Aloo Chaat Recipe (Street Style)

Aloo Chaat is fried crispy potato cubes tossed in spicy and sweet chutneys, ground spice powders usually topped with curd (yogurt), pomegranate arils and sev. This crispy, savory aloo chat is a mouth-watering Indian street food snack packed with flavors and taste. Aloo chat is a crowd-pleaser as it has a variety of flavors. It is tangy, sweet, spicy, salty and can be easily customized to your taste. Make these finger-licking vegan potato snack in just 15 minutes.

About Aloo Chaat Recipe

Aloo chaat is a popular and super tasty street food snack made with crispy fried potato cubes. They are mixed and tossed with spicy and sweet chutneys, ground spice powders and lemon juice. Later finished with a topping of curd, mint leaves, coriander leaves, pomegranate arils and sev.

There are many ways of making this easy potato snack. My aloo chat recipe is a tasty addictive vegan and gluten-free snack bound to have you coming back for more. This one of the easiest chaat recipes that you will ever make.

The great thing about aloo chat is that it can be made to your taste! Delhi-style aloo chaat is very popular, but I am sharing a simpler recipe. This easy recipe makes a tangy, sweet, chatpata chaat and the recipe can also be halved, doubled or tripled.

This recipe spares you the effort of making green chutney. I have added sweet tamarind chutney in the chaat. I usually have tamarind chutney in fridge, so I add them to chaats.

However tamarind chutney can be skipped and you can still enjoy this potato chaat with a mix of the various ground spices and lemon juice. It can be served as an evening snack or as a starter snack before meals.

I have shallow fried the potatoes but you can deep fry or air fry according to your preference. If air frying then coat the potato cubes with some oil and then air fry them.

While we are at this aloo chat recipe, let me tell you that there is one more chaat snack made with Aloo Tikki or crispy potato patties. I have earlier posted this differently made Aloo Tikki Chaat recipe.

How to make Aloo Chaat

Fry Potatoes

1. Rinse 3 medium sized potatoes (250 grams) in fresh water and then peel them. Chop the potatoes in small bite sized cubes.

2. Heat 4 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan or kadai on a medium heat. Add the potato cubes for frying. Use any neutral flavored with a high smoke point for frying.

Tip 1: If you have a large pan then fry the potatoes all together, but if the pan is small then half the batch, and fry them twice.

Tip 2: Use a well seasoned wok or pan so that the potatoes do not stick to the pan and you can fry them easily.

3. Mix with the oil and begin to fry them. Remember to fry at medium heat.

Warm or a cooler temperature of the oil will make the potatoes soggy with oil. A very hot oil will brown the outer crust of the potato cubes quickly but they will be undercooked from the center.

4. When one side becomes golden, turn the potatoes over and fry them on the other side. Keep on turning the potatoes at intervals using a slotted spoon until they are fried evenly.

5. Fry until the potatoes are crispy and golden. Make sure the potato cubes are not raw or half-cooked on the inside.

Tip: Remove 1 to 2 potato cubes from the oil. Place them on a plate. Push a fork into the potato cubes to check if it is done. If the fork goes in easily then it is done, if not then leave the potatoes to cook for a bit longer.

6. Once the potatoes are tender, crisp and golden then remove them with a slotted spoon draining as much oil in the pan as possible.

7. Place fried potato cubes on kitchen paper towels to absorb extra oil. Then, fry the second batch of potatoes if you have used a small or medium-sized wok or pan.

Make Aloo Chaat

8. When the potatoes are still hot take all of them in a mixing bowl.

9. Then add the following ground spice powders:

• ¼ teaspoon of black pepper powder
• ½ teaspoon of Kashmiri red chili powder or sweet paprika
• ½ teaspoon of roasted cumin powder
• ½ teaspoon of dry mango powder (amchur powder) 
• ½ teaspoon of chaat masala powder
• black salt or pink salt or regular white salt to taste

Tip: Feel free to adjust the spice powders to your taste.

10. Next, add 1 tablespoon of finely chopped mint leaves and 2 tablespoons of finely chopped coriander leaves (cilantro).

Options: Add 1 finely chopped green chili (about ½ teaspoon finely chopped). Green chilies add pungent hot notes to the potatoes. Only add green chilies if you like eating raw green chilies. Here I have not added green chillies, but I do add them on occasions.

11. Toss and mix well.

12. Then add 1 tablespoon of sweet tamarind chutney. Add less or more to suit your taste. At this step you can add coriander chutney or green chutney if you want.

13. Sprinkle 1 to 2 teaspoons of lemon juice for some tang.

14. Toss and mix everything very well. The chutney, spice powders and lemon juice should coat the fried potatoes evenly. Taste the potatoes and adjust the seasoning to your taste.

Some people like to add whisked curd to the aloo chaat. Since we have used sweet tamarind chutney you can easily add beaten or whisked curd at this point according to your taste.

The addition of curd will add some richness and creaminess. Make sure the curd or yogurt is fresh and not sour.

15. Add chaat to a serving bowl and serve aloo chaat garnish with pomegranate arils or sev (fried gram flour vermicelli) and serve as an evening snack or starter.

If garnishing or topping with sev then serve immediately or else they will soften and you won’t get that crunchy texture of the sev.

How to air fry potato cubes

You can also air-fry the potatoes instead of frying and follow the rest of the recipe. I have tried this air-frying method and the potatoes tasted just as delicious and they were a bit lighter compared to fried aloo chat.

Simply coat the potato cubes with 1 to 2 tablespoons oil. Preheat your air-fryer for 5 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.

Then air-fry the potato cubes at a moderately hot temperature of 180 degrees Celsius/356 Fahrenheit until crispy and golden.

Do remove the air-fryer basket a couple of times while air-frying. Gently shake or toss the basket or turn over the potato cubes with a spoon, spatula or fork.

Place the basket with the potatoes back into the air-fryer and continue to air-fry.

Recipe Notes

• Frying: Aloo chaat is served at street food joints and is usually prepared using a huge tawa (griddle). You can use a large tawa or skillet to fry the potatoes, but I prefer to fry the potatoes in a kadai or wok as I find it easier. You can deep fry or shallow fry them. For a healthier chaat you can air-fry or bake the potato cubes.
• Potatoes: Use potatoes with a high starch content like Russet potatoes, Idaho, Maris Piper as these will give a crispy crust from outside with a soft, tender texture from inside.
• Frying Potatoes: Make sure the potatoes are cooked and soft on the inside. Sometimes the potatoes become crispy on the outside before the inside cooks. To avoid this remove a few potatoes from the pan and place them on a plate.
  
  Then push a fork into the potato cubes to check if they are done. If the fork goes in easily then the potatoes are ready, but if the potatoes are still firm then continue to fry them for a bit longer.
• Alternatives: Aloo chat can be made in several different ways. Alter the amount of spice powders to suit your taste and if you like spicy aloo chaat add ½ to 1 teaspoon finely chopped green chilies.
  
  These chilies are quite hot so only add them if you are a fan of raw green chilies. You can also add some curd (yogurt) too. Green chutney can also be added.
• Proportions: This is a fantastic flavorful vegan and gluten-free potato dish that is always a great starter option for gatherings. Double or triple this recipe to feed a crowd.

FAQs

This Aloo Chaat recipe from the blog archives first published in July 2018 has been updated and republished on April 2023.