Palak paneer calories
A bowl of home palak paneer (150 g spinach, 40 g paneer) has about 230 calories. A 200 ml katori is about 155, and the bowl with a tablespoon of cream about 260. Paneer is the biggest part: each extra 25 g adds about 65 calories. Restaurant palak paneer, richer with cream, runs about 175 to 225.
Palak paneer is spinach cooked down with onion, tomato, ginger and garlic, puréed into a smooth green gravy, with cubes of paneer stirred in. Restaurants often finish it with cream or butter; at home it's usually plainer.
Spinach adds very few calories. Paneer is about half of this bowl's calories and the oil most of the rest, so the amount of paneer and fat decides the number.
Typical values for a home kitchen, for the portion named next to each number. Other sites often show bigger numbers because they count a bigger serving or a restaurant recipe. Your own katori, roti and oil change the number; Slate adjusts for them.
How many calories are in palak paneer?
| Portion | Cals | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 katori (150 ml) about 150 g | 115 | 6 g | 7 g | 7 g |
| 1 katori (200 ml) about 200 g | 155 | 8 g | 9 g | 10 g |
| 1 katori (250 ml) about 250 g | 195 | 10 g | 11 g | 12 g |
| 1 bowl (40 g paneer) about 294 g | 230 | 12 g | 13 g | 14 g |
| 1 bowl with 1 tbsp cream about 294 g | 260 | 12 g | 14 g | 17 g |
| 100 g about 100 g | 80 | 4 g | 4 g | 5 g |
How does home palak paneer compare with outside?
Restaurant palak paneer usually has more fat than home versions: more oil or butter in the masala and often a swirl of cream. USDA's survey value for palak paneer is half as fatty again as this home bowl, per gram.
No lab has measured an Indian restaurant palak paneer, so the range below allows 1.5 to 2 times the oil, plus up to a tablespoon of cream per katori.
| Version | Cals | Fat |
|---|---|---|
| Home | 155 | 10 g |
| Restaurant | 175 to 225 | 12 to 17 g |
What changes the calories in palak paneer?
- Paneer is the biggest part. Each extra 25 g of paneer adds about 65 calories.
- A tablespoon of cream adds about 30 calories, and a teaspoon of butter about 35.
- Spinach barely counts: the 150 g in this bowl is under 40 calories.
- Low-fat paneer, or tofu in its place, lowers the number. Full-fat malai paneer raises it.
How were these numbers worked out?
The recipe is the spinach paneer in The Art & Science of Cooking (via the Indian Nutrient Databank): 150 g of spinach and 40 g of paneer with 50 g of tomato, 25 g of onion, ginger, garlic and spices, cooked with half a tablespoon of oil, counted as eaten, for one bowl, at IFCT 2017 values with chilli powder from USDA. The ingredients added together weigh about 294 g, so the bowl is 230 calories, the pot 80 per 100 g, and a 200 ml katori at 1 g per ml, 155. The one analysed value, USDA's survey palak paneer at 101 calories per 100 g, is 30% above this textbook bowl because it carries 7% fat against 4.8% here, so the page shows a range. That richer fat also shapes the restaurant range: 1.5 to 2 times the oil and up to a tablespoon of cream per katori. Every dish on Slate is worked out the same way: how Slate counts calories.
| Ingredient | Raw | Values from |
|---|---|---|
| Spinach (palak) | 150 g | IFCT 2017 C033 |
| Paneer | 40 g | IFCT 2017 L003 |
| Tomato, ripe, hybrid | 50 g | IFCT 2017 D075 |
| Onion, big | 25 g | IFCT 2017 G017 |
| Ginger, fresh | 5 g | IFCT 2017 G014 |
| Garlic | 1.25 g | IFCT 2017 G011 |
| Cumin seeds | 0.5 g | IFCT 2017 G025 |
| Red chilli powder | 0.7 g | USDA FDC 171319 |
| Groundnut oil half a tablespoon | 6.8 g | IFCT 2017 T005 |
| Water 1 tablespoon | 15 g | no calories |
USDA's survey value for palak paneer is about 101 calories per 100 g, against about 80 here, because it's made with more fat. Depending on the paneer, oil and cream, a 200 ml katori is anywhere from about 155 to 200.
Sources
- ICMR-NIN, Indian Food Composition Tables 2017. Spinach (C033), paneer (L003), tomato, onion, ginger, garlic, cumin, oil; values read from github.com/nodef/ifct2017
- Vijayakumar et al., Indian Nutrient Databank (INDB), Current Developments in Nutrition, 2024. The Art & Science of Cooking recipe ASC215, spinach paneer
- USDA FoodData Central, FNDDS Palak Paneer (2709631). 101 kcal and 7.02 g fat per 100 g
- USDA FoodData Central, Cream, fluid, light (170857). Cream, 19% fat
- USDA FoodData Central, Spices, chili powder (171319). Red chilli powder
Questions people ask
How many calories are in 1 bowl of palak paneer?
About 230 for a home bowl with 40 g of paneer, and about 260 with a tablespoon of cream stirred in.
How many calories are in 100 g of palak paneer?
About 80 for this home version. USDA's survey value, closer to restaurant style, is 101.
How much protein is in palak paneer?
About 12 g in a bowl with 40 g of paneer, most of it from the paneer.
Which has more calories, palak paneer or paneer butter masala?
Paneer butter masala, usually by a lot, because of the butter, cream and larger amount of paneer. A 200 ml katori of paneer butter masala is about 300, against about 155 here.