!

Storing/Freezing Homemade Paneer

Portion these out into cubes, individually wrap them in plastic wrap and freeze the ones I plan on using later. GO AHEAD now and treat your guests, family or even your self to a hearty paneer dish which was made with so much love. Hope you found this recipe easy to follow, and be sure to comment below if you gave it a try!

Tips for the Best Homemade Paneer

Paneer is only two ingredients, so almost everything that goes right or wrong happens on the stove. These are the things I watch every single time.

• Keep the heat gentle. Bring the milk to a slow boil on medium, then drop it to low and wait for it to foam. Stir from time to time so the milk does not stick at the bottom of the pot, because scorched milk carries a burnt flavor straight into the finished cheese.
• Let a thermometer do the guessing. Milk curdles best just below boiling, around 194 F to 203 F. If you do not own one, the surface foaming is the same cue.
• Add the acid at the foam. As soon as the milk starts to foam, pour in 250 mL of buttermilk, or 120 to 160 mL of lemon or lime juice, and give it one quick stir. That is all it needs.
• Read the whey, not the clock. Keep drawing the curdled milk in from the sides of the pot toward the center. When the liquid left behind turns thin and watery instead of milky, the separation is finished.
• Rest it before you strain it. Turn off the heat, cover the pot and leave it alone for 15 to 20 minutes. The curds firm up as they sit, which makes them far easier to lift out with a skimmer without breaking them.
• Optional, and only if you curdled with lemon, lime or vinegar: rinse the curds briefly under cold running water while they are sitting in the cheesecloth, to wash off any lingering tang. It is not part of my method, since buttermilk is mild enough to skip it, but it is worth knowing if citrus is all you have.
• Press longer for a firmer block. Two to three hours under a heavy cutting board with a few cans stacked on top gives you paneer that holds its shape in a curry. If you have the time, tying up the cheesecloth and letting it drain for 24 hours or more gives you a firmer block still.
• Do not worry about the dent. When you unwrap the cheesecloth you will find a shallow dent in the middle of the block, where the weight sat and the liquid drained away. It is completely normal, and it disappears the moment you cube the paneer.

Making Paneer in Bigger Batches

Two liters of milk gives you roughly 250 to 300 grams of paneer, which is about right for one generous curry. If you want more than that, a weekend of cooking or a stash of cubes for the freezer, resist the urge to double everything into a single pot. Milk needs headroom. Fill the pot too high and it climbs the sides the moment it boils, and the layer sitting on the bottom scorches long before the top ever foams. Two separate 2 liter batches run back to back curdle far more reliably than 4 liters crammed into one, and the second batch moves quickly because the pot is already hot.