Vada Pav Recipe | How to make Mumbai Vada Pav

Vada Pav is a savory and spicy soft dinner rolls or fluffy buns, referred to as Pav, stuffed with a fried batter coated potato dumpling fritter called Batata Vada and laced with spicy and sweet chutneys. It is a popular vegan street food snack eaten in Mumbai and rest of the Maharashtra state in Western India. This dish is filling, delish, full of flavors and has various textures!

About Vada Pav

Vada Pav is sold in shops, outside of schools and colleges all over Mumbai because it is so popular and loved by street food lovers.

It is one of the most humble street foods in Mumbai, yet it is tasty and delicious. Vada pav basically has Batata Vada which is sandwiched between two slices of a pav (fluffy dinner roll) topped with sweet chutney, green chutney, and dry garlic chutney.

Batata vada are fried batter coated potato dumpling fritters. The batter is made with nutty gram flour (besan) and spices. The filling consist of savory, spiced mashed potatoes.

Batata means potato in Marathi language. While the term vada mostly means a fried fritter or a fried dumpling-like savory dish.

Throughout my childhood, I ate vada pav in many places in Mumbai and it was always so delicious! Even today I still make sure that I buy vada pav whenever I visit Mumbai. However, when I am craving vada pav and can’t get to Mumbai, so I make them at home.

Pav means a small loaf or bun of bread in Indian and is the same as dinner rolls. They are made with all purpose flour or whole wheat flour and can be bought from bakeries, super stores and sweet shops in India.

Vada pav can be eaten during any time of the day like breakfast, brunch, or in the evening as a snack. It goes very well with Indian chai, fried green chilies, and chutney like coriander chutney or mint chutney or green chutney or any chutney of your choice.

To make vada pav you need five elements:

1. Pav – Fluffy dinner rolls or buns. Get the Pav Recipe here or buy from your favorite bakery.
2. Batata vada – Fried potato stuffed fritter. I share detailed recipe below.
3. Green Chutney – A piquant and spicy condiment made with coriander (cilantro) or mint and coriander leaves.
4. Tamarind Chutney – This is a sweet and tangy chutney made with tamarind, jaggery and spices.
5. Garlic Chutney – A spicy dry chutney made with garlic cloves and coconut. 

How to Make Vada Pav

Make seriously awesome vada pav with my step-by-step guide! In this guide, I have shared how to make potato vada in detail. The green chutney and sweet chutney recipes are also in the recipe card below.

Make Potato Stuffing

1. Boil 2 large potatoes that weigh about 350 grams. Peel and then mash them with a fork in a bowl.

You can boil or steam the potatoes in a pan, Instant pot or stovetop pressure cooker adding water as needed.

Remember to drain the water very well from the boiled potatoes before you mash them. Set aside the potatoes to cool. When they become warm, peel and mash them with a fork or a potato masher.

Also crush 6 to 7 small/medium-sized garlic cloves and 1 to 2 green chilies in a mortar pestle.

2. Heat 2 to 3 teaspoons of oil in a small pan. Add ½ a teaspoon of mustard seeds and crackle them.

Then add 7 to 8 curry leaves and a pinch of asafoetida (hing). Stir and sauté for about 5 seconds on low heat.

3.  Add the crushed garlic cloves and green chilies mixture to the pan. Add ⅛ teaspoon of turmeric powder (about 2 to 3 pinches).

4. Stir on a low heat for some seconds or until the raw aroma of garlic goes away.

5. Pour this tempering mixture together with the oil to the mashed potatoes.

6. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of chopped coriander leaves (cilantro) and salt as required.

7. Mix everything well with a spoon. Do a taste test and if needed, add more salt.

Then make small to medium balls from the mashed potato mixture. Flatten these balls a bit. Cover and keep aside.

Make Batter

8. In another bowl, make a smooth batter from 1 to 1.25 cups besan (gram flour), ⅛ teaspoon turmeric powder (about 2 to 3 pinches), a pinch of asafoetida (hing), a pinch of baking soda (optional), salt and ½ cup water or as needed.

The batter should have a medium-thick flowing consistency. It should not be too thick or thin.

If the batter becomes thin, add 1 or 2 tablespoons of gram flour. If the batter becomes thick, then add 1 or 2 tablespoons of water.

9. Dip the slightly flattened potato balls in the batter and coat it evenly with the batter.

Fry Batata Vada

10. Before you dip the batata vada in the batter, heat oil in a pan or wok (kadai). When the oil becomes hot then dip the batata vada in the batter to coat as shown in the above steps.

Carefully and gently drop these batter coated potato balls in medium hot oil.

Note: You can read more details on the frying temperature in the ‘expert tips’ section below.

11. Depending on the size of the kadai or pan, you can add more or less of the vada while frying. But don’t overcrowd the pan

12. When one side firms up, becomes slightly crisp and golden then only turn over gently with a slotted spoon.

Fry the second side. This way deep fry them till golden, turning a couple of times as needed.

13. Place them on kitchen paper towels to absorb extra oil. Make all batata vada this way in batches and set aside.

If required, regulate the stovetop heat when frying the vadas.

Assemble Vada Pav

14. Serve them when they are still hot or warm. Put all the chutneys and pav on your work surface. Slice the pav without breaking it into two parts and set aside.

If you don’t have sweet chutney, then make the vada pav with green chutney. The green chutney and sweet chutney recipes are mentioned in the recipe card below.

You can make these two chutney recipes some hours ahead or a day before and refrigerate.

15. Spread both the green chutney and sweet chutney on the sliced pav. You can also spread green chutney on one side and sweet chutney on the other side.

16. Sprinkle the dry garlic chutney on the pav. This step is optional and you can skip it if you don’t have garlic chutney.

17. Place the hot batata vada in the bread slices.

18. Serve vada pav immediately or else the pav becomes soggy. You can also serve some salted fried green chilies and both of the chutneys with it.

It makes for a good filling evening snack high on carbs. A cup of hot tea or coffee can also be served as a side beverage.

Expert Tips

• When frying batata vada the oil should be moderately hot at a temperature of 180 to 190 degrees Celsius (360 degrees to 375 degrees Fahrenheit). You can use a candy or deep-fry thermometer to check the temperature of the oil.
• Alternatively, you can add some droplets of the batter to the oil. If the droplets rise to the surface gradually and start bubbling then the oil is ready. However, if the droplets rise slowly or get submerged inside then the oil is not hot enough. If the droplets rise too quickly and get burnt or browned then the oil is too hot.
• When batata vada is fried in oil that is too hot, it remains undercooked on the inside and burnt and overcooked on the outside. Frying them in oil that is not hot enough causes them to absorb more oil and become soggy and oily. 
• You can alter the amount of spices as per your taste preference. In some Maharashtrian cities like Kolhapur, the vada pav served in the street is very spicy. My recipe does not make for a spicy vada pav. If you want to make it spicy then add more green chilies.

FAQs

This Vada Pav recipe post from the blog archives first published on August 2009. It has been updated on January 2024.