Make an Authentic Palak Paneer Instant Pot recipe in under 20 minutes with this easy method! Using minimal spices and a secret trick, you’ll get perfect results every time. Serve it with homemade rotis or easy naan bread, popadoms, and a side of cucumber raita for a complete meal.
This healthy spinach paneer curry in a pressure cooker is rich, flavorful, and packed with nutrients. It’s an effortless yet delicious way to enjoy a classic Indian dish!
Don't have an Instant Pot? Make One Pot Palak Paneer on stove top using my recipe.
About my Punjabi-style Palak Paneer in Instant Pot
This Instant Pot Indian curry comes together fast and easy. We use unblanching technique to flash cook the spinach. This method helps retain the vibrant green color in the curry,
The flavors are so good, that this dish has made it onto our family favourite list. I make it weekly and its perfect for busy weeknights and pairs beautifully with naan or rice for a complete meal.
Expert tips to make the Best Palak Paneer at home
- Always opt for fresh spinach and fresh ginger garlic to enhance the flavors of your curry.
- Soak store-bought paneer in hot water for 10 minutes to rehydrate it. This results in super soft paneer every single time.
- Briefly cook the spinach in the Instant Pot and add a splash of lemon juice. These tricks help create a vibrant and flavorful curry.
What is Palak Paneer?
Palak Paneer is a classic Punjabi curry made with spinach (palak) and paneer, a type of Indian cottage cheese. Traditionally enjoyed in India during winter when spinach is in season, it can now be made year-round with fresh spinach or frozen spinach.
In this recipe, I create a flavorful masala with onions, tomatoes,green chili and spices, then flash-cook the spinach in the Instant Pot. After blending it into a smooth curry sauce, I add cubed store-bought paneer, cream, and optional kasuri methi. For extra flavor, I love finishing it with a cumin seed tempering.
Ingredients
- Spinach – I love using fresh spinach or baby spinach, but frozen spinach works too.
- Paneer – I prefer mild, firm Indian cottage cheese, but halloumi is a good alternative, and tofu is great for vegans.
- Onion – Both red and white onions add great flavor.
- Tomatoes – I usually use one medium vine tomato, though canned is fine if fresh isn’t available.
- Ginger and Garlic – I love using fresh ginger and fresh garlic. They add delicious flavors, especially since I use minimal spices. Alternatively sub with store bought ginger garlic paste
- Spices – I like to add turmeric, coriander powder, and garam masala.
- Green Chillies – Just one or two for a bit of heat.This recipe doesn't use red chilli powder.
- Kasuri Methi – I use dried fenugreek leaves, but you can leave this out if you don’t have it.
- Cream – I add cream to cut the bitterness of the spinach, but for a vegan option, I use cashew cream or coconut milk.
How to make Quick Palak Paneer in Instant Pot?: Step by Step
Step 1: To make the Instant Pot Palak Paneer recipe, press saute mode and heat the oil. Once it's hot, add cumin seeds and allow them to sizzle.
Step 2: Next, add onion, green chili, ginger, and garlic, and stir. Cook for 2–3 minutes.
Steps 3, 4, and 5: At this stage, add water and deglaze the pot. This step is necessary if your Instant Pot often shows a burn sign, so do not skip it. Add chopped tomatoes and spice powders, then stir. Cover and cook for 2 minutes.
Step 6: Add the spinach leaves, season with salt, and add ½ cup of water.
Step 7: Press cancel. Secure the lid, turn the pressure valve to sealing, and pressure cook for zero minutes high pressure. Use quick release for the pressure.
Steps 8 and 9: Open the lid immediately. Use an immersion blender to blend the ingredients into a smooth, creamy texture. Squeeze in lemon juice!
Steps 10 and 11: Add paneer and sprinkle garam masala, cream, and kasuri methi. Allow the paneer to settle in the spinach mixture for at least 5 minutes before serving.
Step 12: Prepare seasoning in a separate pan on the stovetop. Heat oil and add cumin seeds, allowing them to crackle. Add the seasoning to the Instant Pot Palak Paneer and serve hot. This step is optional, but the additional seasoning enhances the flavors.
Can I make Vegan Palak Paneer in Instant Pot?
To make Vegan Palak Paneer in the Instant Pot, swap tofu for paneer and use cashew cream or coconut cream instead of dairy cream in the recipe.
What can I serve with Palak Paneer?
Palak Paneer is best enjoyed with my easy homemade naan, no cook pickled red onions, and a vegetable raita.
It also pairs well with yellow pulao rice, fluffy white basmati rice, brown basmati rice, or my favorite jeera rice.
For an everyday dinner, serve it with Indian kachumber salad and homemade chapatis.
Recipe FAQs
Paneer is a versatile ingredient perfect for almost any Indian curry! If you don’t want to make Butter Chicken, try restaurant style Butter Paneer instead. You might also enjoy my Baked Malai Kofta, Air Fryer Paneer Tikka, Paneer Peshawari Curry, Paneer Biryani, and 20 minutes Paneer Bhurji.
Soak the paneer in hot water for at least 10 minutes. This step works like magic to keep the paneer soft in curries. I highly recommend doing this to rehydrate the store-bought paneer.
The key is to pressure cook the spinach for the minimum time—just a quick flash cook to retain that bright color. I also add a bit of lemon juice to the curry, which helps keep the spinach looking fresh.
When cooking on the stovetop, I blanch the spinach with a pinch of baking soda, then rinse it under cold water. But with the Instant Pot, I skip the blanching and just stick to the flash pressure cooking method.
The simplest swap for paneer in this curry is tofu! I recommend using TOFOO brand Extra Firm Tofu available in the UK. You don’t need to squeeze out any water; just cut it into cubes and add it to your curries, or toss it in a teaspoon of oil and fry it in your Instant Pot. Use cashew cream instead of dairy cream, and your Instant Pot Palak Tofu is ready!
Love this Vegetarian Indian Instant Pot curry, you will also love
Equipment
- Instant Pot 6Qt
Ingredients
- 450 g spinach
- ¾ Cup water
- 1 teaspoon sunflower Oil
- 1 teaspoon ginger grated
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 green chilli
- 1 medium Onion finely chopped
- 1 medium tomato
- 1 Juice of Lemon
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 2 tablespoon kasuri methi
- 4 tablespoon double cream or heavy cream Cashew Cream or Coconut cream
- salt to taste
- 250 g paneer diced to cubesSubstitute with Tofu for Vegan Option
Tempering (Optional)
- 1 teaspoon Oil
- 1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds
Instructions
- SOAK PANEER IN HOT WATER -Place the Paneer cubes in Hot water for at least 10 minutes and then drain. This step is essential to keep the paneer soft.250 g paneer
- SAUTE -Set the Instant Pot to sauté mode for 9 minutes. Add the oil. Once hot, add cumin seeds and allow it splutter.1 teaspoon sunflower Oil
- Add the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli. Cook for 3-4 minutes, or until the onions start to caramelize and become soft.1 teaspoon ginger, 3 cloves garlic, 1 medium Onion, 1 green chilli
- Splash ¼ cup water and deglaze the pot. .Add tomatoes, spice powder - turmeric, coriander powder and salt.¾ Cup water, 1 medium tomato, 1 teaspoon ground coriander, ½ teaspoon turmeric powder, salt to taste
- Saute to combine. Cover and cook for 3-4 minutes until they soften.
- Add the spinach leaves, salt and water.450 g spinach, ¾ Cup water
- PRESSURE COOK – Press CANCEL. Secure the pressure cooker instant pot lid and turn the vent to sealing position. Press PRESSURE COOK and set HIGH PRESSURE for 0 minutes. Quick Pressure release.
- BLEND - Open the lid immediately. Use Immersion blender to blend the ingredients to a smooth creamy texture.
- Squeeze Lemon Juice. Add Paneer, sprinkle Garam masala, cream and kasuri methi. Allow the Paneer to settle in the spinach mixture for at least 5 minutes before serving.1 Juice of Lemon, 1 teaspoon garam masala, 2 tablespoon kasuri methi, 250 g paneer, 4 tablespoon double cream or heavy cream
- Heat oil in a pan, add cumin seeds. Once they begin to sizzle, add them to the palak paneer. ( Optional )1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds, 1 teaspoon Oil
- Serve hot Palak Paneer with Naan Bread or even Steaming hot Basmati Rice.
Annmarie says
Hi Sandhya. Thank you for sharing this recipe . Palak Paneer has always been my favourite dish and I made it for the first time at home yesterday, following your recipe . It was delicious. I look forward to making more of your recipes. Annmarie
Sandhya Hariharan says
Hi Annmarie, Thank you for your lovely feedback. This is my easiest Palak Paneer recipe that anyone can make in the Instant Pot pressure cooker. I've been making for years and so glad you loved it too. Thanks,Sandhya
Julia says
It sounds like very delicious spinach curry. It reminds me of my mom's spinach sauce she used to serve with eggs and potatoes. I am definitely giving a try with paneer.
Amanda Marie Boyle says
It's so easy - that's for the great recipe!
Tawnie Kroll says
The color turned out so beautiful, we love this dish! Thank you for the helpful step by step photos too!
Lisa | Garlic & Zest says
This sounds like such a healthy vegetarian supper. I only have fenugreek powder. Why is it that you can't substitute that for the Kasuri Methi, if its just dried fenugreek leaves? Is it too potent?
Sandhya's Kitchen says
Good Question - Fenugreek Powder and Dried Fenugreek Leaves are completely different in flavor and are not interchangeable in recipes. Fenugreek leaves can be cooked with, just like spinach.However the Powder can lend an additional bitter taste.
So I highly recommend skipping Kasuri methi if you don't have any.
Jacque Hastert says
I love how simple this dish is to make! Time to dust off the instant pot and give this a whirl
Sandhya's Kitchen says
Absolutely Jacque - Palak Paneer is a simple Indian curry with minimal spices but extremely flavorful. All you need is some Garlic Naan to mop the curry.
Hetal Shah says
Thank you for such a fabulous recipe. My family loved this Spinach Paneer curry along with Naan bread.