Punjabi Paneer Paratha Recipe - Indian Vegetarian Recipes (2024)

This stuffed paneer paratha recipe is our favourite paneer recipe where grated paneer mixed with spices is stuffed inside parathas or Indian flatbreads. It is super healthy, protein packed and makes for a whole meal in itself. This version of punjabi paneer paratha is our favourite when we want a dinner vegetarian dish that makes for a whole meal on its own.

What is paneer paratha made of? This paneer stuffed paratha uses absolutely simple ingredients. The paratha dough uses whole wheat flour or atta, salt & carrom seeds (ajwain) for flavour, and a touch of oil & water to bring together the dough. The stuffed paratha filling here is made with grated paneer mixed with chopped onion, chilies, ginger and some of the Indian spices.

In this blogpost I have shared details on how to make the perfect paratha dough, paneer stuffing and secret to make soft parathas.

Pro Tips & Tricks for perfect Paneer ka Paratha recipe

Best paneer paratha recipe calls for a few mindful tricks to get the perfectly made soft parathas that won’t break off during rolling or frying. To get the best paneer parathas, there are basically four stages that we need to take care of. To help you through these, I have divided them and listed them stage-wise:

• Making the Perfect Dough
  1.The dough for stuffed paratha has to be semi-stiffso that when you put in the paneer stuffing, it can be easily rolled into perfect parathas, without them cracking or breaking off at the edges. If the paratha dough is too soft then the paneer stuffing will burst through during rolling and make a mess.
  2. Also to get the perfectly crispy yet soft paneer paratha, rub some oil or ghee into the flour before adding water to knead the dough. To enhance the flavour, add some salt and ajwain (carrom seeds) as well.
• Preparing the Paneer Stuffing
  1. First and perhaps, the easiest way is using store-bought slab of Paneer. Take it out of the pack and keep it wrapped in a kitchen towel for 15 minutes to remove the moisture. Once it is dry-ish crumble it nicely or finely grate it. Mix it with chopped onions, green chilies and spices.
  2. There is always the way of making paneer or chenna at home, from scratch using milk. Once it’s ready, hang it over the sink in a cheesecloth to remove most of whey from it. Next, proceed using this for the paneer paratha stuffing
  3. Make sure that there isminimum amount of moisturein the paneer stuffing otherwise it will moisten the dough while rolling the parathas and cause the edges to break. To avoid, wring out most of the water from chena or paneer.
  4. Make the paneer parathastuffing a bit spicierfor absolutely delicious paneer ka paratha. Once it is stuffed inside the dough and rolled flat, the taste gets reduced
• Preparing Paneer stuffed Parathas
  1. Making perfectly round and soft paneer paratha with neat edges can be daunting. However, with practice & time it can be achieved by anyone. Once the dough and stuffing is made right, then all you have to is stuff a ball of dough with a generous helping of the paneer paratha stuffing.
  2.Roll the parathas as thin and uniformas you can using flour sprinkled on your rolling surface. Keep turning them over to avoid sticking to the surface. Once it is rolled thin, gently lift it up and place it on a hot tawa. Remember to dust off extra flour from the parathas
• Cooking the Paratha
  1. The Paratha needs to becooked on a gentle heaton both sides so that it cooks properly and becomes crispy without burning.
  2. Try touse ghee to fry the parathasfor the best flavour. There is simply no substitute to this if you want deliciously soft paneer ke parathas.

How to make Paneer Paratha – Ingredients list

• Paneer – grated
• Whole Wheat Flour
• Ghee – alternate would be any neutral flavoured oil
• Onion, Ginger, Green Chilies – finely chopped
• Powdered Spices – Coriander Powder, Cumin Powder, Dry Mango Powder (Amchur), Garam Masala Powder, etc
• Whole Spices – Carrom Seeds (Ajwain), Dry Fenugreek Leaves (Kasoori Methi), etc

Step-by-step instructions for this Punjabi Paneer Stuffed Paratha recipe

• Paratha Dough– Start by rubbing the flour with ghee or oil, salt and a pinch of carrom seeds (ajwain). Then gradually add water and knead it into a semi-stiff dough. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and keep it aside
• Paneer Stuffing– Boil some milk and curdle it using some vinegar or lemon juice. Separate the chena from whey using a cheesecloth and let it hang till it has no moisture left in it. In case you are using store-bought paneer, remove it from the pack and press it between kitchen towels to remove most of the moisture
• In a mixing bowl, add the grated paneer and mash it. Now add the finely chopped onion, green chilies and grated ginger to this along with the powdered spices mentioned. Mix everything together into a lump-free smooth stuffing. Add salt in the end and give everything a good mix
• Making the Parathas– Pinch off a big ball of dough and flatten it on a lightly floured surface using a rolling pin. Once it is around 3 inches in diameter, lift it and flatten the edges a bit more using your fingers. Place a generous helping of spicy paneer stuffing at the center and start gathering the edges of the dough together while sealing the stuffing inside.
• Sprinkle some more flour on the surface and start rolling the dough ball into a thin disc. Apply uniform pressure while rolling so that it spreads out evenly
• Heat a thick bottom tawa or griddle and place the rolled paratha on it. Let it cook on both sides before applying ghee and frying. Once it turns golden on both sides, take it off the tawa and serve it with mango pickle and a bowl of yogurt. The paneer paratha is ready to eat.

What is the secret to soft parathas? Cooking the parathas on low heat without causing them to blister or form brownish spots helps keep the parathas soft. Then apply a layer of ghee on both sides of the parathas and cook them on quick high heat to make them crispy on the outside.

Interesting variations to the Paneer ka Paratha recipe

• simple paneer parathawhere powdered spices and chopped onion, green chilies and grated ginger are directly added to the grated paneer for stuffing. Subsequently, it is stuffed into the dough and rolled into parathas before frying
• paneer onion paratha or paneer pyaz parathais quite popular on dhaba menus where the quantity of onion is slightly higher in the stuffing. It gives a bite to it and makes the paneer paratha much tastier (and crunchy!)
• aloo paneer parathawhere boiled & mashed potato is mixed with grated panner for the stuffing for the paratha
• paneer cheese parathais another interesting idea where grated cheese, especially mozarella and cheddar is added to grated paneer for the stuffing to give the paratha extra flavour and cheesy goodness
• veg paneer parathawhere the stuffing is made without onion and garlic. I often make this veg paneer paratha by adding finely chopped and grated veggies like bell pepper, carrot, coriander leaves and even beetroot. This one is particularly spot on and perfect for a kid’s lunchbox

People often ask, is paneer paratha good for health? These are made using healthy ingredients such as paneer or cottage cheese, whole wheat flour and spices. It is protein packed and makes a wholesome meal. However having excessively ghee fried paratha too often can have serious repurcussions on health. It can result in elevated levels of blood cholesterol and can cause heart and liver ailments. So use discretion.

Can I eat paratha everyday? Is paratha a junk food? Usually junk food means packaged food, often loaded with artificial flavours and preservatives. Parathas are most often created from scratch using fresh indredients and once the parathas are fried, they get served hot. Hence parathas can’t be called as junk food. Having said that it is not advisable to have fried parathas every day.

Serving suggestions for Paneer ka Paratha

Homemade paneer paratha goes best with a bowl of spicedyogurt or thick curd,spicy green chutneyand some pickles. My personal favourite is having this paneer ka paratha with a big dollop of unsalted white butter! That definitely loads it up with a ton of flavour, that comes along with a serious helping of calories.

Some people like to have paneer parathas with some gravy based side dish likechole or chana masalato make it into a complete meal.

Few more stuffed paratha recipe from my Blog

• aloo paratha
• methi paratha
• palak paratha
• cheese paratha
• sattu paratha
• keema paratha
• egg paratha
• plain paratha
• dal paratha
• gobi paratha
• hare pyaz ka paratha

In case you are looking for easy paneer recipes, here are few from my Blog that are already getting rave reviews

• palak paneer
• paneer butter masala
• paneer pakora
• chili paneer
• paneer manchurian
• malai kofta recipe
• paneer tikka

Have you tried this recipe?I would love to hear about it.
Tag me on Instagram@priyankabhattacharya.saor Facebook@hashdiariesand I will share it further.