Dosa Recipe | How to Make Perfect Dosa at Home

Here's an amazing recipe for restaurant-style south Indian Dosa with a fermented, probiotic batter! Learn how to make the dosa with an easy but traditional and very authentic homemade batter. I've included a step-by-step video to make the process more comprehensive and to show you exactly how to get the perfect texture and flavor!

If you love south Indian tiffin foods like Idli and Rava Upma, you likely love dosa, that crispy rice and lentil crepe that arrives at your restaurant table spilling over the sides of a plate.

Dosas are the original health food--they are packed with plant protein and gut-friendly bacteria. They are gentle on the stomach and are always vegan as well as gluten-free, soy-free and nut-free, so you can feed them to just about anyone.

I've got many versions of dosa (called "dosai" in south India and pronounced with a soft "d") on the blog, from a Brown Rice Dosa to an Instant Masala Dosa (and a gluten-free Instant Dosa) to a Quinoa Dosa and a Sorghum or Jowar Dosa. But sharing an authentic dosa recipe with you -- the kind that all of these other versions spun off from, so to say, has been on my to-do list for a while now.

This simple dosa, without a potato stuffing, is also called a Sada Dosa. The recipe was handed down to me by my Tamilian sis-in-law and amazing cook Padmavathy Raghavan, or Paddu, who in turn learned it from her mom, my mother-in-law. It is so good that I, despite my love for tinkering with recipes, have never veered from it. It is my favorite dosa recipe and I hope you will try it and love it as much as we do.

Table of Contents

• Why you'll love this homemade dosa recipe
• Ingredients for the making dosa batter
• Equipment for making dosa
• How to make dosa
• Watch how to make dosa
• Recipe FAQ
• Serving suggestions
• More south Indian tiffin recipes you might like
• Dosa Recipe
• Reviews

Why you'll love this homemade dosa recipe

• It's yummy. Dosas are by far the most beloved of a plethora of Tamil crepes, and part of that has to do with their utter simplicity and versatility. They need just a handful of pantry ingredients, can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner, and they make every meal an occasion. This recipe is delicious and makes perfect-tasting dosas you will fall in love with.
• It's easy. Anyone not used to making a dosa might think this is a difficult process, but I'm here to declare that it absolutely is not. As you will see in the video the process of making a dosa batter is really quite simple and you will succeed if you follow instructions. There are some things you need to pay attention to--the three main ones being the consistency of the batter, the fermentation and how to actually shape the dosa on the hot griddle. Read carefully through this blog post and watch the video to learn how to avoid common pitfalls and you will be flipping dosas in no time at all. But as with everything else keep in mind that practice makes perfect. No one I know made a dosa exactly right the first time they tried it. Laugh at your mistakes, learn from them, and you will definitely get better.
• It's so healthy. I simply can't stress this enough. Like idli, a dosa is gentle on the stomach and can improve your digestion with the probiotic bacteria formed during fermentation. It is made with simple and healthy ingredients like rice, lentils and fenugreek, and you can control the amount of oil you add (or cut it out almost altogether by using a cooking spray).
• It's everyone friendly. Again, I can't stress this enough. Dosas are so delicious they are sure to please everyone and they are a certain kid favorite. My son Jay loves them and will often request them. And they always put a smile on the face of Desi, who grew up eating them. Dosas are naturally gluten-free, soy-free and nut-free.

Ingredients for the making dosa batter

• 2 cups rice. Traditionally Tamilians use short-grain or medium-grain rice or parboiled rice to make dosa. Different varieties of rice result in very minor differences in texture and flavor in a dosa and, to me, that's not worth keeping one more variety of rice in my pantry. So I just use basmati rice -- brown, light brown or white -- which I usually have on hand. You can use any rice you have, including jasmine rice, ponni rice or sona masoori rice, among others. The only rice I probably wouldn't use is the parboiled rice available here in U.S. supermarkets because for some reason the texture I get from dosas made with that rice is never quite right. If you want to use parboiled rice get it from an Indian store.
• ½ cup poha (flattened rice). Some dosa recipes don't use poha, but I find that it makes a huge difference to the texture. Dosas made with poha are softer and silkier. But if you don't have it, you can skip it. You can easily find poha at Indian stores and online. I will leave an affiliate link in the recipe card below.
• ½ cup urad dal (black gram dal). Use the split white urad dal and not the one with the black skin, at least when you are new to making dosas.
• 2 tablespoons chana dal (Bengal gram dal).
• ½ teaspoon fenugreek seeds. Although we use just a small quantity of fenugreek seeds here, they are utterly necessary. Fenugreek seeds, which are prebiotic themselves, help attract friendly bacteria and help the process of fermentation. You won't really taste them in the batter but they will help deepen the flavor with their bitter, maple-syrup-like quality.
• Salt to taste. I rarely add salt to my dosa batter--I don't find it necessary because there is so much rich and delicious flavor here already. You can add salt but if you do stir it in just before you make the dosa and after fermentation because the salt can inhibit the fermentation process.
• Vegetable oil or cooking spray for sprinkling or spraying around the dosa edges to make them crispy. If you are oil-free you can even skip this.

Equipment for making dosa

• A large bowl for soaking the ingredients and fermenting the batter. Make sure that the bowl can hold at least twice the size of the ingredients as the batter could rise when it ferments.
• A high-powered blender. In India you can buy a special mixer grinder to grind dosa and idli batter, but a good blender works just as well.
• A large, flat griddle. A 10-inch griddle is perfectly fine and you will get wonderful dosas. This is also a good size to start with if you are new to dosa making. A large cast iron skillet or non-stick skillet will also do. I use a 14-inch cast iron pizza pan because I can make larger dosas on it, and you can graduate to it, if you like, once you get the hang of it.
• Ladle with rounded bottom, like a soup ladle. This helps shape the dosas perfectly.
• Spatula to remove the dosas from the griddle.

How to make dosa

Soak Ingredients

• Allow the rice and dal and other ingredients to soak for at least 8 hours or overnight. I usually soak them in the morning, blend up the dosa batter in the evening, and leave it to ferment overnight so I can make fresh dosas next morning.
• Some traditionalists soak the rice and dal seperately, grind them separately, and then mix them. To me that just adds unnecessary steps and I prefer to just soak everything together and pay closer attention when I blend so I get the texture right. Rice takes just a little longer to blend than the dal, which is perfect because you want the dal to blend smoothly while the rice remains very slightly gritty. That helps the dosas turn out crispy.
• Always drain out the water you soaked the rice and dal in and add fresh, preferably filtered water when you blend the batter.

Blend the batter

• When you blend the mixture begin with less water and add more if needed. Keep in mind that you can always add more water to the batter if it's too thick but you can't take water out of it. For this recipe I needed just under a cup and a half of water.
• Blend in two batches. My blender could handle all the ingredients at one time but I still blend half the ingredients at a time. This helps me control the water better--for instance, if I added too much water the first time I can add less water to the second batch and make sure my batter is the right consistency. Also if you don't have a high powered blender the quantity of the ingredients could end up overwhelming it.
• Blend in short bursts -- 30 seconds at first and then short bursts of 10 seconds, checking to see if you have reached the right consistency. Again, a high powdered blender works best for this. You will get better at this eventually and the process will become easier, but for crispy dosas you want to make sure that the batter, while smooth overall, should also have a very, very slightly gritty feel when you rub it between your thumb and forefinger. This will result in very crispy dosas.

Ferment the batter

• This is the fun part, and one you will particularly enjoy if you love sourdough bread baking. Place the batter in a large bowl, giving it room to expand, and then place it in a warm spot. In the climate I live in, where winters can be harsh, I place the batter in an oven with the light turned on, or wrapped in a heating pad set to low or medium heat. In summer or in warmer climates you can usually just set the batter on the countertop and it will ferment nicely overnight -- or even sooner! It's a good idea to keep a tray or plate under the bowl just in case the batter overflows. This has happened to me before during summer and it's not fun to see all that lovely batter go to waste. If the batter overflows into a plate you can just stir the batter in the bowl and pour any overflow back into it.
• You can also use an Instant Pot to make easy work of fermenting the dosa batter. See the FAQs below.
• When the batter has fermented it will be very puffy and you will see lots of bubbles when you disturb the surface with a ladle. It may or may not rise much depending on the weather where you are but that's fine and you will have delicious dosas either way. Stir the fermented batter to deflate it because spreading a puffy batter on a griddle can be challenging. Unlike sourdough breads, you are not looking for the bacteria to give you a rise here.

Cook the dosa

• Now comes the funnest part--actually making your dosas. Stir salt into the batter, if you are using it, at this time. Then heat a well-seasoned cast iron griddle or a non-stick griddle over high heat. Don't oil it at this time as you will not be able to spread the dosa batter easily on an oiled griddle.
• Once the griddle is hot enough that water sprinkled on it sizzles and then evaporates completely in five seconds or so you are ready to add the batter to the griddle.
• Pour the batter on the center of the griddle and, working quickly, move out in circles in a spiraling motion, spreading the batter with the bottom of the ladle. This admittedly will take some time and practice to perfect, but you will get better with time. Use a light touch while ensuring your ladle is constantly in contact with the batter. Even if you don't do it exactly right, proceed with the next steps--the dosas will taste delicious still.
• Sprinkle a few drops of oil around the dosa edges. This will help them become crispy. When I am in a no-oil mood I just spray some cooking spray around the edges. If you do this be careful to turn the gas heat to low so you don't spray directly on the flame.
• Once the dosa edges look lacy and golden, and the top has dried out, loosen it gently from the griddle with a flat spatula. Fold the dosa in half and remove to a plate. You don't need to cook the other side, but if you like you can flip the dosa and cook it for a few seconds.
• After the first one or two dosas the griddle could overheat so reduce the temperature to medium or medium high heat and continue making the dosas. If the griddle is too hot you can also cool it by sprinkling a few drops of water on it.

Watch how to make dosa

Serving suggestions

• A dosa can be served simply with a sambar, which is a south Indian style vegetable dal, and/or a coconut chutney.
• You can add a potato stuffing to the dosa, to make it a masala dosa. Try out the potato sabzi from this poori bhaji recipe, or these Bombay Potatoes. Serve with chutney on the side.
• You can also serve dosa with a karuveppilai podi mixed in a bit of oil, like the one you see in the photos here. This is a powder mix made with curry leaves and spices. You can make it ahead and store it and it goes beautifully with idli and dosa. Let me know in the comments if you'd like the recipe.

More south Indian tiffin recipes you might like

• Banana Dosa
• Adai
• Masala Vadai
• Crispy South Indian Potato Vada
• Ven Pongal