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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.
Just made this. Wowza, fantastic! Thanks!
I absolutely love this!! I like to blend the sauce in advance and everything comes together very quickly on a weeknight. Super flavourful, simple to prepare, creamy, spicy, satisfying. This dish has it all! Thanks Richa for everything you do!!
I made this curry tonight and I’ve just finished eating. Amazing!!!! It is my first time making spinach curry and I’m in love.
I love your website so much. Thank you.
Substitutions:
Soy milk
Tofu spices I used 1 tsp of cumin, garam masala and garlic powder instead of half.
Used a bigger chunk of ginger because it is so amazing
I made this tonight and it was awesome! Thank you! Cant wait to try out more of your recipes! So happy to have found your site, need to check out your book too.
You should mention that this is a iron rich food. Tofu, spinach, cashew, almonds and naan/roti are all rich in iron. Tomatoes contain Vitamin C which helps in absorbing the iron. Vegans and vegetarians are prone to anemia, so this would be a great dish to increase their iron levels.
I tried this recipe as published but didn’t get as much flavour as I was hoping for. At the same time, I also tried the gobi musallam recipe and LOVE the flavor explosure that came with that. So my solution now is to make the recipe for the gobi musallam gravy and add two cups of spinach to create the palak curry then add that to the spiced tofu recipe. Yum!
thats a good plan! 🙂 this is a simple recipe which depends on the spices for the flavor. Maybe add more garam masala and other spices? Sometimes the blends or spices can be old and lose a lot of their potency and flavor. The Gobi musallam sauce has a lot more additions as creaminess, more spices for a complex and appealing flavor profile.
My spices are all quite new, as I go through them very quickly! However, I’ve read other places that you need to really let them cook for a good long time, so I might not have let it cook long enough once I mixed it with the tofu. Any which way, in a pinch, the gobi mussalam sauce works great. …and I’ve always liked palak curries that had a bit more tomato flavour.
I just tried making this today and it was so good. I’ve never been a fan of paneer and having this tofu alternative was just what I was looking for. Such great flavour and it’s good for you too.
I made this last night and it was incredible! I’ve only had palak paneer from my favourite Indian restaurant in my ‘pre-gan’ days. And my husband didn’t like it from that restaurant.
Last night he took one bite and said ‘ wow this is way better. The way palak should be’.
The tofu was tender and the sauce had an amazing flavour!
yay! so glad you all loved it!
This looks amazing! I’m gathering all the ingredients to make it this weekend. Just a quick question on the tofu. I’m using extra firm tofu, do you recommend pressing the tofu before chopping it ?
It depends on the brand. If there is enough moisture in the tofu, press to remove and use it. The tofu will toast and hold up much better without the moisture.
Thanks! I pressed it, just for about 30 minutes. Turned out great!