Palak Paneer – Creamed Spinach with Indian Cottage Cheese

Palak Paneer is a popular North Indian dish made with soft paneer in a mildly spicy, creamy, and flavorful spinach sauce. The creamy spinach sauce is cooked in a medley of exotic Indian spices. It is a simple yet delicious dish to serve along with some basmati rice or naan. 

This smooth spinach curry is very nutritious and healthy. Make this dish with or without adding any heavy cream while keeping its taste absolutely amazing! Loads of garlic, ginger, chillies, yogurt, and some basic spices are added for amazing flavors. 

Does your Palak Paneer sometimes taste bitter? Not anymore! Learn how to make perfectly tasting creamy and delicious Palak Paneer in this post. My recipe is straightforward without adding any onions and tomatoes. Not much chopping is involved in this recipe, so it comes together quickly in under 35 minutes. Sounds interesting? 

When I was in college, I tried Palak Paneer with my friends in an Indian restaurant for the first time. I loved the dish so much that I tried to make it at home but it tasted so bitter and I was very much disappointed. 

After a couple of years, I gave it another try and it turned out very good most of the time but sometimes tasted a little bitter. I made a couple of changes in the preparation and the recipe turned out so good every time without tasting bitter. My whole family enjoyed it so much that I started making it very frequently 🙂 

Everyone has their own way or style of making palak paneer. Every Indian restaurant adds their own twist to the dish. Making this at home is extremely quick and easy. I like to add some yogurt and besan to add some creaminess and thickness to the gravy. Hope you and your family will try and love my variation of palak paneer! 

Why Does Your Palak Paneer Taste Bitter? 

Spinach has a very peculiar bitter taste. Raw spinach leaves have high levels of a compound known as oxalic acid that causes a bitter taste in spinach. 

• If you used stale and very mature spinach with large dark green leaves then your palak paneer could taste bitter. 
• If you have not removed any thick stems prior to blanching the spinach, your curry will taste bitter.  
• Overcooked spinach can turn bitter as well in the curry. 

Ingredients

• Spinach
• Galic
• Ginger
• Green Chillies
• Cumin
• Asafoetida
• Turmeric
• Kitchen king masala
• Besan
• Paneer
• Yogurt
• Heavy cream 
• Oil
• Ghee
• Salt

Palak Paneer Step By Step Recipe

Blanching The Spinach 

Boil around 10-12 cups of water in a pot, switch off the heat, and transfer the spinach. You can add half of the spinach, let it start wilting, then add the rest of the spinach, and let it cook for 2 minutes. 

Transfer the spinach to a colander, wash it with ice cold water, and let it sit in the colander for draining. 

Preparing The Sauce

In a pan, heat 2 tsp oil on medium heat. Add green chillies, 2 sliced garlic cloves, ginger, and saute for about 30 seconds. 

In a blending jar, blend the spinach with toasted chillies, garlic, and ginger with ¼ cup of water until it turns into a smooth paste. Set it aside. 

Pan Fry The Paneer 

In the same pan, add 3 tsp oil, transfer the paneer cubes, and let them cook for about 3-5 minutes on low heat without changing color. Set them aside. 

In a small bowl, whisk together some yogurt, besan, salt, and set aside. 

Making The Curry 

Heat some ghee in a pan on medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and let them splutter. 

Next, add some asafoetida, 3 finely chopped garlic cloves, and turmeric powder. Sauté the garlic for about 30-40 seconds. 

Transfer the spinach puree and yogurt mixture. Mix it well and cook the mixture on medium low heat for about 5-7 minutes. If you find that sauce is too thick, you can add 2-3 tbsp water and cook the spinach sauce. 

Next, add kitchen king masala or ½ tsp garam masala to the curry and mix it well. 

Transfer the fried paneer and simmer for about 2 minutes.  

You can optionally drizzle 2 tsp heavy cream while serving the palak paneer.

Tips For Making Palak Paneer 

• Always triple wash the spinach with ample water before blanching. 
• Use fresh, tender, and young spinach leaves for making palak paneer. I always make curry with baby spinach. 

• If you are using a different variety of spinach, choose young and fresh spinach leaves. Do not use darker, large, or stale spinach leaves for this recipe. 
• Make sure to remove the thicker stems of the spinach leaves. These stems will give a bitter taste to the dish. 
• Do not use frozen spinach for this recipe, it will not give a great color to the dish  and it won’t taste like authentic palak paneer. 
• Make sure to blanch the spinach well but do not overcook it. 
• Perfectly blanched spinach gives an amazing color to the dish. 
• Make sure to wash the spinach with ice cold water to retain the beautiful green color of the dish. 
• Always use a fresh packet of paneer. Otherwise, homemade paneer tastes even better in this recipe. Make sure to set the homemade paneer into the refrigerator for about 8-10 hours before using it in the recipe. 
• Always use fresh and sweet yogurt for making palak paneer. If the yogurt is a little sour, then add ½ tsp sugar while making the dish. 

Variations 

• You can use a store bought spinach packet to save some time. 
• Use extra firm tofu for making this dish if paneer is not available.
• If you are on a vegan diet, use extra firm tofu instead of paneer, vegan yogurt, cashew cream, coconut cream, or coconut milk while mixing it with the besan. 
• Kitchen king masala tastes simply amazing in this recipe but you can use ½ tsp garam masala instead. 
• Feel free to add finely chopped onions and fry them well with some finely chopped garlic before adding spinach puree in the recipe. 
• Add 2 tbsp heavy cream before adding paneer to the recipe for a more rich and creamy gravy. 
• You can completely skip adding heavy cream. Mix together 2 tsp milk powder with 1 tsp warm milk to form into a smooth paste and drizzle it just before serving the curry instead of heavy whipping cream. 
• You can use cashew cream, coconut cream, or malai in the recipe as well. 

How To Store Palak Paneer? 

Palak Paneer tastes best when served hot and fresh. It tastes even better the next day once all the spices are settled down in the dish. 

It can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in an airtight container. 

Palak paneer can be stored in a freezer in a freezer safe container for 2 months. Keep the curry on a countertop for 2-3 hours and heat it in the microwave until hot. 

How To Serve Palak Paneer? 

Serve the palak paneer with some plain basmati rice, jeera rice, or green peas pulao as a comforting meal. Mango pickle and roasted papad can be served along with the rice and curry. 

It tastes amazing with any Indian flat bread like roti, paratha, naan, garlic naan, or poori. 

Serve some mango pickle, garlic chutney, dry peanut chutney or green chili pickle along with some rice. 

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