Vegan Palak Paneer with Tofu - Holy Cow! Vegan Recipes (2024)

A vegan Palak Paneer recipe that's as good as anything you'd get at an Indian restaurant, perhaps even better. The spinach curry is creamy and perfectly spiced and cubes of paneer cheese are replaced with tofu, making this a healthier, delicious and dairy free option. Eat with naan or roti for the perfect vegan Indian dinner. This is a gluten-free recipe and it can be nut-free.

I first posted my recipe for tofu Palak Paneer recipe for you back in 2008, in the fledgling days of this blog. The reason I rushed to veganize this perpetual Indian restaurant favorite is that it was one Indian dish I often ordered when I ate out before I became vegan and I certainly didn't want to live without it.

What is palak paneer?

Palak paneer, sometimes called saag paneer, is a creamy, mildly spiced north Indian spinach curry with cubes of paneer, a soft cottage cheese. Palak, in Hindi, means spinach ("saag" is a catchall word for all leafy greens). Palak Paneer is a delicious dish but also very healthy when veganized. The spinach brings in loads of healthy vitamins and nutrients and the tofu adds a hefty dose of protein.

Palak Paneer is by no means a difficult dish to veganize because it is almost vegan -- other than the paneer, that is, and some cream added to finish the recipe. In the past, I'd use firm tofu, pressed and then baked, in lieu of the paneer. But now I use super firm tofu, which works even better as a paneer substitute. Tofu also comes minus the saturated fats and calories of paneer, so it is a better-for-you substitute.

My recipe is as close as possible to an authentic, traditional Palak Paneer -- other than the paneer tofu and cashew cream to make it vegan. The ingredient list may seem a little long but it is not intimidating, and ingredients like the dry fenugreek leaves, although not an ingredient you'll find in every pantry, add the flavor that you so love when you eat this dish at a restaurant. So it's worth taking the trouble to find and use them.

The tofu paneer does a great job of absorbing the marinade and the flavors of the spinach. While some people fry the paneer before adding it to the spinach, and some don't, I like to bake or air fry the tofu (get my amazing, easy air fryer tofu recipe here!) This makes the Palak Paneer even tastier.

Making this vegan tofu palak paneer is extraordinarily easy-- there really is no way you can mess it up, even if you haven't cooked Indian food before. I hope you try it, and if you do I'd love to hear!

Ingredients

• Tofu. Use super firm or extra firm tofu. If using extra firm, press the water out first. Cut into ½-inch cubes.
• Vegetable oil. Use any flavorless vegetable oil, including grapeseed oil, avocado oil, peanut oil or canola oil.
• Spices: Cloves, cinnamon, green cardamom pods, cumin seeds, turmeric, cayenne, ground coriander, ground cumin and garam masala.
• Aromatics: onion,garlic, ginger-garlic paste
• Vegetables: tomatoes, kasoori methi(dry fenugreek leaves, optional), frozen spinach. If you use fresh spinach blanche it for a couple of minutes in boiling water and then puree. You can skip this step when you use frozen spinach.
• Salt to taste
• Cashews for cashew cream, optional but nice.

How to make vegan palak paneer

• Make the cashew cream by blending cashews with 3 tablespoons water. Set aside.
• Spray a skillet with cooking spray. Place the slices of tofu on the skillet in a single layer and cook both sides until lightly golden. When cool, cut into a ½-inch dice. Set aside
• Heat the oil. Add the cloves, cardamom and cinnamon and, when they start to color, add the cumin seeds. As they start to darken, add the onions and the garlic. Saute for a few minutes until the onions become golden-brown.
• Add the ginger-garlic paste, saute for a couple of minutes, then add the tomatoes. Add the turmeric, cayenne, cumin and coriander powders and mix well. Cover and let the tomatoes cook until they are very soft and pulpy.
• Add the kasoori methi, if using, and mix well. Add the spinach puree, mix, and let the sauce come to a boil. Lower the heat and continue cooking the spinach for 10 minutes. Add some vegetable stock or water if it looks too thick, but don't add too much liquid at this point-- you want the spinach to cook thoroughly and lose any raw flavor.
• Add the garam masala, cubes of tofu and salt. Mix well and let it all simmer another two minutes.
• Turn off the heat and add the cashew paste, if using. The cashew paste adds a rich, luxurious finish, but if you want a nut-free recipe, it's completely optional.
• Serve hot or warm with naan or roti.

Expert tips

• Saute the onions to the point where they turn golden. You want the onions to melt into the sauce when your dish is done, and leaving them half-cooked at the outset will not give you that silken, rich gravy.
• You don't need fresh spinach for this recipe, because frozen works just as well. In fact, I prefer it because I can more easily find frozen organic spinach at the supermarket, it won't go bad on you because you can freeze it until you are ready to use it, and it usually costs less.
• For the tofu paneer you can use extra firm tofu if you can't find super firm tofu. Make sure you press as much liquid as you can out of it and then bake.
• Use the proper ingredients. You will find recipes out there for vegan Palak Paneer with a shorter ingredient list, but if you want a recipe that tastes authentic, take the trouble to find the ingredients and use them. Compromising on the ingredients might give you a decent Palak Paneer, but it won't be amazing, and why would you settle for something decent when you can have something amazing?
• Don't use coconut milk to substitute for the cashew cream in your Palak Paneer. Coconut is not an ingredient commonly used in North Indian kitchens, and coconut adds a strong flavor, even a small amount of it, which detracts completely from the recipe. If you want to go nut-free, leave out the cashew cream or use oat cream or pumpkin seed cream. Your dish will still taste great.
• If you don't eat soy, leave out the tofu cubes and just make the spinach gravy. It tastes great on its own.
• Serve this tofu palak paneer with roti or vegan naan. Or, if you want to go gluten-free, serve it with basmati rice for a delicious Indian meal.

More Indian vegan restaurant style recipes

• Easy Chana Masala
• Vegan Dal Makhani
• Tofu Tikka Masala
• Restaurant Style Vegetable Biryani
• Tofu Makhani

More vegan curry recipes

• Easy Vegetable Curry with Chickpeas and Coconut Milk
• Instant Pot Vegan Butter Chicken with Tofu
• Creamy Curried Crock-Pot Chowder with Black Eyed Peas
• Railway Mushroom Curry
• Vegan Mango Curry