Paneer & Veggies in Peanut Sauce
Dec 19, 2019, Updated May 27, 2023
One-pot, 30 minutes is all it takes to make this Paneer & Veggies in Peanut Sauce! Best enjoyed over brown or white rice. Can be made vegan.
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Paneer & veggies in peanut sauce – this flavorful dish gets done in 30 minutes or less and all made in the instant pot.
Tastes great with brown rice or white jasmine rice.
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I love coming up with Asian inspired dishes! They are actually one of my favorites, besides Indian of course.
Peanut butter is something that I love adding to savory recipes, like in these Thai peanut noodles which you all loved.
This time around I created a similar sauce and added paneer and veggies to it and it turned out really good!
Paneer and veggies in peanut sauce is a wholesome dish which you can make in your Instant Pot in less than 30 minutes.
Now, you can’t beat a quick meal, can you?
The Peanut Sauce
The creamy peanut sauce is what makes this dish!
The sauce is made with soy sauce, rice vinegar, peanut butter and honey.
It gets a slight kick from sriracha. And there’s also garlic, ginger and green onion which add to the flavor.
Pretty simple sauce but big on flavors.
The Paneer & Veggies
To the creamy peanut butter sauce, I added paneer and veggies.
Now why paneer? Honestly, I wanted to see how paneer would work in Asian inspired recipes.
Mostly, I always stick to tofu in such recipes but I just wanted to use paneer in this one.
Can you guess who was the happiest that I used paneer in place of tofu? Yes, my husband!
He thought replacing tofu with paneer was the best ever thing that I did! lol
Anyway, other than the paneer, I also added some veggies like carrots, peppers and broccoli.
I pressure cooked the carrots with paneer and added the peppers and broccoli later so that they retain their texture and don’t become soggy.
Some snow peas would have been nice here too so if you have them feel free to add them.
Can You Make This Vegan
But of course!
I mean practically I always use tofu in such dishes.
So just replace the paneer with tofu.
And also replace the honey with agave or maple.
What About Gluten-Free
Replace the soy sauce with tamari and you will have a gluten-free dish.
Serving Suggestions
This dish goes well with brown rice or white jasmine rice.
It will also go well with noodles or quinoa.
My personal favorite though is brown rice.
It is one of those dishes which tastes better even the next day.
The flavors really develop when they sit together for a longer time. So in case you make it for dinner, you are definitely going to relish the leftovers for lunch!
Method
1- In a large bowl or measuring jar, combine all the ingredients for the sauce- soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, sriracha and peanut butter.
Whisk until it’s all smooth and combined. Set aside.
2- Press the saute button on the Instant Pot. Once it displays hot, add the sesame oil and the avocado oil. Then add the chopped ginger, garlic and green onion.
Cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
3- And then add the paneer and carrots. Cook for 1 minute.
4- Add 1.5 cups water and stir. Make sure there’s nothing stuck at the bottom of the pan. Pour the prepared sauce on top. Do not stir.
5- Close the pot with the lid. Press the manual or pressure cook button and cook on high pressure for 3 minutes with the pressure valve in the sealing position.
Quick release the pressure.
6- Open the pot and press the saute button. Add in the broccoli and bell peppers, cover with a glass lid and let the curry simmer for 5 minutes.
7- In a small bowl whisk together cornstarch with 1 tablespoon water. Remove glass lid after 5 minutes (the broccoli and peppers would have slightly softened by now) and stir in the cornstarch slurry.
8- Simmer for 1 more minute, the sauce will thicken. It would continue to thicken as it cools.
Garnish with green onion and serve paneer & veggies in peanut sauce over brown rice or white rice.
If you’ve tried this Paneer & Veggies in Peanut Sauce Recipe then don’t forget to rate the recipe! You can also follow me on Facebook and Instagram to see what’s latest in my kitchen!
Paneer & Veggies in Peanut Sauce
Ingredients
Peanut Sauce
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon sriracha or any hot sauce
- 4 tablespoons peanut butter
Paneer & Veggies
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil or use oil of choice
- 1 inch ginger chopped
- 4 large garlic cloves chopped
- 3 stalks green onions chopped + more greens to garnish
- 200 grams paneer cubed, around 1.5 cups paneer cubes
- 2 medium carrots cut in rounds
- 1.5 cups water 12 oz
- 1 cup broccoli florets medium to small size florets
- 1 small red bell pepper sliced
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
- In a large bowl or measuring jar, combine all the ingredients for the sauce- soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, sriracha and peanut butter.Whisk until it's all smooth and combined. Set aside.
- Press the saute button on the Instant Pot. Once it displays hot, add the sesame oil and the avocado oil. Then add the chopped ginger, garlic and green onion. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
- And then add the paneer and carrots. Cook for 1 minute.
- Add 1.5 cups water and stir. Make sure there's nothing stuck at the bottom of the pan. Pour the prepared sauce on top. Do not stir.
- Close the pot with the lid. Press the manual or pressure cook button and cook on high pressure for 3 minutes with the pressure valve in the sealing position.Quick release the pressure.
- Open the pot and press the saute button. Add in the broccoli and bell peppers, cover with a glass lid and let the curry simmer for 5 minutes.
- In a small bowl whisk together cornstarch with 1 tablespoon water. Remove glass lid after 5 minutes (the broccoli and peppers would have slightly softened by now) and stir in the prepared cornstarch slurry.
- Simmer for 1 more minute, the sauce will thicken. It would continue to thicken as it cools.
- Garnish with green onion and serve paneer & veggies in peanut sauce over brown rice or white rice.
Stove-top Instructions
- Whisk ingredients for the sauce in a bowl and set aside. Heat a heavy bottom pan on medium heat. Once hot, add the oils and then add the garlic, ginger and green onion. Sauce for 2 minutes and then stir in the paneer, carrots, pepper and broccoli along with water. Cover and let the veggies look until soften, around 7 to 8 minutes. Remove lid and stir in the sauce. Stir in the cornstarch slurry and simmer for 2 minutes until the sauce thickens.
Notes
- You may pan-fry the paneer/tofu if you want for added texture.
- You can also garnish the dish with roasted peanuts or cashews.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
My humblest apologies for two things! First, that this great recipe languished in my bucket stack since July of 2021! Second, for subbing chicken instead of paneer. I can’t do dairy so no paneer for me! I really like how mine tastes and am considering adding some halved fresh mushrooms that get sauteed with maybe a little onion. We’ll see! Thanks for another really good recipe!!!! As always my absolute very very best to you and yours!!! Take care!!!!
Thanks for trying Gary!
This came out perfectly and was a huge hit for both my husband and I! It was pretty quick to make. We love spicy things so I added 2 bird’s eye chillies too.
What kind of peanut butter did you use?
creamy peanut butter, any brand you like
This was yummy! I had never cooked with paneer before and was delighted with the results. Will make for my vegetarian daughter the next time she visits. The blend of oils was scrumptious.
glad to hear 🙂
OMG! This was so simple yet delectable! Made this for my family today and every picky eater loved it! I am definitely saving this for busy weeknights. Thank you!
You have some of the best recipes & you are absolutely my go-to-place to decide what to make. Thank you for easy and delicious recipes!
Could you explain why do you use 2 different oils, Sesame Oil and Avacado oil? Would love to understand. Thank you!
for flavor, I like using sesame oil in Asian inspired recipes for it’s flavor but if I use too much of it then it becomes overpowering so I use a combination of a neutral oil (avocado oil) and sesame oil
This is so tasty! I made it in frying pan on stove top with tofu and it turned out great.
We loved it.
awesome!
This looks great, except… I don’t have an instant pot (or a pressure cooker). Would you have any tip to make this recipe on the stove?
if you just scroll down to the bottom of the post and check the recipe card, there are instructions for stove-top.
Oh! Thank you! I don’t know how I missed it, apologies.
This was delicious! Hit all the right notes… Thanks for sharing 🙂
welcome! glad you liked it!
This was absolutely delicious!! Thanks for tha amazing recipe 🙂
welcome! 🙂