My son Jay loved samosa and he loved my homemade samosas the best - even more so than the ones served at Indian restaurants. I perfected this recipe over years of making this popular Indian snack for him on repeat. In this post, I will break down the process for you step by step and share all my best secrets for making authentic Indian samosas with a crispy, flaky crust and a mouthwatering peas-potato filling. Video included!
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Authentic homemade Indian samosas
Whose mouth doesn't water at the thought of eating a samosa? Here's my recipe for an authentic Punjabi samosa: a chubby, triangular north Indian pastry or hand pie with a crisp, golden crust and a savory peas-potato filling. This is the perfect food to nosh on with family on a rainy day or to impress friends with at a larger gathering. One thing you can be sure of - there will be no leftovers!
Samosas have been my favorite savory snack for as long as I can remember. When I adopted my son, Jay, I quickly found out we were kindred souls; we both loved crispy, spicy, usually deep-fried foods, and samosa was our hands-down favorite (followed closely by vegetable pakora).
We'd order samosa when we ate out at an Indian restaurant and when we'd go to the Indian grocery store to stock up on essentials we'd make a beeline for the glass case near the checkout that held hot, crispy samosas. They were often a little too spicy for us but we couldn't resist them. Anytime I asked Jay what he wanted for breakfast, his answer was usually "aloo paratha please, mom!" For a snack, you guessed it, it was samosa.
A large part of the allure of a samosa is that delicious peas potato filling. But did you know that you can stuff a samosa with nearly anything you want to? Indian Muslims stuff it with mince meat or keema (try this vegan keema samosa). More modern restaurant versions have fillings that range from Indo-Chinese noodles to fish, chicken, pasta, scrambled eggs, paneer and chocolate. I use a delicious filling of seasoned chickpeas for my baked chickpea samosas.
As tasty as some of these sound, nothing can rival a classic samosa filling of creamy potatoes and sweet green peas spiced with cumin and green chili peppers. It's perfect with the flaky, crispy crust made with a dough of white flour and dotted with zesty carom seeds (ajwain). That's the recipe I have for you today.
Making samosa might appear intimidating at first, but learning how to make it is well worth the effort. A homemade samosa is so much tastier than a restaurant version, and it's not as greasy. I'll show you how to get the perfect results, from the crunchy crust to that gorgeous filling. Let's begin with a few important tips:
- Refrigerate the butter for the crust until you are ready to add it to the dough. Cut it into small cubes and use ice-cold water to mix the dough.
- Roll out the samosa dough to medium thickness. The filling can break through a very thin wrapper but a thick wrapper will create a doughy samosa.
- Cut the boiled potatoes into small pieces or crumble them. Any large pieces or sharp edges can tear the wrapper.
- Make sure there is no moisture in the filling.
- Don't overstuff the samosas. It might be tempting to get as much of that tasty filling in as possible but an overstuffed samosa will not seal properly.
Be sure to check out the FAQs below for more tips on the correct consistency of the samosa wrapper dough, best temperature for frying samosa, storage and more. When you are ready, follow the steps in the recipe card below (or watch the video), prepare yourself for a small learning curve, and before long you will be making golden, delicious samosas you can be proud of!
Recipe card
Samosa recipe
Video
Ingredients
For the samosa wrappers:
- 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons ajwain seeds (carom seeds)
- 4 tablespoons vegan butter (very cold, cut into small cubes)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ to ¾ cup water (you might need even more)*
For the peas potato stuffing:
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil or any neutral oil
- 1 tablespoon ginger (minced)
- 2 green chili peppers (minced. You can cut down the peppers to one and deseed if sensitive to heat. You can sub with ½ to 1 teaspoon cayenne or any red chili powder but fresh green chilies will give the best flavor.)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 2 teaspoons ground fennel (coarsely ground if possible)
- 1 teaspoon amchur (dry mango powder, optional)
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- 1½ pounds potatoes (yellow or red, boiled until tender, peeled and cut into small pieces, or crumbled with your fingers.)
- 1 cup green peas (frozen, thaw before using. If using fresh peas, cook the peas until tender before using)
- Salt to taste
For deep frying the samosa:
- Peanut oil (or any neutral oil with a high smoke point. You need enough oil for the samosas to be completely immersed while frying)
Instructions
Make the samosa wrapper dough
- Place all the ingredients except the water in a large mixing bowl.
- Using your fingers, rub the butter into the flour until the flour looks grainy. This process is not unlike making a pie pastry.
- Trickle in the water slowly and knead just until a stiff but pliable dough forms.
- Cover the ball of dough with a kitchen towel and set aside for at least 30 minutes.
Make the peas potato filling:
- Heat oil and add to it the green chilies and ginger. Saute for about 30 seconds.
- Add the powdered spices: ground cumin, ground coriander, coarsely ground fennel, amchur, if using, and turmeric. Mix.
- Add the boiled potatoes and mix well. Next add the green peas and stir them into the potatoes.
- Add salt to taste. Cover the potatoes and cook until warmed through, no more than 3-5 minutes.
- Mash the potatoes lightly with your ladle before turning off the heat. I like some large potato chunks in there but if you want you can mash it more, leaving just a few chunks of potatoes in for texture.
- Cool the peas potato filling to room temperature.
Roll out the dough:
- Divide the dough into seven even portions. Roll each into a ball.
- Roll out one ball of dough into a circle around four to five inches in diameter. Then roll out the sides slightly longer to form an oval.
- Use a knife or pastry cutter to make a clean cut through the center of the oval, creating two semi-circles or half-moons. Set them aside on a plate and repeat the process for the remaining dough.
Stuff the samosa:
- Brush the edges of the pastry with water. Then pick the two corners of the semicircle and bring them together, edges overlapping slightly, to form a cone. Press the seams together to ensure a tight seal (watch video to see how it's done). It's important to do this thoroughly because you don't want your samosas to open while you're frying them.
- Place two heaping teaspoons of filling in the cone, pressing it in lightly. Make sure you leave enough room at the top so you can seal the samosa.
- Now seal the top of the samosa by pressing the top seam together. For a classic shape, make a slight fold in the center as you press the seams together and fold the edge in so the samosa can "sit" when you put it down.
- Repeat with the 13 remaining wrappers.
Deep fry the samosas:
- Heat enough oil in a wok to immerse the samosas completely. If you have a deep fryer use that. Or use a cast iron pan.
- Once the oil has reached 325 degrees Fahrenheit/165 degrees Celsius carefully drop the samosas one by one in the oil. Don't overcrowd the pan. If you don't have a thermometer to check the oil temperature, just heat the oil until it shimmers and small bubbles form at the bottom of the wok. The oil should not smoke. When you drop the samosas into the oil they should bubble gently.
- Let the samosas fry, simmering gently in the oil, until they are evenly golden-brown. Don't let them get too dark and flip them occasionally to ensure they fry evenly. Avoid the temptation to increase the heat unless the oil gets too cold: maintain frying temperature at around 325 degrees for the best results. Frying at high temperatures will cause the samosa wrappers to brown quickly outside while remaining uncooked on the inside.
- Once the samosas are ready remove them to a colander or dish lined with paper towels. Serve hot.
Notes
- Boil potatoes by placing them in a saucepan and covering with water by an inch. The potatoes should be completely immersed. Bring the water to a boil, lower heat to a simmer, cover the saucepan and cook 10-20 minutes or until the potatoes are very tender and a knife inserted in the center of a potato goes cleanly through.
- Size samosa according to your needs. Make smaller samosas for an appetizer or for children.Â
- Don't flour the surface when rolling, if possible. Use a little bit of oil instead to make sure the wrapper does not stick to the surface. If you find it really difficult use just a tiny bit of flour
Nutrition Information
To print recipe card without images, uncheck "instruction images" after clicking the "print recipe" button.
Watch how to make samosa
Samosa FAQs and troubleshooting
Use any waxy potato, including Yukon gold or red potatoes. Don't use a very starchy potato variety like russet.
Samosa dough should be smooth and pliable - easy to shape. Don't over-knead the dough. Once it comes together just knead for a few more seconds to smooth it out, then let it rest for 30 minutes. If the dough resists when you try to roll out the samosa wrapper, let it rest for 30 seconds to a minute, then try again.
Maintain the temperature of the oil around 325 degrees Fahrenheit/165 degrees Celsius. The lower temperature will ensure that the samosa wrappers cook evenly without absorbing too much oil, and remain flaky and crispy for a long time after they are made. Adding samosas to oil that's overheated will brown the samosa quickly on the outside while the inside of the wrapper will remain uncooked.
It takes around 10 minutes to fry a single batch of samosas. If the oil gets too hot or begins to smoke, as it might toward the end of cooking a batch, turn down the heat.
Frying the samosas in oil that has not heated correctly will cause the samosa wrapper to absorb oil and become soggy. Also don't overcrowd the pan - add just a few samosas to the hot oil at a time, enough so you can comfortably move them around in the wok or fryer and flip them. Adding too many samosas to the oil at once will bring down the oil temperature, creating soggy samosas.
Brush the samosas with oil, place on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray, and bake in a preheated 350-degree F/180-degree C oven for 40 minutes, flipping them over halfway through.
To air-fry, brush the samosa with oil or cooking spray and pop them in at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Move them around a couple of times in between so they air-fry evenly.
Baked samosas will taste amazing but the wrappers will not be as golden or crispy.
Serve samosas with a date tamarind chutney (like this one in my ragda pattice recipe) or a mint chutney. You can also dunk samosas in ketchup. Serve a hot cup of masala chai alongside.
You can also eat the samosa cradled in a soft roll like pav or tear it into pieces and smother it in chana masala, tomatoes and onions for a dish called samosa chaat.
Refrigerate homemade samosas for up to a week in an airtight container. Freeze them in a freezer-safe bag or container for up to three months. You can also freeze the samosas before frying --to do that, assemble and flash-freeze them by placing them in the freezer on a baking sheet. Once frozen, store them in a freezer-safe bag. Thaw before frying. For samosas that were fried before freezing, reheat in a 350-degree Fahrenheit/180-degree Celsius oven until warmed through.
WA says
This was my first attempt at making samosas and they turned out quite well. My only concern with your recipe is the dough - you give no indication whatsoever for the amount of water. 1/4 cup, 1/3, 1/2? I ended up using just under 2/3 cup and my dough was quite soft so I needed to work in a bit more flour. I think someone with little experience working with dough would have a lot of trouble without some kind of guideline for the liquid. Thank you kindly for this recipe, I'll definitely make it again and play with seasonings until it's exactly the way I like it lol. Simple directions, easy to follow, a very nice samosa recipe.
george says
Same. Good thing the video is there for a backup
Renee says
WoW the filling is outstanding. I made the dough with oil instead of butter and added a punch of baking soda to make sure they are crispy. Plan to cook them in the air fryer. Can’t wait to see how the finished samosas turn out. Thank you!
Vaishali says
Awesome, so happy you loved the samosas!
Nev neal says
Great recipie. My GOTO for samosa. Have to go to India to get better.yum
Vaishali says
Great to hear!