DIY Paneer: How to Make Fresh Indian Cheese at Home

When you make DIY paneer, a soft, non-melting Indian cheese made by curdling hot milk with acid. Also known as Indian cottage cheese, it’s the backbone of countless North Indian curries, snacks, and street food dishes. You don’t need fancy equipment—just milk, lemon juice or vinegar, and a cloth. Store-bought paneer often tastes bland or rubbery because it’s been sitting for days. Homemade paneer? It’s springy, milky, and tastes like fresh dairy should.

Paneer is a type of fresh cheese, a category of unaged, non-fermented dairy products that doesn’t melt when cooked. That’s why it works in butter masala, tikka, or even grilled on skewers. It’s not like halloumi, which is brined and grilled, or ricotta, which is grainy. Paneer is dense, mild, and absorbs spices like a sponge. You’ll find it in dishes like Paneer Butter Masala, India’s most ordered vegetarian dish, where its texture holds up to rich, creamy sauces.

What makes DIY paneer so different? It’s control. You pick the milk—full fat for creaminess, or low fat if you’re watching calories. You choose how tangy it gets by adding more or less lemon juice. You press it for longer for firmer cubes, or shorter for softer crumbles. And you know exactly what’s in it: no preservatives, no stabilizers, no weird additives. It’s just milk and acid. That’s it.

People think making paneer is hard because they’ve seen videos with fancy cheese presses and long draining times. But here’s the truth: you can make it in 20 minutes. Boil milk, turn off the heat, add lemon juice, let it curdle, strain it in a cloth, tie it up, and weigh it down with a bowl of water. Done. The real trick isn’t technique—it’s timing. Let it sit too long after curdling and it gets crumbly. Press too lightly and it falls apart in your curry.

And if you’ve ever wondered why your paneer turns out dry or rubbery, it’s probably because you used ultra-pasteurized milk. That milk has been heated too high, and the proteins won’t coagulate right. Stick to regular whole milk, preferably from a local dairy. If you’re vegan, you can’t make paneer—it’s dairy by definition. But you can try tofu or soy paneer as substitutes, though they won’t behave the same way in a gravy.

Once you make your own, you’ll start seeing paneer everywhere. In breakfast parathas, in spicy stir-fries, even in desserts like paneer kheer. You’ll stop buying it in plastic packs and wonder why you ever did. And you’ll realize why so many Indian homes make it fresh every few days—it’s that simple, that good.

Below, you’ll find real guides from people who’ve tried every mistake possible—overcooked paneer, watery curds, failed presses—and figured out how to fix them. No fluff. Just what works.