Paneer Butter Masala (Paneer Makhani)
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Restaurant style Paneer Butter Masala is easy to make at home. This base of this creamy curry is made with onions, tomatoes, cashews, cream, and butter. It has a mild sweet taste and is lightly spiced and pairs beautifully with garlic naan or jeera rice.
Paneer is a key ingredient in Indian vegetarian recipes, and rightfully so. Not only is it delicious, but it also soaks up anything you add it to beautifully. You add it to a spinach-based curry and get palak paneer and when you cook it with peas, you get matar paneer.
And then there’s this very popular Paneer curry with butter and cream, called Paneer Butter Masala (also known as Paneer Makhani). This used to my favorite paneer dish growing up, I would always order it at restaurants. The creamy tomato sauce with soft paneer paired so well with the soft and fluffy naans, and I would always overeat!
Everyone has their own of making the sauce for this dish, some add nuts, some add only cream. While some use both onions and tomatoes, others use only tomatoes for the base. It’s all a personal choice and depends on what you prefer.
I have made this recipe several times with tomatoes only and I have realized that I like adding some white/sweet onions to my butter paneer recipe for the extra flavor, but it does taste good with just the tomatoes too.
Remember not to use red onions here. A lot of times, they have a very strong flavor and that will affect the final taste of the dish. So, stick to the white or sweet onions for this dish.
Ingredients
Paneer: You can buy paneer from any Indian grocery store, it’s usually in the cold section along with yogurt, milk etc. You can also make paneer at home, which tastes much better than any store-bought paneer.
Onion-tomatoes: The base of the curry is made with onions, tomatoes, ginger-garlic. I like using white onion for this recipe for its subtle and sweet flavor. Using tomato paste is optional but it enhances the tomato flavor further.
Cashews: To thicken the gravy and make it creamier, we use cashew in this recipe. For this paneer butter masala recipe, we need raw, unsalted cashews. If you don’t have cashews, you can also use almonds but blanch them before using them.
Spices: Whole spices like cinnamon, bay leaf, cloves and ground spices like garam masala, Kashmiri red chili powder, cardamom are used in this recipe for flavor and aroma.
Butter and cream: Since this is a creamy curry, butter and cream are added to make it thick and rich. They also help in balancing the flavors and giving the dish that sweet touch.
Manali’s Tips to Make Restaurant Style Paneer Butter Masala
Okay, I have heard this so many times – that my paneer butter masala doesn’t taste like the one at restaurants. Here’s what you need to do to make it absolutely perfect!
- Use nuts in the gravy: yes, it makes the sauce thick and creamy and so you need to use nuts in the recipe. Cashews and almonds both work, you can even use a combination of both. However, do not use a lot of nuts because then the final curry will be super thick, and I wouldn’t recommend that. I suggest using 10-15 cashews for 250 grams of paneer.
- Be generous with the cream and butter: I am not asking you to use 1 cup of both but don’t use ½ teaspoon either! This is an indulgent dish and so you need to be a little generous with fat if you are looking for that restaurant style taste.
- Use minimal spices: this recipe doesn’t need a lot of spices. A bit of garam masala and cardamom powder is plenty. I also add little chili powder and Kashmiri red chili powder (mainly for the color). The flavors of this dish come from fresh tomatoes, cashews, ginger, garlic, butter and cream!
- Homemade paneer makes its even better: I know it’s not always possible but if you can, use homemade paneer. It really makes so much difference. Here for this recipe, I have used store bought paneer, but I often make it with homemade paneer and you can tell that it’s way better.
- Add sugar to balance the flavors and for that subtle sweet taste: paneer butter masala should have a little sweet taste to it, and you get that from adding cream and sugar. I don’t use a lot of sugar, only 1 teaspoon but that helps in balancing the flavors.
Let’s Make Paneer Butter Masala
- Cook the onions and tomatoes with whole spices
Sauté the whole spices with onions, ginger and garlic. The tomatoes go in next with the cashews and then cover and cook for 15 minutes or so until soft. We are going to make this into a paste, so don’t worry about finely chopping anything at this point.
- Grind the masala to a paste
Once the onions tomatoes are cooked, remove the whole spices and then grind everything into a fine paste. You should ideally wait for the masala to cool down before grinding it else the blender lid will blow off and everything will on the floor (I have been there done that!)
- Sauté Kashmiri red chili powder in butter for that bright red color!
Once the butter melts (make sure it doesn’t burn and this is why adding a little oil is important), add the Kashmiri red chili powder and fry it for a few seconds. This will give the curry a really nice red color.
- Stir in the masala paste, cream, and paneer
The prepared paste goes in next along with some spices like garam masala, cardamom powder and of course some salt and sugar. Finish with some cream and the star ingredient-paneer. Enjoy it fresh homemade naan. YUM!
Tip: If using store-bought paneer, soak it in hot water for 20 minutes before using it in the recipe. The paneer becomes soft and the texture is better this way.
Recipe Notes
- The curry thickens considerably as it cools down. While reheating, you would need to add some water to thin it out.
- If you don’t have cream or are out of cream, you can either skip the cream or add some coconut milk for that richness. You can also reserve some of the cashews and blend it with milk and add that to the curry later on.
- Use a good quality Kashmiri red chili powder to get that nice color of the gravy. Frying the red chili powder in butter for few seconds is important for that bright color of paneer butter masala.
- This recipe can be easily doubled, you would just need to double all the ingredients in the recipe. I will be careful about doubling the garam masala though. If you double the recipe, add 3/4 teaspoon garam masala only at first and then go from there.
How to Make Paneer Butter Masala, Step by Step
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons oil 10 ml , divided, I used avocado oil, use any flavorless oil
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ inch cinnamon stick
- 3-4 whole cloves
- 6-7 large garlic cloves 25 grams , roughly chopped
- 1 & ½ inch ginger 15 grams , roughly chopped
- 1 large white onion 180 grams , roughly chopped
- 3-4 medium tomatoes 460 grams , roughly chopped
- 10-15 whole cashews raw
- 1 cup water 8 oz
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ teaspoon red chili powder
- ½ teaspoon kashmiri red chili powder
- ½ teaspoon garam masala + 1/4 teaspoon , if needed
- ¼ teaspoon cardamom powder
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ¾ teaspoon salt or to taste
- ½-1 tablespoon tomato paste optional
- 3-4 tablespoons cream 45-60 ml
- 250 grams paneer cut into cubes
- 2 teaspoons crushed kasuri methi dried fenugreek leaves
- chopped cilantro to garnish
Instructions
- Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a pan on medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add 1 bay leaf, ½-inch cinnamon stick, 3-4 cloves and sauté for a few seconds.
- Then add 6-7 garlic cloves (roughly chopped), 1 & ½ inch ginger (roughly chopped) and 1 large white onion (roughly chopped) and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes until the onion is translucent.
- Add 3-4 medium tomatoes (roughly chopped), and 10-15 raw cashews and mix. Then add 1 cup water. Cover the pan with a lid and cook on medium heat for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, remove the pan from heat. Remove the bay leaf, cinnamon stick and cloves from the pot. Then let the mixture cool down a bit and then transfer to a blender. It’s important to let it cool down a bit else it will all blow up from the mixer. Grind the masala to a smooth paste and set aside.
- To the same pan now add 2 tablespoons butter along with remaining 1 teaspoon oil on medium heat.
- Once the butter melts, add ½ teaspoon red chili powder and ½ teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder and fry for a few seconds. This will give the curry a nice orange-red color.
- Then add the ground paste back into the pan along with ½ teaspoon garam masala (start with ½ teaspoon and add the remaining ¼ teaspoon at the end only if you feel like the curry needs that extra bit of garam masala after taste testing), ¼ teaspoon cardamom powder, 1 teaspoon sugar, ¾ teaspoon salt and ½-1 tablespoon tomato paste (if using). Mix well and cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Then add 3-4 tablespoons heavy cream and mix.
- Add in 250 grams of paneer (cut into cubes) and cook for 2 to 3 minutes on medium heat. Finally add 2 teaspoons kasuri methi (crushed).
- Garnish paneer butter masala with cilantro if you like and serve hot with naan or rice!
Video
Notes
- If you want to make this vegan, use vegan butter in place of regular butter, coconut milk or cream in place of heavy cream and tofu in place of paneer.
- You can add water or milk to thin down the curry and adjust as per the consistency you prefer.
- Do not overcook the paneer, it makes the paneer hard and chewy.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Thanks, Manali. This dish came out wonderfully well, and it was good that you asked for the cinnamon stick, bay leaf and cloves to be removed, the aroma was still there without any bits. I loved it, and so did my children.
Glad to know!
the taste was decent but adding the 1 cup of water was a big mistake. Way too watery. Might consider jsuy adding enough water to blend
Thanks for trying Kay. Hmm I disagree about the water, there’s so much cashew in the recipe and it thickens the gravy a lot as it cooks. so that much water is needed in the recipe.
AWESOME !!! I’ve just started learning how to cook. This was the first Indian recipe that turned out as described. My family loved it !!!
thank you.
so glad to hear that, thanks for trying!
You are super Manali.
Lv hw you share .
I learnt cooking from you
Am 72 yrs old
Thanks Marie, glad you enjoy the recipes 🙂
Hi! I just made your paneer butter masala using Sach paneer but I forgot to soak the paneer first like you suggested . Will it still be soft?
yes sach paneer is good without soaking also!
I made this tonight – Oh my goodness, what a treat. This was so delicious and not hard to make. I will definitely be making this again. I served with sourdough flatbreads that I made and this will definitely be on the dinner rotation.
Thanks Ali!
This has become a staple in our house. I often use fresh macadamias instead of cashews.
Delicious recipe!
Glad you enjoy it Holly!
Really clear instructions, a straightforward menu and absolutely delicious. As suggested this will be best with home made paneer. Thanks very much for sharing these recipes.
Welcome! Thanks for trying!
tastes great!!
Delicious! Thanks for this recipe.
Hello. My husband is paneer fan. And I am happy to say that I have tried all of your paneer recipes. Those are just amazing. And my husband love it. Thank you soo much for sharing them. Waiting for more recipes.
Thanks for trying the recipe Fathima, I will share more paneer recipes! 🙂
Delicious! Our local spice shop had the special kashmiri chile and just basic fenugreek leaves – they didn’t say Kasuri methi. I love it. Definitely too spicy for some, but not me.
Hi , thank you for sharing your recipe . I am trying to up scale the recipe but the X2 and X3 options are not working on the recipes . I tried this function on a couple of you recipe this site without luck.
I am not sure scaling it up would mean longer cooking time or baking time etc.
it should work now, it was an issue that we fixed. however scaling up scales the ingredients, it doesn’t change the instructions. You would definitely need to cook for more time if there are more tomatoes, more onions etc.
delicious , easy ……thankyou
After trying a few recipes this became our household favorite. I was just telling my husband I cannot find a recipe that gets close to our favorite restaurant that I crave so often. Well this is it! This is the one!
glad you liked it! Thanks for trying
Awesome! I follow your food blog for most of the recipes. Your Punjabi Kadhi is my favorite and this paneer butter masala is my family’s favorite including my 9 year old who is a paneer gravy lover! 🙂
Great recipe and easy to follow.
The resulting meal was my best so far using paneer.
Good recipe but burger is better.
what burger? 🙂
Hey Manali
Thank you so much for the yummy recipe my son loves it 💕
Hi, excited to try this recipe. Is it possible to skip the fenugreek and cashews? simply cause I dont have them on hand. Thanks!
you can skip the kasuri methi, cashews make the gravy thick and creamy. you can skip but the gravy won’t be thick enough. If you have almonds you can also use them in place
This is my go-to paneer butter masala recipe. It turns out wonderfully every time, even though I sometimes use canned tomatoes instead of fresh, or roasted cashews instead of raw. Thanks for the great recipe!
Thanks Hannah for the feedback!
Hi Manali,
Just wondering if we can add capsicum to this curry?
Hi Anitha, you may but typically we don’t add capsicum to paneer butter masala.
Super-hit recipe with the family! Made for dinner with store-bought lachha paranthas and jeera rice. Loved it! Just hits right with the creaminess and flavour. Yum.
How to make for little ones? Just omit chili?
yes skip red chili powder altogether
Hi, we don’t fry the paneer at all first? Comparing recipes. Thank you!
I don’t like frying paneer for this recipe, just a personal preference. You can definitely do it if that’s what you prefer.
Got it! How do you find it differs?
for some people frying adds to flavor of the paneer, I don’t find much difference and so skip the additional step.
I tried ur recepie I comes out very tasty like market one
Thank you Naina
I’m making the recipe for the first time today with paneer and chicken so will double up sauce mix , how should I marinate the chicken ? Thanks Manali
ahh sorry Margaret I don’t have any experience cooking with chicken but you can make it the same way , probably cook chicken first separately when use in sauce?
Can we use roasted cashews?
yes should be okay
Hi Manali, I love this butter paneer recipe and make it often. I’m a hero in the kitchen when I make it. I am vegetarian but have a chicken eater coming to visit. I was planning on making butter paneer for me and butter chicken for her. On-line recipes have a lot of different ideas on how to prepare the chicken. I’ll either make one large batch of sauce or two batches. Since I love your recipes I thought I’d ask your advice. How do you suggest cooking the chicken? Marinate and bake? Saute the chicken? Cook in the sauce? Thanks so much. Maggie
I would marinate and either bake or cook on stove-top. Both should be okay! First cook then add to the sauce
This was so delicious but I think I made have made a mistake with the fenugreek part. It came out a little bitter. I used fenugreek pellets cause I couldn’t find leaves. Still so good!
Oh no! Dried fenugreek is totally different in flavor, it’s exclusively used for it’s wonderful aroma and does not have any taste of it’s own as such. The seeds are not a substitute for the dried leaves.
Great recipe, just like in restaurant. ~First time made paneer myself and I’m impressed how easy it is.
thanks for the feedback!
Easy and just like restaurant. Already made twice and my daughter says mumma pls make it everyday she loved it so much. Thank you so much Manali for such an awesome recipe.
glad to know Avantika!
Hi very nice and easy receipt; thank you for posting, I need help with measurement, actually I am having total 15 guests coming over to my house. So I wanna make this sabji but not sure how many tomatoes and onion should I take? Appreciate your time and effort
triple the recipe if this is the only thing you are making. If you are making it for dinner along with 3-4 other things, then just double the recipe. all quantitates for onion and tomatoes are also mentioned in grams, so just double/triple them as needed
It’s so delicious, I cooked it for myself and yes I can say I never had this Saurav paneer Butter masala ever.
Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe.
glad to know!
I wanted a meatless meal for a change and was also craving Indian food so I poked around and found this recipe. I’m glad I did. The term “better than take-out” is a bit over-used, but in this case it’s warranted. I served it with jeera rice. It was so good I had left-overs for breakfast the following morning! Will be checking out other recipes on this site in the near future. Thanks.
Hi Manali! Tried your recipe today, came out really nice, astonished after it tasted exactly as my favourite restaurant style, thank you.
awesome!
Hi Manali. just want to ask which paneer we can use in paneer masala and palak paneer??
you mean which brand? I like Sach Foods brand here in the US, Haldiram and Gopi are also fine.
Made this for dinner tonight, it was fabulous! This recipe is as good as (if not better than) than the restaurant versions – thank you!!
glad to know!
Hi Manali, I tried this recipe today and it came out amazing!! I have tried many of your recipes and it comes out great each time! Thanks a ton for sharing!
so glad!
I love the way you have pictures showing everything, really good for students and first timers
I made this just now for dinner with naan bread…I try some of this recipe but I prepared this..thanks for this recipe.hope I can cook some of your recipe soon.have a lovely day ahead.
I make this just now for dinner with naan bread…thanks for this recipe.i made some paneer masala but I prepared this one…
hello! i want to make this for my friend but he is allergic to tree nuts. is there anything i can substitute for the cashews?
try poppy seeds
Hi, can I use cashew butter in place of the cashews? If yes, how much would I use? Thanks!
I would not recommend as I have never tried it and I am not sure how it will work.
Got it. Thanks for the quick response!
Manali, your recipe if for 4 servings. If I want to make it for 20 servings, should I just multiply everything by 5? Thanks!
yes but I have never really made it for that many people. So I hope it works well when you multiply it by 5.
Hi, do you use American sized produce? Like the onions?
yes I live in US so
Tried today.. Turned out to be awesome
Thank you❤
great! 🙂
Hi
I have a kid in the party that I am going to that has nut allergy.
Is there a substitute for cashew?
actually it will be good without cashews as well, maybe just increase the cream quantity a bit. Else try with poppy seeds
Can i use canned tomatoes for this recipe if I do not have ripe tomatoes?
you can try!
Hi, if I want to eat this on a Saturday but can only cook it on the Wednesday, will it still be okay? So make it 3 days in advance? (I work anti social hours).
How do I cook the paneer, fry or just add to the sauce and simmer? Thanks.
I don’t fry paneer but you can do it.
And cooking on Wednesday and eating on Saturday should be okay. Maybe not add the cream, make everything else. Add paneer and cream on Saturday.
No words. This is the best ever recipe which gave me perfect restaurant style paneer butter masala.
so glad to know!
I just tried this recipe and it came out so good. Everyone loved it. Thank you. I will be trying your different recipes. My first time ever commenting on recipe.
glad you liked it!
Hi
I have made this before and it was delicious. But i did stumble my way through thesteps.
You refer to removing some items from the pot and then mention grinding to a paste and then you refer to masala.
Is it the bay leaf etc that you must grind?
I am new to this type of cuisine and need some guidance on these steps please.
you don’t grind the bay leaf, cloves and cinnamon. It’s mentioned in the recipe “Remove the bay leaf, cinnamon stick and cloves.”
You grind the mixture after removing these whole spices.
My husband and I love your recipes and this is one of our favorites – it is just wonderful!