Paneer butter masala is soft cubes of Indian cottage cheese in a finger-licking' nutty-buttery sauce! It comes together so easily in the instant pot, you'll hardly believe you made one of the most popular vegetarian dishes on Indian restaurant menus!
Want to put your instant pot to good use? Check out this collection of 30+ recipes: Instant Pot Indian Vegetarian Recipes.
Instant Pot paneer butter masala is my new culinary BFF! I love anything paneer, and when you add cashews, cream and oodles of butter to the sauce? Pure heaven:) Yes, this paneer makhani is REALLY as good as it looks. Plus it's one of those deceptive recipes that appear as though they took a ton of effort, but in reality, are super-simple and easy to make. Everyone's favorite kind, right?
The not-so-secret ingredient in this recipe is butter, six whole tablespoons of it. Try making it without it and you'll see what I mean. Butter really transforms a common sauce into something quite special, and so, right off the bat, I wouldn't advise you to skimp on it. If you want rich, deep flavours in your dish, stick to the amount specified. Of course, if we're adding so much butter, we can completely omit the oil. There is no cooking oil in this butter paneer if it makes you feel a little better!
I am not going to waffle on, but one last thing before we get into the recipe is that this paneer makhanwala (makhan means butter) is not your regular, everyday dish. It is perfect for entertaining, your guests are going to love it, and you need not tell them how easy (or sinful) it is!
One more vegetarian party dish with paneer is the the ever-popular palak paneer recipe. You just can't go wrong with it.
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Ingredients
- Fresh Indian cottage cheese or paneer
- Butter
- Onions
- Tomatoes
- Ginger
- Garlic
- Cashews
- Ground spices - garam masala (Indian spice blend), red chilli powder, paprika, turmeric and coriander
- Cream
- Sugar, a teaspoonful
- Green herbs for garnishing (cilantro or parsley)
- Salt, to taste
Indian cottage cheese or paneer
Paneer is a soft, yet firm Indian cheese. Good quality paneer tastes slightly milky and creamy but it doesn't melt like other cheeses. It retains its shape when cooked and absorbs the flavors of the sauce in which it is put. Much like firm tofu, except the taste is far superior.
The problem is finding that good quality paneer. If you're in North India, this is not a problem as fresh paneer is sold quite commonly in most local dairies. But if you're in a western country like me, that option simply does not exist. To be sure, frozen paneer is available in most Indian supermarkets in the US and Canada, but it doesn't make the cut. It can be hard, even when thawed, and quite tasteless. I have despaired of finding good-tasting frozen paneer, and nowadays, prefer to make my own.
Don't worry, making paneer is not as scary as it sounds! It's actually a very simple process. It does add an extra step, but the result is so totally worth it. All you need to do is bring a litre or two of fresh, whole milk to a boil and add some lemon juice or vinegar to it. The milk will separate immediately into solids and whey. It's these solids you want for the paneer. Strain the mixture through a cheesecloth, discard the liquid and tie the milk solids in the cheesecloth to firm them up. Paneer cheese is ready already!
Here's the detailed recipe for making paneer in your instant pot. Once you get used to making paneer at home, you will never go back to store-bought paneer again. Homemade paneer is that good.
Of course, if you don't want to go to the trouble, use store-bought paneer, which is what I used to do before I learnt this simple, no-brainer of a recipe to make paneer right in my kitchen.
Instructions
Prepare the ingredients (10 minutes)
- Chop the onions and tomatoes - don't bother about chopping them too fine, it's all going to get pureed anyway.
- Mince the ginger and garlic.
- Soak the cashews in water.
- Cut the paneer cheese into cubes.
Cook the sauce (30 minutes)
- Turn your instant pot to saute and add half the butter.
- As soon as the butter melts, slide in the onions, tomatoes, cashews, ginger and garlic. Saute for 2 minutes only.
- Add the powdered spices and salt. Add ¼ cup water if the masala gets too dry and cook for 2 minutes.
- Pressure cook on high for 4 minutes. Release steam after 10 minutes.
- Open the cooker and puree the cooked masala using an immersion blender. It doesn't matter if the masala is hot, immersion blenders can handle the heat.
- Press saute again and add the remaining butter, sugar and cream. Cook on normal heat for 10 minutes. Cover with a glass lid if the sauce splatters too much. The sauce will get darker and shinier as you cook it. This is an indication that it's done. Cancel the saute mode.
- Add the cubed paneer and mix well. Garnish with the green leaves of your choice and serve with naan bread or rice.
Note: If you don't have an immersion blender, wait for the contents of the cooker to cool down, then puree in your regular blender.
How to make butter paneer and rice together in the instant pot (PIP)
I'm all for convenience, so if you want to cook this paneer curry together with rice, go for the pot-in-pot method. Needless to say, this saves time and resources like nothing else, and it's one of the many reasons I love my Instant Pot.
This is how you do it -
- Just before pressure cooking the masala in step 4 above, wash and soak one cup Basmati rice in one and a quarter cup water in a steel container that will fit inside the instant pot inner liner. I used a steel dish I already had, but you can order stackable steel inserts from Amazon if you don't have any that fit.
- Place the trivet that came along with your cooker in the inner liner. Position the steel container with the rice and water on top of this trivet. Now pressure cook normally (step 4).
- When you open the pot, both the paneer butter masala and the rice will be cooked. All you need to do is remove the trivet with the rice on it and follow the rest of the directions.
Why this paneer butter masala recipe works
- It is a fairly easy recipe that requires no special expertise.
- You can make a complete meal out of it by cooking rice right along with it in the same pot.
- It's got a smooth, rich taste that you will love.
- It's a restaurant-style dish that your guests will love.
- It will go a long way in fulfilling your protein requirement for the day. Yes, paneer happens to be a very good source of vegetarian protein!
More delicious paneer recipes to try
📖 Recipe
Paneer Butter Masala
Equipment
- 6-quart Instant Pot Duo
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoon salted butter
- ¼ cup cashews soaked in water
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 2 medium tomatoes chopped
- 1 " piece ginger minced
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ teaspoon garam masala powder
- ½ teaspoon Kashmiri red chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 sprigs cilantro or parsley chopped
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Turn your instant pot to saute and add half the butter.
- As soon as the butter melts, slide in the onions, tomatoes, cashews, ginger and garlic. Saute for 2 minutes only.
- Add the powdered spices and salt. Add ¼ cup water if the masala gets too dry and cook for 2 minutes. Cancel saute.
- Secure the lid, make sure the steam release handle is sealed, press the pressure cooking button (high) and set the timer for 4 minutes. Release steam after 10 minutes.
- Open the cooker and puree the cooked masala using an immersion blender. It doesn't matter if the masala is hot, immersion blenders can handle the heat.
- Press saute again and add the remaining butter, sugar and cream. Cook on normal heat for 10 minutes. Cover with a glass lid if the sauce splatters too much. The sauce will get darker and shinier as you cook it. This is an indication that it's done. Cancel the saute mode.
- Add the cubed paneer and mix well. Garnish with the green leaves of your choice and serve with naan bread or rice.
Pot in Pot Rice
- Just before pressure cooking the masala in step 4 above, wash and soak one cup Basmati rice in one and a quarter cup water in a steel container that will fit inside the instant pot inner liner.
- Place the trivet that came along with your cooker in the inner liner. Position the steel container with the rice and water on top of this trivet. Now pressure cook normally (step 4).
- When you open the pot, both the paneer butter masala and the rice will be cooked. All you need to do is remove the trivet with the rice on it and follow the rest of the directions from step 5.
Notes
- Kashmiri chilli powder is a mild variety of red chilli that has a very pleasing natural red color. If you don't have it, use normal chilli but don't omit the paprika for color.
- Garam Masala is available in Indian stores but you can make your own too. Grind together 2 black cardamom (seeds only, outer skin removed), 5 green cardamom, ½ teaspoon black pepper, 1 bay leaf and 10 cloves. Use as required and store the rest in a small jar.
Katie says
Delicious and thank you so much for the pot in pot directions for rice! Everything turned out perfect.