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This Vegan Palak Tofu Paneer is the easiest Vegan Palak Paneer with Tofu. Its dairy-free, gluten-free. Can be made soy-free w/ chickpea tofu, veggies or cooked chickpeas. 20 minute active time and ready in another 10. Serve over cooked grains of choice or with flatbread. Vegan Gluten-free Indian Recipe. Jump to Recipe
Any which way, lets get back to this Vegan Palak Tofu “Paneer”. Palak is Spinach and Tofu acts as the spiced up Paneer. I used to love the creamy palak paneer in my pre-gan days. Since vegan-izing it, I usually make it with Tempeh. With Tofu however it tastes even creamier. And the best part is it takes less than 20 minutes in the kitchen. Saute the Tofu, meanwhile blend up the spinach, no Blanching needed!, add to Tofu and let cook while you clean up, or prep/make the flat bread or rice. Drizzle cashew cream and serve. Done. For a more paneer like consistency, mix the tofu with the oil and spices and bake it for 20 mins. I find that panfrying is much quicker for a weeknight meal.
Another delicious Indian restaurant style curry veganized! Lets make this vegan Palak Paneer.
You can make it soy-free with potatoes and/or cauliflower, cooked chickpeas/beans or Chickpea Tofu . Serve with flat breads, or top a bowl of quinoa or brown rice, or make sandwiches or top a pizza!
The easiest and the tastiest Vegan Palak Tofu Paneer !
Back to this Saag “Paneer”. I often substitute half of the greens with other green leafies, like collard greens or mustard greens. This spinach gravy is a delicious to add greens to meals if you are not fond of green smoothies.
More restaurant style curries on the blog
Vegetable Jalfrezie – Veggies in tangyy smoky curry.
Tempeh Do Pyaaza – Tempeh in double onion curry
Dahl Makhani
Mango curry Tofu
Tempeh Tikka Masala curry
Gobi Makhani – Creamy buttery curry
Step by Step Photos:
Saute the Tofu in a little oil for 2-3 minutes.
Add all the spices and mix and cook for 8-10 minutes.
Meanwhile, collect all the ingredients for the spinach curry and blend them.
The tofu is all seasoned up by now.
Add the spinach puree, mix well and cook for 10-15 minutes.
Drizzle some cashew cream or coconut cream and serve hot.
This popular recipe is also in my cookbook! Now available internationally!
Vegan Palak Tofu "Paneer" - Tofu in Spinach Sauce
Ingredients
Spiced Tofu
- 2 teaspoons oil
- 7 oz firm tofu block, , 1.5 cups cubed tofu, pressed for 10 mins to remove excess moisture and then cubed
- 1/4 tsp salt or to taste
- 1/2 tsp cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp garam masala
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- a generous pinch of kala namak, , optional, or use 1 tsp nutritional yeast
- 1/2 tsp cayenne, Or use paprika for less heat
Spinach curry
- 2 cups packed Spinach, washed, chopped if large, Or 6-8 oz frozen spinach
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup almond milk or coconut milk, (use less or more for preferred consistency)
- 2 Tablespoons soaked cashews, , soaked for 15 minutes or use ground raw cashew (less or more for creamy consistency to preference)
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 inch ginger
- 1 Serano chili pepper , or to taste
- 1 medium tomato chopped
- 1/4-1/2 tsp salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon raw sugar or maple syrup
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon garam masala, , less or more to preference, depends on the freshness of the spice mix and your preference of flavor
- cashew cream, pepper flakes to garnish
Instructions
- In a pan, add oil and heat on medium heat. Chop up the tofu and add to the oil. Mix to coat and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add all the spices under Spiced Tofu and mix to coat. (Add 2 tsp nutritional yeast for cheesy flavor if you like) Continue to cook for 8-10 minutes, partially covered on low-medium heat. See video.Alternatively: Toss the tofu in oil and the spices, spread on parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 400 F for 20 mins for a more paneer-ish texture.
- Meanwhile, wash the fresh spinach and add it and all the other ingredients under Spinach curry except garam masala to the blender. Blend into a smooth puree. Add the puree to the sizzling tofu. Mix well. Add garam masala to taste. Cook covered on low-medium heat for 10-15 minutes or until the raw garlic smell is not detectable and desired sauce consistency is achieved. Taste and adjust salt and spice.
- Drizzle some cashew cream and Serve hot with Naan, Roti or other flat breads, or with quinoa or rice. Add pepper flakes for added heat. Sprinkle a pinch of cinnamon powder for variation.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This was fantastic! I have a ton of spinach and arugula that bolted in the heat this week, and this recipe was a perfect use for them this evening. The only thing I did differently was sauté some mustard seeds along with the spices because I love them, and I also added a splash of lemon juice at the end.
Do you think the sauce would freeze well and retain its color? I have so many greens in my garden, I was thinking of freezing batches of this for an even quicker weeknight option.
AWesome! I think it should freeze fine in a container that fits the amount without much air on top. Thaw and reheat. The color might not stay as vibrant once you reheat.
Great recipe! I was happy to see you encourage creativity so I substituted the spinach with fresh garden kale and the tofu was discarded in favour of rice tempeh which I prefer to soy tempeh. Really good,
I was going to make your new labdar recipe, but I chose this instead because I had a lot of spinach to use up. Mmm mmm good. This is totally creamy goodness and I love, love, love it!! Thanks Richa.
awesome! yeah everyone in the fam now knows this recipe well, even hubbs andhe can whip it up within minutes too!
Oh my goodness! I made this tonight and it was absolutely delicious! Another amazing recipe from you Richa! This will become a staple in my house – easy to make and so tasty. Thank you for sharing 🙂
yay!!
Delicious! Easy to put together. We were eating in less than 30 minutes. This one goes in our favorite file. I’ve also made the tofu without the spinach sauce & had it on a salad. The seasonings on the tofu gives it a really good flavor. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
yay!
Hello. Thanks for the recipe.
What exactly is 1cup in grams? There seems to be different uses for 1 cup, all with varying measurements of grams. Would be good if you could switch to grams as it’s far more easier and accurate to measure.
Thanks.
the conversions are there. See the US and metric link buttons right below the ingredient list. Click metric an the values will convert to gms
Made this for dinner tonight and it was EXCELLENT! My only complaint (and it’s not really a true complaint) is that the spices emanated my apartment and made the air a bit “spicy”! The dish itself was not overly spicy thought. I used a jalapeño in the sauce because it’s what I had and it worked well. Next time I might use a little more tofu.
I’ll definitely be making this again. It was one of the best and simplest Indian dishes I’ve tried.
awesome! indian cooking lingers in the house so you remember the amazing flavor. To get you to cook more indian food again 😉
This is absolutely fantastic! Super easy and super tasty.
You know, you can substitute tofu with aubergine. Give that a try next time. I do that all the time and I turned this actually into a raw food dish because I don’t heat food. Yummy. 🙂
My supermarket was out of tofu, made it with chickpeas. Delish as always!!! In love with vegan Idian Food ❤️
I love this recipe! Made it a few times already, it’s always a hit with my boyfriend. Last time I made it with vegan fried halloumi instead of tofu. I’m going to make it again tonight, with tofu and also vegan feta in the sauce to give it a cheesy flavor :).