These delicious Baked Samosas have a spicy and healthy filling of chickpeas and potatoes. You get all the satisfaction of eating this restaurant-style Indian treat, but without as many calories. A soy-free, nut-free, vegan recipe.
Who doesn't love a classic samosa stuffed with a savory pea and potato filling? This spicy, crispy pocket is a favorite the world over, and makes great finger food or a snack.
Jay loves samosas -- "Y'know it's my most favorite food in the world, mom!" -- so I often get requests to make it. And thanks to this foolproof recipe for baked samosas that I shared with you all the way back in 2009, I can say yes to him more often than not.
Traditionally, a samosa is deep-fried, of course, but because I want this more everyday version to be healthier, I bake it. I also veer from the traditional stuffing of potatoes and peas and instead stuff my baked samosa with a spicy and just-as-tasty filling of chickpeas and potatoes.
Contrary to what you may think if you've never made a samosa, these little creatures are rather easy to put together.
Why bake samosas?
Sometimes you just want a samosa and you want to keep it healthy. A regular samosa is deep-fried, so this baked samosa offers a delicious way to have your samosa and eat it too, without as many calories. The results are astonishingly good. Your wrapper won't be as flaky and golden as the deep-fried version, but it'll certainly be crispy enough and it'll taste amazing.
Best flour for baked samosa wrapper
Always use all purpose flour (unbleached, if possible) for any samosa. I am all for subbing whole-wheat flour when I can in recipes, but for a samosa, you need the APF. A whole-wheat wrapper will never achieve the crunch and flakiness that a wrapper made with all purpose flour can.
Roll out the samosa wrapper as thin as you can, without tearing it. That way, your samosas will be at their best when they come out of the oven -- golden, flaky and crispy.
Healthy filling for baked samosa
You can stuff anything in a samosa, but my filling of choice for these baked samosas is a spicy mix of chickpeas and potatoes. This makes the samosas even healthier than a traditional stuffing of potatoes and peas would.
Recipe FAQs
Bake them in a preheated oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. I like to bathe them with a nondairy-milk-oil wash before they go into the oven. That gives them a nice, golden sheen (baked samosas will never look as golden as deep-fried ones, though)
Yes. You can refrigerate the baked samosas for up to a week and pop them into the oven to reheat before serving. Or you can assemble the samosas and freeze them, then bake before serving.
A date and tamarind chutney or a mint chutney.
An amazing. refreshing drink like this Aam ka Panna, a green mango cooler (lemonade will do too!) or a hot vegan masala chai is awesome with baked samosas.
Ingredients
- Unbleached all purpose flour: Like I said above, resist the temptation to sub with whole wheat flour for best results. But if you absolutely won't, use half whole wheat and half all purpose. Mind you that your wrapper won't be as flaky.
- Vegan butter. You need the vegan butter for a flaky wrapper but coconut oil that's solid at room temperature is an okay substitute.
- Carom seeds (ajwain). You really need these for authentic tasting samosas.
- Chickpeas: Use cooked chickpeas, canned or cooked from scratch are both fine.
- Potatoes: Any creamy potato like yukon or red potatoes would work.
- Garam masala. For spice and flavor.
- Chat masala. This has a lovely, tangy flavor that goes beautifully with the samosa. If you can't source it, use lemon juice instead.
- Vegetable oil: Any neutral flavored vegetable oil like avocado, sunflower, grapeseed or peanut oil.
- Onions: These are amazing in the filling.
- Green chili peppers. Like serrano or jalapeno. Mince for the best results. Deseed if sensitive to heat, or use less.
- Ginger-garlic paste. For more deep and rich flavor.
- Cilantro: Minced, to stir into the filling for a pop of lemony freshness.
- Salt
Related recipes
Baked Samosas
Ingredients
For the samosa wrapper dough:
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon ajwain (carom seeds-- these are easily found in Indian grocery stores. They have a distinctive, sharp and spicy flavor that's great in the samosas)
- 2 tablespoon vegan butter or coconut oil that's solid (in summer, refrigerate for a little bit if needed)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Cold water to knead
For the chickpea-potato filling:
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
- 2 cups cooked or canned chickpeas (drained of all liquid)
- 1 medium potato, cut into a very small dice, then cooked until tender
- 1 medium red onion, minced
- 2 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste
- 1 teaspoon green chili pepper like jalapeno, minced
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon chaat masala (optional, use juice of 1 lemon instead)
- 2 tablespoon cilantro (chopped)
- Salt to taste
For the optional wash:
- 2 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon nondairy milk
Instructions
Make the samosa wrapper dough:
- Place the flour in a bowl, mix in the salt and ajwain, then add to it the butter or coconut oil. With your fingers, crumble the bits of fat into the floor until it is evenly distributed and the flour looks grainy. This will ensure your crust is crisp.
- Now, adding just a little cold water at a time, knead the flour into a stiff dough. You can do this in a food processor or mixer, but if you do, be sure to not overmoisten your dough and make it too wet.
- Cover and set the dough aside while you make the filling.
Make the chickpea-potato filling:
- Heat oil in a skillet or wok. Add the mustard seeds and when they sputter, add onions and cilantro and saute until the onions just start to brown, about 4-5 minutes on medium heat.
- Add the ginger-garlic paste and the green chili peppers. Saute for another minute without letting the garlic burn.
- Add the chickpeas and potatoes with the garam masala and chaat masala or lime juice. Add salt.
- Stir well to mix together. Allow the stuffing to cook without covering the skillet until any moisture has evaporated. Season with salt.
Assemble the samosas:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Break off a ball of the dough about an inch in diameter and roll it into a ball between the palms of your hands.
- Roll it out into a really thin round, about 5-6 inches in diameter
- Now roll in a single direction to make an oval.
- With a knife or a pastry-cutter, cut into two so you have two semi-circles.
- Smear water along the edges of each semi-circle. Now bring the edges together to form a cone. Press with your fingers to seal the edge.
- Place 1 ½ tablespoon of filling into the cone, stopping short of filling all the way to the top.
- With your fingers, push together the top of the cone, making a little pleat in the back if necessary. Seal tight, pressing along the edges, so nothing stumbles out during baking.
- Prepare the rest of the samosas the same way. Place them on a baking sheet sprayed with oil or cooking spray.
- Make the wash by mixing the oil and the nondairy mik. Brush the tops of the samosas lightly with this mixture.
- Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 40 minutes or until the edges of the samosas are golden-brown. Flip the samosas once halfway through baking and coat the other side with the wash before returning to the oven.
- Once the samosas are out of the oven, let them stand five minutes before serving with date-tamarind chutney.
Carolyn
These samosas were so good. Easy to make and healthy. I really enjoyed making and eating them. Thanks for the recipe.
Quillin
I could have eaten the filling all up before making a single samosa, but I resisted the urge. This is so good and easy. I did you white wheat flour so it made the dough a bit more difficult to work with, but delicious nonetheless. Highly recommended!
Karyn Thompson
This is going to be a household favorite!
Maria
Thank you for this recipe and the awesome tips. I love samosas but it is hard to indulge without feeling a little guilty. I am making these asap-- I can just taste that amazing filling!!
Anonymous
These were so good, I made them last night. I added green peas and coriander chutney in the filling. I didn't have all the spices on hand so I just used turmeric, cumin and garam masala in the filling and dry rosemary in the dough. I had it with mango chutney. Thanks for the recipe.
Vaishali
Anonymous, glad you liked them. Rosemary is such a great herb with potatoes-- good addition!
jocelyn
I made these at home, when my omni mother requested samosas. The whole family gobbled them down. This recipe is superb. They also travel well; I took them on my fourteen hour car/plane/plane/car trip returning from my family's home just a few days ago, and they kept wonderfully. Also I think my airplane neighbor was jealous. Thank you!
Vaishali
Jocelyn, glad you liked them. Thanks for the feedback!
Usha
Lovely post Vaishali and what a coincidence, just the other day I was thinking that my new variation of potato curry would be great in samosas and I need to try the baked version of it and here is your version ! Loved it, I especially loved the idea of a chickpea filling so much more healthier....
pixiepine
These look wonderful!
Sushma Mallya
wow baked version looks as delicious as the fried ones...and filling recipe is also very nice..got to try this one as its so healthy yet its so yummy...
sowmya.s
and yes i love the stuffing..
sowmya.s
the baked version definitely sounds good..looks delicious..
Vaishali
Thanks, all!
Jaya, Desi and I met at the Independent, in fact. So although the newspaper didn't survive long, it always has a special place in my heart 🙂
Sunshinemom
I too prefer the baked version and make my karanjis this way. The idea of chickpeas inside makes it even better!
Mints!
Lovely memories. I think TOI has lost its charm now and has become a gossip newspaper (at least online version of it).
I too have good memories from the Udupi restaurants in our small town.
As usual great recipe. I will definitely try this.
Zengirl
Vaishali,
Your recipe of baked samosa with chickpea is healthy, pictures are great as always.
I liked the personal story about Udipi workers too. I found that many poor, hard workers folks are also more happier. Something to think about.
Jaya Wagle
Vaishali,
Though my stint at TOI was short (just over two months), I remember the cafeteria and the Udipi guy who used to come to our floor to hand out the snacks. His name escapes me, but I remember he never wrote down the accounts. According to my colleagues his memory was awesome. And true to their word, he would give you the bill for your snacks at the end of the end of the month and it was exact.
So you have known Desi since the TOI days? Or does it go farther back?
Love the baked samosas and the chickpea filling. That is unique.
Pavani
Baked samosas sound healthy & delicious. I've never tried baking before. What vegetable Shortening do you use?? Have a good weekend.
Chitra
oh wow, baked samosa and that too with chickpeas filling , iam ready to try this...Looks very nice. feel like grabbing it from the screen 🙂
Mihl
My boyfriend's aunt is Nepalese and she loves samosas. I have to show her your recipe!
Priya
Great filling Vaishali, baked version of samosas looks tremendous!
Ramya Kiran
Looks delicious and a lovely innovative way of baking. Loved it!
Tiffany C.
I love samosas--baked or fried, though when I'm cooking I prefer the former method--and yours look absolutely delicious!
Cham
Samosa with chickpeas- I ve tasted with channa but definetly love this baked version!
Joyful
Your stupendous cooking always blows me away. I wish I had you for my personal chef. The samosas would hit the spot right now 🙂
Priya Narasimhan
baked samosas!!!!healthy and tasty..will try sometime.
Poornima Nair
The chickpea filling sounds great...samosas looks really tempting. So much better baking it.
Red Chillies
Great idea Vaishali. I haven't read through the recipe yet, but I am so bookmarking this to try!
aquadaze
What a coincidence - I just made samosas a few days back, deep fried half the batch. Froze the other half and baked them yesterday. They lacked the colour but tasted perfect.
Never had samosas stuffed with chickpeas, that's a super idea.
Preeti Kashyap
Awesome recipe...I love the pic. I have been wating to try this recipe for quite sometime....now i am all the more inspired.
Anonymous
It really is a super idea! I know what I'm making tomorrow - thanks so much!
- carol (cperry from ppk)
Anonymous
Delicious. I too always prefer baked version of Samosas, Mutter Karanji.