Pressure Cooker Palak Paneer is the biggest star in my book right now! It’s a classic Indian dish made with soft cubes of cheese and a creamy spiced spinach sauce.

I have a dirty confession to make.

I don’t eat leftovers. There are a few exceptions to this statement for me, but as a general rule, I really dislike reheated food. Pizza, most pasta, curries, and soup are good, but the rest of it I avoid.

The benefits of having a husband who works from home, eats from home, does everything from home, is that he eats the leftovers before I even realize that it’s happening. It’s a win for both of us!

Why am I telling you this? Yep, you guessed it, Pressure Cooker Palak Paneer has now been added to my list of “Things I Eat The Next Day”. And the next day, and the next day, and the next….

My friend and new coworker sent me a palak paneer recipe to try, and I blew it off initially because cooked and pureed spinach doesn’t exactly get me excited, but I finally decided to give it a whirl!

Oh. My. Goodness. I was hooked!

I’ve been sitting here thinking about how to describe to you the lusciousness of this recipe, and words are just failing me. You start by crisping up the soft cheese cubes (paneer) in oil. That’s a great start! Cheese + Oil = BIG YUM.

Next, the sauce gets built.

We add spices, veggies, and a tiny bit of water then let the pressure cooker do its sauce making magic.

At the end of the short cooking time (2 MINUTES!!), the sauce gets blended to a creamy, silky smooth perfection. It does NOT taste like spinach. I repeat, no strong spinach flavor was present. Instead, all the ingredients somehow magically combine to create 1 entirely new, completely delicious, out of this world flavor.

Can you tell I’m in love yet? It’s actually been a few weeks since I last made this, but I’ll be headed to the store shortly for ingredients to make it again!

One more major bonus… it’s cheap! I had all of the ingredients on hand in my pantry except for a big tub of spinach and the paneer. WIN!

Please make this… you won’t regret it.

Pressure Cooker Palak Paneer

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Author: Jessie
Total Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 4-6 1x

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Ingredients

Scale

½ lb paneer, cut into bite sized cubs
2 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon cumin (affiliate) seeds or ½ teaspoon ground cumin (affiliate)
2 small green chili peppers, minced
1 medium onion, diced
4–5 large cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1 large tomato, chopped
¼ cup water
½ teaspoon garam masala
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
½ teaspoon red chili powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon salt
1lb spinach, washed

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Instructions

In your instant pot, heat oil until hot and then fry paneer for 4-5 minutes until brown on a few sides.
Remove paneer from pot and set aside.
Add cumin seeds to oil and sauté for 1-2 minutes.
Add diced peppers, onion, garlic, and ginger. Saute for 2 minutes until fragrant.
Add tomato, water, all spices, and spinach. Stir gently then lock lid and set to high pressure for 2 minutes.
When time is up, let pot naturally release for 5 minutes, then release all remaining pressure.
Use an immersion blender right in your instant pot to blend ingredients to a creamy texture. If you don’t have an immersion blender, allow mixture to cool slightly then pour into a stand blender. Pulse until creamy.
Add mixture back to pressure cooker, stir in paneer and garam masala, let sit for 5-10 minutes to soak up the flavor.
Serve with naan, roti, or over rice!