Easy saag paneer recipe! A flavorful Indian creamed spinach and greens curry with paneer cheese. A great vegetarian meal!
As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
Hi, Rhubarbarians!
A suuuuper flavorful Indian dish comin atcha today. Saag paneer!
Jump to:
Creamed greens with Indian cheese
Saag paneer is a very popular Indian dish. It's made by cooking down greens with spices and pureeing them with some cream and serving with Indian cheese (paneer).
It's creamed greens with Indian cheese. Usually served over rice with naan bread on the side.
For this saag paneer recipe, we use a mix of spinach, mustard greens, and kale. We mellow out the bitter flavor of the greens by blending them with heavy cream.
Do you know the difference between palak paneer and saag paneer? Palak paneer is made with only spinach, while saag paneer is made with a mix of greens.
How to serve
Serve your saag paneer with cooked basmati rice and naan bread. You can also serve with raita or yogurt for the top, fresh cilantro leaves, and maybe some chili sauce for some extra heat.
Click here for all of our vegetarian dinner recipes!
Storing and freezing
Storing: Saag paneer can be stored in the refrigerator in an air tight container for up to 5 days. It may dry out a bit in the refrigerator, but adding a touch of water before reheating will solve that.
Freezing: Saag paneer freezes very well! Store in an air tight container in the freezer for up to 6 months. We recommend letting it defrost in the refrigerator before reheating and serving.
Have you tried our coconut cauliflower curry stew?
FAQs
- Can I use different greens? YEP! You can use any greens that you have on hand. Or make palak paneer with just spinach. You may need to adjust the amount of spices and cream if you are switching from bitter greens.
- Can I use an immersion blender? You can, but we don't recommend it. Saag paneer should be very creamy and an immersion blender just doesn't get it creamy enough. But if that's all you have, go for it!
- Can I make this in an Instant Pot? You can, but it's not necessary and may actually add to your cook time. You want to sauté the aromatics and would only be closing the lid to cook the greens, which doesn't take much time at all.
- Can I substitute oil for ghee or butter? YEP! It's won't be as rich, but coconut oil is a great sub for the butter.
- Can I use coconut milk rather than cream? YEP! Using coconut milk and coconut oil is a wonderful plant based option.
Recipe
Easy saag paneer recipe
Ingredients
- 12 oz paneer cheese, cubed
- ¼ cup plain yogurt
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground turmeric, divided
- 5 teaspoon garam masala, divided
- 2 teaspoon ground cumin, divided
- 5 tablespoon ghee or butter, divided
- 1 medium red onion, diced
- 4 medium garlic cloves, minced
- 1 2" piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced
- ½ teaspoon ground cayenne
- 8 cups packed kale, stems removed and leaves chopped (about 2 bunches)
- 4 cups packed mustard greens, chopped
- 4 cups packed spinach, chopped
- ¼ cup water
- 1 cup heavy cream
- salt and pepper
- fresh cilantro, cooked basmati rice, yogurt, and naan bread for serving
Instructions
- Combine the paneer, yogurt, 1 teaspoon of the turmeric, 1 teaspoon of the garam masala, and 1 teaspoon of the cumin in a medium bowl. Set aside and let marinate while you prep the rest of the ingredients, at least 10 minutes.
- When your greens are chopped and ingredients are prepped, heat 1 Tablespoon of the ghee or butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the paneer, and sauté, stirring often, until golden on all sides, about 10 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.
- Reduce heat to medium and add another 3 Tbsps of ghee in the skillet. Add the onion and sauté until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, cayenne, and remaining turmeric, garam masala, and cumin. Stir well until and sauté until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Begin adding your kale, a few handfuls at a time, stirring until greens are wilted. Continue until all greens are wilted and cooked down, including mustard greens and spinach, adding ⅛ cup of water as necessary, about 10 minutes.
- Place greens in a large blender along with the heavy cream and blend until smooth. Return to skillet.
- Stir in paneer, and reheat curry until hot. Stir in another tablespoon of ghee until melted and combined. Season generously with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve curry over basmati rice, topped with yogurt and fresh cilantro. Eat with naan bread (optional).
Nutrition
If you make this recipe, please let us know on social media or in the comments below! Leave a star rating in your comment or tag us on Instagram with #Rhubarbarians
LIKE WHAT YOU SEE? GET FREE WEEKLY RECIPES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX! SIGN UP HERE!
May
This was delicious and simple to follow. I absolutely loved it! I paired it with some garlic naan. I will definitely be making this again. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Kerrie
Absolutely love this recipe. I use it as a base.. I mix up and use whatever veg I have to use.. I've made parsley, root veg, spinach; spinach, broccoli, kale; etc. The flavoring is spot on. Cheers and thank you so much for this!
Trish Bozeman
I'm so glad you love it! I do the same, toss in whatever greens/veggies I have to use up. Thanks, Kerrie!
Nora Chavez - Punjabi Desi Foods
I heard that this was an absolutely delicious dish, and I am curious. Isnt it wonderful that there are so many ways in the world to make food. Is your recipe hot? meaning you put red pepper or hot palak? This Indian dish combines fresh spinach and ricotta in a creamy palak paneer. Use paneer if you can find it! It is absolutely wonderful with basmati rice or naan.
Corina
Fantastic use of spices! This sounds so tasty.
Patricia Bozeman
Thank you so much, Corina!
Cyrus
Trish you've outdone yourself here. Love the swapping in of kale into the saag paneer. I'm curious if the addition affected any of the spices you were intending to put into the dish? Anything you'd either want to put in extra or leave out?
Patricia Bozeman
hey Cyrus! I kept the spices the same, however I had to really adjust the yogurt. The kale has a more bitter flavor than spinach, so I had to add less plain yogurt than I normally would. I think using coconut milk here would be amazing, but not very authentic. 🙂
Through Her Looking Glass
Tricia - this recipe looks amazing! I always learn so much when I come to your blog. Always enjoy the visit. This dish would be lovely with a glass of pinot. Cheers!
Patricia Bozeman
Thank you! Cheers to you too!
hooplah
This sounds so interesting to me. Lots of flavors going on that I haven't had much experience with - but that's my loss, cause I'm obviously missing out. Think I'll have to fix that by trying this recipe over the weekend 😀
Patricia Bozeman
Let me know if you try it out Chrisy! Definitely not for everyone, but I LOVE saag!
Tina Jui | The Worktop
Oh I LOVE paneer! So happy to see your recipe for it 🙂 Ps. I still like you after your 3 days off. Whew.
Patricia Bozeman
ha! Thanks Tina!
Angi
I'm hungry. Saag paneer is one of my favorite Indian dishes! And I've been on a huge naan-making kick lately so I think I need to add this recipe to my "to-cook" list for the near future...I love the idea of using kale.