This easy paneer pakora recipe is super delicious and the perfect tea-time snack or party appetizer. Here spice marinated paneer pieces are coated with besan batter (chickpea flour batter) and deep-fried until crispy.
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❤️ You’ll Love This Paneer Pakora Recipe
Taste: Marinated paneer tastes just like paneer tikka and the outer layer is like a typical pakora flavor.
Texture: Outside layer is crispy (when served hot or warm) with soft, melt-in-your-mouth kind, succulent paneer in the center.
Better than restaurants: In my opinion, this paneer pakora tastes 1000 times better than any Indian restaurant. Most of the time, I find them super mild and bland in taste. But my recipe makes it super flavorful as it calls for marinated paneer.
A snack or appetizer: It makes a great snack for rainy days in the monsoon season or wintery cold weather with a cup of tea or coffee. Or it makes a great appetizer for your party as kids and adults, everyone will surely love these paneer pakoras.
Make-ahead friendly: If throwing a party or a small get-to-gather then you can make this paneer pakora earlier in the day and reheat them in an air fryer right before serving. This air fryer re-heating gives the exact same texture (crispy outside) as freshly-made paneer pakora. Detail instructions in below in the storage and reheating section.
Easy to make: First, marinate the paneer. Meantime make pakora batter and finally, dip paneer into the batter and deep fry. Your paneer pakora gets ready in just 30 minutes.
🧾 Ingredient Notes
Here is the pic of the ingredients you'll need for marinating paneer.
For Paneer Marination:
- Paneer: Most of the time I use store-bought paneer from Indian grocery stores to make this paneer pakora. My favorite brand nowadays is Brar Paneer. Never use ready-fried paneer cubes that you find in the frozen section. Get a block of paneer and cut it into pieces at home.
- Lemon juice (or Lime juice): Freshly squeezed juice is the best vs ready bottled one.
- Ginger Garlic Paste: A must for a good flavor. Do not skip.
- Spices: Red chili powder, kasoori methi, and garam masala are used.
Below is the pic of the ingredients you'll need for paneer pakora batter.
For Pakora Batter:
- Besan (gram flour or chickpea flour): This is the main ingredient to make pakora batter.
- Rice flour: A little amount of it gives the pakora layer a crispy texture.
- Spices: Red chili powder, turmeric powder, and coriander powder are used.
- Ajwain: Fried food is heavy on the stomach, so ajwain (carom seeds) will help in easy digestion. The flavor of carom seeds goes well with besan.
- Ginger Garlic paste: Again it is a must to add in the batter as well for a good flavor as paneer itself is super bland in taste.
- Oil (not in the picture): You can use any frying oil like peanut oil, vegetable oil, canola oil, corn oil, or mustard oil. FYI, peanut oil and mustard oil will impart their flavor into pakora while the rest are flavorless oil.
👩🍳 How To Make Paneer Pakora? (Pics)
Marinate Paneer:
1) Cut the paneer into (less than ½ inch thick rectangle) slices.
2) Take paneer into a bowl and add lemon juice, salt, red chili powder, garam masala, kasoori methi, and ginger garlic paste.
3) Toss and coat all the pieces with spices. Use your hand/fingers (not spoon) for even coating. Leave it aside for 15 minutes and meantime make pakoda batter.
Make Batter:
1) Take besan, rice flour, salt, and spices (ajwain, red chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder) in a bowl.
2) Mix until everything is combined.
3) Add little water at a time and start making a smooth, lump-free batter.
4) Add ginger garlic paste and mix into the batter. Let it rest for 10 minutes.
Batter consistency:
5) Thick Batter (not good): When you drizzle the batter back into the bowl, you’ll see the ribbons holding its shape.
6) Medium thick batter (right consistency): When you drizzle the batter back into the bowl, the ribbons are forming but within seconds it will mix into the batter. Meaning it’s not holding its shape like earlier in a thick one.
7) Once resting time is done, beat the batter for a minute or until it becomes light and slightly lighter in color.
Frying Pakora:
Heat oil in a kadai or pan for deep frying on medium-high heat. Check if the oil is ready for frying or not. Drop a tiny amount of batter into the oil and it should come to the surface of the oil right away. If it settles at the bottom and takes some time to come on top then the oil is still not ready for frying.
1, 2, 3) Once the oil is hot enough for frying, take one marinated panner piece, dip into the batter, and let the excess batter drip, slide it carefully into the hot oil. Repeat this until the pan is full.
4, 5) Flip them (or move them around) for even browning from all sides.
6) Once fried, golden brown, and crispy from all sides, remove them using a slotted spatula, drain the excess oil, and add into a strainer (that is kept on a plate). Repeat the frying process until done.
💭 Expert Tips For Paneer Pakora Recipe
- Thickness of paneer pieces: Never make cubes or too thick pieces. Always make slices that are less than ½ inch thick. Otherwise, you’ll get too much paneer in the center and less portion of the outer layer.
- Batter consistency has to be medium thick. The thick batter won’t give you a crispy outer layer. The thin, watery batter won’t stick to potato slices.
- Never add baking soda to the batter as it makes the soft and oily outer layer in paneer pakora. Baking soda is added to onion pakora or methi gota where things are added into the batter to make them fluffy and light (not coated-kind pakora like aloo pakora, palak pakora, or this paneer pakora)
- Always fry paneer pakora on medium heat. Oil has to be at the right temperature to get the best texture. As you add pakora to the oil and you see the oil temperature dropping that time increase the heat to medium-high and later again lower it back to medium. So you need to adjust the heat accordingly.
- Whisking the batter for 1 minutes is a must to fluff up.
- Batter resting time is also a must.
- Remove fried paneer pakora on a strainer or a cooling rack (not in a paper towel lined plate). By doing so, air will circulate from everywhere and it prevents them from getting soft.
🥣 Storage Instructions
- Paneer pakora is best enjoyed fresh. As you store the outer layer of the pakora will get soft.
- However, you can reheat leftover pakora in air fryer to get the same crispy texture back.
- To reheat paneer pakora in the air fryer, arrange them in a single layer in the air fryer basket and cook at 370°F (190°C) for 2-3 minutes, or until crispy.
- If you’ve any leftover batter then use in making besan chilla batter. You can make chilla or puda the next day for breakfast.
🍽 Serving Ideas For Paneer Pakora
- Paneer pakora as a snack on a rainy day or a cold winter night: Enjoy it with a hot cup of tea (chai) or coffee. It makes a warm, delicious snack.
- Serve with dipping sauces: It can be served as a snack or appetizer along with cilantro chutney and tamarind date chutney or ketchup or any other chutney of your choice.
- Serve as a farsaan (side): Serve with your full meal (Indian thali) as a side or farsaan. It is a great way to add some variety to your meal, and it is sure to be a hit with your family and friends.
Check Out Similar Snacks/Appetizers
Did you try this paneer pakora recipe? I’d love to hear about it! Leave a review in the comment section below.
📋 Recipe Card
Paneer Pakora Recipe
Ingredients
For Marination:
- 300 grams Paneer cut into less than ¾ inch thick rectangle slices
- 2 tablespoons Lemon juice or Lime juice
- 1 teaspoon Red chili powder
- 1 teaspoon Kasoori methi (Dried fenugreek leaves)
- 1 teaspoon Garam masala
- 1 teaspoon Ginger garlic paste
- ½ teaspoon Salt
For Batter:
- ¾ cup Besan (gram flour)
- 2 tablespoons Rice flour
- 1 teaspoon Red chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon Turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon Coriander powder
- ¼ teaspoon Ajwain (Carom seeds)
- Less than ½ teaspoon Salt
- 2 teaspoon Ginger garlic paste
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons Water You may need more or less depending on the quality and freshness of besan.
- Oil for deep frying
Instructions
- Take paneer into a bowl and add lemon juice, salt, red chili powder, garam masala, kasoori methi, and ginger garlic paste. Toss and coat all the pieces with spices. Use your hand/fingers (not spoon) for even coating. Leave it aside for 15 minutes to marinate and meantime make pakoda batter.
- To make a batter, take besan, rice flour, salt, and spices (ajwain, red chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder) in a bowl. Mix until everything is combined.
- Add little water at a time and start making a smooth, lump-free batter.
- Add ginger garlic paste, mix and let it rest for 10 minutes.
- Medium thick batter (right consistency): When you drizzle the batter back into the bowl, the ribbons are forming but within seconds it will mix into the batter. Meaning it’s not holding its shape like earlier in a thick batter. Ribbons will hold its shape when the batter is too thick. Ribbons will not form at all if the batter is thin.
- Once resting time is done, beat the batter for a minute or until it becomes light and slightly lighter in color.
- Heat oil in a kadai or pan for deep frying on medium-high heat. Check if the oil is ready for frying or not. Drop a tiny amount of batter into the oil and it should come to the surface of the oil right away. If it settles at the bottom and takes some time to come on top then the oil is still not ready for frying.
- Once the oil is hot enough for frying, take one marinated panner piece, dip into the batter, and let the excess batter drip, slide it carefully into the hot oil. Repeat this until the pan is full.
- Flip them (or move them around) for even browning from all sides.
- Once fried, golden brown, and crispy from all sides, remove them using a slotted spatula, drain the excess oil, and add into a strainer (that is kept on a plate). Repeat the frying process until done.
Notes
- Thickness of paneer pieces: Never make cubes or too thick pieces. Always make slices that are less than ½ inch thick. Otherwise, you’ll get too much paneer in the center and less portion of the outer layer.
- Batter consistency has to be medium thick. The thick batter won’t give you a crispy outer layer. The thin, watery batter won’t stick to potato slices.
- Never add baking soda to the batter as it makes the soft and oily outer layer.
- Always fry pakora on medium heat. Oil has to be at the right temperature to get the best texture. As you add pakora to the oil and you see the oil temperature dropping that time increase the heat to medium-high and later again lower it back to medium. So you need to adjust the heat accordingly.
- Remove fried pakora on a strainer or a cooling rack (not in a paper towel lined plate). By doing so, air will circulate from everywhere and it prevents them from getting soft. To reheat paneer pakora in the air fryer, arrange them in a single layer in the air fryer basket and cook at 370°F (190°C) for 2-3 minutes, or until crispy.
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