Easy Paneer Butter Masala Recipe (Restaurant style) - Sandhya's Kitchen (2024)

Paneer Butter Masala Ingredients & Substitutions

A full list of Ingredients is mentioned in the recipe card below.

Our butter paneer masala recipe uses the simplest ingredients, yet it is super delicious. Tomato, Ginger, and Garlic together make the base for this masala. And this curry has no onions too.

Tomatoes – Use Ripe Vine Tomatoes for this curry as they lend the gorgeous color too. You may also use canned tomatoes or crushed tomatoes, but remember the gravy can be a bit too tangy and you will have to adjust the flavours accordingly.

Ginger & Garlic – Fresh ginger and garlic are best. But you can use ready chopped ginger and garlic in a jar or store-bought ginger garlic paste.

Whole Spices – We use Bay Leaf & Cinnamon. Add them to butter for 20-30 seconds and fry until aromatic.

Ground Spices – We add Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder, Ground Cardamom, Ground Coriander & Garam Masala to this curry. I always make a batch of my Instant Garam Masala and store it in my pantry. Have coriander seeds, make the powder at home with my recipe for Ground Coriander.

Cream & Cashewnuts – Together they add creaminess and richness to the curry.

Water – This is to loosen the curry a bit. Do not use Vegetable stock as the flavors will change largely.

Paneer – It is the star ingredient of the curry. We have used store-bought paneer for convenience. Remember to soak them in hot water for at least 10 minutes and see for yourself how soft they are.

Coriander – Fresh Coriander leaves ( Cilantro) add flavour and lots of freshness to the paneer masala.

Oil & Butter – Use Oil and butter together as this will avoid butter to burn and darken quickly.

How to make Paneer Butter Masala Step by Step

Prepare the Butter Masala gravy

• Heat 2 tbsp of butter and oil in a deep saucepan. Add red chillies, ginger, garlic,and saute for a minute.
• Tip in cashew and saute for another one minute.
• .Add the chopped tomatoes and stir.
• Cover and cook the tomatoes until they are soft. This takes about 5-6 minutes.
• Turn off the flame and allow the tomato cashew nut mixture to cool down.
• Transfer the mixture to a blender and blend into a smooth tomato puree.

Assemble the Paneer Masala

• In the same pan, heat the remaining butter and add bayleaf and cinnamon stick. Saute for 30 seconds.
• Add the blended tomato puree,chilli powder, cardamom powder, coriander powder, salt & sugar.
• Allow this mixture to cook for 5- 6 minutes or until they slowly leave the side of the pan. Continue to stir when the gravy leaves the side of the pan.
• Add 1 Cup of water to the gravy.
• Stir well and allow it to boil for 2 minutes.
• Add the paneer, garam masala, cream, Kasuri methi to the gravy and mix well.
• .Cook for another one minute and switch off the flame.
• Garnish with cream, and fresh coriander, and serve hot!

Tips to make the BEST BUTTER PANEER

Use Red Vine Tomatoesto make the gravy. If Vine Tomatoes are not available, you can use Salad Tomatoes or even Canned Tomatoes. But you must remember Canned Tomatoes can be tangy and you need to add a little more sugar to cut the tanginess.

Nuts – Cashew nuts render a beautiful creaminess and body to this tomato gravy. You may choose to use Melon Seeds, Poppy Seeds, and Almonds as an alternative. Using alternative nuts can slightly vary the flavour too.

Color – To obtain rich orange-red hue colour for this gravy, use ripe red tomatoes. Some people do prefer to add food colour or paprika too to enhance the colour of the gravy.

Cream & Butter – As the name suggests, Paneer Butter Masala uses butter (of course ! ) & cream generously. Don’t be too skinny in adding them as both the ingredients are essential in imparting the creaminess and rich body to the gravy.

Paneer – DO NOT Cook Paneer for too long after adding it to the gravy. It can turn rubbery and chewy by doing so.

Process Smooth – Remember to blend the chopped tomatoes, cashew, ginger, garlic and chillies into a smooth paste. This has a great impact on the texture of the curry.

Love Paneer, you will also love these Vegetarian Paneer curry recipes

Palak Paneer

30 Minutes Vegetable Korma

Matar Paneer

Baked Malai Kofta

30 Minutes Matar Paneer Butter Masala

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