Aloo Tikki chaat is a popular Indian street style chaat, made with crispy golden brown aloo tikki (spiced potato patties) topped with spiced yogurt, chutneys and sev. The golden brown aloo tikkis can be pan-fried or air fried.
Aloo tikki chaat is a very popular street food in India. Perhaps the most well-known style of this chaat dish is the Delhi street style aloo tikki chaat - sold in street carts in Delhi markets. The dish is made with spiced savory potato patties that are shallow-fried until they are crispy, and then served up with a mix of street style chaat ingredients – dahi (yogurt), pomegranate, sweet tamarind chutney, spicy green chutney, and garnished with sev (chickpea flour crisps).
The different elements in Indian street style chaat make it a delight to eat! My favorites types of chaat include Bhel Puri, which is a popular Mumbai style Indian street food, Sev puri and the many combinations of aloo and chole chaat that you get in Delhi.
Aloo tikki chaat is traditionally made with aloo tikki, which is a savory potato patty – you could call it Indian Potato Cutlets. I also like to add beetroot in this recipe, and make it a little healthier. My Beetroot Tikki recipe is one that our family loves! Another Indian cutlet recipe we love is my Indian Railway style beet and potato patties. Aloo Tikkis can be enjoyed on their own, with a cup of Masala Chai on the side!
What I love about Indian Chaat recipe is that they are super easy to customize – I like to add Amritsari chole (spiced chickpea curry) to my chaat, to make this a chole tiki chaat. Sometimes, I’ll also add cooked white peas to make it like ragada patties – another popular street food.
The main ingredients for chaat should always include Green Chutney – my Mint Cilantro Green Chutney is perfect for Indian chaat recipes – along with sweet tamarind chutney, and a good amount of Sev. Finally, the best part of any chaat recipe is to simply assemble all the components of the recipe together and grab a spoon and dig in!
One of the popular versions of this recipe is stuffed Aloo Tikki – where the tikki is stuffed with a mixture of channa dal or moong beans and sometimes peas are also added to the stuffed tikkis before frying. However, for this recipe, we will be making the regular patties, without the stuffing. Lets make aloo tikki chaat, street style!
Why this recipe works
- My recipe gives you deliciously crispy, golden brown aloo tikki which can be eaten on its own or in tikki chaat
- Versatile and easy to customize – I have shared tips to make chole tikki chaat or make beetroot tikki instead of aloo tikki
- Healthier that the street-food you get in the carts!
Ingredient List and Substitutions
To make aloo tikki chaat, we will need:
Potatoes – Use potatoes that mash well such as Russets or Yukon Golds. Preferably use floury/starchy variety of potatoes.
Rice flour – The rice flour is added to give the aloo tikki its crispness. You can substitute rice flour with poha (flattened rice) that has been soaked in water for 2-3 minutes.
Chopped green chili – Adds good flavor, however, you can skip this if you are serving tikki to your kids or if you don’t like the heat of green chilies.
Chopped green cilantro – Coriander/ cilantro is finely chopped and added for flavour. If you do not like cilantro, you can skip it.
Ginger and garlic – Add ginger garlic paste or finely minced ginger and garlic.
Chaat masala – Chaat masala is a fantastic addition to the patties, it gives it a unique 'chatpata' flavor
Amchoor powder – This is optional, but you can add a pinch for more tang
Roasted jeera / cumin powder – A pinch of cumin powder is added to improve the flavor
Step by step recipe
To make the Aloo Tikkis for the chaat, we start by boiling the potatoes until they are tender. I like to cut the cook the potatoes into half, and then cook them in my Instant Pot - 10 minutes, followed by 10 minutes pressure release. In a regular pressure cooker, cook for 2 whistles. On the stovetop, cook the potatoes in a pot of boiling water for 20 minutes.
Once the potatoes are well cooked, turn off the heat and take out the potatoes to cool completely. Peel and transfer to a larger mixing bowl. Add all rest of the ingredients for the aloo tikkis - rice flour, salt, spice powders, green chili, cilantro, ginger and garlic, etc. Using a potato masher, mash the mixture until nice and smooth.
Pro Tip - Make sure that the potatoes are not hot or they will release steam into the mixture. The patty can fall apart when cooking, if there is moisture in the mixture. The potatoes have to be completely cooled before mashing
Once you have a smoth mixture, shape them into tikkis (spiced potato patties) as seen below. Wet your palms before shaping - the tikkis will be easier to shape.
After all the aloo tikkis have been shaped, heat up oil in a wide frying pan. I used around 3 tbsp vegetable oil to fry the patties. Let the oil heat up. Then slowly add 5-6 tikkis on the pan, without crowding them. Cook for 3 minutes on each side, slip over and cook until evenly golden brown.
Air Fryer Potato Patties I Air Fryer Aloo Tikki
To make aloo tikki in the air fryer, you can simply follow the instructions for making the tikki / potato patty as shown in the steps above. Shape them and then place them in a preheated air fryer, fry at 350F for 15 minutes, flipping them at the 10 minutes mark until they turn evenly golden brown as shown below.
Make sure you flip the tikkis once through the air frying cycle, so that the patties fry evenly on both sides.
How to make Street Style Aloo Tikki Chaat
To assemble the tikki chaat, beat some yogurt with chaat masala, roasted cumin powder, a pinh of salt and sugar. Keep aside.
Make your green chutney (here is my green chutney recipe) and sweet tamarind chutney or Imli chutney (I use store-bought tamarind chutney).
To assemble, place 3-4 tikkis on a plate. Top with a generous serving of spiced yogurt, followed by some green chutney, tamarind chutney and pomogranate seeds and sprinkle the sev over it.
Aloo tikki chaat is now ready to be enjyed! Serve immediately.
Expert Tips
Mash potatoes well – To make perfect tikkis, the potatoes have to be well mashed, and there should be no moisture in the tikki mix. To cook the potatoes properly, boil them for 20 minutes in the stove top, or 15 minutes (natural release) in the Instant Pot. The cooked potatoes should then be cooked completely – for at least 20- 30 minutes before peeling and mashing them.
Use rice flour for crispy tikkis – To make perfectly crisp tikkis, use rice flour or soaked poha (flattened rice). I don’t recommend using cornstarch for this recipe.
Frying the aloo tikkis – There are three ways to fry the tikkis. You can either deep fry them, for authentic street-style taste, or shallow fry them on a frying pan, or air fry them. I have tried both shallow frying and air frying the tikkis and I am happy with both these techniques. Remember, that air frying will not make the aloo tikki crisp up as well as deep frying or shallow frying will.
Heat the oil before adding tikkis – If deep frying or shallow frying, heat the oil until very hot, before adding the tikkis. If the tikkis are added in without heating the oil, they will not cook well, and will stay soft and not crisp up. Do not crowd the tikkis in a frying pan.
Use bread crumbs if mixture is too wet - If your tikki mixture has too much moisture, you can also use bread crumbs to bind together the mixture. Simply blend up some bread and use the fresh bread crumbs in the tikki mixture, in case you feel the mixture has too much moisture.
Frequently Asked Questions
Aloo tikki is similar to a potato patty, and it is super versatile – use it to make everything from this tikki chaat recipe, to aloo tikki burger, or add chole to make a chole tikki chaat version.
Yes! This is a gluten-free recipe for aloo tikki, to bind the potato mixture together, we will need only the mashed potatoes and a little rice flour. No gluten is necessary to bind the mixture.
With the exception of the spiced yogurt, everything else is vegan – you can simply skip the yogurt or use cashew yogurt or your choice of vegan yogurt instead of dairy.
Aloo tikki can sometimes fall apart if the tikki mixture was not properly mixed and the potatoes were not well mashed. They can also fall apart if the oil used for shallow frying/ deep frying was not heated before adding the tikkis. To ensure your tikki mixture does not fall apart, make sure your potatoes are correctly cooked, cooled completely and them mashed well. Finally, use rice flour to help the mixture bind together.
Aloo tikkis can be shaped, and prepared ahead in a batch, and frozen for using later. To use, take a patty and fry it from frozen. There is no need to thaw the tikki before reheating it.
More Indian Appetizers/ Snacks
Aloo Tikki Chaat
Ingredients
For Aloo Tikkis
- 6 Potatoes use Russet or Yukon Gold or any floury potatoes
- 4 tbsp Rice flour see notes for substitutes
- 1 tsp Green chili finely chopped
- 1 tsp Cilantro / Coriander leaves finely chopped
- 1½ tsp Ginger and garlic paste Or use minced ginger and garlic
- 1 tsp Chaat masala
- ½ tsp Amchoor powder dried mango powder)
- 1 Cumin powder
- Salt to season
- Oil for shallow frying the Tikkis
For Assembling Aloo Tikki Chaat
- 1 cup Yogurt full-fat (not Greek)
- ½ tsp Cumin powder
- ½ tsp Salt
- ¾ tsp Chaat Masala
- 1 tsp Sugar
- ⅓ cup Sweet Tamarind Chutney (Imli Chutney)
- ⅓ cup Green Chutney
- ½ cup Pomegranate Seeds
- ½ cup Sev
Instructions
To Make Aloo Tikkis
- Cook the potatoes until they are soft and well cooked. In the Instant Pot – pressure cook 10 minutes, followed by 10 minutes pressure release. In a regular pressure cooker, cook for 2 whistles. On the stovetop, cook the potatoes in a pot of boiling water for 20 minutes.
- Once the potatoes are completely cooked, turn off the heat and take out the potatoes to cool completely. A fork should pierce the potatoes easily. Peel and transfer potatoes to a larger mixing bowl.
- Add all rest of the ingredients for the aloo tikkis - rice flour, salt, spice powders, green chili, cilantro, ginger and garlic, etc. Using a potato masher, mash the mixture until nice and smooth.
- Once you have a smooth mixture, shape them into tikkis. Wet your palms before shaping - the tikkis will be easier to shape.
- After all the aloo tikkis have been shaped, heat up oil in a wide frying pan. I used around 3 tbsp vegetable oil to fry the patties. Once the oil is hot, slowly add 5-6 tikkis on the pan, without crowding them. Cook for 3 minutes on each side, slip over and cook until evenly golden brown.
Aloo Tikki In the Air Fryer
- After shaping the tikki patties, place them in a preheated air fryer, fry at 350 F for 15 minutes, flipping them at the 10 minutes mark until they turn evenly golden brown.
Assembling Aloo Tikki
- To assemble the tikki chaat, beat the yogurt with chaat masala, roasted cumin powder, a pinch of salt and sugar. Keep aside. Keep green chutney and tamarind chutney ready.
- To assemble, place 3-4 tikkis on a plate. Top with a generous serving of spiced yogurt, followed by some green chutney, tamarind chutney and pomegranate seeds and sprinkle the sev over it.