It’s super easy to make paneer, fresh Indian cheese, at home! It’s creamy and delicious and SO much better than premade! Perfect in vegetarian Indian recipes. It only takes about an hour or two to make and is super easy with this How to Make Paneer step-by-step guide.
I’m pretty comfortable making this extreme statement: paneer is the best part of Indian food.
And I make a lot of Indian dishes! From my Easy Chana Masala to my Vegetable Korma, to my crazy delicious Restaurant Style Chicken Tikka Masala to my Perfect Naan… I’m a big fan and frequent Indian food cook.
Being married to a Pakistani man, it’s a huge compliment when he loves my recipes better than what we get at the local curry houses or – and don’t tell his family – when he says my version is better than an auntie’s!
And my homemade paneer? He said it was the best he’d ever had in his life. He actually got kind of mad because there wasn’t any left after his second bowl of saag paneer? If that tells you anything.
Why This Homemade Paneer Is So Good
If you’re wondering why you need to know how to make paneer rather than just uh, how to buy paneer, here’s the deal:
- This homemade paneer is the creamiest paneer you’ve ever had. No contest.
- Learning how to make paneer is super easy! And it comes together in about 40 minutes to 2 hours. It only takes about 15 minutes of active time; the rest of the time is the paneer pressing.
- The texture is better than what you’ll get at a restaurant or Indian grocery.
- It’s richer and tastes like melty cheese curds, rather than little hard, dry-ish cubes.
- This homemade paneer is amazing in vegetarian Indian dishes, like saag paneer.
How to Make Paneer
Start by pouring your milk into a large heavy-bottomed pot and placing over medium heat. Bring the milk to just a boil. The milk should produce a layer of bubbly foam on top and smell really rich and fragrant.
As soon as the milk boils, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the lemon juice. As you stir, the milk should immediately separate into curds and whey: white cottage cheese and yellowy liquid.
Line a strainer with 2 layers of cheesecloth and pour the curds and whey through. This will leave just the solid white curds. Discard the whey or save it for another use, like lactofermentation or whey beverages.
Rinse the curds under running water to reduce any lemon flavor.
Toss the solid curds with a bit of salt then wrap up in a ball in the cheesecloth and squeeze very tightly to get out as much water as possible.
Less water = creamier cheese.
Live it.
Once you’ve squeezed out as much water as you can, flatten the ball of curds in the cheesecloth into a disc.
Lay the cheesecloth over the disc as flat as you can get it, to produce the smoothest top. Place a plate on top and weight the top plate down; I use a couple cans. Chill for 20 minutes to 2 hours.
The longer you press, the firmer the cheese. It will still be rich and creamy but it won’t melt into your dish. It will be hard to fry or sauté paneer that has only been pressed 20-30 minutes. I recommend pressing 90 minutes – 2 hours.
Then, unwrap the paneer, cut into cubes, and you’re done!
Can I use organic milk?
Well… you can, but it cannot be ultra-high temperature pasteurized (UHT), which is a very common process for organic milk. Ultra high temperature pasteurization kills out certain structures in the milk that you need to get them to properly form curds and produce homemade cheese.
I prefer to use local, high butterfat milk for the creamiest, richest paneer ever, and it’s processed at a low temperature. If you can find organic milk that does not undergo ultra high pasteurization, you should be fine.
How long do I have to press the paneer?
You can absolutely press the paneer for just about 20-30 minutes and move on about your life. However, that will result in a meltier cheese, rather than the firm cubes you have at an Indian restaurant. I personally prefer to press my homemade paneer for 1-2 hours to really firm the cheese up without losing any richness or creaminess. This produces a better result for recipes that require frying the paneer first.
Other Indian Food Recipes You’ll Love:
- Iced Golden Milk Latte
- Indian Butter Chicken
- Saag Chicken
- Best Instant Pot Chicken Tikka Masala
- Whole30 Chicken Curry
- Whole30 Butter Chicken
- Indian Meatballs with Creamy Sauce
Hey – you’ve made it this far, and now we’re best friends! If you make this recipe, I’d love for you to give it a star rating ★ below. Make sure you follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook, too!
How to Make Paneer (Indian Cheese)
How to make homemade paneer easily and pretty quickly. This Indian cheese is crazy rich and creamy, unlike anything you've ever tasted. Worth every minute!
Ingredients
- 1/2 gallon whole milk not UHT pasteurized. See Note
- 6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon salt
Equipment Needed
Instructions
In a large heavy saucepan, heat the milk over medium heat. Bring the milk to JUST under a boil. The milk will produce a steamy, foamy layer on top and will smell rich and fragrant. Stir occasionally, scraping the bottom to make sure it doesn't burn.
Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the lemon juice. The mixture will likely curdle immediately into solid white curds and yellow liquid whey, but if it doesn't, that's OK. See Note for next steps if your milk does not curdle immediately.
Line a medium colander with cheesecloth and set over a large bowl. Scoop the white solid curds into the colander and let the liquid whey drain into the bowl beneath. Discard the yellow whey or save for other uses, like lactofermentation.
Sprinkle the curds with 1 teaspoon salt. Toss the curds with your hands to incorporate the salt.
- Squeeze the curds in the cheesecloth to remove as much excess whey as possible. Still in the cheesecloth, flatten the curds into a disc and arrange the edges of the cheesecloth over the top as smooth as possible. Place a dinner plate on top and weight with 1-2 cans or other heavy item.
Place in the refrigerator and let press for at least 20 minutes, preferably 90 minutes - 2 hours. The longer the press, the firmer the cheese, without losing any richness. After pressing, unwrap the paneer, cut into cubes, and use in a recipe or keep chilled in an airtight container up to 3-4 days.
Recipe Notes
Most organic milk is ultra-high temperature pasteurized (UHT) which destroys the structure of the milk and will not produce proper curds or bind as necessary to make paneer or most homemade cheeses. Ultra-high temperature pasteurized milk is legally required to be labeled as such, so check your labels and opt for non-UHT milk (Not always labeled as such, but it will not say it is UHT pasteurized). I use a local, low temp pasteurized, high butterfat milk for my homemade cheeses, and it's divine.
If your milk does not curdle immediately after stirring in lemon juice: Cover and let stand for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, the mixture should be separated into curds and whey--the whey is the yellowy watery liquid. If the mixture has not yet separated, add another tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar.
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Can you use goat milk instead of cow milk?
I CAN MAKE MY OWN PANEER? I CAN MAKE MY OWN PANEER.
LIFE.
CHANGING.
Life, CHANGED. Seriously though.. it’s like 1/3 of the cost of regular paneer and like 400x better tasting. There is magic yet in this world!
oh my gawd. . you made homemade paneer .. this is why I love you . . and hey, light grey yoga pants might be the next skinny jean craze . . you never know. you probably started the yoga pants fashion craze, yo. 🙂 and as for Indian buffets. . you would be fighting with me for the paneer. love!
I’m totally claiming that as my gift to the world.. and I mean come now, who wears *real pants* to an Indian buffet?! You have to try the homemade paneer, Alice.. you will love it! 🙂
I always make paneer at home…its taste and texture is unmatched! 🙂 Yours look lovely!
Right?! So good. Thanks Manali! 🙂
Haha! Honestly, nobody wears yoga pants here and I wear them all the time. I know they’re not really “real” pants perse – but they are just too comfy! Ha!
Um, I could eat at an Indian Buffet everyday too. I’ll hoard the naan and the Eggplant Bharta and you can hoard the paneer!! SO good! I can’t wait to go home to Toronto soon and go to my favorite EVER Indian restaurant! This paneer looks all kinds of lovely – Pinned!
Ceara.. don’t let ANYONE tell you that yoga pants aren’t real pants. You don’t need that kind of negativity in your life! I rock those suckers every day but I know what you’re talking about.. they are a big no-no in France I know that! Um, we need to have an Indian buffet tour of the world don’t you think?!
I’ve only had paneer once that I can think of and I thought it was so awesome! Good Indian food is really hard to find in Wisconsin – and in France. I’m pinning this for the next time I just have to have some, which will probably be this week now. It looks amazing!
Dude, yes, I went an entire 6 months without any Indian when I was in Paris. Found plenty of Thai and Chinese, though, surprisingly.. I actually found a tikka masala burrito but that was pretty much it. I actually used this recipe to make a super quick cheese curd for some poutine we made.. and I thought of you of course!! 😀
hahaha YES! i am so with you on paneer-fishing!! this homemade version looks so, so good. it’s been on my to-do list forever (so that i can stop hoarding paneer too) and you’ve inspired me. so glad i found your blog recently, cheryl!!!
OK, so it’s very important we stagger our Indian-buffet attendance, so as not to endanger the supply. If we ever showed up at the same buffet at the same time, all bets would be totally off! I hope you try the paneer.. I know you’ll love it!
OK Cheryl, you DEFINITELY perk my interest with your funny post and your paneer addict. I believe everything you said so you can expect me in the kitchen making your paneer very soon.
Love your sense of humour and your recipe, always 🙂
Haha! You are too funny, Pang. I don’t know if I’d go believing everything I say…. even I don’t do that! 🙂
In the name of all that is paneer, this looks like some of the best I’ve ever seen. I can’t imagine what it tasted like homemade!! An to me it makes perfect sense to wear yoga pants to a buffet. I’m sure he didn’t even notice. Men are just like that. I’ll put on makeup for going out and ask my boyfriend “do you notice a difference?” and he goes “not… really…”
I guess it’s better that way 🙂
I really, really hope you’re right.. I mean, I am all about the yoga pants. ALL about them. I’d venture to guess I wear them approximately 12 times more than I wear regular pants but such is ze life of the entrepreneur. But light grey.. I just.. I wonder how flattering.. yeah..
This paneer looks just perfect! I’ve made it using the exact same recipe and I loved it! So easy to prepare, creamy and delicious!Never been to an Indian buffet, so it feels like I’m missing out! Pinned 🙂
Right?! So easy and so, so delicious. Totally love it. And Indian buffets are the best! We have so many for some reason and they are always totally PACKED. Crazy.
I have never made paneer! You continue to inspire me Cheryl, each time I come to your blog… thank you. I’ve never had the great fortune of eating at an Indian buffet. That needs to change! Certainly I can find one in Seattle! I’d like to pick your brain about Indian food! Until then, I’ll just keep coming back to 40 Aprons for more! (LOL – light grey yoga pants – I could never… just sayin 😉 )
Oh man, you need to come visit just for the Indian food! We have some incredible buffets that totally pass the father-in-law’s test of authenticity. And now I have them on the brain and am BEGGING O to take me tonight! Alas, we’ll see how that ends… You would love homemade paneer! It’s truly so so simple and makes such a huge difference in the curry!
Uh, yes please!! I’m a huge fan of vegetarian indian meals and I’ve been eyeing your vegetarian meals girl!! Pinning this beauty. You and O need to take a wee trip here and you know…do some of this lovely cooking (I mean, bonding).
Oh, don’t even! Literally nothing would please me more. Nothing!!
Wow, it’s that easy!?! I had no idea!! I loooove saag paneer but have never even thought about making it myself cause I always thought the cheese making would be too complicated. Will give this a try next week, many thanks for the recipe! 🙂
Right?! It’s mostly just patience involved.. you should definitely try it! Let me know if you do 🙂
So with you. I could eat Indian buffet food every dang day and it’s the paneer I always go for. Making homemade cheese like this sounds like a fabulous idea!! I just love this recipe and can’t wait to slather it with various kinds of curry. Mmm.
Oh man, if you love it at the buffet, you will LOVE the homemade variety. It’s so much creamier and richer, I really can’t get over it! I actually even used it in a poutine I made at home.. ha!