Best Batata Vada Recipe | Aloo Bonda | Potato Dumplings

Batata Vada (Aloo Bonda) is an Indian street-style snack made with a spiced potato filling coated in a gram flour batter and deep-fried until golden and crisp. This vada, or ambade, is popular as a Mumbai street food and is often served with chutney and a cup of tea, or inside a pav to make the famous vada pav.

While here don't miss to check out best Indian evening snacks and Diwali snacks recipes.

Whether you call it batata vada, aloo bonda, potato vada, batate ambade, batate ambado, aloo vada, potato fritters, or potato dumplings, my mom’s simple, easy recipe gives you crispy outer layers with a soft, flavorful, spiced filling.

Why you'll love this recipe?

• The crispy, golden covering complements the spiced, mashed potato filling.
• Ready in 30 minutes.
• Vegan and gluten-free.
• Perfect for Birthday parties, diwali parties, as a monsoon snack.
• Best make-ahead recipe.
• Perfect tea time or evening snack
• Because it has no onion or garlic, it is also popular during fasting, vrat, and upvas days like Navratri and Ekadashi in Coastal regions.
• Easily customizable.

What is Batata Vada (Aloo Bonda)?

Batata means potato, and Vada means fritter. Batata Vada originated in Maharashtra (Amchi Mumbai) and became famous across Gujarat and all over India for its delciious taste. It is called Aloo bonda in South Indian states. Each region has its own variation in spices, now keeping the base ingredients the same.

In our Udupi-Mangalore region, it is known as batate ambade in Kannada and Batate ambado in Konkani.

Today, batata vada is enjoyed as

• Tea time snack.
• Vada pav (Indian burger)
• Street food
• Appetizer or starter for parties and gatherings.
• Festival food during Navratri and Diwali.
• Simply serve it with any dip, such as tomato ketchup, mint chutney, green chutney, or dates tamarind chutney, and a hot cup of Indian chai.

Ingredients

To make batter for batata vada: Chickpea flour (besan or gram flour) is the base ingredient, along with salt and hing.

For spiced potato filling: Boiled and mashed potatoes, green chilies, ginger, curry leaves, coriander leaves, and hing are the main ingredients. For South Indian style, add the tempering made with mustard seeds and urad dal. For traditional Maharashtrian-style vada, add sautéed garlic cloves.

Check out the recipe card for the full list of ingredients

How to make batata vada at home?

Prepare the filling for vada or bonda

• Nicely mash the boiled potatoes. To this, add green chilies, ginger, cilantro, curry leaves, hing, and salt, and mix well.
• Divide this into 10-12 portions to make balls (ambade, vada).

 Prepare the batter

• In a bowl, add chickpea flour, cumin seeds, turmeric powder, asafoetida, salt, and mix. To this, add water little by little, whisking to form a medium-thick batter. Check that there are no lumps.
• Your vadas should be coated easily in this batter. If the batter is too thick, add water; if it is too watery, add chickpea flour and adjust as needed.

Fry the vadas

• Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed pan for frying.
  Once the oil is hot, dip each potato ball in the batter and drop it in the oil.
• Add 4-5 balls, depending on the size of your pan. Do not disturb it for 30 seconds to a minute.
• Then flip and deep-fry them until golden brown on all sides.
• Transfer this to a paper towel to absorb any excess oil.
• Repeat the process for the remaining potato balls.
• Serve hot and enjoy

Pro Tips

Water ratio for batter consistency: I added approximately ⅓ to ½ cup of water to the batter. This also varies depending on the brand of flour, weather conditions, and water quality. The consistency of the batter plays a very important role in making perfect vadas. If the batter is thick, vadas will become hard, and if the batter is thin, then the stuffing will come out, and it's going to be messy.

Oil: To check if the oil is hot, drop a few drops of batter and see if it sizzles and rises.
If the oil is cold, vadas will absorb excess oil, and if it is too hot, vadas will turn brown. Best practice is to fry over a medium-to-medium-high flame.

Potatoes: Do not boil potatoes more than necessary. It should be firm and not mushy. You can either pressure cook, peel and cube, and microwave, or boil on the stovetop.

• For a crispy exterior, add 2 tablespoon of flour to the batter.
• If you do not like pieces of green chilies and ginger, you can also make a paste out of them and add it to the recipe.
• Vendors at Streets add a pinch of baking soda to the batter to make it fluffier. I generally skip adding it and don't notice any difference.

Variations

For coastal wedding style batate ambado

Make the temper; In a small pan, add 1 tablespoon oil and 1 teaspoon mustard seeds. When they splutter, add 1 teaspoon urad dal, 1 sprig curry leaves, and ¼ teaspoon turmeric, then add it to the filling. This is the most traditional way of making ambado.

Maharashtrian-style batata vada: Sauté 3-4 garlic cloves, then add them to the filling.

Spicy street-style vada: You can mix dry garlic chutney powder into the filling.

Cheese batata vada: add the grated mozzarella cheese to the mashed potato filling.

Recipe FAQs

More popular Indian snacks

Recipe card

Best Batata Vada Recipe | Aloo Bonda | Potato Dumplings

Kushi

Batata Vada (Aloo Bonda) is an Indian street-style snack made with a spiced potato filling coated in a gram flour batter and deep-fried until golden and crisp. This vada, or ambade, is popular as a Mumbai street food and is often served with chutney and a cup of tea, or inside a pav to make the famous vada pav.

5 from 20 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Course Appetizer, Side Dish, snacks

Cuisine gujarati, Indian, Maharashtra, South India

Servings 10 Vada

Calories 79 kcal

Equipment

• ▢
  1 Pan for frying

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

For the vada batter

• ▢ ½ cup Chickpea flour Besan, gram flour
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds optional
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon Turmeric powder optional
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon Asafoetida Hing, or diluted hing water
• ▢ Salt to taste
• ▢ Water

For the vada or bonda filling: (check the tip if you want tempering)

• ▢ 3 medium-sized Potatoes boiled
• ▢ 2 to 3 Green chilies finely chopped
• ▢ 1 tablespoon Ginger grated
• ▢ 2 tablespoon Coriander leaves Cilantro, finely chopped
• ▢ 1 Sprig curry leaves finely chopped
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon Asafoetida Hing or diluted hing water
• ▢ Salt to taste

Other ingredient

• ▢ Oil for frying

Variation

• ▢ 3 to 4 Garlic cloves sautéed in oil and added for Maharashtrian-style vada, optional

Instructions

 

Prepare the filling for vada or bonda

• Nicely mash the boiled potatoes. To this, add green chilies, ginger, cilantro, curry leaves, hing, and salt, and mix well.
  3 medium-sized Potatoes, 2 to 3 Green chilies, 1 tablespoon Ginger, 2 tablespoon Coriander leaves, 1 Sprig curry leaves, ¼ teaspoon Asafoetida, Salt
• Divide this into 10-12 portions to make balls (ambade, vada).

Prepare the batter

• In a bowl, add chickpea flour, cumin seeds, turmeric powder, asafoetida, salt, and mix. To this, add water little by little, whisking to form a medium-thick batter. Check that there are no lumps.
  ½ cup Chickpea flour, 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds, ¼ teaspoon Turmeric powder, ¼ teaspoon Asafoetida, Salt, Water
• Your vadas should be coated easily in this batter. If the batter is too thick, add water; if it is too watery, add chickpea flour and adjust as needed.

Fry the vadas

• Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed pan for frying.
  Oil for frying
• Once the oil is hot, dip each potato ball in the batter and drop it in the oil.
• Add 4-5 balls, depending on the size of your pan. Do not disturb it for 30 seconds to a minute.
• Then flip and deep-fry them until golden brown on all sides.
• Transfer this to a paper towel to absorb any excess oil.
• Repeat the process for the remaining potato balls.
• Serve hot and enjoy

Video

Notes

• For coastal wedding style batate ambado: Make the temper; In a small pan, add 1 tablespoon oil and 1 teaspoon mustard seeds. When they splutter, add 1 teaspoon urad dal, 1 sprig curry leaves, and ¼ teaspoon turmeric, then add it to the filling. This is the most traditional way of making ambado.
• Water ratio for batter consistency: I added approximately ⅓ to ½ cup of water to the batter. This also varies depending on the brand of flour, weather conditions, and water quality. The consistency of the batter plays a very important role in making perfect vadas. If the batter is thick, vadas will become hard, and if the batter is thin, then the stuffing will come out, and it's going to be messy.
• Oil: To check if the oil is hot, drop a few drops of batter and see if it sizzles and rises. If the oil is cold, vadas will absorb excess oil, and if it is too hot, vadas will turn brown. Best practice is to fry over a medium-to-medium-high flame.
• Potatoes: Do not boil potatoes more than necessary. It should be firm and not mushy. You can either pressure cook, peel and cube, and microwave, or boil on the stovetop.
• For a crispy exterior, add 2 tablespoon of flour to the batter.
• If you do not like pieces of green chilies and ginger, you can also make a paste out of them and add it to the recipe.
• Vendors at Streets add a pinch of baking soda to the batter to make it fluffier. I generally skip adding it and don't notice any difference.

Nutrition

Calories: 79kcalCarbohydrates: 16gProtein: 3gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0.1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.2gMonounsaturated Fat: 0.1gSodium: 39mgPotassium: 350mgFiber: 2gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 30IUVitamin C: 16mgCalcium: 20mgIron: 1mg

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Note: We originally posted these Maharashtrian-style batata vada in October 2016 for Diwali. It was updated in July 2026 to include Expert Chef Tips, FAQs, Storage Instructions, etc.

Did you like this recipe? Please leave a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below and/or a review in the comments section. You can also stay in touch with us through social media by following us on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.