Get a taste of your favorite Indian food at home with this easy and delicious Paleo Instant Pot Saag. It’s ready in under 30 minutes!
I’ve been craving Indian food a lot lately. I’ve recently made my Instant Pot Butter Chicken, and now I made this Instant Pot Saag to eat throughout the week. I think it’s because my husband’s not a huge fan of Indian food so we rarely try out Indian restaurants, and Indian isn’t ever a top choice for some reason when I dine out with friends. So naturally, I solve that problem by making it for myself at home and I’m 100% a-okay with that.
Paleo Instant Pot Saag Recipe
This Paleo Instant Pot Saag is probably the simplest version you’ll ever find. Instead of paneer and cream, coconut cream is used to thicken it, and I use frozen spinach to make it even easier. You don’t even need to thaw it before throwing it all in the Instant Pot to cook it all up.
Great Way to Up Your Veggie Intake!
I love how this recipe makes it so easy and delicious to eat a ton of greens at once. I’ve been loading it up on cauliflower rice and chicken thighs and I just can’t get enough. It’s also Whole30 and keto friendly, and full of yummy and healthy fats to keep you satisfied. I usually eat some kind of protein for every meal, and I found that I don’t always need it with this hearty recipe, so it can also be a great vegan main dish if you use coconut oil instead of traditional ghee.
I used to think cooking Indian food would be difficult and time consuming, but now I’m realizing that that’s definitely not true especially if you have an Instant Pot. I’m hoping to have more similar recipes for you in the future so stay tuned and check back, or subscribe to my newsletter!
Paleo Instant Pot Saag (Whole30, Keto, Vegan Optional)
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp ghee or coconut oil for vegan
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 1 inch fresh ginger minced
- 1 serrano or jalapeño pepper chopped (optional)
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 4 tsp cumin
- 2 tsp garam masala
- 2 tsp turmeric
- 2 tsp sea salt plus more to taste
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper optional
- 1 14-oz can of coconut cream
- 2 lbs frozen spinach 2 16-packs
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Heat the Instant Pot to "Saute" and add ghee.
- Once the Instant Pot signals that it's "hot," add in garlic, ginger, serrano or jalapeño pepper, and onion.
- Stir cooking for 5 minutes until fragrant.
- Add in the garam masala, cumin, turmeric, sea salt, cayenne (if using), and coconut cream, and stir together.
- Hit "cancel" to turn off the Instant Pot.
- Add in frozen spinach and stir.
- Close the lid, make sure the pressure valve is set to "Sealing," then set it to Manual on high pressure for 15 minutes.
- Quick pressure release once it beeps to a finish.
- Use an immersion blender to blend everything together, or transfer to a regular blender to puree together. I like to leave mine a bit lumpy.
- Stir in apple cider vinegar. Taste and add more salt, if needed.
- Serve over cooked chicken and/or cauliflower rice.
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What is coconut cream? Is that the coconut milk in a can? thanks
It’s the cream of the coconut so it’s thicker. You can find it at a natural grocers or an Asian market. This is what I use: https://amzn.to/2s4ZtSh
I just made this. I don’t have an instant pot, so I adjusted the recipe to work on the stove top. Very tasty!
Hi there! Could you share what you adjusted from this recipe to make this on a stove top? My Instant Pot literally just broke and I have all the ingredients in their proper measures to make this already. What a waste if I just throw out all that right now.
How long did you cook this for on stove top?
Our summer garden is in full bloom, so I’d rather use a variety of fresh greens, as we have an abundance. I realize most vegetables, other than root, scarcely need to come to pressure or they are way overcooked for my taste. Might I stream these for a few seconds and still have it turn out?
I’ve never tried steaming for this recipe but you can try. Saag paneer is supposed to be a bit overcooked so the spinach yields a creamy texture that can be blended. Let me know how it turns out with the steaming method!
This was delicious but we did have a problem with the Instant Pot displaying “burn” halfway through cooking. We added 1 cup of chicken broth to the Instant Pot and then reset it to cook for 10 mins. at high pressure and it was fine. I was afraid it would make the dish too loose/soupy but after I immersion blended it, it was great! We have 2 pressure cookers and our larger one has had this problem a few times. Next time, we’ll try it in the smaller one and see if we need to add the broth. I’d love to see how it turns out with just the coconut milk! Thanks for the awesome recipe! 🙂
Hello. Where is the paneer in the saag??
Oops, so sorry! This is just a saag recipe. I corrected the title and the recipe to reflect that. Thank you so much for pointing this out!
this is crack. i cant stop eating it. this will be in permanent rotation. 🙂
I would like to add chicken to this. Where in the steps would you recommend I add the raw chicken? (Saute before spices? After?) I may also need to adjust cook time. Thanks for your advice! I’m excited for this recipe!
You can add the chicken when you add the garlic and the vegetables. Makes sure it’s browned on all sides. I don’t think you’ll need to adjust the cooking time.
I also experienced the IP displaying the Burn signal while preheating. I added some water, which solved the issue, pressure cooked for 12 mins, and then set the IP to Sauté for a few minutes to cook off the excess liquid. It was delicious! I found the spices to be a bit overpowering (4 tsp of Garam masala is a lot..) so next time I’ll cut down on the spices a bit. Overall, a great recipe.
Yes, you are correct! I think 4 tsp was a typo. I re-tested the recipe and reduced it to 2 tsp.
Excellent. Perfect recipe. Thank you!
So glad you liked it!