Short answer, sort of! Longer answer, paneer and cottage cheese start in the same place but end up in very different formats.
Where the confusion comes from
Both begin with milk. Both are made by curdling it with something acidic. And when people are trying to describe paneer to someone who’s never cooked with it, “pressed cottage cheese” is one of the easiest comparisons to reach for, mild, milky, made simply. It’s a helpful starting point, but it’s not the full picture.
What actually makes them different
Cottage cheese is left loose. The curds are drained but not pressed, so you end up with something soft, lumpy and spoonable. Paneer goes a step further, the curds are wrapped and pressed under weight until the whey is squeezed out and it holds together as a firm block. That pressing is the whole reason paneer can be sliced, cubed and fried without falling apart, while cottage cheese would just collapse in a pan.
Does it change how you cook with them
Yes. Cottage cheese is built for spooning, blending into dips, or eating straight from the tub. Paneer is built for heat. You can fry it, grill it or drop it into a curry and it holds its shape the whole way through. Try that with cottage cheese and you’d be left with scrambled curds rather than a cube.
Where our paneer fits into all this
Ours is made fresh, by hand, using 100% British milk, because that’s how it’s made at home. Most paneer sold in the UK is either imported or made here using imported milk, with Danish milk being the most common. That’s not a knock on cottage cheese or on other paneer, but we’re proud to support British farmers.
You’ll find ours in Tesco, Ocado and Sainsbury’s, plus a growing number of independents.
The short answer
No, paneer isn’t just cottage cheese. They start the same way, but pressing is what turns one into a spoonable cheese and the other into something you can fry, grill and build a whole meal around.
Got a question about All The Aunties paneer we haven’t answered yet? Get in touch at hello@alltheaunties.co.uk, we read everything.
