Papdi chaat is one of the most beloved and flavorful street food dishes from North India, known for its vibrant taste and irresistible crunch. This classic snack is a delightful medley of crispy papdis (fried flour crackers), chilled yogurt (dahi), boiled potatoes, spicy chickpeas, tangy tamarind chutney, and zesty green chutney, all beautifully layered and garnished with aromatic spices like roasted cumin, chaat masala, and a generous sprinkle of sev. It’s a true explosion of flavors—sweet, spicy, tangy, and savory—all in one bite.
What makes dahi papdi chaat so special is not just its bold taste but also how quick and effortless it is to prepare. Whether you’re putting together a last-minute snack or planning a lavish party spread, this chaat never fails to impress. Its vibrant colors and complex layers of textures make it a visual and culinary treat. You can even customize the toppings according to your taste—add pomegranate seeds for a juicy crunch, or finely chopped onions for a sharper bite.
Serve it as an appetizer or a light evening snack, and you’ll find it’s always a crowd-pleaser. In fact, if you make a big bowl of this for your guests, you can be sure it’ll disappear in no time—leaving behind only happy smiles and empty plates. With its perfect balance of flavors and ease of preparation, dahi papdi chaat is a must-have recipe in every Indian food lover’s collection.
What Is Papdi Chaat?
Papdi or papri implies a deep-fried level, firm puri and chaat implies a sort of savory nibble that is regularly served at roadside slows down or carts.
Here papdis are topped with bubbled, chickpeas, potatoes, flavors, yogurt, 2 chutneys (green chutney and tamarind date chutney), and sev. Also, it is decorated with cilantro and pomegranate arils.
Papdi chaat is a prevalent road nourishment from Delhi (North India). The merchants who are offering dahi bhalla moreover keep this papdi chaat in the menu. A few sellers include a few broken vada from dahi bhalla to papdi chaat plate and call it a dahi bhalla papdi chaat.
Here in the USA, you’ll discover papdi chaat on each North Indian restaurant’s menu.
❤️ You’ll Love This Dahi Papdi Chaat
Taste & Texture:
- This tongue-tickling chaat has a combination of salty, sweet, acrid, tart, and medium fiery flavors.
- Every nibble has firm, crunchy papdi and sev with delicate finished potatoes and chickpeas.
- It gives a cooling impact in your mouth since of the chilled yogurt in it.
Crowd pleaser: Make a huge platter of this papdi chaat and your visitors will go insane over it. Accept me, this will be the to begin with dish that gets cleaned up by everyone.
Quick and Simple to make: Make a few of the components ahead of time or utilize store-bought ones (e.g. cilantro chutney, tamarind chutney, chickpeas). After that get together portion takes fair 10 minutes.
🧾 Ingredient Notes
Here is a pic of the fixings and components you’ll require to make dahi puri recipe.
- Essential Ingredients for a Flavorful Snack: This guide outlines the key components for assembling a delicious snack, focusing on fresh preparation and quality ingredients.
- The Base: Crispy Papdi For the foundation of this dish, you’ll need papdi, which are flat, crisp puris typically made from all-purpose flour. You have the option to either prepare them from scratch at home or use readily available store-bought packets for convenience. Both deep-fried and air-fried papdi varieties work well, but for this particular preparation, store-bought papdi were utilized.
- Hearty Chickpeas: Chickpeas add a satisfying bulk to the snack. While canned chickpeas offer a quick solution, it’s recommended to use dried chickpeas. These can be soaked and then boiled until tender, either in an Instant Pot (refer to an Instant Pot chickpeas guide for detailed instructions) or on the stovetop.
- Tender Boiled Potatoes: Boiled potatoes provide a creamy texture. They can be cooked efficiently in an Instant Pot, typically taking 8-10 minutes on manual pressure. Alternatively, stovetop pressure cooking for 1-2 whistles will yield similar results.
- Cooling Yogurt: Plain yogurt is crucial for balancing the flavors. Always opt for chilled, full-fat yogurt that is not sour to ensure a smooth and refreshing element.
- Sweetened Touch: A small amount of powdered sugar is incorporated into the yogurt. This subtly sweetens the yogurt, creating a delightful contrast with the other savory components.
- The Game-Changing Spice Blend: A custom spice blend elevates this snack from good to extraordinary. This essential mixture consists of black pepper, red chili powder, chaat masala, roasted cumin powder, and black salt. This unique combination of spices is truly transformative and should not be omitted for the best flavor experience.
- Green chutney: It includes a new, herby flavor with a zesty taste. It is made from cilantro and green chilies with a few spices.
- Tamarind date chutney: It includes a somewhat sweet, tart (chatpata) flavor. It is made from tamarind, dates, and jaggery.
- Nylon sev: For making dahi papdi chaat, you’ll require superfine nylon sev. The normal sev is marginally thicker than the nylon sev. You can utilize a customary one in the nonappearance of nylon sev.
- Cilantro: Crisply chopped cilantro is a must.
- Pomegranate: It is discretionary, but I like to utilize it for flavor and it looks great as a garnishing.
👩🍳 How To Make Papdi Chaat Recipe? (Pics)
Prep:
Rinse and drench chickpeas in sufficient water for at slightest 8 hours. Another day bubble them.
Plan ahead and get ready 2 chutneys. You can make them a day some time recently and store them in the refrigerator.
1. Tamarind date chutney: takes around 30 minutes
2. Green chutney: takes around 15 minutes
Also, bubble and cut the potato, and keep it prepared.
Making Yogurt Mixture:
1) Take yogurt in a bowl, and include powdered sugar.
2) Whisk until yogurt is smooth and it ought to have a pourable consistency. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and keep it in the ice chest until needed.
Making Spice Mixture:
1) Take all the flavor powders (black pepper, red chili powder, chaat masala, broiled cumin powder, and black salt) in a little bowl.
2) Blend everything with a spoon.
Assemble Papdi Chaat Plate (That Serves 2 People):
Keep everything prepared on the countertop right some time recently amassing the plates.
Here I took a huge plate and it will serve 2 individuals. To make it see great for photography, I have orchestrated entirety papdi around the edges and broken pieces in the center.
Note: You are assumed to eat papdi chaat with a spoon (not popping the entirety puri in your mouth like sev puri or dahi puri). So it is a great thought to make a single layer of broken papdis.
1) Break 12-13 papdi into 3-4 pieces and make a single layer on a plate.
2) Sprinkle bubbled chickpeas (¼ cup) and potato 3d shapes (¼ cup) equitably on beat of the papdi bed.
3) Sprinkle the arranged flavor blend liberally (around ½ teaspoon).
4, 5) Sprinkle around 2 tablespoons of green chutney and 2 tablespoons of tamarind date chutney on top.
6) At that point sprinkle around ⅓ cup of the yogurt mixture.
7) Once more sprinkle 1 tablespoon of green chutney and 1 tablespoon of tamarind date chutney. And sprinkle around ¼ teaspoon of the flavor blend.
8) Sprinkle around 2-3 tablespoons of sev on best.
9) Embellish papri chaat with crisply chopped cilantro (1 tablespoon) and pomegranate arils (1 tablespoon).
💭 Expert Tips For Making Papri Chaat
Customization and Convenience Tips for Making Papdi Chaat: Papdi chaat is a wonderfully versatile snack, and the best part is that it can easily be tailored to suit your personal preferences. The quantities of chutneys, yogurt, and toppings mentioned in most recipes are simply rough guidelines—you can always increase or reduce them depending on your taste. However, one thing you should be generous with is the yogurt.
To save time, especially when you’re in a rush or planning for a party, feel free to use store-bought ingredients. Ready-made jars of green chutney (typically made with mint and coriander) and meethi chutney (sweet tamarind-date chutney) work just as well as homemade versions. Instead of soaking and boiling chickpeas from scratch, you can use canned chickpeas—just rinse and drain them well before use. Also, pre-packaged papdi from Indian grocery stores can save a lot of effort and still taste great.
If you’re preparing papdi chaat for a gathering or party, a little advance planning goes a long way. You can prep all the individual components—boil the potatoes, rinse the chickpeas, chop the coriander, whisk the yogurt, and portion out the chutneys—a day in advance and store them separately in the refrigerator.
On the day of the event, all you need to do is assemble the chaat shortly before serving. Arrange everything buffet-style with small plates, spoons, and a large platter of assembled chaat as a centerpiece. Let guests help themselves and enjoy at their own pace. And don’t worry—store-bought papdi holds its crunch well and won’t get soggy for at least 30 minutes after assembling, giving you plenty of time to serve without stress.
