This easy spinach curry recipes uses frozen spinach and a handful of other common staple ingredients to create a deliciously spiced creamy spinach curry. A base recipe that will work with paneer, chickpeas, mushrooms, potato or any other filling you would like to pair with spinach!

This is the kind of recipe I love sharing most. It’s easy, you don’t need many fresh ingredients, we use easy to find spice blends, it’s packed with spinach, and it’s just super flexible. The pictures show it with paneer, which is always going to be my favorite filling for a spinach curry (any curry, really) but you can use whatever you’ve got! Some ideas:

  • A couple cans of chickpeas.
  • Sauteed mushrooms.
  • Boiled or sauteed potatoes.
  • Cauliflower (I vote for roasting it first!).
  • Halloumi or “bread cheese”.
  • Vegetarian chicken style pieces.

Like all of my curry recipes, this isn’t authentic Indian cuisine and is designed around what is typically available in Western supermarkets for an easy dinner, but it feels reminiscent of some palak paneer style dishes I’ve had in restaurants. It is sweet with a thick, rich texture and lots of depth of flavor thanks to the addition of tomato paste and generous amount of spices.

lngredients: What You Need and What You Can Swap

  • I use frozen spinach, which is the most cost effective and easy way to pack in a lot of spinach into one recipe. I use 350g (12oz) because I make it from a big bag of frozen balls of spinach, making it very flexible to portion out as I wish. In the US, 10oz single packages are common and you can just use one of those – a little less spinach isn’t going to be a deal breaker for this recipe.
  • If you want to make this with fresh spinach, I’d suggest you cook down somewhere between 1 and 1.5 pounds of fresh spinach, drain all the excess liquid and then chop it up to use in this curry. (If you have a smaller amount of fresh spinach to use, this may not be your perfect recipe – maybe try this Spinach & Paneer Curry with Cherry Tomatoes?)
  • I use both cream and yogurt in this recipe, but the yogurt can be left out or replaced with sour cream if needed. I do like it a lot more when we have that little bit of tanginess but it’s still good without it.
  • The main spices we use here for that deep Indian flavor are garam masala and a curry powder. Individual curry powders can vary a lot in how they are flavored, so finding one you like is essential! I always look for something sweet with minimal fillers. You can buy them on the milder or hotter side. I’ve tried this recipe with a few different ones (a kashmiri curry blend, korma blend and a sweet curry blend) and I liked it every which way so I am confident that whatever you have should be fine here!
  • We also add some smoked paprika. This is certainly not native to Indian cuisine, but I like way it adds smokiness without heat. If you want to add some heat, swap some of the smoked paprika for hot chili powder or cayenne.

More Easy Vegetarian Indian Style Recipes

Easy Creamy Chickpea Curry

Kale Paneer Curry

Roasted Asparagus Coconut Curry

Paneer, Kidney Bean & Coconut Curry

Tip: you can make this recipe with mostly frozen ingredients

If you keep your freezer stocked with the right ingredients, this is an excellent meal to plan between shops because you can conjure it up with nothing fresh except the dairy products. The benefit of using lots of frozen ingredients is also the lack of chopping required – a win/win.

Just keep these ingredients stocked in your fridge / freezer and you’re all set:

  • Frozen spinach
  • Frozen chopped onions – they will turn out softer but still fine, just use 1/2 cup.
  • Frozen chopped ginger and garlic (the refrigerated jarred stuff works OK too).
  • Frozen cilantro / coriander – it’s not leafy but the flavor will be there, just use 1-2 tablespoons.
  • Bottled lemon juice (you would just use a splash).

Easy Creamy Spinach Curry

This easy spinach curry recipes uses frozen spinach and a handful of other common staple ingredients to create a deliciously spiced creamy spinach curry. A base recipe that will work with paneer, chickpeas, mushrooms, potato or any other filling you would like to pair with spinach!
4
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
No ratings yet
Print Recipe Pin Recipe Leave a Review

Ingredients

  • 1 small red or white onion, diced (if your onion is large, use 1/2)
  • 1 tbsp garlic , chopped
  • 1 tbsp ginger, chopped
  • 3 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 cup (240 ml) vegetable broth
  • ½ cup (120 ml) cream
  • 2 tbsp yogurt
  • 1 tbsp curry powder
  • 1 tbsp garam masala
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 12 oz (350 g) frozen spinach
  • ¼ cup cilantro (fresh coriander), chopped
  • 1 lemon, for squeezing
  • salt and pepper, to taste – be generous

Your choice of filling…

  • Paneer: Chop block of paneer (or use halloumi or bread cheese) into cubes. Fry until golden on each side, then stir in at the end.
  • Potato: Chop and saute a couple of medium sized potatoes, stir through at the end.
  • Chickpeas: Add two cans, rinsed and drained, at the same time you add the spinach.
  • Mushrooms: Saute or roast up to 1 lb (450g) of mushrooms and stir through at the end. Sliced or whole mushrooms will work equally well. Feel free to use canned mushrooms – just drain and add at the same time as the spinach.
  • Cauliflower: Chop into florets, season and drizzle with olive oil. Roast in the oven at 200C / 400F for 20 minutes until golden. Stir into the sauce at the end.

Instructions 

  • Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a large, deep saute pan. Saute the onions over a low-medium heat until they are soft and just starting to brown.
    1 small red or white onion
  • Add the garlic and ginger, fry for another minute until fragrant.
    1 tbsp garlic, 1 tbsp ginger
  • Add the spices and another glug of oil or a pat of salted butter. Cook until everything is well mixed and fragrant (this will be less than a minute – we don't want to burn the spices so we'll move on quickly).
    1 tbsp garam masala, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1 tbsp curry powder
  • Add the tomato paste and mix through with the other ingredients. Cook for a minute or two in the pan to deepen the flavors a little.
    3 tbsp tomato paste
  • Add the vegetable broth to the pan. Allow to simmer, partially covered, for 5-10 minutes, in which time the sauce will thicken up a little.
    1 cup vegetable broth
  • While the sauce simmers, defrost the spinach and drain out the excess liquid. My favorite way to do this is to microwave the spinach for a couple of minutes and then put it in a fine sieve (the kind you'd use for icing sugar). I use a wooden spatula to press the spinach up to the mesh to squeeze the water out. Another way to do this is to put the spinach in a cheese cloth, tie it up tight and squeeze until the water has all come out.
    Once that's done, add the spinach to the sauce and mix it through. Season well with salt and pepper and allow to simmer gently for a couple of minutes to get it warmed up again, since the spinach might have gone in fairly cold.
    If you're using canned chickpeas or another filling that goes in cold or room temperature, you can add that now too.
    12 oz frozen spinach, salt and pepper
  • Add the cream to the pan, and stir through. Cook for another minute, just to get it warmed back up again after adding the cold cream.
    1/2 cup cream
  • Remove from the heat and mix the yogurt and cilantro through. Squeeze about a quarter of the lemon's juice in, mix through. The rest of the lemon can be cut up into wedges for serving.
    2 tbsp yogurt, 1/4 cup cilantro (fresh coriander), 1 lemon
  • If you are adding a hot / cooked filling, mix it in now.
  • Serve with rice and/or naan, and lemon wedges for squeezing.

Notes

Please note that the nutritional information doesn’t include any fillings, rice or naan.
Calories: 174kcal, Carbohydrates: 14g, Protein: 6g, Fat: 12g, Saturated Fat: 7g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 3g, Cholesterol: 35mg, Sodium: 411mg, Potassium: 571mg, Fiber: 5g, Sugar: 5g, Vitamin A: 11345IU, Vitamin C: 14mg, Calcium: 169mg, Iron: 3mg