Samosa recipe – Learn to make perfect crispy, flaky & delicious samosas at home with this easy video & step by step recipe post. Samosa is a potato stuffed deep fried snack very popular in India, Middle East & Asian countries. They originated from the middle east and was brought to India by the Merchants.
What is samosa? Samosa is a deep fried pastry with a spiced filling usually made with potatoes, spices and herbs. Sometimes these are also made with minced meat (keema).
Samosa is one of the most commonly eaten snack across India. They are hugely popular and are loved by everyone. Samosas make their appearance everywhere as a street food, party snack, restaurants and even in cafes. They are very special during the month of ramadan and are eaten as a Iftar snack.
We usually avoid eating fried snacks in cafes and restaurants for health reasons. Years ago I learnt making samosas as my kids keep asking for them. Making them at home is super easy if you learn the steps correctly especially making the crust.
In this post I am sharing the samosa recipe with potato stuffing, you can also make keema samosa using this keema recipe for the stuffing. This Punjabi samosa recipe is roughly adapted from Chef Harpal singh.
Preparation to make samosa
1. Wash and boil 500 grams of potatoes (3 to 4) until just done. I washed peeled, halved and pressure cooked them for 1 whistle on a medium flame. The potatoes should not turn mushy but must be fully cooked.
To boil them in instant pot, you can also pressure cook them following these timings – small potatoes – 5 mins, medium size – 7 mins and large – 10 mins. This time when I made for the video I pressure cooked them for 8 mins.
2. Cool the potatoes and crumble them. Set aside.
Make samosa dough
3. To a mixing bowl add
2 cups all-purpose flour (organic maida)
¾ teaspoon ajwain (carom seeds)
¾ teaspoon salt
¼ cup oil or ghee (4 tablespoons)
4. Mix everything very well. Rub the flour in between your palms to incorporate the oil well for 2 to 3 minutes. After this step the flour should resemble breadcrumbs. Press down a handful of this flour in your palm, it should form or hold the shape. It should not crumble meaning oil is well incorporated. Check video.
5. Add 4 tablespoons water and begin to form a dough ball adding more water as needed. I added about 4+ 2 tablespoons water in total.
6. Dough has to be firm, stiff and not sticky. Cover and rest for 25 to 30 mins.
Making potato stuffing
7. Heat 1 tablespoon oil or ghee in a pan. Next add ¾ teaspoon cumin seeds.
8. When the seeds begin to splutter, add 1 tablespoon minced ginger and 1 to 2 chopped green chilies. Saute for 30 to 60 seconds. Then add a pinch of hing. Optional – You can also add some chopped cashews and roast until golden.
9. Add the spice powders –
¾ teaspoon red chili powder
¾ to 1 teaspoon garam masala
½ teaspoon cumin powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon amchur powder (dried mango powder) or chaat masala.
½ teaspoon fennel powder (optional, saunf powder)
Saute for 30 seconds and then add green peas. Saute for 1 to 2 mins. Then add potatoes.
10. Saute the entire potato masala for 2 to 3 mins until potatoes blend well with spice powders. Add ¼ cup chopped coriander leaves. Taste test this and adjust salt if needed.
Set aside to cool. If you have not used amchur or chaat masala, then add lemon juice at this stage.
How to make samosa
11. After 25 to 30 mins, knead the dough for another 3 to 4 mins. The dough has to be stiff yet and not soft. Divide the dough to 5 equal parts.
12. Oil the counter or the rolling board. Place the ball.
13. Roll it to a oval shaped even layer. Mine was 8.5 inches long and 6.5 inches wide. It has to be slightly thick and not too thin.
14. Cut it in the center to make 2 parts.
15. The roti shrinks back little due to the nature of all-purpose flour so I prefer to roll it gently again. If you feel the edges are too thick then roll a bit.
16. Apply water with your finger over the straight edge.
17. Join the edges to make a cone shape like you see in the picture. Stick the edges well. Stick the edge from inside the cone as well to secure. Check video.
18. Fill the cone with potato masala. Press down a bit with a tiny spoon.
19. Apply water on the edge.
20. Stick the edges to seal well. On one of the sides, make a pleat as shown in the image. I have shown an alternate but similar method in the video do take a look at it.
21. Bring the pleat to a side and stick it up. Make sure your samosa is sealed well. Pinch and Press down on the edges very well to seal them.
22. This will give you a perfectly standing samosa. Finish making all your samosas. If you prefer to bake them, preheat the oven to 360 F or 180 C for 20 mins. Brush oil generously and bake them for 30 to 40 minutes, flipping them after 15 minutes.
Just make 5 to 6 samosas first and then fry them. Make the rest of the samosas while you fry the first batch. This way the samosas will not dry up.
Frying samosa
23. Heat a pan with oil for deep frying. The oil should not be very hot or smoky hot. It must be medium hot. When it is just getting hot, add a small portion of dough in the oil.
It has to rise slowly & the oil must not be bubbling or sizzling a lot. You should see only tiny bubbles. This is the right temperature. (The dough should not come up immediately and turn golden.)
24. Gently slide the samosas one by one slowly. After you add them to the hot oil, you must see very tiny bubbles rising slowly. You should not be hearing any sizzling noise as it happens with the regular deep fried snacks.
Add as many as you can. I usually fry 5 at one time. Do not disturb them for few minutes. Later when they come up, keep stirring occasionally and fry them evenly until golden.
Half way through, the crust begins to firm up, then increase the heat to medium.
25. Don’t rush. They will take a lot of time to fry golden. Be patient and fry until golden & crisp. (check video). When the samosas turn golden, remove them to a colander or kitchen tissue. For the next batch, reduce the heat completely to bring down the temperature and add them.
Serve samosa with mint chutney, Sweet tamarind chutney or tomato sauce.
Tips for crispy & flaky samosa
A perfect samosa should be crispy & flaky with almost no bubbles or blisters on them.
Fats (Oil or ghee) – The amount of oil added to the flour is very important to make flaky and crispy samosas. Too little oil will make the samosa crust hard. Do not reduce the amount of oil mentioned in the recipe.
Crumb oil & flour – The process of rubbing the oil into the flour is the key step to make a flaky crust. Rub the oil & flour together very well until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.
Texture of dough – Samosa dough has to be stiff & not soft like roti dough. Use water only as needed. Too much moisture in the dough will make lots of tiny air pockets in the crust and will prevent the samosas from turning crispy.
Resting & kneading dough – The dough does not require kneading when it is made. But it needs resting. After the resting, it has to be kneaded well for 3 to 4 mins. It should not turn smooth but has to be tight and stiff. So do not overknead it.
Rolling the dough – It has to be rolled to neither too thick nor too thin. Check the video for the thickness. Thin layers will break the samosas while frying. Too thick will not cook the samosas
Frying – Samosa has to be fried in moderately hot oil on a low flame. It should not be cooked in very hot oil or on high heat. Otherwise the samosas won’t cook and turn crispy. The oil should not sizzle or bubble up immediately when a piece of dough is dropped to the oil. You should see very tiny bubbles after 30 to 40 seconds. This is the right temperature.
Tips for perfect samosa dough crust
This is useful in case you like to double or triple the recipe.
1. For every one kg of flour, you can use up to 200 grams of fat (oil or ghee). Anything more than this may break the crust. Using too little fats in the dough may lead to hard crust.
Faqs
- Why did my samosas turn hard? – Not adding enough oil to the flour will make a hard crust.
- Why did they turn oily? – Adding more water than needed while making the dough will make soft dough resulting in oily crust.
- Can I use spring roll sheets for the crust? – Yes you can use spring roll sheets or puff pastry sheets to make the samosa.
- Why does the crust have too many blisters and bubbles ? – Frying them in very hot oil or too much moisture in the dough can make plenty of bubbles or blisters on the crust.
Can I bake these samosas?
Yes they can be baked. But fried samosas taste the best. I have tried baking these after brushing them generously with oil at 170 to 180 C in a preheated oven for 35 to 40 mins. The results were fine but not as good as the fried ones.
If you are keen to bake them then use ready store bought frozen puff pastry sheets. Roll each sheet to a square. Cut each sheet to 4 to 5 roundels with the help of a round cutter. Then cut each one to half. Then use them as mentioned in the recipe below.
Can I use whole wheat flour / atta?
Yes you can. But for best results I would suggest all-purpose flour. Samosas made with wheat flour have a nutty aroma and are dense.
Wheat flour or all-purpose flour? Which is better for samosa? I have tried with wheat flour too but the results were not great. If you are into healthy eating and have completely stopped eating all-purpose flour, then you can make with wheat flour.
You can also use half wheat flour and half all-purpose flour but all wheat flour does yield hard not very good samosa. I used organic all-purpose flour here. For health reasons prefer organic flour or at least unbromated flour.
Related Recipes
Samosa recipe | How to make samosa
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )
For samosa dough
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (organic maida) (250 grams )
- ¼ cup oil or melted ghee (60 ml)
- 6 tablespoons water (¼ cup + 2 tbsp )
- ¾ teaspoon carom seeds (ajwain)
- ¾ teaspoon salt
For potato filling
- 4 potatoes (500 grams)
- ½ cup green peas (boiled or frozen)
- 1 tablespoon oil or ghee
- 1 tablespoon ginger minced or paste
- 1 to 2 green chilies chopped (optional)
- 1 pinch hing (asafoetida) (optional)
- 4 tablespoons coriander leaves chopped finely
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice (or ½ tsp amchur or chaat masala)
- ½ teaspoon salt (adjust to taste)
Spices
- ¾ teaspoon cumin seeds
- ¾ to 1 teaspoon garam masala
- ¾ teaspoon red chilli powder (adjust to taste)
- ½ teaspoon cumin powder
- ½ teaspoon fennel powder (optional)
Instructions
- Boil potatoes just until done without making mushy. You can either boil them in a steamer, pot or a cooker. (refer notes)
- Crumble them, do not mash them up. Set aside.
Make samosa dough (or use frozen puff pastry sheets)
- Mix together flour, carom seeds, salt and oil in a mixing bowl.
- Rub the flour well for 2 to 3 mins in between the palms to incorporate the oil or ghee well.
- Take handful of flour and press down with your fingers. It must hold shape and not crumble.
- Add water little by little and mix the flour to form a stiff dough. It should be stiff and not soft dough. Cover and rest for 25 to 30 mins.
Make potato filling
- Heat a pan with oil. Add cumin seeds.
- When they begins to sizzle, add ginger & fry until it smells good for about 30 to 60 seconds.
- Next add green peas and saute for 2 mins.
- Add red chilli powder, garam masala, cumin powder, chaat masala (optional) & fennel powder. Saute for 30 seconds.
- Next add potatoes and sprinkle salt. Mix and saute for 2 to 3 mins. Mix in coriander leaves & set aside to cool.
- Taste and add more salt if needed. If using lemon juice, add it now.
How to make samosa
- Knead the dough gently to smoothen a bit. Make 5 portions and roll to balls. Cover the dough.
- Grease the rolling area and then flatten a ball. Drizzle some oil.
- Begin to roll to oval shape of 8.5 inches long by 6.5 inches wide. It should be neither too thick or too thin. (watch video)
- Cut it to two parts. The 2 parts make 2 samosas. If the edges are too thick, gently roll it to thin down.
- Take one part and apply water over the straight edge (towards the cut side). Join the edges to make a cone. Press down gently to seal the cone from inside as well. (check video or step by step photos above)
- Fill the cone with potato masala and press down with your finger to push it inside the cone. Smear water generously on both the other edges.
- Bring the edges together and seal them by pinching off the edges together. If you prefer to make a standing samosa, make a pleat on one side. Bring back the pleat and seal it by pinching off the edges together. (check video or step by step photos above)
- Make sure the samosa has been sealed well. (check photos or video). Cover them with a cloth to prevent drying.
Deep frying
- After you make 5 samosas, begin to heat the oil until medium hot.
- Oil has to be medium hot and not very hot. A piece of dough dropped in the oil should not sizzle or rise immediately. Instead you should see tiny bubbles in the oil & the dough should take a while to come up to the surface. This is the right temperature.
- Gently add as many samosas as you can to the oil and fry them on a low flame undisturbed for few minutes (about 10 to 12 mins).
- When the crust becomes firm, increase the flame to medium. Rotate them to the other side and fry until crispy and golden.
- While the first batch of samosas fry, make the rest of them.
- Remove the golden fried ones on to a colander. Let the temperature of oil come down slightly before you fry the next batch.
- Serve samosa with mint chutney sweet tamarind chutney or tomato sauce.
Baking samosa in oven
- Preheat the oven at 180 C or 360 F for about 20 mins. Brush each samosa generously with oil all over and place them on a prepared tray. Bake these for about 35 to 40 mins.
Notes
- Crushed spices: In punjabi samosas, usually crushed coriander seeds and fennel seeds are used in the stuffing. I have not used them here as my kids don’t like biting into the whole spices. You can use 1 tsp of coriander seeds & half tsp of fennel seeds crushed. Add them to the initial tempering along with cumin.
- Boiling potatoes: They should not be soggy but firm and fully cooked. If cooking in a stovetop pressure cooker, cook for 4 to 5 whistles. If cooking in instant pot, I pressure cooked for 8 minutes as I used medium sized potatoes.
- You may add 1 medium onion to the stuffing. But it is not at all needed. After tempering the spices you can add the fine chopped onions and saute until light brown.
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
NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)
© Swasthi’s Recipes
For more similar snacks, you may like to check
Spring rolls
Bread rolls
Pakora
Sandwiches
Rasika says
Beautiful flaky crust and delicious filling. These samosas were a big hit at my kids’ b’day party. This recipe deserves many 5 ***********.
Will be trying them next time with your keema filling. Thank you
swasthi says
Welcome Rasika
Glad to know they turned out good. Thank you so much for leaving a comment. Yes give them a try with keema.
🙂
Rashmi Sharma says
Excellent recipe!!!
swasthi says
Thanks Rashmi
shraddha says
Lovely recipe, followed the instructions exactly except I substituted half the flour with whole wheat. I also cooked them in an air fryer, at 180 degrees C for 12-15 minutes. This was a big hit with my family and I will definitely try it again!
swasthi says
Hi Shraddha
Glad your family liked them. Thank you so much!
Vicky says
How’s much lemon juice do I add
swasthi says
You can use 1 to 2 teaspoons
Vil says
I would like to try the filling of the samosas and use puff pastry to save time. Can I put it in my air fryer instead of baking?
swasthi says
Hi,
Yes you can. 400 F for 7 to 8 mins should work. Adjust the time as it depends on the size and model.
Baljinder Dhesi says
I made the samosas according to your recipe and I am so thankful because in my previous attempt the dough when I was rolling out was always shrinking so I was put off from making samosas again but now with your recipe I actually enjoyed making them and I will make them again, thank you very much for sharing
swasthi says
Hi Baljinder,
You are welcome! So glad to know! Thank you
Padma says
Swathi
How to make chapathi
swasthi says
Hi Padma,
You can check the recipe of chapathi here on kathi roll post. I haven’t made a separate post for roti/chapati yet. I will try to post.
Archana says
I tried this recipe for tea this evening and it turned out so well. Thank you!
swasthi says
Welcome Archana
Glad they turned out well. Thanks for the comment
🙂
mini says
Tried samosas came out so good excellent instructions
swasthi says
Glad to know Mini
Lynda Breeze says
Hi,
Hands down my favorite samosa recipe to date. Doubled the recipe and served these at a family gathering where everyone enjoyed them with your mint chutney, tandoori chicken and turmeric pilaf. On the side we had smoked bharta, frozen tikka masala and naan. But just I couldn’t get enough of these samosas in my belly! These were a big hit with everyone in the house tonight. Thank you 👍
swasthi says
Hi,
You are welcome! Happy to know the recipes turned out good.
That’s a lovely spread!
Thanks for leaving a comment.
Corey says
Thank you for this recipe! We don’t have a way to deep-fry, so we baked it in the oven. It tasted great!
We also tried freezing the samosas once. We baked them like we normally do, then wrapped the extra samosas in aluminum foil + plastic wrap for the freezer. When we wanted to eat them, we just baked them again and it worked out great
swasthi says
Welcome Corey
Happy to hear that!
Thank you so much leaving a comment.
🙂
Suvarna says
Thank you for this Recipe, mine turned out perfect just like yours
Changed stuffing a bit,
Used boiled sweetcorn instead of peas added onions after ginger, everyone at home liked it
swasthi says
Welcome Suvarna
Glad to know they turned out good.
Thank you so much for leaving a comment.
stephanie says
Would it be possible to make these in bulk and put them in a freezer? Is there anything I could do to prevent them from drying out if so?
swasthi says
Yes you can. Freeze them on a tray first. Later keep them in a ziplock bag. I have shared the method to fry the frozen ones in the comment below. Please check that.
stephanie says
Thank you I have made them and they turned out very nice
your instructions are very clear and helpful thank you
swasthi says
Welcome Stephanie
Glad to know! Thanks for leaving a comment
🙂
Meghana Anand says
Love ur recipes….very simple and easy to make and a great help for a – not so good at cooking person 🙂🙂
swasthi says
Hi Meghana
Thank you so much!
🙂
Arifa says
Love your recipe! Question, can I make the samosas and freeze them to fry later?
swasthi says
Thank you! You can freeze and fry them right away in medium hot oil. Remove when the samosas turn slightly crisp. Refry them again until crisp.
A better way is to half fry them until crisp. Cool and freeze. Refry them in medium hot oil.
Hope this helps.
Veda says
Hi Swasthi – Can I keep everything ready and just fry the samosa later?
All your recipes are a hit . I’ve tried many of them from pickles to desserts to snacks etc etc. Thanks for your detailed posts.
swasthi says
Hi Veda
You are welcome! Yes it is fine to keep them for 2 to 3 hours. But in hot weather the samosa edges open up if you keep for longer. Before frying just recheck them and press them down again if needed.
Thanks for trying the recipes.
Veda says
I made them today and the samosas were wayyy toooo good!! ( read aloud) . Even my kid enjoyed them!! Cannot thank you enough 🙏🏻
swasthi says
Happy to hear that Veda!
Thanks for leaving a comment
Andreya says
Hi!
Quick question,
What temperature should I fry the samosas in? I have a deep fryer that I would like to use, but i think the lowest temperature it goes is like 200F.
Thanks in advance (:
swasthi says
Hi Andreya
Sorry I am unable to help you as I have not used a deep fryer anytime.
Thanks for rating the recipe
Sheetal says
Dear Swathi,
I had some difficulty in the cup measurements. You mention 2 cups maida (i.e 250 grams) and 1/4th cup oil (i.e 60ml), so did you mean a total of 500 grams maida as each cup measures 250 grams or does this mean to take only 250 grams maida? Now i took a total of 250 grams maida and little less than 60 ml oil as it seeemed lot for 250 gms and the pastry was super crumbly and difficult to roll.
swasthi says
Hi Sheetal,
2 cups flour weighs 250 grams. Each cup weighs around 125 grams.
Please use the correct proportion – 250 grams flour and 60 ml oil. Do not reduce the oil at all. It will affect the texture of pastry.
Please check the video to understand how the dough should look.
Hope this helps
Aishwarya says
Tried Samosa recipe.. was awesome.. liked by all at home.. thx
swasthi says
Glad to know Aishwarya
Alexandra says
I cannot wait to try making this. This is one of my favorites.
Neli buksh says
Hi Swasthi
I will make the Samosa this week I just need to know if you used ice water or just tap water to make the dough
swasthi says
Hi Neli,
It’s just tap water