Month of January is the national diet month. Why not start the new year with healthy food habit? I wanted to try Keto diet for a long time, but have not been able to strictly follow it. Before I get started with Keto diet I wanted to try out a few quick Keto recipes. Cooking Palak Paneer, a perfect vegetarian Keto dish, using instant pot is super easy and quick. This vegetarian keto palak paneer recipe cooked in instant pot is ideal for quick and easy weeknight dinner.
\Palak or spinach is a low carb leafy vegetable with high nutrient level is an ideal addition to Keto diet. And paneer is the perfect source of protein and fat, essential for Keto diet. So this vegetarian Palak Paneer recipe is perfect for a Keto meal. The best thing about this recipe is that it can be cooked in instant pot in less than 30 minutes.
How to make Palak Paneer using Instant pot
This recipe requires instant pot and a hand blender. Turn on the instant pot in sauté mode. Cut the paneer in small pieces, mix little bit of salt and garam masala powder to the paneer cubes. I recommend to lightly sauté the paneer before cooking the gravy. It will make the paneer soft.
In order to cook the gravy, add cinnamon stick, cardamom, cloves, cumin seed and fenugreek seed and let it sputter in ghee/ oil in the sauté mode. Add the grated garlic and ginger, and let it fry of 30 sec. As it turns light brown, add chopped onion and diced tomato and let it fry for 1 minute. Add turmeric, red chili powder, cumin and coriander powder and let it fry for 2 min. Next, add cilantro, green chili (if you want to make it spicy) and the spinach. Mix everything together, add 1/3 cup of water and put the instant pot in Manual High pressure mode for 2 minutes.
Once the 2 minutes of cooking is done, release pressure, open the pot and mix all the ingredients using a hand grinder to make it a paste. Add water if necessary to build the desired consistency. Add paneer and the let it cook in sauté mode for 2 min, or until the mixture comes to a boiling point. Add garam masala and serve it with heavy cream (optional) on the top
Priya Banerjee
Yields 3 cups
Palak or spinach is a low carb leafy vegetable with high nutrient level is an ideal addition to Keto diet. And paneer is the perfect source of protein and fat, essential for Keto diet. So this vegetarian Palak Paneer recipe cooked in instant pot is perfect for a Keto meal.
10 minPrep Time
15 minCook Time
25 minTotal Time

Ingredients
- 250 gm paneer
- 150 gm onion (1/2 onion)
- 50 gm Tomato (1/2 tomato)
- 4 cloves of garlic grated
- 1 tbsp ginger paste
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
- 250 gm spinach
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
- 1 green chili (optional)
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin seed
- 1/2 tsp fenugreek seed
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 pieces of green cardamom
- 4 pieces of cloves
- 1/2 tsp MDH Garam Masala
- 1/8 tsp home made garam Masala (optional) (mixture of ground cinnamon, cloves and cardamom)
- 1 tsp heavy whipping cream (optional)
- 3 tbsp ghee
- 11/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp sugar
Instructions
- Cut the paneer in small cube sized pieces
- Add 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp garam masala to the paneer
- Turn on the instant pot in sauté mode, add 2 tbsp of ghee
- As the instant pot heats up, add the paneer and fry it for 2 minutes, continuously stirring it. It will make the paneer soft
- Take out the paneer, add another tbsp of ghee
- Add cinnamon stick, cardamom, cloves, cumin seed and fenugreek seed and let it sputter
- Add the grated garlic and ginger, and let it fry of 30 sec
- Add chopped onion and diced tomato and let it fry for 1 min
- Add turmeric, red chili powder, cumin and coriander powder and let it fry for 2 min
- Add cilantro, green chili (if you want to make it spicy) and the spinach
- Mix everything together, add 1/3 cup of water and put the instant pot in Manual High pressure mode for 2 minutes
- Once the 2 minutes of cooking is done, release pressure, open the pot and mix all the ingredients using a hand grinder to make it a paste. Add water if necessary to build the desired consistency
- Add paneer and the let it cook in sauté mode for 2 min, or until the mixture comes to a boiling point
- Add the home made Garam masala
- Serve it with heavy cream (optional)
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