As easy and delicious vegetarian tray bake / sheet pan meal with teriyaki paneer and caramelized pineapple. It comes together easily in one pan with very few ingredients, just put it in the oven and let the magic happen! Pair with coconut rice for an incredibly tasty fusion dinner.
So what do we have here? 🤔
A simple dinner! Yay! Very few ingredients. Not even a lot of chopping. One pan that you put in the oven and walk away from. It’s not the fastest, but it’s just so easy. It’s for those days where it’s OK for dinner to take an hour, but you have minimal energy or head space to put into the task.
Like many of my recipes, I was inspired by another blogger’s meaty recipe which showed up on my Instagram. I decided this concept needed to be taken over to the veggie side and paneer was the way to go. While we typically think of paneer as an ingredient in curries, Indo Chinese cuisine introduced me to the idea of using it with Eastern Asian flavors (have you seen my chili paneer lettuce wraps?) and that is mighty tasty too.
Why it works
- It’s a dump and bake recipe! Just coat all the ingredients in sauce, toss them in a dish and throw it in the oven. It’s a slower process but so effortless.
- Roasted pineapple reduces and caramelizes in such a beautiful way, and the paneer gets to absorb lots of flavors from the sauce and the pineapple juices.
- Roasted paneer turns nicely brown with no oil spitting to contend with! Hurrah!
- There is plenty of flexibility here. Add more chili for extra heat, add extra toppings, make it your own!
Ingredient Notes & Recipe Tips
See this little collection here? That’s all you need! And check me out, rocking the store brands because they’re plenty good enough.
- Store bought paneer can vary from brand to brand. I’ve tried this with both Apetina (a drier, crumblier fresh paneer) and the Tesco store brand as pictured (a more firm, rubbery paneer). It works well with both types. I generally don’t recommend the Tesco paneer because it’s quite bland, but I found it suits this recipe just fine.
- Canned pineapple is what I’ve used here, though I don’t see any reason not to use fresh. You want around 260g (9oz). In terms of quantities, I wouldn’t worry if you have a little less than that, but I wouldn’t go over the amount. The pineapple to paneer ratio in this recipe is fairly generous already.
- I used one red chili in this, but this part is up to you. More chili, no chili, green chili, all of this is fine. (I used another one for a garnish, which is also optional.)
- If you want to add extra veggies, feel free! Throw them in and just up the teriyaki sauce.
- While this dish packs a lot of moisture and juicy goodness, it’s not super saucy. I would therefore suggest serving this with coconut rice for a little extra moisture factor. I give a recipe in the Recipe Card but there’s no reason not to use a pouch of microwave coconut rice.
- As written, this recipe serves two. Though the portions are generous so you may have some leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch. See the Recipe Notes for tips on how to double it.
More Easy Fusion Paneer Recipes
Pineapple Paneer Teriyaki Bake
As easy and delicious vegetarian traybake / sheet pan meal with teriyaki paneer and caramelized pineapple. It comes together easily in one pan with very few ingredients, just put it in the oven and let the magic happen! Pair with coconut rice for an incredibly tasty fusion dinner.
Ingredients
- 200 g (7 oz) block of paneer, cubed
- 435 g (15 oz) can of pineapple chunks, drained
- 5 green onions (spring onions), separated into white parts (sliced into 1 inch pieces) and the green parts (finely chopped)
- 6-8 Tbsp teriyaki sauce
- 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 1 red chili, deseeded and sliced
- 1 handful cilantro (fresh coriander), chopped
Coconut Rice
- 185 g (1 cup) dried white basmati or jasmine rice
- 400 ml (14 oz) can of coconut milk
- 60 ml (¼ cup) of water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 210C (410F).
- If you have not marinated your paneer – add the paneer, pineapple, sliced chili and the white bits of the green onion to a bowl. Toss with the teriyaki sauce.If you have marinated your paneer – take the bowl out of the fridge and add add the drained pineapple, sliced chili and the white bits of the green onion to the paneer and drizzle in another couple tablespoons of teriyaki sauce. Toss until everything is coated.200 g block of paneer, 5 green onions (spring onions), 6-8 Tbsp teriyaki sauce, 1 red chili, 435 g can of pineapple chunks
- Coat the bottom of a medium/large roasting dish with oil. Pour the paneer and pineapple mixture to the pan and spread everything out to ensure there isn't too much overlap of the paneer and pineapple pieces. Drizzle with a little extra oil and place in the top shelf of the oven for 30 minutes (stirring halfway through).
- If you're making the coconut rice from scratch, start this once the paneer is in the oven. Just place all of the ingredients in a pan, bring to a boil and them simmer for 20-25 minutes until the rice is cooked through and the moisture is absorbed. Fluff with a fork and let it sit while you wait for the paneer to be ready.185 g dried white basmati or jasmine rice, 400 ml can of coconut milk, 60 ml of water
- Check on the paneer at the 30 minute mark. You want it to be well browned, and the pineapple reduced and caramelized. It may need another 10 minutes in the oven.
- Once the paneer is ready, drizzle the toasted sesame oil and a little more teriyaki sauce into the pan and mix through with a spatula.1 tsp toasted sesame oil
- Serve! Scoop rice into bowls and top with the pineapple paneer mixture, chopped cilantro (coriander) and the green onion tops.1 handful cilantro (fresh coriander)
If you can marinade your paneer for a while ahead of time, you should! Even if it's just while you preheat the oven and prep everything else. Place it in a bowl, add around 4 tablespoons of the teriyaki sauce, and gently mix through to get every piece coated. Let it sit in the fridge for as long as you've got.
Notes
If using fresh pineapple, it’s about 235g / 8oz of pineapple you want.
Nutritional information assumes you only use half of the batch of coconut rice.
To double the batch: This recipe was created for a medium/large sized roasting dish, so to double it you would either want to find an XL roasting dish. or spread the ingredients across two pans to avoid the ingredients overlapping too much. You may also need a longer cooking time.
Â
Serving: 1g, Calories: 847kcal, Carbohydrates: 85g, Protein: 24g, Fat: 48g, Saturated Fat: 33g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2g, Cholesterol: 66mg, Sodium: 2115mg, Potassium: 736mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 39g, Vitamin A: 408IU, Vitamin C: 27mg, Calcium: 580mg, Iron: 5mg