Step by step instructions on how to make Paneer (Indian Cottage Cheese) at home!
Making paneer at home is easier than you think!
Paneer, the most famous Indian vegetable which actually is not a vegetable yet 5 out of the 10 options on the vegetarian menu in an Indian restaurant will have paneer on it.
If you love Indian food, then I am sure you must be very well aware of paneer. I have a lot of paneer recipes on the blog and be assured that there will be more in the future.
What is Paneer?
Paneer is Indian cottage cheese made by curdling the milk.
You can either curdle the milk with vinegar or lemon juice. You can also use yogurt.
Once the milk is curdled, you collect the cheese in a muslin cloth and then let it set until it’s firm.
And that’s about it! Seriously, it’s that easy to make paneer at home.
Paneer is used in a number of curries in India, the popular ones being palak paneer, kadai paneer, matar paneer.
Why to Make Paneer at Home?
But you do get paneer in stores so why should you bother making it at home?
In India, we go get good paneer from outside. It’s fresh and tasty however it’s totally a different story in the US.
We get paneer here at Indian grocery stores and I do buy it sometimes when I am in a rush or have to cook for a large batch.
But more often that not, I prefer making paneer at home. And you should be doing the same! Because making paneer at home has several advantages.
✓ its fresh and free of preservatives
✓ you can make organic paneer at home using organic milk
✓ not to forget homemade paneer is soft & super delicious
I hope I have convinced you to make paneer at home now!
How to Make Paneer
As I mentioned before, you only need 2 things to make paneer.
✓ Milk: use whole milk to get best results. You can make paneer using 2% milk also but if you want nice paneer cubes, I recommend using whole milk.
✓ Curdling agent: which can either be vinegar or lemon juice or yogurt. I always use vinegar when I want firm block of paneer.
However, if I am curdling the milk to make paneer (chena) to make sweets like rasmalai, then I use lemon juice or yogurt. They give softer paneer which is preferred for desserts.
Tip: If you want creamier paneer, add some heavy cream(around ¼ cup per liter of milk) to the milk while you are boiling it.
The basic process is pretty simple, you boil the milk and then add the curdling agent until the milk begin to separates.
Then use a muslin cloth to drain the water and collect the paneer. You then need to let it set and for that you have to apply pressure on the freshly prepared paneer.
These days you can find paneer press online. But an easy way to do it is to apply pressure using a heavy object.
Few things that you can use- mortar & pestle, heavy books, can of beans, cast iron pan.
I hope you guys find this guide on how to make paneer useful! Let me know if you try it out.
Method
1- Add milk to a heavy bottom pan on medium heat.
2- Let the milk come to a boil, stir often so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
3- Once the milk has come to a boil, turn off the heat and start adding vinegar (or lemon juice), little at a time.
4- At one point, the milk will curdle and you will see the whey separate. At that point, stop adding the curdling agent and wait for 5 minutes so that the milk curdles completely.
5- Drain the curdled milk into a muslin cloth.
6- Rinse the paneer with cold water so that the final paneer doesn’t have any taste of vinegar.
7- Bring the ends of muslin cloth together and squeeze as much water as you can.
8- Then flatten the paneer (wrapped inside the muslin cloth) and place it on a flat surface. Then place a heavy object on top for it to set.
I placed a plate and then placed mortar & pestle on top. Leave it undisturbed for 1 to 2 hours.
Once the paneer is set, remove it carefully from the muslin cloth and cut into cubes.
Use paneer in any of your favorite recipes like this butter paneer! Yum!
If you’ve tried How to Make Paneer Recipe then don’t forget to rate the recipe! You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram to see what’s latest in my kitchen!
This post has been updated from the recipe archives, first published in 2013.
How to Make Paneer
Ingredients
- 1 liter whole milk
- 1-1.5 tablespoons white vinegar or lemon juice
Instructions
- Add milk to a heavy bottom pan on medium heat.
- Let the milk come to a boil, stir often so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
- Once the milk has come to a boil, turn off the heat and start adding vinegar (or lemon juice), little at a time.
- At one point, the milk will curdle and you will see the whey separate. At that point, stop adding the curdling agent and wait for 5 minutes so that the milk curdles completely.
- Drain the curdled milk into a muslin cloth. Rinse the paneer with cold water so that the final paneer doesn’t have any taste of vinegar.
- Bring the ends of muslin cloth together and squeeze as much water as you can.
- Then flatten the paneer (wrapped inside the muslin cloth) and place it on a flat surface. Then place a heavy object on top for it to set. I placed a plate and then placed mortar & pestle on top. Leave it undisturbed for 1 to 2 hours.
- Once the paneer is set, remove it carefully from the muslin cloth and cut into cubes. Use paneer in any of your favorite recipes.
Notes
- I prefer using vinegar to curdle the milk as I feel it results in a more solid block of paneer.
- Start by adding only 1 teaspoon of the curdling agent. Add 1 more teaspoon only if the milk doesn’t curdle and add the remaining 1/2 teaspoon only if it still doesn’t curdle.
- For creamier paneer, add 1/4 cup heavy cream to the milk while boiling it.
After a few tries I did it. Love Indian food. So does my family. Great recipes 👍 thank you for sharing
thanks! glad to hear!
Manali!!!! Non so dove ho sbagliato!!!!😞😞😞😞
sorry I don’t understand?
Hi Manali.. I wish to try this, really sounds simple:-) One query – In the last step , can the paneer be placed inside the fridge along with the heavy object above it to set?
sure
Hi,can’t wait to give it a go! How much on average does this recipe make in grams?
around 200 grams
Made and now have it on a plate with a plate on top and a weight training weight on it. It was being a door stop, now a paneer weight; who knew gym weights had so many uses? Instructions were super easy to follow so a pleasant, unstressful, something new experience. I just hope it tastes nice?
I made planner yesterday it came out really good. I will freeze it
Use whole milk and just take your time. I also add 1 T cornstarch to the lukewarm milk…
Ooh why do you add corn starch?
Could you please recommend a non dairy milk I could make this with or would it just not work? I love paneer but as a vegan I would like to try to make my own. Thank you.
Louise, I am not sure if this will work with non-dairy milk, sorry I have never tried. I highly recommend using extra-firm tofu in place of paneer for Indian recipes with paneer.
Ok, thanks. I might try it anyway and I’ll let you know
since paneer is made by separating the milk fats from the whey, it’s doubtful that you’d be able to make it with any sort of milk that doesn’t contain some sort of fat
tofu can be made by coagulating freshly-made (never store-bought — not sure why!) hot soymilk with vinegar or lemon juice, just like paneer. you’ll just be making homemade tofu — which is delicious! — but I should mention that making soymilk is pretty messy, since it foams up massively to 3X its original volume as it nears the boiling point. have to stir it constantly and occasionally scoop out some foam. check out a guide for making tofu with vinegar or lemon juice to see how that’s done. soymilk contains enough fat and protein to do this; peanut milk is another option (since peanuts are closely related to soybeans and are legumes with fat, rather than nuts). other legumes and nuts will not work.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge!
Hi Manali
What is the shelve life of paneer?
it should keep for 2-3 days in fridge,
I have never had luck making paneer. I used whole milk from a chain store grocer, I tried using Costco milk too, it never worked!
I tried lemon juice, vinegar in each attempt.
I am thinking it’s the milk that is in question.
Can anyone recommended a particular brand that I can use to make paneer?
use whole milk! if you can find something from your local farm, even better 🙂
I’ve always had better luck with organic milk when making any sort of cheeses.
The milk cannot be ultra pasteurized. Pasteurized works, raw works, but NOT ultra pasteurized. The milk will be labeled.
Ultra pasteurized gives a much longer shelf life and is becoming the norm. Trader Joe’s carries pasteurized; locally Alpenrose Dairy does not ultra pasteurize.