Vegan Palak Paneer with Curried Tofu

Made this for my mom and I and we loved it! Easy to follow recipe and so delicious.

Just amazing!!!! made it twice in a week!

SO GOOD!!! Would make again! Just the right level of spice. I improvised a bit on some of the spices, and used soy sauce instead of coconut aminos – still had to add a dash of salt at the end. Definitely a yummy meal. Lots of moving parts but it came together quickly!

Amazingly good!! My teen had 2 plates! It will be a go to again! Made a bit more sauce so we have some for a second supper this week.I suggest trying it the first time on the weekend to have time to figure out the steps. Took me an hour overall but next time will definitely go faster since I’ve done it once😊 2 thumbs up!

Love this recipe – its become a regular meal in rotation and I love it every time. Its very mild and is nice with another curry but I make a few changes to give it a bit more zip and improvements on overall flavour (in my personal opinion).

1. Add a full bag of spinach – makes it a nicer green colour and adds more veg. If I have a bag of spinach going bad i throw it in the freezer and use it for this recipe later :)

2. Add more spice about 30% more – like 3/4 tablespoon of curry powder in the sauce, and 3/4 tablespoon of garam masala.

3. I skip the stock and use half a can of coconut milk – its more creamy and not so runny. I don’t bother with the coconut oil. (I kept having half a can of coconut milk go bad so I started chucking it in the freezer – life hack)

4. Add a cup of green frozen peas – It makes the flavour more balanced and makes the sauce all lovely and fluffy .

Forgot the rating!! Would give it 10 stars if I could! :)

I’m obsessed with this recipe. Every time I get greens in my CSA, I blanch and freeze them so I can make it. (Blanching and freezing the greens in advance makes the greens last longer AND saves a step in this recipe!) It is SO GOOD, and I’ve made it with practically every type of green (spinach, kale, arugula, dandelion greens, etc.). Thank you so much for this amazing recipe, Dana!

Oh, no! I forgot to rate it! It deserves all the stars.

I absolutely love this recipe! This is probably one of my favorites meals ever. I totally recommend it (my wife and I have made it more than 5 times already), BUT! I don’t believe it can be done in 30 minutes, lol. It takes me 2 hours (+ 1 hour cleaning the kitchen after that) and I do do multitasking. Still, if you have time on your hands, do it! You won’t regret it.

I love this recipe! Never fails and is full of flavour. Such an easy and delicious way to get in all your greens too

This is so good! Even my husband loved it, and ate every last bit after my one serving (!!). I also just wanted to say I’ve made a bunch of recipes from Minimalist Baker over they years, and they have all been great. Your site is now one of my go-to’s and the first website I’ll click on if it pops up in a general recipe web search. Thank you!

This recipe is deeelish! Thanks 😊

Absolutely love this recipe! Just made it for the second time today. This time we were in a pinch and didn’t feel that we had time to bake it. Even with just pan-frying, the tofu was delicious.

So so good!!! Loved it and I’ll be making it again!

I just made this recipe and the vegan gluten free naan. My family loved it and said it was my best dish yet and tasted like it came from a restaurant!
I will definitely make this again. Thank you!

I know it says 4 servings, but two of us devoured it with only some leftovers. The flavor is wonderful!! I’m full, but don’t feel gross. This recipe is going in my “keeper” collection.

This recipe is delicious! I absolutely love it. I make it without the oil and without the poblano as no-one else in my family can handle even a hint a chili.

It takes me a lot longer than 30 minutes though! I spend at least that long just washing the spinach, and probably another hour getting the dish cooked.

It’s worth the time and effort though – an absolutely superb recipe. Thank you so much!

One of the best Indian curries I’ve ever made! Thank you so much for this recipe, it will become a staple in our family. I added a bit more coconut milk because I only had a low fat one and let it thicken a little longer, and added 3 tsp of curry powder instead of 2. This recipe is definitely very forgiving, and if you reuse the same pots you can use as little as 2 dishes! I would recommend this recipe to everyone.

SUCH a flavorful recipe!! It was a hit for my family dinner. I followed the recipe using my food processor, canned tomatoes and served it with rice. Next time, I will double the tofu, for enough to complement the leftovers. And I will certainly make naan next time as well!

If you do the chopping of veggies, pressing of tofu and reheating of the oven, this is easily 30 minutes, as stated! Another Minimalist Baker HIT!

I LOVE this recipe. It is packed with veggies and tastes amazing! I used frozen spinach instead of fresh and it tasted the same. I would recommend doubling the amount of tofu if you want more than ~8 pieces per meal.

this is delicious! i used red pepper powder bc i had no serrano peppers and it turned out great, despite the fact that i used 1 tbs of garam masala since i apparently cannot read. will definitely make again.

I’m not sure I’ve reviewed this one yet. I’ve made this about 5xs. I made this again last night and it of course was a huge hit!
Thank you for all of your beautiful recipes! Your spicing is always amazing. I think you like things on the sweeter side so I always will use a little less maple sugar then you but that’s just preference. (Other recipes)
My family will always eat anything that comes from your blog and I’m the only Vegan in the family so again thank you and I appreciate you sharing your gift of healthy creations with us!
💜🤗

This was delicious! I served it with rice, mango chutney & sriracha. My jalapeno went bad, but the sauce came out great even without it. Next time I would double the tofu paneer- It was so good and having more would have been great. Delicious. I also served this with the golden curry lentil soup.

Love this recipe! I’ve already made it many times, each time with slight variations depending on what greens are going wilt-y. This recipe is so adaptable! Like many other reviewers, I reduce the dishes by just sautéing all the vegetables together and throwing the tofu in the oven (without pan frying). This time, we did not have enough spinach – so we used 1/2 spinach and 1/2 collard greens. So delicious!! Added frozen peas at the end. Used light instead of full fat coconut milk. No nooch because I hate the taste. All in all, one of our vegan household’s favorite meals.

This is an excellent recipe made exactly as written, but lately I’ve had to make substitutions due to going to the store less and it’s turned out slightly different but equally delicious (red pepper and tomato sauce instead of the diced tomatoes, extra Better than Bouillon in place of nutritional yeast, etc.). It’s my favorite go-to recipe!

I made 16 servings of this today and it was so delicious!! I used yellow onion instead of white and left out the tofu and made roasted potatoes on the side. It ended up being very liquidy so I didn’t need to add any vegetable broth. It was delicious, very refreshing and amazing over basmati rice!

So great! Palak paneer is my go-to when it comes to Indian and this nails it. My only wish is that you didn’t need to use every dish in your kitchen to make it, but definitely worth it.

Absolutely delicious, I’m not much of a natural cook but this came out tasting like a restaurant-quality dish! This is my new favorite recipe on your blog. I’ve separately made your naan recipe and it was unbelievably good, can’t wait to make them both together. Thanks for helping me cook during quarantine Dana.

this is delicious! I simplified a little bit by not sautéing the tofu or cooking the spinach first and still turned out great! I also doubled or tripled most of the spices & used fresh tomatoes. This is so easy, cheap and packed full of nutrients. Thank you! This will now be a staple in my house!

This was fantastic! We used dried ginger since thats all I had on hand, but the tofu …*chef’s kiss* is amazing. I could eat just that by itself. Very similar taste to paneer.

Love this recipe!

I made this over the weekend and I added cubes of sweet potato to the tofu cubes and seasonings and roasted them together and then I served the sauce over riced cauliflower and assorted veggies and put the roasted tofu and sweet potato on top – a vegan delight! Thank you!

Another delicious recipe! A bit more time-intensive but totally worth it. Thanks again!

I made this tonight and it was delicious. I didn’t have coconut aminos (used light soy sauce) and had a bit more tofu then needed so used slightly more quantities with some of the ingredients. I’ve attempted palak paneer before with paneer and found the paneer didn’t really stick together and was crumbly. I loved this recipe and the tofu was delicious! It was a bit of an effort but totally worth it, will make again! Thanks :)

Amazing! I love palak paneer and I’m so excited that this version is really delicious and healthy :)

So I didnt have masala or jalapeno, I used “so delicious” unsweetened coconut milk and I used my left over tomato soup (which was just canned tomatoes and herbs, with no cream) instead of regular tomatoes and the recipe turned out great!
I do wish I portioned it out in the end to 4 servings so I could log in the calories on myfitnesspal more accurately, because I kinda just gestimated after I had done eating. I’ll probably portion out the rest for tomorrow.
Thanks for the recipe. I didnt realise paneer was easy to make! <3

Holy smokes! This was sooo delicious and comforting! I doubled the recipe and at the end I noticed, like another commenter said, that it tasted too acidic from the tomatoes. No biggie. Easily remedied by adding more coconut milk, nutritional yeast, and salt. Served with brown rice and I can’t eat it fast enough ;) Thank you, MB, for the 1000th time!

I made this for dinner and it was seriously delicious! I followed the recipe exactly except I cheated and used frozen organic spinach which worked fine. The flavours were so authentic I couldn’t believe it, and it was a crowd pleaser for the rest of the family.
Would have been nice paired with a vegan Malai Kofta .. maybe that can be one to perfect next Minimalist Baker hehe.
Thanks for you’re amazing recipes, I haven’t found one to fault yet!
Keep them coming.
Ellana.

Made this yesterday and it was a crowd favourite for sure! The tofu was out of this world! We used frozen (from fresh) spinach and it was super tasty. We didn’t have a jalapeño or pepper and we wanted to enjoy with our 2 year old so we just omitted.
I know for certain that this will become a go-to recipe weekly, seriously it was that good.
Full of incredible flavour!

Saw this on your Instagram and had to try it! It was delicious and filling. Made some changes that worked well. I pressed and marinated the tofu ahead of time. Will definitely be making this tofu again for other recipes. Didn’t bake it to save a step, just seared in cast iron on a few sides. Didn’t have coconut aminos so I used soy sauce. Used cayenne pepper instead of serrano and ground ginger instead of minced. I blanched the spinach by putting a mix of frozen/fresh in my blender cup, pouring boiling water from my kettle over it then straining the water a minute later just to save a pot. Used one fresh tomato plus a big handful of cherry tomatoes. Probably put in about 2/3 cup of coconut milk by the time I drizzled some over top. Added extra curry powder and salt at the end, could’ve probably used a touch more salt but it was great. Served it over rice. Would make it again if I had a volunteer to do the dishes :)

I was not a fan of this recipe. I felt that it was a lot of work for the result. With that said I really like the concept of using tofu instead of classic paneer cheese. I will use tofu more often, especially prepared this way :) I will have to try some of your one pan recipes. Seems that simplicity is important to me as I wash everything by hand. I love so many of your recipes <3

We got a ton of spinach in our CSA bag this week and I was looking for a way to use it all up. This might be a go-to recipe for me when I have a lot of fresh spinach. I had all the ingredients on hand except for the peppers. So I subbed cayenne instead. Otherwise, I made the recipe exactly as written. Although I initially was going to follow the advice of another commenter and cook the spinach with the onions and spices, my mom pointed out that blanching the spinach might help it stay greener. I ended up blanching the spinach, which wasn’t difficult at all. I actually blanched the spinach first, drained it, and then cooked the onions, spices, and tomatoes in the same pot. The blanching didn’t really help with the color, though — once I blended and cooked the sauce, it got more brown and dark. Not the pretty bright green from the photos and video.

The tofu was great. I was tempted to just bake the tofu instead of browning it the pan first. But I did cook it in the pan first, which gave the tofu a wonderful crust. The nutritional yeast added to the crust and flavor as well.

Overall, an excellent recipe. It did use a lot of equipment (including the Instant Pot to make the rice), but at least half of it can go in the dishwasher. Time wise, it took about 45 minutes, and that was with pre-chopped onions.

Really tasty. I simplified it a bit because of all the pots: 1) I sautéed all the aromatics and spices (even the ones for the sauce) and tomatoes in a big pan and then added the fresh spinach and broth and let it wilt down for about 5 minutes. 2) puréed it and decided it needed more spinach so I added a thawed pack of frozen spinach and left it in food processor while I tackled the tofu. 3) in the same pan, I sautéed the tofu and didn’t see the point of also baking it. 4) added the spinach to the tofu. One pan, folks! I did make rice in a second one. Drizzled with the coconut milk, a squeeze of lemon and my oh my.

This has become one of my staple recipes. I use all kinds of greens in it (kale, collard, spinach, chard) and sometimes throw in cauliflower as well. It’s always delicious and a great way to eat a bunch of veggies.

Delicious!! Love the spicy kick! Can’t wait to try more yummy recipes:)

People, you need to make this..! I’ve tried dozens of MB recipes and this is officially in my top 3. Made word for word – no modifications – and it was one of the few times I was able to replicate seemingly authentic Indian cuisine at home (as I am not very experienced in this genre of cooking but looove to dine out at Indian spots). I’m really looking forward to leftovers today – I’m sure those flavors just got better overnight in the fridge. Thanks for another hit, Dana! xo

I made this for my favourite vegan and friend. It did take more than 30 minutes to prepare but it was well worth it. We all loved this very tasty dish and I’ll be making it again- and again!

We had this with naan bread instead of rice so it was a very substantial meal.

Thank you Minimalist Baker!

Love Love Love Palak Paneer! I’m Indian and have been looking for a way to make Palak Paneer even healthier and this recipe was just perfect. Also added 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder for an earthy flavor and a bit of color.

This was so delicious. I used fresh tomatoes and did some diced potatoes with the tofu ‘paneer’
Thank you!

this recipe lives up to its billing – super tasty, texture of tofu is perfect, with a bit of coordination it can be made in 30 minutes. I made this with stinging nettles rather than spinach – just cause I had fresh ones from the back yard. I could use kale, collard greens, chard – very flexible recipe. Will make it a staple in my indian recipe book! Thanks!

I received a silly amount of spinach in my weekly organic veg delivery and decided now was the time to try this recipe. Could not find aminos or a jalepeno at my local grocer so used tamari and a pinch of red chili flakes instead– both worked fine! I will probably use less tomato next time. This recipe took me a lot longer than the 30 minutes, but I like to putz around the kitchen and take my sweet time. A kitchen multitasker I am not.

I doubled everything, (to make a larger portion) and while I liked the end result, it tasted too tomatoe-y/acidic from the diced tomatoes. I used a 10 oz bag of spinach but it did measure about 10 cups of loosely packed spinach… So not sure if it’s because it would have been maybe better with a 12 oz bag or less diced tomatoes (I used 2 15 oz cans to double the recipe).

Absolutely delicious! It was my second time making palak paneer and the first time was seriously unsuccessful (flavourless). This recipe is flavorful and very easy to put together. My home smells like an authentic Indian restaurant and I love it!

I put the spinach in with the tomato/onion mix rather than blanching it. Followed the rest of the recipe as written (but used paneer instead of tofu). HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Just finished making this and it took me ages !! But that’s me, I am seriously slow… Used frozen spinach. Didn’t have nooch so used a well known yeast extract spread and some brewers yeast. Used soy sauce instead of aminos. OMG it tastes divine !! Well worth the effort !! Yum ?

We made this tonight and was wonderful. Not difficult and quite tasty. We used low fat coconut milk and it worked just fine. We added chopped cilantro on top. We served it with basmati rice and pita bread. Next time we plan to make nan bread.

Delicious! We really enjoyed this recipe. It was only my second time trying a recipe with tofu so, in all honesty, I was feeling apprehensive because my first “hurrah” with tofu had been a real let down. Your recipe revived my hope and faith, so I thank you for that as well. I also watched your video on two ways to flavour and cook tofu and, I’ve gotta say, I feel like I won a food lottery in finding your fantastic blog here. Feeling much gratitude for all that you do and share here. Thank you :)

This was so delicious but minimalist it was not! It took me nearly an hour, not including pressing the tofu which I did in advance and there were so many pots and pans involved that I did wish I’d made it on a weekend instead of on a Thursday night. But then I tasted it and decided it was worth the hassle! Next time I’m gonna make a double or triple portion of the sauce and freeze. Fabulous!

I just made this and am absolutely in love, unsurprising, as I love everything on your blog! I was able to make this in 35 minutes with making quinoa to go with it. Like others, I didn’t bake the tofu and agree you can skip boiling the spinach, just cook it for the same amount of time with the other veggies. With those adjustments, the amount of dirty dishes is totally reasonable and pretty normal for dinner in our house. Thank you for this recipe, Minimalist Baker team!

I loved this as a base recipe with the following modifications:

*omit tomatoes from spinach mixture. Not a traditional ingredient in my experience and unnecessary, tasted great without this.
*no need to boil spinach, sauté with onion and spices. Save the dishes and extra step
*no need to fry tofu, just bake it, again save the dishes and extra step.

Otherwise totally awesome thank you!!

Delicious, easy to follow recipe. This curry was super tasty and the tofu tastes great in it too. Even my tofu hating husband was impressed. It does take a little while to prepare and creates a lot of dishes but totally worth it! Thanks for the great recipes – really appreciate all of your hard work.

This is my favorite curry! I even made it with real paneer and the tofu was better (and cheaper!) I have tried this with frozen spinach and it works well. I don’t have a great blender so it doesn’t turn out as green but still tastes great. Love love love!

This palak “paneer” is amazing. I made a few modifications and it’s now my favorite Indian dish to cook.

Ahhhh… so good. Just ate the leftovers an already dreaming of making massive batches for the freezer. My ultimate desire in life is to eat curry every day, and this recipe makes that seem possible. Total game changer for my spinach intake!

My family is trying to eat more plant based meals and this was delicious! Even my Indian husband loved it and asked me to make it again. My 9 year old took it to school today in a thermos!
A few steps to minimize time and cookware used- 1. I pressed, cubed and marinated my tofu ahead of time. 2. I added the vegetable spices to the tomatoes after they had softened a while.
2. I added the spinach to the tomato mixture, removed it from the heat and stirred it to cook the spinach just until bright green and wilted. I added all of that to the blender with the broth and blended it (I used the full 1/2c). Then I just added it back to the pan, heated it a bit with the coconut milk and stirred in the tofu. We ate it with rice.

Wow! I agree with others that it took longer that 30 Minutes (more like an hour) and made a mess, but so good! I dare say it was worth it.

This is so good! I can’t be bothered to pan fry the tofu so I do it all in the oven on a silt pad to avoid sticking.

As a vegan, one of the milk products I most miss is paneer. I was skeptical about how well the tofu would be able to live up to my expectations…but I was happily surprised! The nutritional yeast and curry seasoning succeeds in emulating a cheese-like cube and my taste buds were not disappointed. Not to mention that the spinach sauce was divine. I used Tamari whenever the recipe called for aminos because I had none. But came out great. Served with white jasmine rice and wow! Indian food heaven in my own kitchen.

I made this with frozen spinach straight into the blender (because I’m lazy) and just pan-fried the tofu. It was delicious and the leftovers kept well in the fridge.
Thank you for this amazing recipe!

This turned out really well and is delicious!

The tofu tasted very bland, and the curry itself needed more spice. Tasted like spinach puree with some spice more than anything.

This is a phenomenal recipe! Wow, another way I can enjoy the dreaded spinach. Thank you so much for creating this.

This was really delicious! Great ‘paneer’!
I did not have enough spinach so subbed half beet greens instead and it still tasted perfect – also did half the curry powder for the main sauce (a bit more garam masala) to make it more family friendly, and our daughter loved it.

This was so good! The only adjustment I made was adding a couple more teaspons of salt. Will definitley make this again!

As a vegan, I always miss paneer from my pre-vegan days. This recipe really scratched the paneer itch, if you will. I thought it was very flavorful, especially the tofu! I will absolutely be making the tofu portion again and again to add to other Indian inspired dishes.

I made the recipe as is and served it with basmati rice. I found that the sauce ended up needing a fair amount of soy sauce (or coconut aminos, same same, right??) and I wish I had waited before adding the water into my blender to make the sauce, but otherwise a great recipe.

The only complaint: this is def NOT one bowl! You create a lot of dirty dishes with this one, but I would say it’s worth it.

I made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious! I didn’t miss the paneer at all and thought the tofu worked so well with all the flavours. Kids (2 and 5) ate it with relish as well. Another one to add to my rotation!

Delicious and super easy! I just added fresh spinach straight to the tomato mix, and it worked great. Pakistani hubby approved – spices tasted fresh and well-proportioned. Added extra salt and coconut aminos at the end.

This is an amazing dish! I’ve made it three times now. I love traditional palak paneer but try not to use a lot of dairy when cooking vegetarian. This was exactly what I was looking for. Thank you for the recipe.

I have tried my hand at making homemade vegan Indian dishes in the past without much luck. This recipe is my first Indian dish from MB, and it was out of this world! My husband loved it too. Very creamy, flavorful, and rich without feeling heavy or overly oily like a lot of Indian can be. We ate it over brown rice with chopped cilantro. The tofu had a lovely chewy crust with a buttery inside. The flavor was absolutely restaurant quality.

I went to a vegan restaurant in Texas where I fell in love with a vegan Palak Paneer. This is exactly how I remembered it tasting. Thanks for a wonderful recipe. This definitely did not take me half hour to make though. Lol.

Better than eating at an indian restaurant – this meal is so delicious and spot on if you are having an indian food craving!!

This was SO delicious! Mine came out a reddish-brown color instead of the vibrant green in your pictures… maybe I was a little too “loose” on my loosely packed spinach?!? I’ll try adding more spinach next time haha

I loved the tofu paneer and the curry sauce was delicious. I used MTR Madras Rasam powder as the curry powder and in place of the garam masala. I also did not cook the spinach/kale/chard mix first, but just added it to the pan. This took me much longer than stated, probably 90 minutes form start to finish…but maybe I’m just slow.

Just dropping by with my routine 5 star review. Holy wowza! I made this one for dinner tonight and it was so good. We recently left our favorite Indian restaurant in Austin and moved to small town Texas where there are zero Indian restaurants. This seriously hit the spot.
Yes, a lot of dishes were dirtied, but it was worth all of the post-dinner labor.
My partner (reluctantly) made your garlic naan. I had to print out the directions, which he hastily followed. However, once he realized how PERFECT the naan was turning out, he couldn’t wait to make it again.
Another killer recipe. You’re the best!

Great flavor!! I loved the tomato flavor with all the other spices! I did a whole can of coconut milk (have you tried the guar-free kind?!) for double the spinach/tomatoes based on what I had on hand (and I bet the leftovers are even better!).

The sauce finishing step definitely bubble-exploded all over so I wish I turned the heat down sooner. This was one I had to keep refering to the recipe so I was greatful for your detailed instructions! I think the second time through will be even quicker.

I like another commenter’s kale idea, I’ll try that next time!