Crispy Air Fryer Paneer Sticks Recipe

Paneer, one of the essential ingredients of Indian cooking, is a fresh Indian cheese with a mild flavor that is enjoyed by Indian food enthusiasts around the world. It can be found in Indian grocery stores and many supermarkets and is straightforward enough to make at home by boiling milk, curdling it with lemon juice, and separating and pressing the curds. Paneer is commonly made into popular Indian dishes like palak paneer and paneer tikka masala. Along with other cheeses like Cypriot halloumi and Latin American queso de freir, it has an especially high melting point. This allows it to be fried, grilled or baked without melting and losing its shape.

Recipe developer Michelle Bottalico has created a recipe that takes advantage of the special high melting point of paneer. These air fried paneer sticks keep their shape while frying to crispy perfection in a matter of minutes. While they may look breaded, the coating is simply a mixture of avocado oil and several spices, including cumin and coriander. The result is a crispy and very flavorful exterior and a soft cheesy interior that's firm enough for a satisfying bite. These versatile paneer sticks are excellent served with a dipping sauce, eaten with rice, or included in sandwiches, salads, noodles, and stir-fry recipes. The recipe comes together in less than 15 minutes, so it's as convenient as it delicious.

For this recipe, you will need a package of paneer. The quantity used is 8 ounces, in case you would like to make your own. The spices you will use are sweet paprika, ground cumin, ground coriander, ground ginger, garlic powder, and salt. Finally, avocado oil will be mixed with the spices to create a paste.

Cut the paneer into ½ inch sticks.

Place the paprika, cumin, coriander, ginger, garlic powder, and salt in a bowl and mix.

Add the oil and mix into a paste.

Gently toss the paneer sticks in the seasoning mixture until evenly coated. It may seem like there's not enough seasoning, but it will coat the sticks with enough tossing.

Preheat your air fryer to 400 F if it requires it and arrange the sticks in a single layer in the air fryer basket.

Air fry on 400 F for 6-8 minutes until crispy and golden. If necessary, flip the sticks and air fry for an additional 2 minutes if one side isn't as crispy.

Serve the paneer sticks immediately with your choice of sauce.

Paneer's mild flavor makes it a versatile cheese because it can be served with a variety of sauces. We must say these paneer sticks are delicious eaten alone, but a sauce for dipping or drizzling can complement the flavor of the cheese and spice coating and provide a contrasting texture with each bite. Green chutneys are an excellent condiment to pair with the sticks. While chutney is generally made with a variety of ingredients, green chutney traditionally includes three ingredients along with the others: cilantro, green chiles, and mint. Of course, if you have a favorite herb, you can whip up a batch of dedicated cilantro chutney, parsley chutney, or mint chutney to accompany your dish.

Red chile sauce is another excellent idea, especially for fans of heat. While there are many ways to make this, a Mexican version is based on dried ancho chiles, garlic, olive oil, salt, and water, with the optional addition of warm spices like cinnamon or cloves. A bright, herby, and slightly spicy Argentinian chimichurri would be delicious as a dipping sauce, and so would a creamy peanut sauce or a simple tomato marinara sauce, mozzarella-stick style. Finally, consider serving the paneer sticks with a cucumber yogurt raita made with Greek yogurt, English cucumber, lemon juice, and spices like cumin and coriander, which match the spices in the sticks' coating.

This recipe lends itself to several variations. If you're unable to find paneer, you could substitute halloumi, frying cheese, which is known as queso de freir in Spanish, and even extra firm tofu. All these options will hold their shape in the air fryer. Since the paneer itself has a mild taste, experimenting with the seasoning blend can be a fun way to mix up the flavor. Spices and blends like turmeric, cayenne, garam masala, and curry powder are just some of your choices. Ginger paste or garlic paste could be added as well, and those won't fall off the sticks during cooking like grated ginger or minced garlic might.

It's easy to think these paneer sticks are breaded at first glance because of the crispy brown coating, but it all comes from spices. That said, actually breading the paneer is a customization idea some people may prefer. Bread them like you would mozzarella sticks or dredge them in flour before coating in panko breakcrumbs for extra crunch. A coating of spiced gram flour, a kind of chickpea flour, is another delicious idea.

Finally, in this recipe, the sticks are cooked in an air fryer, which uses less oil and is very quick. If you don't have an air fryer or prefer another cooking method, you can opt to grill, bake, or pan-fry the paneer. The rest of the recipe will stay the same.