Palak Paneer is a Punjabi curry recipe made with paneer and a thick spinach curry sauce. This Instant Pot Palak Paneer recipe is quick and easy requiring ZERO minute pressure cook time. It tastes just as good as the original but saves time and washing up!
- What is Palak Paneer?
- Ingredients
- Method
- Serving Suggestion
- Storage
- How to keep Spinach/Palak green when cooking
- How to make Vegan Palak Paneer in Instant Pot?
- Why my Palak Paneer is Bitter?
- My Palak Paneer is too watery
- Other Instant Pot recipes
What is Palak Paneer?
Palak Paneer is an Indian dish made from fresh paneer cheese which is simmered in a sauce of pureed spinach, onion, tomato and aromatic spices. It is a popular North Indian recipe and is also found in Indian restaurants served as a main or side.
This easy palak paneer recipe uses a whole bag of spinach leaves and a block of creamy paneer.
Palak is the Hindi word for Spinach. These leafy green palak leaves are big and thicker compare to baby spinach and are found in Indian grocery stores.
They are not eaten raw thus palak is mostly used in making palak recipes such as Saag Aloo, Palak Paneer, Palak Poori or Palak Paratha.
Saag Paneer and Palak Paneer are both dishes prepared with almost the same ingredients. The main difference is in the leafy greens.
In North India, Saag is made with various greens such as spinach, mustard greens, methi leaves or any other greens. Palak Paneer recipe is prepared with a spinach puree whereas in saag paneer, the leaves are kept coarse.
Sometimes we make Punjabi Saag Paneer and Chana Saag on the stove top. Sarson ka Saag is made with mustard leaves and spinach.
This is the best palak paneer as it takes zero minutes high pressure – exactly the time required to pressure cook the onion masala and spinach. I quick pressure release straight after.
This way, the spinach retains its vibrant green color and vital nutrients from this superfood.
You can also make vegan palak by using tofu similar to our Vegan Kale and Herby Tofu Curry
I love the convenience of the instant pot for my curries and this Instant Pot Vegan Cauliflower Korma is a favourite!
Ingredients
Fresh spinach – the main ingredient. I have used baby spinach. I do not recommend using frozen spinach as the flavour will not be as good.
Paneer is a fresh cheese known as Indian cottage cheese and is used in many vegetarian Indian recipes such as Shahi Paneer (creamy paneer). It is made with cow’s milk and does not melt.
Use either store-bought paneer or make your own paneer and cut into cubes. When I have more time, I make homemade paneer .
For a vegan version use extra firm tofu. To keep it soft while cooking, place paneer cubes in hot water for 5 minutes.
Onion, garlic, ginger, green chilies – required for the base gravy found in most North Indian cooking. I used all fresh ingredients ie fresh ginger rather than powder
Oil or ghee – both works equally good in this recipe.
Indian spices – find in Indian stores or in the World Food Aisle. For delicious palak paneer you need basic four Indian spice powders – red chili powder, turmeric, ground cumin powder, coriander powder and garam masala. Alternatively use curry powder for minimal spices.
Cumin seeds
Kasoori Methi – optional – for restaurant-style flavour dried fenugreek leaves are a must.
Optional – for a creamy and rich curry use fresh cream (heavy cream in the US). Just add once the curry is done. If making it vegan, use coconut or cashew cream.
Also optional – add lemon or lime juice once the dish is cooked to keep the spinach mixture green
Method
Follow these step by step pictures, exact measurements are given in the printable recipe card below where you can leave a star rating
Press SAUTE mode on the Instant pot panel and use a medium heat setting depending on your model. Heat oil or ghee.
Add cumin seeds.
Once they crackle add onion and saute until light pink
Then add garlic, ginger and green chilli and saute further for 2 minutes.
Now add fresh tomatoes and cook until they soften.
Add four spice powders and mix well.
Add fresh spinach, and 1/4 to 1/2 cup water, seal the pot with the lid. Do not add too much else you will end up with excess water.
Select ‘0’ minute pressure cooking on HIGH.
Once the Instant Pot beeps, quick release.
Puree the mixture using an immersion blender.
Add salt and kasoori methi (if using).
Then add cubed paneer and mix well.
Pour some cream if using.
If the gravy is too thick, add a dash of warm water.
Serving Suggestion
Indian food goes great with round and soft Gujarati rotlis
Or, why not treat yourself and make Restaurant Style Garlic and Coriander Naan which is so pillowy soft and perfect for scooping up all of the delicious sauce.
Takeaway Style Pilau Rice (made with basmati rice) or jeera rice , Indian Onion Salad and Instant Pot Daal Makhani is a must if you are looking for a complete meal.
The perfect dessert after a curry is our Best Gajar Ka Halwa or Cardamom Chai Kulfi
Storage
This curry keeps well for a day in the fridge. After that, the spinach begins to darken. It will not freeze well due to the paneer in the recipe.
Reheat the palak paneer in a pan or in the microwave prior to serving.
How to keep Spinach/Palak green when cooking
Spinach is a very delicate vegetable that does not require longer cooking. If spinach is cooked for a long time it will loose it’s vibrant green colour as well as nutrition.
Only Cook/blanch/boil/steam for 2-3 minutes. If using a pressure cooker, cook the spinach for minimum time.
If boiling/blanching spinach in a pot add a pinch of sugar OR baking soda.
Add a splash of lemon juice to spinach gravy to retain it’s green colour.
When we don’t cook spinach in the pressure cooker, we blanch palak or spinach in boiling water with a pinch of sugar. Then remove from the pot and add in to the bowl filled with ice cubes and cold water. Ice cold water stops from over cooking.
After blanching the spinach, rinse it in under ice cold tap water (this step we only do in freezing winter when the tap water is naturally icy!)
Last but not least, use less turmeric powder and ground cumin and coriander for any palak recipe. Turmeric powder will give a yellow hue and cumin and coriander makes spinach go darker.
How to make Vegan Palak Paneer in Instant Pot?
Palak Paneer is a vegetarian Indian curry, thus it is not suitable for people who follows plant based or vegan diet. Paneer is a dairy product, to make vegan version use firm tofu for this recipe. It tastes so great.
Make sure you drain the tofu well and shallow fry the tofu cubes in a skillet, grill or air fry before adding in to the curry.
Use cashew cream or any other vegan/plant based cream instead of a dairy cream for a Instant Pot Palak Tofu.
Why my Palak Paneer is Bitter?
Palak or spinach has very mild bitter or very earthy taste, due to this reason sometimes palak paneer tastes slightly bitter (not as bad as bitter gourd or paracetamol though).
In this case add a big pinch of sugar, lemon juice and cream. These three ingredients together will cut down the bitter flavours.
My Palak Paneer is too watery
This happens when we add extra water in to the curry. In this case dry roast 2 tablespoons of gram flour in a skillet or non-stick pan and add in to the palak paneer and cook 1 minute.
If gram flour is not available, use almond flour and thicken the palak paneer.
Other Instant Pot recipes
Instant Pot Coconut & Rose Semolina Cake
Instant Pot Corn on the Cob Curry with Coconut
Instant Pot Cypriot Stuffed Peppers
Sultani Daal
Instant Pot Dudhi Halwa
As always if you make this recipe, be sure to leave me a comment, rate this recipe and tag me on Instagram @jcookingodyssey or #jcookingodyssey. I love seeing all your photos of my recipe recreations!
Don’t forget to follow me on social media using the buttons below – I can’t wait to see you all there!
- YouTube
INSTANT POT PALAK PANEER
Equipment
- Instant por
- Big spoon
Ingredients
- 200 grams spinach
- 200 grams paneer
- 2 tablespoon oil or ghee
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 inch ginger
- 1 green chilli hot
- 1 teaspoon chilli powder red
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 2 teaspoon ground cumin and coriander
- ¼ teaspoon garam masala
- 1 small tomato
- salt to taste
- 2 tablespoon cream
- 1 teaspoon dry fenugreek leaves kasoori methi
Instructions
- On saute mode heat oil in the Instant pot pan. 2 tablespoon oil
- Add cumin seeds, once they crackle add the onion. 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, 1 medium onion
- Saute until light pink, then add ginger, garlic and green chilli. 4 cloves garlic, 1 inch ginger, 1 green chilli
- Cook further for a minute or so then add tomatoes. 1 small tomato
- Saute for a minute then add all the spice powders. 1 teaspoon chilli powder, 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder, 2 teaspoon ground cumin and coriander, 1/4 teaspoon garam masala
- Then add spinach and 1/4 cup water. 200 grams spinach
- Close IP with the lid and turn the pressure valve to sealing position.
- Select HIGH-pressure cook for ‘0’ ZERO minutes.
- Quick-release the pressure.
- Using hand blender turn into a smooth paste.
- Add salt and kasoori methi. salt, 1 teaspoon dry fenugreek leaves
- Then add paneer, mix well and saute (less) for 1 minute. 200 grams paneer
- Pour and mix cream if using. 2 tablespoon cream
- Serve hot.
Video
Nutrition
PLEASE NOTE: Nutritional values are estimated by a computer and may vary based on ingredients and portion sizes. For personalised dietary advice, please consult a qualified healthcare professional.
INSTANT POT PALAK PANEER
Equipment
- Instant por
- Big spoon
Ingredients
- 200 grams spinach
- 200 grams paneer
- 2 tablespoon oil or ghee
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 inch ginger
- 1 green chilli hot
- 1 teaspoon chilli powder red
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 2 teaspoon ground cumin and coriander
- ¼ teaspoon garam masala
- 1 small tomato
- salt to taste
- 2 tablespoon cream
- 1 teaspoon dry fenugreek leaves kasoori methi
Instructions
- On saute mode heat oil in the Instant pot pan. 2 tablespoon oil
- Add cumin seeds, once they crackle add the onion. 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, 1 medium onion
- Saute until light pink, then add ginger, garlic and green chilli. 4 cloves garlic, 1 inch ginger, 1 green chilli
- Cook further for a minute or so then add tomatoes. 1 small tomato
- Saute for a minute then add all the spice powders. 1 teaspoon chilli powder, 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder, 2 teaspoon ground cumin and coriander, 1/4 teaspoon garam masala
- Then add spinach and 1/4 cup water. 200 grams spinach
- Close IP with the lid and turn the pressure valve to sealing position.
- Select HIGH-pressure cook for ‘0’ ZERO minutes.
- Quick-release the pressure.
- Using hand blender turn into a smooth paste.
- Add salt and kasoori methi. salt, 1 teaspoon dry fenugreek leaves
- Then add paneer, mix well and saute (less) for 1 minute. 200 grams paneer
- Pour and mix cream if using. 2 tablespoon cream
- Serve hot.
Video
Nutrition
PLEASE NOTE: Nutritional values are estimated by a computer and may vary based on ingredients and portion sizes. For personalised dietary advice, please consult a qualified healthcare professional.
Air fryer Sweet Potato Fries are a delicious crispy treat, wonderfully cooked in the air fryer with little oil. A generous sprinkling of Indian masala takes these sweet potato fries to another level! And they’re super crispy … what more can you ask for?!
Included are 5 handy tips for the CRISPIEST sweet potato fries EVER!
In this recipe, sweet potato is cut into fries, air fried until gorgeously crispy then sprinkled with a tangy Indian masala spice powder.
I love sweet potato in all forms but undoubtedly, the best is sweet potato fries! They go great as a side for so many different meals or delicious as a treat served with a selection of dips.
These sweet potato fries have an Indian seasoning of various ground spices, mint and lemon juice to create a hot and sour flavour that you will want to try again and again!
Better yet, with just a few ingredients you can make this recipe just like I made these Air fryer Parsnips
Other masala recipes you may like are these Masala Chips which are oven baked.
<img loading=“lazy” src=“https://www.jcookingodyssey.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/air-fryer-sweet-potato-fries-masala-8.jpg" onerror=“this.onerror=null;this.src=‘https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhe7F7TRXHtjiKvHb5vS7DmnxvpHiDyoYyYvm1nHB3Qp2_w3BnM6A2eq4v7FYxCC9bfZt3a9vIMtAYEKUiaDQbHMg-ViyGmRIj39MLp0bGFfgfYw1Dc9q_H-T0wiTm3l0Uq42dETrN9eC8aGJ9_IORZsxST1AcLR7np1koOfcc7tnHa4S8Mwz_xD9d0=s16000';" alt=“A very close up shot of air fryer sweet potato fries
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Ingredients
Full ingredients with measurements are available in the recipe card below at the end of this post
Sweet potatoes – they are an excellent source of beta carotene, potassium and fibre. Try to choose sweet potatoes that are longer and narrow rather than short and fat for a better looking “fry”. You can also use purple sweet potatoes for this recipe.
Spices – red chilli powder, black pepper powder, and chaat masala powder. All are avalible in supermarkets in the world food aisle or pop into a South Asian Grocery store. You can alternatively leave out the chaat masala and use extra lemon juice
Herbs – dried mint
Flours – corn starch for an extra crispy coating
Lemon juice – use fresh or bottled lemon or lime juice
Oil – we used olive oil but you can use sunflower, avocado or vegetable oil too. Spray oil is useful as you can control exactly how much you add.
How to make sweet potato fries in the air fryer
This recipe made in two steps, first step to cut the sweet potato into uniformly into fries/chips then in second step to season them and air fry them.
How to cut sweet potato for fries
Wash and clean sweet potato to get rid of the soil, if any. Lightly scrub the sweet potatoes when washing. If the sweet potatoes are organic no need to peel.
You’ll need a large and sharp knife. Take off the end bits from both sides.
If the sweet potato is small in length cut across lengthwise otherwise cut right through to the thickest part of the potato in the middle.
Then carefully sit one-half side on the board and start cutting slices. I did two slices. Try to keep the thickness same sizes.
Now cut into 1/2″ thick chips or into thickness of your choice.
How to air fryer sweet potato fries
Note – If you want to use any cooking spray, spray before seasoning the fries, otherwise add oil later.
Place all the cut sweet potato chips in a large bowl and sprinkle it with salt, red chilli powder, chaat masala powder, black pepper powder, lemon juice and dried mint.
Nowadays dry mint is my go-to herb for many dishes including my instant pot Cypriot stuffed peppers
Then sprinkle some cornflour/starch and mix well, now add oil and give it a good stir using a spoon or hands.
Let it sit while you preheat the air fryer.
Our air fryer manual recommends preheating the fryer before baking anything. Some air fryers have the preheat function built in, so get the air fryer going and then tip in the fries.
I preheated the fryer for 5 minutes to 195C or 380F, once it’s preheated carefully remove the basket as it will be very HOT.
Using a tong arrange all the fries in the basket, make sure fries are not overlapping each other in the air fryer basket.
Then select same temperature fry for 12 minutes, when air fryer beeps for SHAKE remove the basket from the unit and shake it for even cooking.
I did shake the basket at 6 minutes and 10 minutes.
Once done remove from the basket and serve.
Tips to get the crispiest sweet potato fries in the air fryer
The air fryer is such a handy way to get a crispy texture without the unhealthy oil that’s needed for deep frying. Here are some tips to get your fries extra crispy.
Be consistent with the size of your fries – we want them to cook evenly for the same time so sticking approximately to a single size is best. You may have to adjust the timings depending on the size of the fries.
The trick here is to use a bit of cornflour in the seasoning which will crisp up the outside of the fries and still keep them soft in the middle.
Don’t add too much seasoning and masala, if you want you can sprinkle once cooked.
Do not overcrowd the basket, try to keep portion sizes small and make sure the fries are laid in the basket in a single layer. Overcrowding leads to steaming which will cause soggy fries but a single layer allows the heat to circulate evenly.
Keep a watch around the end of cooking as the fries can burn easily.
Oil free sweet potato fries
Although air-fried sweet potatoes do not need a lot of oil, if you prefer totally zero oil fries, skip the oil and cornflour.
They’ll still taste great but the texture may come out a little different.
Serving Suggestions
They taste delicious with tahini, mayo or even green mint and coriander chutney
If serving as an appetizer or snack, pair it with virgin cardamom mojito or non-alcoholic green apple martini
Or for a full meal serve it with a fresh colourful salad and sun-dried tomato chickpea cakes with cashew and oats
Storage
These fries are best eaten immediately as this is when they are at their crispiest.
Fridge – You can however store them in the fridge in an air tight container for up to 3 days. Reheat in the oven or air fryer.
Freezer – Freeze the fries on a baking tray in a single layer. Once frozen, you can transfer into a freezer-proof container or bag. They will need reheating directly from frozen.
Other sweet potato recipes
Air fryer Baked Sweet Potato
Thai sweet potato, chickpea and mushroom curry
Low-fat black bean and sweet potato quesadilla
Goji berries, mushroom and sweet potato soup
Thai style squash and sweet potato soup
Vegan sweet potato and tofu kofta curry
Sweet potato and coconut jamun
As always if you make this recipe, be sure to leave me a comment, rate this recipe and tag me on Instagram @jcookingodyssey or #jcookingodyssey. I love seeing all your photos of my recipe recreations!
Don’t forget to follow me on social media using the buttons below – I can’t wait to see you all there!
- YouTube
AIR FRYER MASALA SWEET POTATO FRIES
Equipment
- Air fryer
- Sharp knife
- Chopping board
Ingredients
- 1 large sweet potato
- 1 tbsp. oil
- ½ tsp. chilli powder red
- ¼ tsp. black pepper powder
- ½ tsp. chaat masala powder
- Pinch salt
- 1 tsp. corn starch/flour
- 1 tsp. lemon juice
- ¼ tsp. dry mint
Instructions
- Wash and clean the sweet potato.
- Cut the potatoes into 1/2″ thick chips.
- In a big bowl mix cut chips, all the spice powders, salt, lemon juice, cornflour and oil.
- Give it a good mix.
- Preheat the air fryer to 195C/380F for 5 minutes.
- Place the seasoned chips in the air fryer basket.
- Air fry it for 12 minutes in total.
- Serve hot.
Nutrition
PLEASE NOTE: Nutritional values are estimated by a computer and may vary based on ingredients and portion sizes. For personalised dietary advice, please consult a qualified healthcare professional.
