Chilli Paneer Recipe

Chilli Paneer, a delicious spicy paneer recipe which is a popular Indo-Chinese dish served all over the world. Restaurant Style Chilli paneer is made by frying paneer and then tossing in a spicy chilli sauce made with garlic, ginger, onions, capsicum, chilli sauce, green chillies. This chilli paneer can be served with egg fried rice, veg fried rice, noodles or as an appetizer.

Chilli Paneer

Chilli paneer is my all time favourite, make it quite often. This is one of the first dish which I usually order in any restaurants as an appetizer. My kids and family enjoy this when I serve with egg fried rice. You can serve it with any Indo-Chinese dishes. This dry chilli paneer dish is good to have on its own. You can easily modify it as gravy version. You can check my other paneer recipes.

About Chilli Paneer

Chilli Paneer is a well-known Indo-Chinese dish. Even for beginners, the recipe for chilli paneer is quite simple and easy. Paneer is first coated in a cornstarch-flour batter and fried until crisp. Then, ingredients such as garlic, ginger, onions, capsicum, and spring onions are sautéed to make a fresh chilli sauce. The sauce is then made by combining red chilli sauce, soy sauce, and vinegar. Serve with rice or noodles. I recommend to try this recipe with homemade paneer.

As per the name, this dish has insane amount of chillies added in different forms like green chillies, red chilli sauce, green chilli sauce, red chilli powder. Chilli Paneer is the second popular paneer dish which is loved all over the world like paneer butter masala.

Chilli paneer that we order in restaurants is usually served dry, gravy and semi gravy. While the recipe and ingredients for all the three versions remain same. You need to adjust the amount of water that is added to achieve the perfect texture. Chilli paneer gravy has extra water with cornstarch slurry used as thickening. Chilli paneer dry doesn't have any water added. Semi-gravy has very less water. Depending on the consistency, you can serve chilli paneer with wide variety of main dishes.

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Chilli Paneer Recipe Video

Restaurant Style Chilli Paneer Ingredients

Paneer - Paneer has a mild, milky flavour that complements the strong spicy flavours found in many traditional Indian dishes. Because it does not melt like other cheeses, chunks of it can be stirred into soups or curries and stay whole. I used homemade paneer.

Plain Flour & Cornstarch - paneer is usually coated in a batter before frying. A combination of plain flour and cornstarch usually creates the coating.

Ginger & Garlic - finely chopped ginger, garlic is added in the beginning to flavour the oil and adds taste and aroma.

Onions - onions is cut into cubes and the petals is removed separately. You can chop them finely if you don't want onions to stay whole.

Capsicum - green bell peppers added in chilli paneer adds a crunchy taste to the dish and adds colour. Make sure you cut them into cubes.

Spices - chilli powder and black pepper powder adds level of spicyness to the chilli paneer.

Seasoning - salt, sugar and msg (optional) used to season the chilli paneer.

Chinese Sauces - for making chilli paneer, you need a variety of Chinese sauces. Soy sauce, red chilli sauce, green chilli sauce, tomato ketchup, vinegar is used for taste and flavour.

Spring Onion - one of the main ingredients used for garnishing. It adds a mild onion flavour to the dish.

Chilli Paneer Preparation Step by Step

Making Chilli Paneer Sauce

Start by making the sauce. Heat 2 tblspn of oil. Add in ginger, garlic and chillies. Saute for a min. Add in onions, capsicum and saute for couple more mins. Sprinkle salt, sugar and mix well. Add in all the sauces and mix well. Cook on a low heat till oil separates from this. Add in chilli flakes and mix well. Set aside.

Deep Frying Paneer 

Heat oil for deep frying. Take all the ingredients given for batter in a bowl, add in water and make it to semi thick batter. Dip the paneer in the batter and fry till golden. Remove it to a plate.

Making Chilli Paneer

Add in the fried paneer into the sauce and toss. Garnish with finely chopped green part of spring onion and mix well. Serve.

Restaurant Style Chilli Paneer Tips

Paneer - use fresh paneer as possible. I like to use homemade paneer in my recipes. If you are using store bought paneer, cube them, immerse them in warm water for few minutes before using.

Getting Sauce Right - the taste of chilli paneer depends on the sauce. So taste and adjust the seasoning in the sauce. Balance the sauce with vinegar, sugar and chillies.

Frying Paneer - fry the paneer on low medium heat till golden and crispy. If you fry on high heat then the paneer may burn before getting crispy.

Double frying - like our kfc fried chicken, double frying is the key for super crispy chilli paneer that stays crispy longer. Once the paneer is fried, strain it and set aside. Finish making the chilli paneer sauce. Just before serving fry the paneer again on high heat to get super crispy. Toss fried paneer in the sauce just before serving and enjoy.

How to Make Chilli Paneer (Stepwise Pictures)

Preparing Paneer

1)Take a block of paneer. You can make homemade or store bought. Cut paneer into small cubes. Take them in a bowl. Cover the paneer with warm water. This step makes the paneer soft.

Pro Tip: If you are using homemade paneer, you don't have to do this step. You can use them fresh.

Making Chilli Paneer Batter

2)Take plain flour, cornstarch in a bowl. Add in chilli powder, baking powder, salt, soy sauce and water. Make it into a smooth batter. The batter has to be thick and not runny.

You can add black pepper powder, egg white in this batter to make it extra crispy. But I didn't add.

Frying Paneer

3)Take the paneer, coat with this batter and drop in the oil. If your batter is not coating with paneer, coat the paneer with plain flour and then dip it in the batter before frying.

4)Drop the paneer in hot oil and fry till golden brown and crispy. For baking and air frying the paneer, check the notes section below.

5)Strain the paneer from oil once golden brown. Set aside.

Mixing Chilli Paneer Sauce

6)For chilli paneer, you need some sauces to be added. I like to mix them in a separate bowl and then add it into the onion capsicum when cooking them.

In a mixing bowl, take tomato ketchup, soy sauce, vinegar, red chilli sauce and green chilli sauce. Mix well and set aside.

Making Chilli Paneer Sauce

7)Heat oil in a frying pan, add in chopped ginger, garlic and green chillies. Saute them for 2 minutes on low heat for the flavour to incorporate into the oil.

8)Add in cubed onions and bell pepper cubes. Saute them on high heat for 2 minutes till they get translucent. Make sure that the onions and peppers remain crunchy.

9)Add in salt and sugar to taste. If you are using MSG (optional), you can add at this point. Add in chilli powder to taste and mix well.

10)Now add in the mixed sauce.

11)Cook the sauce for 2 to 3 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning (salt and sugar) at this point.

Pro Tip for Chilli Paneer Gravy : if you are making chilli paneer gravy. Add 1 cup water at this point. Bring the mixture to a full boil. Thicken the sauce with some 1 tsp cornstarch mixed with 3 tbsp cold water. Finally add in fried paneer and mix well.

Chilli Paneer Dry

12)Finally add in fried paneer and toss well with the sauce on high heat.

13)Finally add in chopped spring onions and toss well.

14)Chilli Paneer Dry is ready to serve.

Chilli Paneer (Gravy ) Recipe

Making Chilli Paneer Gravy is so easy. All you need is few modification to the above recipe and you can make gravy version of chilli paneer.

When making the sauce. Add 1 cup water to the sauce. Bring it to a boil. Mix 1 tsp cornstarch with 3 tbsp water to make a slurry and pour it into the sauce. The cornflour will thicken the sauce and gives it a shine and glaze.

Now you can add your fried paneer and toss. Chilli paneer gravy can be served with fried rice, noodles. 

Variations

How to Serve Chilli Paneer as Appetizer

This is the chilli paneer bites which i served for maha birthday and everyone loved it. It was tangy, spicy and packed a punch in the party.

This is your normal chilli paneer. But I modified it so I can serve it in a toothpick. It is so easy to make and it will make your party really special. The one thing is you have to cut your paneer cubes a little big, so i soaked that paneer in some hot water so it gets soft. I used cherry tomatoes to make it look beautiful, if you cannot get it, you can use normal tomatoes which is cubed.

How to Serve Chilli Paneer

1) Start by making the sauce. Heat 2 tblspn of oil. Add in ginger, garlic and chillies. Saute for a min. Add in finely onions and saute for couple more mins. Sprinkle salt, sugar and mix well. Add in all the sauces and mix well. Cook on a low heat till oil separates from this.

2)Add in cubed capsicum and cherry tomatoes. Mix that well for 30 seconds.

3)You can add cubed onions in this as well.

4) Heat oil for deep frying. Take all the ingredients given for batter in a bowl, add in water and make it to semi thick batter. Dip the paneer in the batter and fry till golden. Remove it to a plate.

5)Add in the fried paneer and toss.

6)Now to assemble this as appetizer in a tooth pick.

7)Take small toothpicks, put the cherry tomato first then capsicum piece.

8)Now add in the fried paneer and serve.

How to Make Chilli Paneer Healthier

Pan frying - Instead of deep frying the paneer. You can coat the paneer in some cornstarch and pan fry in 1 tbsp oil in a tawa.

Air fryer Chilli Paneer - Coat 200 grams paneer cubes with 1 tsp of soy sauce, salt, 1 tsp black pepper, 2 tbsp cornstarch, a little water and mix well. Place it inside air fryer basket and spray with some oil. Bake in 180 degree C air fryer for 8 to 10 minutes. Add to chilli paneer sauce and enjoy.

Baked Chilli Paneer - Coat 200 grams paneer cubes with 1 tsp of soy sauce, salt, 1 tsp black pepper, 2 tbsp cornstarch, a little water and mix well. Spread it in a baking sheet. Spray with some oil or brush some oil on top. Bake in 200 degree C oven for 8 to 10 minutes. Add to chilli paneer sauce and enjoy.

Expert Tips

• Fry paneer on medium heat, till it is crispy so it stays crispy longer.
• You can add more garlic and capsicum as per your taste.
• Add the fried paneer just before serving so it stays crispy longer.
• You can add more or less of the sauces as per your taste.
• Chilli level can be adjusted as per your taste.

How to Serve Chilli Paneer

You can serve chilli paneer with wide variety of main dishes like fried rice, noodles and other Indo-Chinese dishes.

Variety of Fried Rice

You can serve it with fried rice which is one of the best combo. You can make my veg fried rice, egg fried rice, chicken fried rice, mushroom fried rice, tofu fried rice, schezwan fried rice or paneer fried rice.

Variety of Noodles

Pick from veg noodles, Chinese noodles, chicken noodles & hakka noodles.

Serve with Soups

Chicken clear soup, Hot & sour soup and Sweet corn soup are my favorites.

FAQ

What is chilli paneer made of?

Chilli Paneer is a well-known Indo-Chinese dish. Even for beginners, the recipe for chilli paneer is quite simple and easy. Paneer is first coated in a cornstarch-flour batter and fried until crisp. Then, ingredients such as garlic, ginger, onions, capsicum, and spring onions are sautéed to make a fresh chilli sauce. The sauce is then made by combining red chilli sauce, soy sauce, and vinegar.

Is Chilli paneer healthy?

Every 100 gram paneer contains roughly about 18 to 20 grams of protein. Frying the paneer in oil makes it high in calories, you can opt to air fry, pan fry or bake paneer for healthy option.

Does chilli paneer contain Ajinomoto?

chilli paneer made in street foods and most of the restaurants has msg added like other Indo-Chinese recipes. You can skip it if you prefer.

How to make chilli paneer gravy?

Making Chilli Paneer Gravy is so easy. All you need is few modification to the above recipe and you can make gravy version of chilli paneer.

When making the sauce. Add 1 cup water to the sauce. Bring it to a boil. Mix 1 tsp cornstarch with 3 tbsp water to make a slurry and pour it into the sauce. The cornflour will thicken the sauce and gives it a shine and glaze.

Now you can add your fried paneer and toss. Chilli paneer gravy can be served with fried rice, noodles. 

More Paneer Recipes to Try

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