The Kitchen Docs

This Saag Paneer recipe combines the goodness of spinach and deep flavors of Indian spices with bites of luscious paneer. Made only in one pot that is Instant Pot and in a fraction of time as compared to the traditional recipe.

I know I am probably the last person on this planet to start talking about Instant Pot recipes. But, I have my reasons. First, I have grown up watching food made in Pressure Cooker, of all sizes and kinds. Second, I love my pressure cookers. I can use them to sauté, sear, and, of course, pressure cook. Thirdly, I love my Pressure Cooker..oh wait, I already listed that. But you get the point, right? I love and trust cooking with pressure cookers. So when the whole hoopla about Instant Pot started going around a few years ago, I was neither convinced nor tempted. You see, I am very very very conservative about adding unnecessary gadgets to my kitchen, where they take up precious counter and/or cabinet real estate. But this Instant Pot Saag Paneer Recipe might be a turning point in my life.

There was a huge sale on Instant Pot on Amazon for prime day and though I am not usually keen on buying something just because it is on sale, this was an exception. One of my dear friends had bought a new house and I was looking for a present for her housewarming party. I thought getting her an Instant Pot might be a good idea. They are a young couple with busy lives, sure, they can make good use of this “world famous” kitchen appliance. And on a whim, I bought two – one for her, and one for us. You know, I thought why not? Plus, so many of you had requested Instant Pot versions of classic recipes on The Kitchen Docs. So, I bought my Instant Pot because of you…hah.

Instant Pot is here so what now?

I made Instant Pot version of my chana masala biryani the day I got it but forgot to take any pictures of the biryani, so I reckon that recipe will have to wait for another day. Today, we are going to talk about Instant Pot Saag Panner. I searched the mighty internet for some times for cooking greens in the instant pot and then armed with the information, got to work. The beauty of this recipe lies in two factors – one pot recipe and a major time saver. On a regular day, I would go back to my original Punjabi Paalak Paneer recipe but if you are in a time crunch and not wanting to compromise on deep and developed Indian flavors – you might want to try this Instant pot recipe.

This recipe takes away additional steps of blanching the spinach before blending it and then cooking the masala separately. Everything gets done in the Instant pot and that too in a fraction of time.

Recipe run down

We start with bhoonoing the masala (read about what is bhoono here)using the “saute” setting on the Instant pot. Once the masala is done, I dumped in the fresh spinach and pressure cook it for “0” minutes. The idea behind this time is just to develop pressure in the pot so the spinach steams and then release the pressure so that the greens are not overcooked and the color is not compromised. All the ingredients in the recipe are same as the original Punjabi Paalak/Saag Paneer recipe here. Then blend the spinach using a hand blender to get a consistency you like. Turn “saute” back on, dunk in the paneer (and cream if using), salt and finish with garam masala and kasuri methi. I used 1 batch of homemade paneer (recipe here) but you can also buy paneer at any Indian store or at Costco.

Here’s your handy dandy printable

Find the stove top recipe of this saag paneer/Punjabi paalak paneer here.

Make this recipe vegan!

You can easily make this recipe vegan by skipping the heavy cream and using tofu instead of paneer. Easy Peasy!

Three other recipes with similar ingredients

Punjabi Palak Paneer

Matar Paneer

Spinach Rice

Tools used:

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Love – Vaishali