Chilli Potato Recipe (Chilli Aloo)

Crispy Chilli Potato just like in your favorite restaurant! Make this super easy and delicious restaurant style chilli potato at home with options to deep fry, air fry or even bake the potatoes. In Indo-Chinese restaurants you are most likely to find 2 versions of this dish – dry chilli potato and gravy. In this post I share both the versions. Serve the dry version as an appetizer or a party snack. Chilli potato gravy goes very well as a side with steaming hot Hakka noodles or Fried rice or even with plain fluffy basmati rice.

About Chilli Potato

Chilli potato is an Indo-Chinese starter made with crisp fried potatoes, tossed in slightly spicy, sweet & sour chilli sauce. It is an Indian and Chinese fusion dish that is more commonly served in the Indian restaurants and street stalls. Chilli potato is derived from the immensely popular Chilli Chicken & here chicken is substituted with potatoes.

Much like any other Indian Chinese Food, this one is prepared with Indian vegetables and spices but prepared following the Chinese high heat wok cooking with the usage of aromatic sauces. Indians love these fusion foods for the saucy taste, delicate crunchy texture and the addictive smoky flavors.

So this chilli potato is no exception and has a punch of flavors in every bite. I have made this recipe for years and my kids love this a lot. Years ago I would deep fry the potatoes because that’s how it is made in the Indo-Chinese restaurants. But years later now, I prefer to air fry or even bake the potatoes (for a larger batch). However you fry, this chilli potato turns so good!

To make chilli potato, first potatoes are cut to 2 to 3 inch portions, par-boiled and then deep fried until crisp just like the way we make the Potato Wedges. Then a super aromatic sauce is prepared in a wok with garlic, green chilies, onions, spring onions, chilli sauce and soya sauce. Lastly the fried potatoes are tossed into the delicious sauce. Sounds addictive right?

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Easy Aloo chaat
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How to Make Chilli Potato (Stepwise photos)

Prepare ingredients for sauce

• Slice 1 medium onion
• Chop 2 to 3 sprigs of spring onions, separate greens & whites (optional)
• Slit 1 green chili
• Slice, dice or Julienne ¾ cup capsicum
• Chop 2 to 3 garlic cloves to make 1½ tablespoons chopped

1. Optional – In a small bowl, mix ½ to ¾ tsp of red chili powder with 2 tablespoon of red chilli sauce. Add few tsps of water and mix to a smooth mixture. Using red chili enhances the color of the dish without addition of too much sauce or food color. Alternately you can also add only red chili sauce and skip using the powder.

Prepare potatoes

2. Wash and peel 250 grams potatoes. Cut each potato to half inch slices first. Then cut each of the slice to 2 to 3 sticks of half each thickness. Soak them in water for about 30 minutes. To air fry or bake the potatoes, follow this potato wedges post where I detail each step with a picture.

Drain and boil them in fresh water for 3 to 4 mins. They should not be soft but should be firm and semi cooked. Skipping this step may not cook the potatoes well while frying.

3. Drain them up completely in a colander.

4. Add them to a wide bowl. Sprinkle ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon chilli powder and 2 tablespoons rice flour or corn starch. Even yellow corn flour works well. Toss well to coat the potatoes well. If it is too dry, you may sprinkle some water.

Deep fry potatoes

5. Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan. When the oil is hot enough, to test drop a small portion of dough or potato. It must rise to the surface without turning brown. this is the right temperature. Gently slide the potatoes to the oil. Fry them on a medium heat for 2 to 3 mins without disturbing. Later stir and fry until golden and crisp.

6. When they are golden, turn down the heat and fry for a few more minutes to make them extra crisp. Alternately you may also remove them from the oil and then refry them. This gives extra crisp fried potatoes. Later remove them to a steel colander or a wired rack.

Make Chilli Sauce for Potatoes

7. Heat 1 tbsp oil and fry 1 slit chilli and 1½ tablespoons chopped garlic. You can also use fresh sesame or olive oil (in place of deep fried oil) to enhance the flavors.

8. When the garlic begins to smell good, add 1 medium sliced onion and white parts of spring onions. Stir fry on a high heat for a minute.

9. Add ¾ cup bell peppers and fry on a high heat until slightly tender yet crunchy.

10. Add 1 teaspoon sugar, ½ to 1 tablespoon soya sauce, ½ teaspoon vinegar and red chilli sauce you prepared in step 1 or 2 tablespoons just red chilli sauce.

11. Stir every thing well.

12. Add 3 tablespoons water to the pan. Bring it to a boil and allow the sauce to thicken. If you like to make a gravy dish, add ¾ tsp corn starch to half cup water. Stir it well and pour it to the pan.

13. When the sauce thickens, taste it and add more sauces to suit your taste. Turn off and cool down a bit. Add the fried or baked potatoes. Avoid adding crisp potatoes to hot sauce.

14. Toss the potatoes well to coat with sauce. Add spring onions.

Serve chilli potato hot while still crisp.

Pro Tips

1. To make the best crisp fried potatoes for this recipe always soak the potatoes in water for at least 30 mins. Then boil them in fresh water for 3 to 4 mins until slightly tender but still hold shape. This step makes the crispiest potatoes as the excess starch is removed.

2. Parboiling the potatoes before frying also helps to cook them completely from inside without browning too quickly.

3. I have made chilli potato for this post by deep frying but you can avoid that completely and grill them first. Then add to the prepared sauce.

4. Coating the potatoes in corn flour makes them crispy. However for health reasons you can also replace it with rice flour.

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Chilli Potato Recipe first published in September 2015. Updated in February 2022.