Onion pakoda recipe – pakoda or pakora are deep fried snack made with gram flour, salt, spices and a main ingredient like onion or a vegetable. Onion pakoda is one of the most popular & much loved snack especially during monsoon & cold winters. These are very commonly prepared in most Indian homes for an evening snack & is served with a cup of Masala tea.
Onion pakoda are also sold in street stalls & restaurants. In south Indian tiffin centers & restaurants these are served with coconut chutney. However in north Indian restaurants some chaat masala is sprinkled over the onion pakoda & is served along with green chutney.
I usually do not make any chutney with these pakoda and we just love them with a cup of hot masala tea.
Pakoda are easy to prepare when you have sudden guest or friend home and you love to make them feel special.
Over the years I have eaten all sorts of onion pakoda from the best to the awful that lack the crunch, flavor and absolutely oily. The recipe shared here will help you to make the best onion pakoda that do not soak up much oil and turn out crispy & flavorful.
Step-by-step photos
Preparation for pakoda
1. To a mixing bowl, add the following ingredients
- 2 cups sliced onions (moderately thin)
- ½ teaspoon minced ginger (or fine choppes)
- 2 to 3 chopped green chilies
- 10 chopped mint leaves (or 2 tablespoons coriander leaves)
- 1 sprig curry leaves (chopped)
- ½ teaspoon salt
Tip: Avoid slicing the onions too thin or too thick. They should be moderately thin. Check video to know how thin.
2. Mix all of them well and squeeze the onions a couple of times so they begin to release moisture. Set this aside for 5 to 10 minutes.
3. Sprinkle evenly the following
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- 1¼ cup besan (gram flour)
- 1½ tablespoon rice flour (or cornstarch or semolina)
- ½ teaspoon ajwain (carom seeds, vaamu)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup cashews (optional, soaked for 15 mins). You can also add half teaspoon garam masala.
4. Mix everything well. You get a dry mixture now.
How to make onion pakoda
5. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons water each time and mix the flour to make a moist dough. Do not pour water, just sprinkle to get the dough right. Sprinkle more water as needed.
I used little over ¼ cup,but it depends on the amount of moisture your onions release. The mixture must be tight but not too dry. It should not be soggy or dripping otherwise they soak up lot of oil and will not turn crispy. Taste test this and add more salt if needed.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a kadai until very hot. When it turns hot pour it to the dough. Gently mix with a spoon and not hand as it will be very hot. You can also skip this step.
6. Heat oil in the same pan for deep frying until medium hot. Check if it is hot enough by dropping a small quantity of dough in the oil, it must rise without browning and not sink.
This is the right time to begin frying. Take small portions and gently drop them in the oil. Fry on a medium heat stirring occasionally for even frying.
7. Fry the onion pakoda till golden and crisp. Remove them to a colander or kitchen tissue. To fry the next batch ensure the oil is not very hot. Reduce the flame slightly and fry them.
Serve onion pakoda hot with a cup of tea or coffee. Sprinkle chaat masala if desired.
Tips to make best onion pakoda
- Taste test gram flour: Using good quality gram flour or besan is very important as it brings in a lot of aroma when roasted. Store bought gram flour goes rancid very quickly which turns bitter within a few months. So always taste test the gram flour before using.
- Preparing onions: To get evenly fried crisp onion pakoda, slice the onions uniformly to thin slices. Some thick and some thin will not yield you crispy pakoras. The thicker slices do not get fried well leaving the pakoras soft. So slice them to moderately thin sizes.
- Flour : Traditionally pakoda are made with gram flour or besan. However an additional ingredients like semolina, corn flour or rice flour is added in the street style and restaurant style as these ingredients keep the fritters crisp for longer. So do use 1 to 2 tbsps of this in the recipe.
- Substitutes:If you are allergic to gram flour, then you can use wheat flour to make the pakoda. Do note the taste differs but they will be still good.
- Temperature of oil: The oil has to be moderately hot enough before adding the dough. If the oil is not hot enough, the pakoras will soak up oil. If the oil is too hot, the onion pakoda will brown outside but will not get cooked inside.
- Frying pakoras: Pakodas have to be fried on a medium high flame. Frying them on a low flame will make them hard. Frying them on a high flame will burn them from outside without cooking inside.
Variations
Cashew pakoda is one popular variation made in a few households especially during special occasions. Cashews are broken down to smaller pieces and slightly soaked in water for about 15 mins and then added to the same onion pakoda mixture.
Herbs: My mom always would add lots of fresh homegrown pudina / mint and curry leaves to the onion pakoda mixture. If you love the flavor of mint then you will really love these. You can also add palak or Indian spinach here. Roughly chop them and add.
How to make onion pakoda light?
Many people add some hot oil to the pakora dough just before frying as this helps to make the onion pakoda crisp, lighter & will prevent them from soaking up oil. For the recipe mentioned below, you can add about 1 to 2 tbsps hot oil from the kadai once the deep frying oil turns hot.
Is there any leavening agent used to make onion pakora?
Leavening agent is not used in this onion pakora recipe. But the restaurants & street stalls use little soda-bi-carbonate to make them light.
More Pakora recipes,
Vegetable pakora
Cauliflower pakora
Mirchi bajji or mirchi pakora
Chicken pakora
Prawn pakora
Recipe
Crispy onion pakoda recipe
Onion pakoda
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )
- 2 cups onions thinly sliced , layers separated
- 1¼ cup besan (gram flour, chana dal flour)
- 1½ tablespoon rice flour or semolina or cornstarch
- ¾ teaspoon salt (more if needed)
- ½ teaspoon ginger finely chopped or grated (optional)
- ½ teaspoon carom seeds (ajwain or vaamu ) (skip if you don't have)
- 2 to 3 green chilies chopped (adjust to suit your taste)
- 1 sprig curry leaves chopped or 2 tbsps coriander leaves
- 10 mint leaves (pudina) chopped (optional)
- ¼ cup cashews (optional, soaked for 15 mins & drained)
- Oil for deep frying
Instructions
Preparation for onion pakoda
- Slice onions moderately thin and add them to a mixing bowl.
- Add chilies, ginger, curry leaves, pudina and salt to the same mixing bowl.
- Nicely squeeze the onions with your fingers few times without mushing them up.
- Leave it aside for 5 minutes. This helps the onions to release some moisture.
- Then sprinkle besan, ajwain, cashews and more salt if needed.
- Mix everything well to coat the onions with the flour. The mixture will be fairly dry at this moment.
- Add water 2 tbsps each time and mix the flour to make a moist mass of dough.
- The dough must be tight yet very moist and not soggy like batter else they absorb lot of oil while frying.
How to make onion pakoda
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a kadai until very hot.
- Be careful as it is too hot. Pour this to the dough.
- Immediately the oil will sizzle. Mix the dough with a spoon and not hand as the oil is too hot.
- Heat oil in the same kadai or fry pan for deep frying the pakoda.
- Check if the oil is hot enough in the kadai by sliding a tiny piece of dough first.
- It has to rise and not sink in the oil. Next it should not brown too quickly. This is the right temperature.
- When the oil is hot enough, regulate the flame to medium high.
- Take a small amount of dough and make small pakoda with your fingers and slide them gently in the hot oil.
- Do not add too many pakodas in the pan. They should have some space in the pan to swim around & fry well.
- While frying stir & if needed flip the onion pakodas occasionally for even frying.
- Fry them till they turn crisp & golden. Then transfer them with a ladle to an absorbent tissue placed in a plate or to a colander.
- Continue to make more onion pakoda in batches with the rest of the dough.
- Serve onion pakoda hot with a cup of tea or coffee. You can also serve them with green chutney.
- Or sprinkle some chaat masala or any ground seasoning of your choice.
Video
NUTRITION (estimation only)
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.
© Swasthi’s Recipes
celia says
This dish came out so well. I did this for the first time and it was extremely awesome. Thanks for your help !
swasthi says
Welcome Celia
Glad to know
Winnie says
A simple recipe but turned out so good. Added some chopped cashews for variation. Loved it. Only forgot to add rice flour which was listed in the ingredients but not in the detailed procedure.
swasthi says
Thanks Winnie
Glad you liked it. I will update it.
Neer says
I’m looking forward to making this in the afternoon! I had a small question, when we squeeze out the water in the onion, are supposed to drain the water out as well? Or just squeeze and let it be?
swasthi says
Hi,
It is done just to bring out the moisture & it is not drained.
Neeraja Mohan says
thanks! Look forward to sharing the results soon!
Raksha Vanessa D Souza says
My family loved the onion pakora recipe! They turned out nice and crispy! My first try and I’m going to use this again! Thank you!
Monica says
Easy recipe and pakodas were very crispy. loved it. Thank you
Shekar says
Very easy recipe, turned out really good… Never knew that how I’m supposed to mix flour and water. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe.
swasthi says
You are welcome!
Christina says
Followed this recipe and had the best crispiest pakodas ever. All this while I’ve been making the batter first and making it runny and then dipping the onions in it. Can’t believe I’ve been doing it wrong my entire life 🤦😐 Thank you for this recipe 😊
swasthi says
Hi Christina,
You are welcome! Glad to know they turned out good. Thank you!
Yolanda says
Made these today. They turned out great. Thanks for sharing!
swasthi says
Hi Yolanda
You are welcome!
Sandhya says
I had to use chilli powder as I ran out of green chillies. Pakodas turned out great. Very crispy and tasty.
swasthi says
Glad they turned out good. Thanks Sandhya!
Moushmi says
The recipe was really simple and it came out very well. Being an amateur cook, I was really happy and satisfied with the way the pakodas turned out. Thank u so much
swasthi says
Welcome Moushmi,
Glad your pakoda turned out good. Thanks for the comment.
🙂
Amrita says
Thank you for all the wonderful recipes! We totally enjoyed these onion pakoda very much. Pouring hot oil to the dough is something I didn’t know. A sprinkle of chaat masala made them more Yum. They came out very good. Please share rava dosa recipe.
swasthi says
Hi Amrita,
You are welcome. Thanks for trying. Glad you liked them. Yes I will share the recipe of rava dosa soon.
Anne says
Hi Swasthi,
Tried your Onion Pakoda recipe as I like hard & crispy pakodas. Taste was good but unfortunately, the pakoda was soft not hard or crispy. What can I do? Regards, Anne
swasthi says
Hi Anne,
This recipe will yield crispy onion pakoda that but not hard. They will be light yet crunchy. Usually onion pakoda turns soft & soggy if there is more moisture (water) in the dough. Water should be used only as needed just to sprinkle. To my understanding either too much water was added or the dough portions dropped to the oil were large. You must only take small portions of dough and slide to the oil. Larger portions don’t turn crisp. Hope this helps
Latha says
Hi swasthi
I made these onion pakoda. Absolutely amazing better than hotel. All this while I have been pouring more water to make the dough so they never turned so crunchy. Thank you for sharing. Please share kadi pakora.
swasthi says
Hi Latha
You are welcome. Happy to know they turned out good. We avoid eating besan and curd together, so i rarely make kadhi pakora. I will try. Thanks for the comment.
🙂
Shumaila says
Hi, Thank you for the recipe but I followed exactly same steps and my Pakoras came out really hard:( added baking powder, and more water to make them edible. Which brand to you use for chickpea flour please? I use KTC but I don’t know why my Pakoras are nowhere near Crunchy.
swasthi says
Hi Shumaila
You are welcome. Have you used chickpea flour or gram flour made from chana dal? I checked the KTC site but found quite a lot of varieties. I use the flour that comes from India either rajasthani besan or mantra. Some countries also sell chickpea flour made from garbanzo beans which is not suitable for making onion pakoda. In that case you must look for the flour which is labelled as gram flour made from chana dal. Adding more water to the dough will not make them crunchy. There is no need to use baking powder too. I feel it is the flour. Give it another try with different flour. Thanks for trying.
Suji says
I was looking for a quick snack and bumped into this recipe. The pakoda turned out to be super yummy. It just got over in seconds. It didn’t drink a lot of oil too. Thank you for this wonderful recipe.
swasthi says
Welcome Suji
Thanks for the comment. Happy to know pakoda turned out good.
🙂
Arati says
Your tip for using thick dough instead of runny batter was very useful. The pakoda didnot absorb any oil, and it was a perfect combination of crispy outside soft inside. Thanks..
Ps: I skipped the curry and mint leaves and used garlic instead.
swasthi says
Welcome Arati,
Thanks for trying.
Archana says
Ur recipes r simply awesome…any recipe I blindly trust n go ahead n u nvr lemme down…thnx a ton
swasthi says
Welcome ARchana
Glad to know the recipes work out well.
Thanks for the comment
🙂