Vada Pav Recipe Without Frying

Vada Pav is a delicious Indian street food and snack from Mumbai. It is a batata vada served in a pav (bread).

This recipe is healthier version where vada pav is made without frying in air fryer.

Batata vada is a popular snack that is also regularly had with evening tea.

It is a potato patty that is encased in a chickpea flour coating and deep fried.

This is stuffed inside a pav (dinner roll) and served.

I had it for years during my MBA days in Mumbai from a street vendor.

It was delicious and economical. Perfect for a college student.

I made it in my Philips air fryer and this zero oil version turned out much better than my expectations. You have to try it.

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In case you are looking to make it the original way, just follow the recipe and deep fry the vadas instead of air frying.

Ingredients for Making Vada Pav

Potatoes: Boiled potato mash is used for making the batata vadas.

Chickpea flour: Besan batter is used to dip the potato vada in before air frying.

Pav or dinner roll: These are used for serving the vada.

Green chutney

Sweet chutney

Garlic peanut chutney

Fried green chillies

Step wise Pictures

Prepare the mixture for potato vada

1. Take 2 boiled large potatoes. You can boil in pressure cooker, insta pot or microwave. Mash them and keep aside.

For zero-oil version

1. Dry roast 1 tsp. mustard seeds and keep aside.

Mix together mustard seeds, ½ tsp. heeng or asafetida, 1 tsp. each of finely chopped or minced garlic, ginger, green chillies, curry leaves and cilantro, ½ tsp. turmeric powder, 1 tsp. cayenne (optional) and salt.

2. Add them to the mashed potatoes and mix well.

3. Now form round or flatter patties of similar size and keep aside.

For regular vadas:

Take 2 tsp. oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds with curry leaves and heeng and allow to crackle.

Now add crushed ginger, garlic, green chillies, turmeric powder and cayenne (optional) and cook till raw smell goes.

Put this tempering in mashed potatoes.

Add chopped cilantro and salt. Mix well and form round or regular patties.

For Besan batter:

4. Mix together 1 cup besan or chickpea flour.

Add 2 tsp. rice flour (optional) for crisp coating.

Add salt, ½ tsp. turmeric powder and mix together.

Now add water and form a smooth batter that is not too thick and not too runny.

To make batata vada

Dip prepared potato patties in the besan batter and deep fry in oil.

For Air fryer

Preheat air fryer at 200 C or 400 F for 4 minutes.

Lay a parchment paper in the air fryer.

Place vadas in the air fryer so that there is space between them.

Some batter will pool to the side of the vada and that is fine.

Air fry at 200 C for about 10 minutes or till golden brown.

You can brush midway with a little bit of oil for nice browning.

Once done, remove the vadas and keep aside.

If your vadas stick to each other like mine did, just use a knife to cut them apart.

To assemble batata vadas:

Slit your pav into two halves leaving them connected.

Apply green chutney, sweet tamarind chutney and peanut garlic dry chutney on it.

Place one vada and serve your batata vada with a fried chilli.

I did fried chillies in my air fryer.

Split chillies, sprinkled some salt and brush with oil. Air fry at 200 C for 3 minutes.

Pro Tips:

1. When making vada batter, make sure it is not too runny. It must coat the vadas well and not drip down.

2. I used a spoon for this. Makes it easier to handle the vadas.

3. Making the vadas flatter make them easier to cook compared to round vadas.

4. Keep enough space between vadas in the air fryer basket.

5. It is okay if your vadas come close to each other while cooking.

All you need to do is pull them apart when cooked or use a knife.

6. Here’s the recipe to make green chutney. I personally do not like sweet chutney so avoid using it.

7. Dry garlic and peanut chutney is made by crushing 2 tbsp. roasted peanuts, 3-4 garlic cloves, ½ tsp. cayenne and salt. It is spicy and you can skip it if you want your vada pav to be less spicy.

8. Serve vada pav hot or it gets soggy and the vadas lose their crunch.

9. Do watch the video for better understanding of the process.

Here's the recipe card.

📖 Recipe Card

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