Palak pakoda are crisp and tasty deep-fried spinach fritters made with spinach leaves, gram flour (besan), onion, herbs and spices. A vegan snack recipe. There are basically 2 ways to make them.
- Method 1 – Finely Chopped Spinach Leaves are mixed in the batter and deep fried.
- Method 2 – Each spinach leaf is dipped in a spiced gram flour batter and then deep fried. You get a distinct taste of spinach in the fritters.
Both the methods are easy and the fritters taste good. You can choose the method that you prefer. If you want to disguise the spinach in the fritters for kids who don’t like them, then the first method is for you. However, If you like the taste of spinach in each bite then you will love method 2 as you get crisp fritters full on with flavors of spinach.
This first method of making palak pakoda is from my mom’s collection. These pakoda can be baked too if you don’t want to fry them, with all the goodness of the spinach, sesame seeds and of course chickpea flour.
Winters or monsoon season are the best time to enjoy the pakoras. However at my home, everyone loves Pakoras. Be it summer, rains or winters does not matter to folks who love pakoras – right??? Nothing beats the combination of some garma garam pakoras with some hot tea.
Palak pakora can be served with coriander chutney or mint chutney or tomato ketchup. I served the spinach pakoras with the mint-coriander chutney along with homemade brown bread.
How to make palak pakoda
1. Rinse the palak or spinach leaves very well and finely chop them. Keep aside. You will need 1.5 to 2 cups of finely chopped spinach leaves.
2. Add 1⅓ cup chopped onion, 1 tsp chopped ginger and 1 green chili (chopped).
3. Then add 1 tsp fennel seed powder, ¼ to ½ tsp red chili powder, 1 tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp cumin powder, a pinch of asafoetida (hing) and 1 to 1.5 tbsp sesame seeds.
4. Next add 1 cup besan (gram flour) and salt as per taste. You could also add a pinch of baking soda at this step.
5. Mix all the ingredients very well and keep aside for 5 minutes.
6. Add water in parts. Remember the spinach and onions will release water once they are mixed with salt and the spice powders. So be careful while adding water. Mix the ingredients well and keep aside for 5 minutes. Then add ½ cup of water first. If the batter is still thick then add some more water.
7. Mix very well. Add water as required to make a medium consistency palak pakora batter.
Frying palak pakoda
8. Heat oil in a kadai or pan. When the oil is medium hot, drop spoonfuls of the pakoda batter in the oil.
9. Fry them till they become pale golden. Then turn over and fry the other side.
10. Turn over a couple of times and fry all the pakoda till they are crisp and golden.
11. Remove them with a slotted spoon.
12. Drain the pakoras on kitchen paper towels to remove extra oil.
Serve palak pakoda hot with coriander chutney or mint chutney or tomato ketchup.
Few more Pakora recipes
This post is from the archives and has been republished and updated on 29 May 2020.Â
Palak Pakoda
Ingredients
- 1 cup besan (gram flour or chickpea flour)
- 2 cups spinach or palak - finely chopped
- â…“ cup chopped onion or 1 medium sized onion, chopped
- 1 teaspoon chopped ginger
- 1 green chili , chopped
- 1 teaspoon fennel seed powder
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon red chili powder
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
(ground coriander)
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 pinch asafoetida (hing)
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds , optional
- ½ to 1 cup water - see notes below
- salt to taste
- oil for deep frying
Instructions
making palak pakoda batter
- Rinse the palak or spinach leaves very well and finely chop them.
- In a bowl add the chopped palak leaves.
- Then add chopped onion, chopped ginger and chopped 1 green chili.
- Then add spice powders - fennel seed powder, red chili powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, asafoetida (hing) and sesame seeds.
- Next add 1 cup besan and salt as per taste. You could also add a pinch of baking soda at this step.
- Mix all the ingredients very well and keep aside for 5 minutes.
- Add water in parts. Remember the spinach and onions will release water once they are mixed with salt and the spice powders. So be careful while adding water.
- Mix the ingredients well and keep aside for 5 minutes. Then add ½ cup of water first. If the batter is still thick, then add some more water.
- Mix very well. Add water as required to make a medium consistency pakora batter.
frying palak pakoda
- Heat oil in a kadai or pan. When the oil is medium hot, drop spoonfuls of the pakora batter in the oil.
- Fry the pakora till they become pale golden. Then turn over and fry the other side.
- Turn over a couple of times and fry all the pakoras till they are crisp and golden.
- Remove them with a slotted spoon. drain them on kitchen paper towels to remove extra oil.
- Serve palak pakoda hot with chutney, tomato sauce and bread slices.
Notes
- For folks who do not eat onions, just skip onions in the pakora. It will still taste delicious.
- Remember the spinach and onions will release water once they are mixed with salt and the spice powders. So be careful while adding water.Â
- I have given ½ to 1 cup water as the consistency of the batter depends upon the quality of gram flour used. I use gram flour which is ground at home and not the ready-made ones. The ready-made ones are very fine. The one which I use is a little coarse. So obviously I add more water to the batter than what I would have added otherwise.
Recipe 2 for Crisp Palak Pakoda
In this recipe each spinach leaf is dipped in a spiced chickpea flour (gram flour) batter and then fried.
The result is a crisp and golden gram flour batter coated spinach fritters that taste awesome with a cup of tea and some green chutney. A vegan tea time snack.
These spinach fritters are very crisp and you get a distinct flavor & taste of spinach in each bite. If you are fond of spinach then you might like this variation of making the fritters.
These palak pakora are served hot with tamarind chutney or cilantro chutney or tomato sauce. They best go with masala tea or ginger tea.
How to make crisp spinach fritters
1. Mix all the ingredients for the batter to a thick smooth consistency.
2. Rinse, drain and pat dry the spinach leaves. If the leaves are very big, you can chop them into two halves.
3. Heat oil till medium hot in a pan or kadai. Dip each leaf into the batter and coat it evenly. Place the batter coated leaf gently in the hot oil.
4. Fry them till golden and crisp. Prepare the remaining fritters in the same way.
5. Drain them on paper towels to remove excess oil.
6. Serve the spinach fritters hot with mint chutney, tamarind chutney or tomato sauce or cilantro chutney or any green chutney. You can also sprinkle some chaat masala on top of the fritters while serving.
Spinach Fritters
Ingredients
main ingredients
- 12 to 15 medium to large fresh spinach leaves
- oil for frying the fritters
for spinach fritters batter
- 1.5 cups chickpea flour (gram flour or besan)
- ½ teaspoon red chili powder
- ¾ teaspoon carom seeds (ajwain)
- 2 teaspoon white sesame seeds
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric (turmeric powder)
- ½ teaspoon garam masala powder
- a generous pinch of asafoetida powder (hing)
- 2 pinches of baking soda
- ¾ to 1 cup water or add as required
- salt as required
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients for the batter to a thick smooth consistency.
- Rinse, drain and pat dry the spinach leaves.
- Heat oil till medium hot in a pan or kadai.
- Dip each spinach leaf into the batter and coat it evenly. Place the batter coated leaf gently in the hot oil.
- Depending upon the size of your pan or kadai, you can add more spinach leaves for frying.
- Fry them till golden and crisp. Prepare the remaining fritters in the same way.
- Drain them on paper towels to remove excess oil.
- Serve the spinach fritters hot with green chutney, tamarind chutney or homemade tomato sauce. You can also sprinkle some chaat masala on top of the fritters while serving.
Thank you for sharing this recipe. I will try it soon, but I already know I will be happy with the results, thank you for explaining how to make them easily for a beginner like me to be able to follow the instructions.
thanks and welcome. i hope you enjoy making the recipe. happy cooking.
To bake the palak pakora, at what temperature and for how long should they be baked? Thanks!!
susan, you can bake pakoras in a preheated oven at 180 degrees celsius/356 degrees fahrenheit for 20 to 30 minutes till they become crisp and golden. some of the edges will become golden, unlike fried pakora. add some 1 to 2 tablespoon oil in the batter.
Goan styled Palak Pakora (bhaji as we call them):
Make batter of besan, salt, chilly powder, rice powder, hing. dip the entire leaf in this mixture and deep fry. 🙂
thanks priyanka for sharing the recipe. reminding me of goa now and the bhaji pav we used to have from the stalls 🙂
I have leftover palak sabji can I make palaka pakora from it.
you can. just add some besan and water. make a pakora batter and fry.
looking yumeeeeeeeeeeee
Hi Dasanna, I tried your pakoras but baked them. As you had suggested I added a pinch of baking soda. They were well cooked but off course not as delicious as the fried ones. I would still vote for the fried version
agree on that dhanya. i have tried baked pakoras, but they don’t have any takers in my home. so i always fry pakoras 🙂
So good recipe,pakoda try kare,so yummy & tasty
I don’t have fennel powder. Can I use Fennel seeds (whole saunf) instead?
you cab add whole fennel seeds too.
Found your wonderful recipe and I love pakoras and also spinach so it was a delight to find it. Thank you for sharing these invaluable treasures of you culture. Although I am not from the same culture I love your food as it has such a variety of flavors and most of all: FLAVOR.
If you are baking these, would the batter be thick enough to stand alone as individual pakoras? I love the idea of baking them, just unsure of how to go about it without it resulting in a gloopy mess… Any advice appreciated. Thanks!
hi rashmi, i have never baked pakoras or fritters. but since i bake breads and cakes often here are a few suggestions.
make the batter of little thick.
stir 1 or 2 teaspoons of oil to the batter and this will keep the pakoras soft when baking.
addition of a pinch of baking soda would surely help as this would give a porous texture to the pakoras.
line the baking tray or pan with aluminium foil or parchment or butter paper, so that its easy to remove the pakoras after they are baked.
cleaning of the pans is also easy.
Mmmmmm! I love pakoras. Pairing these with your mint-coriander chutney would be the perfect appetizer. Looking forward to making these. Thanks for another great recipe Dassana! 🙂
thanks courtney.
love these pakoras.. theres something about pakoras bringing up monsoon memories with ma.:) i love the addition of sesame seeds. I have never added those to pakoras.
even i have some very good memories of pakoras in the monsoons which mom would make 🙂
sesame seeds are a wonderful addition to the pakoras. i add them in all the pakoras i make at home. it taste very good in potato pakoras along with some ajwain/carom seeds and hing/asafoetida added to the batter.
Looks absolutely appetising!
This looks absolutely delicious! The photos are gorgeous! I have newly found a love for spinach, and I think that this will cure it 🙂
Very crispy and tempting pakodas, Nope. mulai keerai is a greens … amaranth. green variety/
alright and thanks for letting me know shanthi.
Reminds of rainy season..how I wish I get respite from this steamy hot whether..but then there is no reason or waiting time to enjoy a pakora with hot cuppa!
Hi,
Lovely recipe but this time I am missing your step by step snaps, anyway thanks for these lovely spinach pakoras.
thanks runita. i usually don’t do step by step for recipes which are easy to make. this too is easy to make. just mix everything and deep fry the pakoras 🙂
Hi Dasanna,
Yesterday I made Moong Dal Palak, and little palak was left. so to day in the morning I was thinking what to do of that palak, As I am in the habit of surfing your site almost daily came to know about your new recipe ‘PALAK PAKORA’. Thank you so much definitely I am going to try this in the evening as it looks as delicious as all of your dishes…….:)
thanks shweta. do comment about the palak pakoras after you have tried them.
Very delicious pakoras..love it for a tea snack
They look yummy.
Yummy!
very nice.
thanks for recipe, i wanted same recipe. it just mouth watering.
yes i wrote above comment but it didnot reach. still i wish same.
all your comments have reached swarn 🙂 thanks a lot.