Raita recipes – 12 delicious, healthy and refreshing raita recipes to serve wtih biryani, pulao, kebabs or any Indian meal. Without raita, curd or lassi an Indian meal is incomplete.
What is raita?
Raita is an Indian dish made with yogurt, spice powders, herbs & veggies like onions, cucumbers & carrots. Indian raita is usually accompanied with biryani, pulao or kababs. Most often it is made with fresh veggies of choice, mild spice powders like cumin and herbs like coriander leaves & mint leaves.

There are also some varieties made using cooked veggies and even fruits.
A raita is generally made to tone down the heat of the spicy foods like biryani and kebabs. Since yogurt is cooling, it helps to balance the heat from meat and spicy foods.
Also veggies like onion, tomato, cucumber, leafy greens like mint and coriander are cooling to the body. They also help to digest a heavy meal.
Different kinds of raita
Some of the most common raita varieties are onion raita, onion tomato raita, mint raita, cucumber raita and boondi raita.
Some of the uncommon ones like aloo raita, spinach raita and bhindi raita are good to be avoided if accompanying a meat biryani since they do not go well together.

How to make a best raita?
To make a good raita use full fat, thick, fresh & nicely set yogurt/ curd. If you are new to making homemade curd, you can check this post on how to make curd at home. Some raita are made with hung curd or greek yogurt, you can refer this post to make hung curd at home.
Biryani and veg pulao are often made at home, we telugu speaking folks eat lot of spicy and hot food at every meal. We make raita often not only for biryani & pulao but also for plain rice with non-veg curries like chicken curry & mutton curry.
Here are some of the most commonly made raita recipes. Most of these are my own and go very well for our taste. You can also make your own adjustments.
Most of these recipes serve 3 people or 2 grown ups + 2 kids. If making these for kids as well, make the raita without chili. Set the kids portion aside, then add the chopped chilies to the rest.
Related recipes
Chicken biryani
Mutton biryani
Veg biryani
1.Basic raita recipe

Raita recipe
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )
- 1 cup curd or yogurt (fresh)
- 1 medium onion chopped
- ½ cup cucumbers (peeled & chopped)
- 1/8 tsp Salt or as needed
- 1 to 2 green chilies deseeded & chopped
- 1 tbsp coriander leaves or cilantro chopped finely
- ¼ to ½ tsp roasted cumin powder or roasted jeera (optional)
Instructions
Preparation
- Chill the yogurt. Wash & chop the onions & green chilies. Wash & peel the cucumbers. If needed deseed. Then chop to bite sizes.
- Wash coriander leaves in ample amount of water. Drain completely and chop them fine.
- Roast 1 tsp cumin seeds on a low flame until it smells good. Cool this and crush them to fine powder in a spice jar.
How to make raita
- Add curd and salt to a mixing bowl. Whisk them until smooth with a fork.
- Next add chopped cucumbers, onions, cumin powder, coriander leaves and green chilies.
- Stir gently. Sprinkle cumin powder on top.
- Serve raita with biryani , pulao or paratha.
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.
NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)
© Swasthi’s Recipes
2.Boondi raita recipe
Boondi raita is one of the fancy dishes mostly served in restaurants. Bundi or boondi is a crisp fried snack made with gram flour. You can buy it from Indian grocery stores. For this recipe we need boondi that is not spiced.

Ingredients
1 ¼ cup fresh curd / yogurt
¾ to 1 cup boondi
Salt as needed (boondi is salted so use very little)
¼ to ½ tsp roasted cumin powder
2 pinches of red chili powder for garnish
1 tbsp coriander leaves
How to make boondi raita
- Whisk curd with salt & cumin powder. Add coriander leaves & mix.
- Transfer the curd to serving bowls.
- Add boondi to the bowls just before serving.
- Sprinkle some chilli powder & cumin.
3.Mint raita or mint chutney
This is known by different names as dahi chutney, kebab chutney, kebab raita, mint raita, mint chutney for kebab. These names are purely region or country specific, mostly used in Indian restaurants abroad.

Ingredients
1 cup thick fresh curd / dahi
2 to 3 deseeded green chili
1 cup loosely measured fresh pudina / mint leaves
¼ cup coriander leaves (optional)
2 tsps chopped onion (optional)
1 small garlic clove
¼ tsp grated ginger (optional)
½ tsp roasted cumin/ jeera
¼ to ½ tsp. sugar
salt as needed
How to make mint raita recipe for kebab
1. Wash mint & coriander in lot of water. Drain them very well in a colander.
2. Dry roast 1 tsp cumin until aromatic and cool it. Powder it in a blender jar.
3. Add 1 tbsp of curd, coriander, sugar,mint, salt, ginger, garlic, onions (optional) and chili to the blender jar.
4. Blend them all well. Add it to whisked curd. Stir well.
Serve with kababs like Chicken kebab, Soya seekh kabab, Vegetarian Hara bhara kabab, Grilled tandoori chicken, Reshmi / malai kabab, Mixed veg cutlet and chicken cutlet.
4.Onion mint raita

Ingredients
¾ cup fresh mint leaves/pudina (loosely measured)
1 large onion chopped
½ tsp cumin
¼ to ½ tsp. sugar
salt as needed
1¼ cup thick curd or Greek yogurt
small green chili (deseeded)
Method
1. Wash mint/ pudina and coriander leaves few times. Drain them to a colander.
2. Dry roast cumin and cool it. Add cumin to a blender jar and powder. You can skip this if you have the powder ready, just use the powder directly.
3. Add 1 tbsp of curd, mint, coriander, sugar, salt and chili to the jar.
4. Blend until fine. Mix with the rest of the curd.
5. Add chopped onions or cucumber pieces.
5.Cucumber raita

Ingredients
1 cup chopped cucumber
1 cup curd (adjust as needed to get the desired consistency)
Salt as needed
½ tsp roasted cumin powder
pinch of pepper powder (optional)
few mint leaves or coriander leaves chopped finely(optional)
1 green chili seeded and chopped
1 tsp fresh ginger juice (optional)
1. Wash and peel cucumber. Deseed and Chop to small bites.
2. Add them to a bowl along with yogurt, salt and cumin powder. If using pepper powder and mint coriander leaves add them as well. Mix everything well. To make ginger juice, grate ginger, add it to a tea strainer and press, juice drips through the strainer. Add just one 1 tsp of the juice.
3. Garnish with pepper and cumin powder.
6. Ginger mint raita
This goes very well with pulao or biryani that is mildly flavored. The flavors of ginger and mint in this recipe make this a very flavorful one and is great for digestion.

Ingredients
1 ¼ cup yogurt (use ¼ cup more if needed)
½ cup onions roughly chopped
¼ cup deseeded tomatoes chopped (optional)
3 green chilies deseeded and chopped
Salt as required
12 to 15 mint leaves / pudina
½ to 1 inch ginger (adjust the quantity to suit your taste)
½ tsp roasted cumin powder/ jeera powder (optional)
Instructions
1. Whisk curd with salt until smooth.
2. Crush ginger and mint leaves together very well. You can also do it in a mini jar. Add 2 tbsps water to this mixture and filter it through a coffee filter/ strainer to yogurt. Press down the mint and ginger to bring out the flavors completely.
3. Add green chilli, onions and tomatoes. Garnish with mint or cumin powder.
7.Green chilli raita
This may be a good choice for those with young kids at home. Make your biryani, pulao kids friendly with out green chilies. Make a carrot raita for the kids. Then make this chilli raita to go with your biryani.

Ingredients
¾ to 1 cup fresh curd
2 to 4 hot green chilies
¼ to ½ tsp sugar (organic) (optional)
½ to ¾ tsp cumin or jeera powder
coriander leaves few chopped (optional)
Method
1. If you like you can deseed and use the green chilies to reduce the heat.
2. Fry green chilies in 1 tsp oil. Cool and blend with 2 tbsps curd and sugar in a blender. Mix with the rest of the curd and salt. Garnish with cumin powder. It is good to serve this chilled.
8.Cabbage raita

Ingredients
¼ cup finely chopped cabbage
1 cup fresh thick curd / yogurt
1 green chili deseeded & chopped
Roasted cumin powder / jeera powder to suit your taste
Few coriander leaves chopped
Sat as required
1 tsp lemon juice
Pepper powder as desired
How to make
Add lemon juice to finely chopped cabbage. Toss well and set aside for 5 minutes.
Whisk curd with salt & cumin.
Add cabbage, green chili and coriander leaves to curd.
Mix everything well.
Sprinkle pepper powder.
9.Bhurani raita (garlic flavored)
Ingredients
1 ¼ cup fresh thick curd / yogurt
2 medium garlic cloves
Salt to taste
¼ tsp roasted cumin powder
2 generous pinches of red chili powder
How to make
1. Whisk together curd, chilli powder and salt. Blend 2 garlic cloves with 2 tbsps of yogurt. Mix it with the rest of the whisked yogurt. Garnish with cumin powder.
10.Mixed vegetable raita

2 to 2 ½ cups yogurt
¼ cup onions
¼ cup deseeded chopped tomatoes
¼ cup carrot
¼ cup cucumber deseeded, peeled and chopped
Handful of coriander leaves chopped finely
green chilies 2 to 3 chopped
salt as needed
Method
1. Whisk curd with salt. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix.
11.Pomegranate raita or fruit raita
Ingredients
1 cup thick curd / yogurt
½ cup pomegranate / anardana (or sweet mangoes & grapes)
Salt to taste
¼ tsp roasted cumin powder
2 generous pinches of red chili powder (optional)
Whisk the curd to smooth with salt, chili powder and cumin powder. Add the pomegranate seeds and serve. This goes well with pulao and biryani that are not much hot (from chilies) as this tastes slightly hot.
12.Masala raita
Ingredients
1 cup fresh curd/ yogurt
¼ to ½ tsp cumin/ jeera powder
¼ tsp pepper powder (optional)
salt to taste
¼ to ½ tsp chaat masala
¼ tsp red chili powder
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp cilantro finely chopped
Method
Whisk curd with all the ingredients except red chili powder. Garnish with chili powder and serve chilled.


Aarty Thevaraj says
I love your recipes soooooooooooooooooooooooooo
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
ooooooooooooooo much!!
😊😊🦄🦄😍😍 ❤️ 💖 💖 💗 💗 💕 💕 💝 💝
swasthi says
Thank you so much Aarty
So glad to know!
🙂
Jeetain Thapa says
All your ways of making raita is too yumm and you also explained so well, specially mixed vegetable raita. Thanks for the recipes
swasthi says
You are welcome
Roshin says
I depend on your recipes for a lot of my cooking. They turn out very tasty. Thank you for the trouble you’ve taken to post them all.
swasthi says
Hi Roshin,
You are welcome. Glad to know! My pleasure!
🙂
Rifa says
Can i make raita the night before i make biryani?
swasthi says
Yes you can make it the night before. If using onions I would suggest to add them just before serving.
vidya says
Nice collection. I have made a few from here. They turned out very good.
swasthi says
Thanks for trying vidya
sanjeev malik says
very good
vidhya says
it is vry useful and helpfull.thank u
Rupa says
Excellent recipes, Swasthi. Thank you so much!!!!
swasthi says
Welcome Rupa
husaaima says
hi ,swasthi accidently got this sight and was wacthing the receipe for my kids then i got chocolate ice cream recipe as i tried to make it it came like grocery then i decided to comment on u.good awesome?receipes
swasthi says
Hi Husaaima
Thanks for trying. I am glad it turned out good. Keep trying and sharing the results
Jayendra says
Never knew about this site.
Came across accidently, . Looking good
Let me explore more
swasthi says
Thank you
Noorie says
Lovely recipes.will surely try them out.
swasthi says
Thanks
Cheryl Dsouza says
receipes are very tempeting and delicious
swasthi says
Thank you
Gwen Saldanha says
Dear Swasthi,
Just came across your blog today…and stayed on it for over an hour!!!….Your picture are vibrant…recipes are simple to understand and the end result is sure to be delicious!…I’m trying out your recipe of Egg Biryani today and it sure is going to earn me a lot of praise from my husband!
Thank you for sharing your talent with the world! 🙂
swasthi says
Hi Gwen Saldanha
You are most welcome.
Glad to know you liked the blog.
Thanks a ton.
Hope you like the egg biryani
🙂
mehboob says
hum ko kuch nehi aata.
maha says
nice idea to use cabbage…i love raits..loved dis version too.
swasthi says
Thanks Maha. Iam glad you loved this
Anu-My Ginger Garlic Kitchen says
Cabbage raita looks stunning and so refreshing Swasthi!
swasthi says
Thanks Anu