Aloo palak recipe – Stir fried Indian spinach potato recipe. Aloo refers to potatoes & palak to spinach in Indian language. This aloo palak is a side dish from north Indian cuisine made by stir frying potatoes and spinach. It is a healthy and delicious vegan dish made with minimal use of spices. It can be eaten with roti, paratha, Poori or even with rice.

Like most other kids mine too love potatoes in their meal. So I often make quick dishes like
Potato fry
Jeera aloo
Aloo methi
Aloo matar sabzi for their school box.
This aloo palak sabzi has always been their favorite and they love this stuffed in kathi rolls, wraps, bread sandwiches and even with lemon rice.
We try to include greens in our diet at least 3 to 4 times a week. I prefer not to over cook the leafy greens so just a few minutes of stir frying is what I do most times. This aloo palak is a great way to enjoy spinach as it is lightly sauteed with potatoes & spices.
Young and fresh spinach is best to make this dish tasty with mild flavors. I do not use any garam masala for this recipe as the natural flavors of aloo and palak are good enough.
You can also check this spinach curry, easy dal palak and palak paratha recipes.
How I made aloo palak
To make this simple aloo palak, I have first fried some sliced onions which can be skipped completely from the recipe. Then I fried the potatoes & cooked them until tender. Then I added some spice powders and sauteed the palak. That’s it. But here are some variations which I make other times.
Preparation for aloo palak
1. Pluck spinach leaves and wash them in a large pot of water. Drain and wash a few times. I usually spray some vinegar and rest them for 10 mins, then wash them a few times.
2. Drain them completely in a colander. There should be no water in the palak.
3. Chop them just before adding to the pan.
4. Wash potatoes and peel them. Cube them to ¾ inch cubes. Do not chop them large as they take long time to cook. You can also boil the potatoes first and add use them in the recipe.
5. Add them to a bowl of water and keep aside until needed.
6. Meanwhile slice onions, chop garlic and green chilies.
Making aloo palak
7. Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds.
8. When they begin to splutter, add garlic and green chilies. I usually deseed the green chilies and use. You can skip chili if you have very young kids.
9. Fry garlic for a minute, then add hing. Avoid browning them as they may burn later when sautéed with potatoes.

10. Add sliced onions. You can also skip the onions.
11. Fry them until lightly golden.

12. Add the cubed potatoes and saute for 2 to 3 mins.
13. Pour 3 to 4 tbsp water and mix well.

14. Cover and cook until done.

15. The potatoes must be just cooked but not mushy.
16. Sprinkle salt, turmeric and red chili powder.

17. Saute for 2 to 3 mins. Cover and cook just for a minute.

Frying aloo palak
18. Add in the chopped spinach.

19. Stir fry on a medium high flame just for 3 to 4 mins until they wilt off. There must be no excess moisture left in the pan.
20. If using garam masala sprinkle it now. I usually sprinkle a tsp of toasted sesame seeds and lemon juice towards the end.

21. Serve aloo palak with puri, roti or chapati.

Variations to make aloo palak
- Aloo palak can be made to a gravy or dry dish. Both the versions are commonly made in Indian households. To make the gravy version, I follow the same recipe of Palak paneer. I just add the boiled potatoes to the spinach gravy. The gravy tastes amazing with rotis or basmati rice.
- Sometimes I also make aloo palak with boiled potatoes. I boil the cubed aloo along with rice in the cooker and then temper the aloo. Next add palak and saute. This method also saves a lot of time as you don’t need to cook the potatoes in the pan.
- If you do not have indian spinach, for a change you can also make it with other leafy greens such as methi (fenugreek) or amaranth.
- My kids love peas in this dish. You can also add some along with spinach to the pan.
Tips to make aloo palak
- Palak or spinach tastes best with minimum spices especially in the powder form. Too much of spice powder alters the taste of the leafy greens.
- Do not over cook spinach. Add it towards the end of making the dish (once the potatoes are cooked).
- You can skip the onions from the recipe.
- Ensure the potatoes are chopped to bite sized about ¾ inch in size. Otherwise they may not cook well & quickly.
- To add a nutty taste add some coarse crushed roasted peanuts just before serving. Kids will love that. You can also sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds.
- Lastly you can replace potatoes with sweet potatoes in this recipe.
If you are new to cooking, then these tips on how to prepare palak for the recipe may help you.
Preparing spinach for aloo palak
- I usually inspect each leaf for larvae and worms. Discard the leaf if I find any.
- Then I spray vinegar and rest the leaves for 5 to 8 mins.
- Pluck the leaves and discard the stems as most times they have a metallic or bitter taste. The stems of palak are usually fibrous and stringy even after cooking so I remove them if the leaves are not young.
- Next rinse them a few times in a large pot of water.
- Remove and put them in a colander. When the water drains completely, finely chop the leaves. You can also use a food processor.
You can check more Aloo Recipes here and Palak Recipes here
Aloo palak recipe

Aloo palak recipe | Aloo palak sabzi | Spinach potatoes recipe
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )
Ingredients for aloo palak recipe
- 2 tablespoons oil
- ¾ teaspoon cumin or jeera
- 2 cloves garlic (chopped or paste) or ginger
- 1 pinch asafoetida or hing (optional)
- 2 green chilies (deseeded and chopped)
- 1 medium onion sliced or chopped (optional)
- 2 cups potatoes or aloo cubed about 4 medium potatoes
- 4 cups spinach or palak chopped (more if you like)
- ¼ teaspoon Salt to taste (adjust to taste)
- ¼ teaspoon red chili powder optional
- 1/8 teaspoon turmeric or haldi
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Optional ingredients
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon garam masala (optional)
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds (optional)
- ¾ teaspoon kasuri methi or dried fenugreek leaves (optional)
Instructions
Preparation
- Rinse the spinach in lots of water a few times and drain them to a colander.
- Peel & cube the potatoes to bite sized pieces.
- optional – Keep them immersed in a bowl of water to avoid discoloration.
How to make aloo palak
- Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a pan.
- When the oil turns hot add ¾ teaspoon cumin and let them splutter.
- Then add 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped and 1 to 2 chopped green chilies.
- Fry them for a minute. Sprinkle hing.
- Next add medium sized chopped or sliced onion and fry until light golden.
- Drain the water from potatoes completely.
- Then add them to the pan & fry for 2 to 3 mins.
- You can just stir fry until the potatoes are fork tender or Pour 3 tablespoons water and mix well.
- Cover and cook until the potatoes are completely cooked but not mushy.
- Then sprinkle 1/8 teaspoon turmeric, ¼ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon chili powder (optional).
- Saute for a minute or two until the raw smell of chili powder goes away.
- You can also cover and cook for 2 minutes.
- Next add 4 cups of chopped palak.
- Saute on a medium high flame for about 3 minutes or until the leaves wilt.
- You can also sprinkle some garam masala and crushed kasuri methi (optional).
- When the moisture evaporates turn off the stove.
- You can sprinkle 1 tsp of sesame seeds towards the end.
- Serve aloo palak with roti, chapati, paratha or rice.
Notes
Alternative quantities provided in the recipe card are for 1x only, original recipe.
For best results follow my detailed step-by-step photo instructions and tips above the recipe card.
Video
Video of aloo palak recipe
NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)
© Swasthi’s Recipes

Robert Pennington says
Made this this evening.
Easy and delicious – a tad warm, but I was a wee bit heavy on the hot stuff perhaps – added oven-roasted tofu that had been marinated in nutritional yeast, miso paste, coconut oil and lemon juice & zest. All worked well together.
(Credit to “Bosh! Healthy Vegan” for the tofu).
swasthi says
Glad to know!
Thank you
Mohanachandran says
Really easy to make and great Swasthi. Thanks for the recipe.
swasthi says
Welcome!
Thank you!
Simon says
Great recipe, easy to follow and fantastic end result. I just made this and it turned out lovely. One comment, in the list of ingredients you state one spoon of lemon juice but not when to add it.
swasthi says
Thank you Simon
Lemon juice is to add while serving. I will update it.
🙂
Shazia says
Really nice
swasthi says
Thanks Shazia
Shazia says
Really nice
jan says
just cooked this dish and it is the best one i have found and it tastes great as well highly recommended
swasthi says
Thanks Jan
Glad to know!
Maya Reese says
Absolutely delicious! I added chickpeas before the spinach, because I had them in the closet, and it worked well. Thank you for a marvelous recipe, Swasthi!
swasthi says
Hello Maya
Glad to know! Love the combo of chickpeas with spinach. Thank you
Jenny says
This came out wonderful – very satisfying, like comfort food. I cooked the potatoes in the Instapot under pressure for 2 minutes before adding them to the pan. I was out of green chilis (and didn’t want to go to the store during this pandemic) so used dry kashmiri chilis instead. Served it with roti. Yum 🙂
Hoping you and yours are healthy and doing well Swasthi.
Take care
swasthi says
Hi Jenny,
Glad it turned out good. Yes we are all doing good & healthy! Thanks for checking! Hoping the same from you too. Stay safe and enjoy the food!
🙂
Ann Thomas says
Simple and clear instructions. It’s my go to recipe for something quick and easy!
swasthi says
Thank you!
Swetha says
I tried your aloo palak today. I added peas also & did not use onion. It was tasty.Thank you
swasthi says
Hi Swetha,
You are welcome. Yes you can skip onion. Glad you liked it. Yes green peas would be a good addition.
Thank you
Elaine says
Hi, can I use Russet potatoes for this dish? I don’t have any waxy potatoes on hand.
swasthi says
Hi Elaine,
Yes you can use Russet potatoes.
poornima sistla says
Tried this recipe and it was awesome
swasthi says
Thank you so much Poornima.
Menomena says
I understand that you want to prevent copyright infringement of your recipes and other content but it is very inconvenient to try to make them when I have to go back and forth so many times between the kitchen and the computer. Being able to print out just the ingredients and directions of an individual recipe would make using your excellent site much more convenient.
swasthi says
Hi Menomena
The problem is fixed. You can print the recipes
Sari says
I cooked this for a friend who is allergic to potatoes and sesam, that’s why the changes.
Sari says
Thanks, this was nice. I used mushrooms instead of potatoes and pine seeds instead of sesam. Very good.
Shabbu says
Looks delicious…yummy..
Kaveri Venkatesh says
Like the addition of sesame seeds…looks good
DivyaGCP says
Delicious and healthy combo..
Suja Manoj says
Healthy and yum combo,love the click
Sherin says
I'm gonna try this tonight dear
Meena B says
this is quick and yummy dish , love it with additional flavor of sesame seeds