This post is sponsored by The Little Potato Company.
Pakoras are one of my top 3 favourite take-out foods, alongside pizza and french fries. Until now I felt intimidated by the insanely delightful vegetable pakoras from my local Indian restaurant. I assumed I’d be disappointed if I even attempted to recreate them at home.
Out of sheer laziness I’ve sampled a small variety of frozen ready-made pakoras lately. I even had my eye on a 1kg. bag of them at Costco. So far, every variety I’ve tried has been a total letdown. In fact, they were so disappointing that they gave me the courage to try making my own.
- [Left] Top to bottom, left to right: baby spinach and cilantro chickpea flour (gram flour), chopped onion and garlic, turmeric, cumin and salt, thin-sliced Terrific Trio Little Potatoes, coriander seeds and red chili pepper flakes.
Guess what? It turns out that making pakoras is SO easy. It’s nearly foolproof!
These delightful vegan vegetable pakoras are fried to crispy golden-brown perfection and served with a light and creamy cilantro sauce. The pakoras (or pakodas: delicious spiced Indian chickpea fritters), are filled with tender slices of Little Potatoes, onions, spinach, and cilantro. Toasted whole coriander seeds and red chili pepper flakes add bright pops of flavour and just the right amount of heat. They’re essentially foolproof and take about 35 minutes to make.
All you'll need is:
- dried chickpeas (which you’ll grind into a flour. If it’s available, you can just buy chickpea flour instead.)
- a few vegetables: The Little Potato Company’s Terrific Trio Creamer potatoes, spinach and onion
- bold flavours from whole coriander seeds and fresh cilantro
- a subtle kick of heat from red chili pepper flakes
My first attempt pleasantly surprised me. My pakoras looked and tasted very similar to my favourite local restaurant’s version.
I sliced some Terrific Trio Little Potatoes and a small white onion. Off to the side I fried the coriander seeds and chili pepper flakes. Chopped up a handful of baby spinach and cilantro. Then I made a batter of chickpea flour and water seasoned with turmeric, cumin, lemon juice, and salt. I decided to add some all-purpose flour to give the batter to give it more structure and body (you can omit the flour if you need the pakoras to be gluten-free, they’ll end up a touch more delicately textured once they’re cooked.) I folded the potatoes, onions, spinach, cilantro, and spices into the batter. Then I fried spoonfuls of the pakora batter in hot oil, cooking 2-3 pakoras at a time (I was using a small thick-bottomed sauce pan and about an inch of oil.)
- [Left] Chickpea flour batter (chickpea flour, all-purpose flour (optional), water, lemon juice, turmeric, salt, cumin.) [Right] Chickpea flour batter with sliced Creamer potatoes, spinach, cilantro, onion, coriander seeds and red chili pepper flakes.
The pakoras ended up looking and tasting a lot like the ones from our usual take-out place. I only needed to make a few minor adjustments to get them just right.
These vegetable chickpea fritters are full protein, fibre and vegetables, so even though they seem like more of a side/appetizer/snack, they make for a satisfying meal too. Enjoy!
This post is sponsored by The Little Potato Company.
We love them for their commitment to simple, healthy whole foods like their delicious Creamer potatoes. Thanks for supporting the brands that support I Love Vegan!
Learn more about why we love Little Potatoes at www.littlepotatoes.com
Vegan Vegetable Pakoras
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 16-20 pakoras 1x
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Frying
- Cuisine: Vegan, Indian
Description
These pakoras (or pakodas: delicious spiced Indian chickpea fritters) are filled with tender slices of potato, onions, spinach, and cilantro. Toasted whole coriander seeds and red chili pepper flakes add bright pops of flavour and just the right amount of heat. They’re essentially foolproof and take just 35 minutes to make.
We updated this recipe on 9/6/2019 to make it simpler and easier.
Ingredients
- 170g (¼ of a 1.5lb bag) The Little Potato Company’s Terrific Trio Creamer potatoes, sliced thin
- 1 small white onion, sliced
- 1 handful of spinach, roughly chopped
- ¼ cup (80ml) cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
- 1 cup (130g) chickpea (gram or besan) flour (finely ground dried chickpeas)
- ¾ cup (175ml) water
- ⅓ cup (40g) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp (10ml) lemon juice
- 1 tsp (5ml) ground turmeric
- 1 tsp (5ml) ground cumin
- 1½ tsp (5m) salt
- ½ tbsp (7.5ml) vegan butter or vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp (15ml) whole coriander seeds
- 2 tsp (10ml) red chili pepper flakes
- Neutral tasting vegetable oil, for frying
Creamy Cilantro Sauce
- 1 handful cilantro
- 1 handful baby spinach
- ⅓ cup (80ml) water
- 2 tbsp (30ml) nutritional yeast
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 ½ tbsp (22.5ml) olive oil
- 1 big pinch salt
Instructions
- Heat butter or oil in a medium-sized skillet over medium-high heat. Add the coriander seeds and red chili pepper flakes. Cook, stirring constantly until the spices are toasted and fragrant. Do not overcook.
- In a medium sized bowl combine chickpea flour, water, flour, lemon juice, turmeric, cumin, and salt, to make a smooth batter.
- Gently fold the sliced potatoes, onion, spinach, cilantro, and toasted spices from step 1 into the chickpea batter.
- In a deep, heavy bottomed saucepan, heat 1” (2 ½ cm) of frying oil over medium-high heat. Allow plenty of time for the oil to get hot (between 325°F to 350°F (160°C to 175°C).
- Use a large tablespoon to drop loose spoonfuls of the pakora batter into the frying oil. Don’t compress the batter too much when you scoop it. Cook the first side until deeply golden and crispy, flip and cook the other side. Drain cooked pakoras on cooling rack or paper/kitchen towel.
- Serve with creamy cilantro sauce, chutney, or your favourite dipping sauce.
Creamy Cilantro Sauce
- Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender and pulse on high until well-blended with plenty of green flecks left intact. (This is a thin dipping sauce, decrease water for a thicker sauce.)
Notes
Be sure to slice potatoes thinly and evenly for thorough cooking.
If using whole chickpeas instead of chickpea flour (gram flour): Grind 2 cups of dried chickpeas into a flour using a high-speed blender or food processor, pausing to scrape down the sides as needed. Sift the flour if you can’t achieve a flour-like texture from grinding alone. Measure out 1 cup of chickpea flour.
Serving: Pakoras are best served with an accompanying dipping sauce. Serve them with our light and creamy cilantro sauce or use your favourite chutney or chili/sweet chili sauce.
Gluten-Free: substitute all-purpose flour for an additional ⅓ cup of chickpea flour.
Add-ins: Cauliflower, carrots, peas, broccoli, and other greens like kale or chard. Be sure to chop slow-cooking vegetables (like carrots/cauliflower/broccoli) appropriately so that everything cooks thoroughly and evenly.
Reheating: For a crisp texture, preheat oven to 425°F (220°C) and bake leftover pakoras for 10 minutes, flipping halfway through. Alternatively you can just use your microwave to reheat the pakoras but they won’t be crispy. Freezer-friendly.
Keywords: vegan pakoras, vegetable pakoras
Brigid
I actually found this when my sister bought a cookbook by chef Valerie Ray of Indianapolis Indiana "The Best Selection of Nepal Recipes" that had a pakoras recipe and YOUR photograph of the dish (given the quality of the some of the cookbook photos I suspected the photo was from a professional cooking blog such as yours and found the original source). Your recipe is much better, and we thoroughly enjoyed it as we have all the recipes we've found here .
★★★★★
Nancy
Made these with raw sweet potatoes, potatoes and carrots ( not precooked) and in the convection oven without oil, flipped and finished with a broil. We loved them. Thank you!!
★★★★★
Jennifer
LOVE this recipe. Thank you so much! I have made it several times as written but today thought I'd try cooking them in my new air fryer. They came out great!! 400 for about 7 minutes (flipped half way through). No oil at all. Of course, they are not exactly like when fried in oil but had nice texture, super tasty and delicious, Now I can eat twice as many and not feeling guilty. Thanks again.
★★★★★
Heidi
Good day, I just came across this website to learn how to make Vegan Pakoras'
Thx for the recipe
Will come in handy while RV'g cross North America
Would you have all the sharing buttons?
I would love to share you're Vegan recipes
Sincerely deliked & extremely impressed But would like to share
Heidi
I found your share buttons after I left an email. Good stuff to share in Good stuff out LOL
★★★★★
Denise
Hi!!! 🙏🙏🙏🙏💗🤗🤗🤗 the k you so much for sharing this!!! I agree with store bought not tasting that great. My family is vegan and I love trying To make new things at home. I must I say I give this a so many 👍 ... this is just unbelievably amazing and Simple. My 6yea old is in love with it. My husband can’t have enough. Making them again but be his time I’m making DOUBLE the recipe. Forget dinner I made last night, everyone was so full in these. Thank you sooo much!!!
Mackenzie
Made these for a friend and I last night and they were amaaaazing. Super easy and quick to make as well. Thank you!
★★★★★
Rox
Can you freeze the pakoras for a later time?
Sarah H
So good! Made some slight variations based on what I had on hand but these were everything I hoped they’d be.
★★★★★
Alexa
I made these and they came out pretty decent! My roommate claimed they tasted the same so I'd consider it a decent recipe. Would give you a 7/10.
Pris
Can you bake them instead of frying?
Brittany
I haven't tried that yet so I'm not sure... I'm hesitant to say that it would, I'd try making them smaller and shallow frying them. I've been meaning to make an adjustment to this recipe so I'll try baking them next time. Thanks for your question!
Amanda
Could these possibly be baked instead of fried?
Brittany
Sorry, I haven't tried baking them. I'm not so sure it would work all that well though...
Tania
Substituted sweet potato for the regular potatoes, and used all chickpea flour to keep it gluten free. Wow these are amazing! Quite simple to make as well. Might shred the sweet potato up next time. Thanks so much!
Col
I used to love eating Pakoras. 5 years ago I went total vegan and was then diagnosed with a gluten allergy. Since I didn’t know how they were made, I thought I couldn’t have them anymore. I followed your recipe, and instead of deep frying I use the air fryer. 400° six minutes on each side. Perfection! Thank you so much. I am now trolling the rest of your recipes looking for new ideas.
★★★★★
Shannon Ordonez
I made this tonite and they were amazing!! My house still smells awesome several hours later.
★★★★★
Brittany
Yay! So glad you enjoyed them Shannon!
Ray L.
How have I never heard of Pakoras before?! I'm going to try them ASAP. If I like it, I'm going to add it to our upcoming holiday meals. 🙂
Rubes
Hi, have you ever made them with a gluten-free all-purpose flour blend? Do you think it would work? Any suggestions?
sandhya
Healthy version of Pakora as you have used oven instead of deep fry. thanks for sharing.
★★★★
Megan
No she didn't what are you talking about? She fried them.
Tracey Green
Tried these today and we all LOVE them! Thanks for helping feed my family 🙂
William Mueller
Awesome, thanks Tracey! We're really glad your family enjoyed them!
Navid
Hi There,
I've never precooked my vegetables for pakora and don't know any Indian home cooks or restaurants that do. Slice the onion into thin slivers. Shred peeled potato on a box grater, then add other vegetables to taste, or what's in the refrigerator. Chopped eggplant, shredded spinach, green beans sliced on the bias....nothing is really bad except mushrooms because they are so filled with water. You can also add grated fresh ginger, dried fenugreek, garam masala or even a little ground cayenne for a kick. I use all gram flour as well.
But cooking the vegetables before they're cooked again? I've never seen it done. It's a quick snack! Please try it starting with raw vegetables.
★★★★
Brittany
Hi Navid! Thank you so much for your advice! I'll try it with raw vegetables, that'd make this recipe much easier and faster. Thanks for taking them time to comment, I really appreciate it 🙂
Lisa
Navid, I wish I read your comment before embarking on this recipe. I was unhappy with the mushiness of the potatoes and feel that the list of ingredients for the potatoes should have included a step in how to proceed with this. But, it makes perfect sense that if I'm frying them, I don't need to precook anything. I would have saved myself some time. Thank you for your input and experience.
Vish
My mother makes mushroom pakoras a lot. Water is never an issue. They’re amazing, and one of my favorite. Just thick slices, battered and fried.
Katherine
These look delicious, I can't wait to try them. It says to boil the potatoes and thinly slice, but also says that after sauting the potatoes, that they do not need to be fully cooked. Are they not already cooked from boiling them? Am I meant to par boil them? Or can i just thinly slice raw and then saute?
Brittany
I'd at least parboil them first. They CAN be fully cooked. It doesn't matter too much but they won't cook completely if you don't boil them first 😀
Aggie
I’ve made them with raw potatoes, works fine! Just slice them real thin.
Love this recipe, thanks!
Brittany
Thanks so much Aggie! Glad you liked it!
Meghan
I have made these so many times! I LOVE them. They have been great, especially while not being able to get to my fav pakora restaurant during lockdown! Quick question.... I actually measured out 1.5Lbs of potatoes today and would up with not nearly enough batter? I usually just guess lol
Jay
My only issue here is thst it doesnt mention how many servings this will make.
Brittany
Ugh, you're so right Jay! I'm sorry about that, I'm not sure how I missed that. I'm going to need to remake the recipe to add that info. I did a little searching and the best I can come up with right now is that it makes around 10 pakoras. I'm so sorry for the inconvenience! I appreciate you taking the time to point that out.
Zoe
Can you bake these?
Susan
I wondered the same. I dont eat fried foods if I can help it. Im going to make the batter a litter thicker. I keep hearing about those air fryers. This might be perfect for them
Brittany
Thanks for commenting Susan! I've never used an air fryers so I'm not sure how well this recipe would work in one. I would try baking them, I think that could work quite well!
Karen
I made these and took them to an Easter lunch with family and they disappeared immediately. Love, love, love them. Thank you and keep them coming. I am trying to convert my whole family to vegan and this helps. Many blessings.
William Mueller
Thanks so much Karen! We really appreciate you taking the time to make these for your family, glad you enjoyed! 🙂
Brian Pawloski
So amazingly delicious! I made these the other day for dinner and they are easy to make and sooooo tasty! I love your website. I have made many of the recipes on your website.
★★★★★
Cheryl
Wonderful recipe with those little potatoes . And I love your photos...mmm delicious!
★★★★★
Lori
Totally delicious but my cilantro sauce was very watery even after following directions. Any ideas? Thanks!!
Avneet
Cilantro and spinach naturally gives out water you can try making it without adding any water. We usually mix cilantro and mint to make mint chutney which is basically same recipe minus the oil using mint, cilantro, garlic, onion and green chilli grinded together and goes well with pakoras. Enjoy!
John Muise
Soooo---- based on what you stated in your intro about store bought vegetable pakoras not tasting all that great....my questing is this..is vegan food tasteless or bland..My wife and I have giving going vegan a lot of thought and came to the decision that it seems to be the best thing to do ...
We agree that killing animals even fish for food and we also agree that they all have feelings and feel pain when we cut or what ever other way we cook them.. Eating animals is not what was originally intended for us as "in the beginning" we were created (for all of us who believe in creation) as vegans and meant to eat fruits and vegetables and of course all leafy greens as God told Adam and Eve "that they were to eat all the fruits and everything they grew for food.....He never mentioned anything about meat." It was but though sin that we were than told to eat animals and thus started our downfall into cannibalism.
That being said here is our concern..from most of the information that we have looked at and from a lot of responses from people who are turning vegan and from people such as your self we are a bit apprehensive about becoming vegan as we don't want to spend money on buying the wrong kinds of vegan foods that food sucks....whereby we will be wasting our money..money that we can't afford to waste.
If it is at all possible could you and perhaps those that follow you could somehow advise us as to the better foods we could buy to help us with the transition into veganhood.
Brittany
Hi John! I totally hear you. You've inspired me to start working on a new post series of our favourite vegan convenience foods. For now you might find our page Building a Vegan Grocery List, it's mostly whole foods, not convenience foods. You might also like our page Vegan Lifestyle on a Budget, it has lots of tips for shopping frugally. I hope that helps a little bit!
Myrna Downton
Try the McDougall Plan recipes. My husband andI flew to California and attended their 10 day program. We have never looked back. The recipes are excellent, the end product foods are delicious, our health is better and we feel great. So glad to see your page and recipes. Found you when searching for pakora recipes that aren’t deep fried.
Best wishes
Myrna Downton
Creston, BC
Barry Malkin
If you happen to live near a South Asian restaurant or food store, try their nearly endless array of vegan entrees and snacks. I especially like the imaginative way this cuisine uses lentils, even for desserts., That would be an excellent introduction to the world of vegan food.
William Mueller
We do have a somewhat limited amount of South Asian foods at our local Superstore. We'll take a look for some vegan lentil desserts on our next shop. Thanks for the recommendation, Barry!
uherbivore
Wow we from uherbivore.com love that recipe so much, thank you for the inspiration.
★★★★★
Brittany
Thanks!!
Ashley Woodward
This looks so delicious! I never tried to make pakoras but I think it’s about time! Thanks for sharing!
Brittany
Thanks so much Ashley!
N
Looks yumm 🙂
★★★★★
Brittany
Thanks!
jane
about 1/4 tsp. of baking powder added to the batter lightenes the interior of the pakoras.
Brittany
Oh! Thanks Jane, I considered it but wanted to keep the recipe as simple as possible. I'm going to try that next. Thank for your input!! 😀
Adele
Mmm pakoras are the best. I'm so impressed that you made these from scratch! They look incredible.
Brittany
Thanks so much Adele! They're so easy to make! 😀
Wilma
Could these be made in an air fryer?