North Indian · Main course
Paneer Butter Masala
Paneer butter masala is a North Indian curry of paneer cubes in a smooth, mildly sweet gravy built from tomatoes, cashews, butter and cream, finished with kasuri methi. It is milder and sweeter than kadai paneer and thicker than shahi paneer. A restaurant portion is rich enough that most of its calories come from the fat in the gravy rather than from the paneer.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 30 min
- Total time
- 45 min
- Servings
- 4
- Vegetarian
- Kid-friendly
Ingredients
- 250 g paneer, cut into 2 cm cubes
- 4 large tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 15 cashew nuts, soaked in hot water for 15 minutes
- 1 large onion, roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 tablespoons fresh cream, or thick curd
- 1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chilli powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon kasuri methi, crushed between the palms
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- Salt to taste
NNWA health note
Paneer supplies roughly 18 grams of protein per 100 grams along with calcium, which makes the cubes the useful part of this dish. The gravy is where the energy sits: butter, cream and cashews together can carry more than half the calories in a serving. Swapping cream for thick curd and cutting the butter to a tablespoon keeps the protein and most of the flavour while removing a large share of the saturated fat.
Method
- 01
Boil the tomatoes, onion, ginger garlic paste and soaked cashews in a cup of water for 10 minutes, until the tomato skins loosen and the onion turns soft.
- 02
Cool the mixture completely, then blend to a smooth puree and pass it through a sieve. Sieving is what separates a restaurant gravy from a homemade one.
- 03
Heat the oil and one tablespoon of butter in a heavy pan. Add the Kashmiri chilli powder off the heat so it colours the fat without burning.
- 04
Pour in the sieved puree, add salt and sugar, and simmer on a low flame for 12 to 15 minutes, until the gravy thickens and you see fat separating at the edges.
- 05
Stir in the cream or whisked curd on the lowest heat. If you are using curd, take the pan off the flame first and whisk it in gradually to stop it splitting.
- 06
Add the paneer cubes and simmer for 3 minutes only. Longer than that and the paneer turns rubbery.
- 07
Finish with the remaining butter, the garam masala and the crushed kasuri methi. Rest the curry for 5 minutes before serving.
Last reviewed on 10 September 2026.
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What makes paneer butter masala different from other paneer curries?
The gravy is built on cashews and butter rather than on browned onions or a ground spice paste, which is why it tastes sweet and smooth rather than sharp. Kadai paneer uses a coarse, roasted coriander and chilli masala and keeps its onion and capsicum in visible pieces. Shahi paneer leans on cream and sometimes melon seeds and is paler and thinner. Paneer butter masala sits between them, with the tomato well forward and a texture that clings to bread. If you can taste the individual spices, you have made something closer to kadai paneer.
Why does the gravy need to be sieved?
Because tomato skin, cashew fragments and onion fibre are what make a home gravy taste slightly grainy against a restaurant one. Blending alone leaves particles a blender cannot break down, and they sit on the tongue. Pushing the puree through a metal sieve with the back of a ladle takes two minutes and changes the mouthfeel completely. Do it while the puree is still warm, which makes it pass through far more easily.
How do you keep paneer soft rather than rubbery?
Add it late and keep the heat low. Paneer is a fresh acid-set cheese with a high moisture content, and prolonged heating drives that moisture out and tightens the protein network, which is exactly what makes a cube squeaky. Three minutes in a simmering gravy is enough to warm it through and let it take on flavour. If your paneer has been refrigerated, soak the cubes in warm salted water for 10 minutes first and pat them dry before they go in.
Can you make it lighter without losing the character?
Yes, and the honest answer is that you lighten the gravy, not the paneer. The cashews are doing structural work, so keep them; they are also mostly unsaturated fat. What you can cut is the butter, from four tablespoons in a typical restaurant version to one, and the cream, which thick whisked curd replaces at a fraction of the fat. Sugar can come down to half a teaspoon once the tomatoes are ripe. Those three changes remove a meaningful share of the saturated fat while leaving the dish recognisable.
What should you serve it with if you are watching portions?
Two rotis rather than naan, and a vegetable on the side. Paneer butter masala is energy dense by design, so the variable that decides the meal is what carries it. Naan and butter rice both add refined carbohydrate and more fat to a dish that already has plenty. Phulka or tandoori roti with a plain salad keeps the plate balanced and lets the curry be the rich part. Our Indian food calorie chart has household-portion figures if you want to build the plate deliberately.
Where does this dish come from?
Delhi, in the middle of the twentieth century, from the same restaurant kitchens that produced butter chicken. The story usually told is that a tomato, butter and cream gravy was devised to use leftover tandoori meat, and that the vegetarian version followed once paneer proved it took the same treatment well. Whether or not the detail is exact, the dish is genuinely modern and restaurant born rather than a regional home recipe, which is why almost every family version is an adaptation of something eaten out.
Which paneer should you buy?
Fresh, soft paneer from a dairy counter if you can get it, and full fat rather than a low fat block. Vacuum packed supermarket paneer is firmer and drier because it is pressed harder for shelf life, and it is the main reason home versions turn out chewy. If that is what you have, the warm salted water soak matters more, not less. Making paneer at home from a litre of full cream milk and two tablespoons of lemon juice gives roughly 200 grams and a noticeably softer result.
Learn the science
Culinary Nutrition (Nutrition Chef)
This dish's nutrition reasoning is taught in full in this NNWA course.
What people ask about Paneer Butter Masala
Is paneer butter masala healthy?
It depends almost entirely on the gravy rather than the paneer. The paneer contributes protein and calcium, but a restaurant version can carry four tablespoons of butter and a generous pour of cream, which pushes both total energy and saturated fat high. Made at home with one tablespoon of butter and curd in place of cream, it becomes a reasonable protein-led main course.
How many calories are in a serving of paneer butter masala?
A home portion made as written here, roughly one quarter of the recipe, sits in the region of 300 to 350 kilocalories before any bread. Restaurant servings are commonly higher because of the extra butter and cream, and the accompaniments matter as much as the curry. Two rotis add roughly 140 kilocalories; butter naan can add three times that.
Can I make paneer butter masala without cream?
Yes. Thick curd, whisked and added off the heat, gives a similar body with far less fat. Take the pan off the flame, whisk two tablespoons of curd in a little at a time, and return it to the lowest heat so it does not split. Soaked cashews already provide much of the richness, so the cream is doing less work than people assume.
Why is my paneer butter masala sour?
Almost always underripe or overly acidic tomatoes, and not enough simmering. Cook the sieved puree until you see fat separating at the edges, which takes 12 to 15 minutes and mellows the acidity considerably. A half teaspoon of sugar balances what remains. A small pinch of baking soda works but flattens the flavour, so treat it as a last resort.
Is paneer butter masala suitable for diabetes?
The curry itself is low in carbohydrate and the protein and fat slow digestion, so it is not the problem. What decides the blood glucose response is the bread and rice alongside it, and the sugar in the gravy. Keep the added sugar minimal, choose two rotis over naan or a large serving of rice, and add a vegetable. Anyone on medication should confirm portion sizes with their own clinician.
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