Aloo Palak: Potato and Spinach Curry in Pakistani Style

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Aloo palak is a hearty spinach and potato curry that pairs well with almost anything, like roti, naan, pitta, plain rice, biryani, or pilau. A filling, flavourful vegan dish that works any day of the week.

Aloo Palak

Aloo palak is a potato and spinach curry, a popular vegetarian dish in Indian/ Pakistani cuisines. It’s almost always a must-have menu item at gatherings.

It’s such a versatile curry that you can cook it with gravy or dry it like a stir-fry. 

Whichever you choose, it’s a vegan dish that will satisfy your appetite. Serve it with roti/chapati, naan, flatbread, or pitta bread. But I’d say enjoying it with rice is just as good, if not better. 

Aloo Palak is almost always served at special occasions such as family gatherings, weddings, birthdays, and Eid celebrations. 

And just like any food recipe, there are endless versions of how to make Aloo Palak.

The recipe I’m sharing with you is based on my sister-in-law’s recipe. But as always, I’ve tweaked the recipe. And I’m happy with it now, as my family and friends approve of it too. 

Why You’ll Love Aloo Palak

• 🥬 Spinach and potatoes are a classic combo — soft potatoes and tender spinach work really well together in a curry.
• 🌶️ Warming spices in every bite — the kind of flavor that builds slowly and keeps you coming back for more.
• 🫓 Brilliant with bread — roti, naan, chapati, or pitta all work beautifully to scoop up.
• 🍚 Just as good with rice — plain rice, biryani, or pilau — aloo palak is happy alongside all of them. Hence, this curry is often served in a food spread.
• 🌿 Fully vegan, fully satisfying — no meat needed, the potatoes and spices do all the heavy lifting.
• 💰 Budget-friendly ingredients — spinach and potatoes are two of the most affordable vegetables around.
• 🍲 Thick, saucy, and filling — this is proper comfort food that actually fills you up.
• 🧄 Big flavor from simple spices — garlic, ginger, cumin, and turmeric turn humble ingredients into something special.

What You Need

To make aloo palak, you will need potatoes, spinach, spices, and cooking oil. 

When it comes to spuds, I think waxy potatoes such as baby potatoes, Charlotte, or Jersey Royals are best. 

Don’t use floury potatoes for mashed potatoes. Because they will break and go mushy. And you don’t want that. 

As for the spinach, you can use either fresh or frozen. And some people like using tinned spinach too. Though I personally don’t like the canned ones, as they are like pulp. 

Just like most Pakistani salan, aka curry, this potato and spinach curry uses basic spices such as onion, ginger, garlic, ground cumin, ground coriander, turmeric powder, red chili powder, and coarse/ground black pepper.

But you need to add herbs to this curry. That is fenugreek leaves. 

You can use either dried or fresh fenugreek leaves. If you choose the latter, make sure you add them right after putting the spinach to cook. Because fenugreek leaves take a long time to soften. 

Last but not least, you need cooking oil.

I prefer using neutral ones like rapeseed oil or sunflower oil. But you can choose whichever oil you like. And if you prefer, you can also add a tablespoon or two of ghee towards the end of cooking. 

How to Make Aloo Palak

There are numerous ways to make Aloo Palak, but the one I’m sharing here is the most practical. And it has always given me good results.

First, fry your chopped onion in your preferred oil/ fat until translucent, then add crushed ginger and garlic.

Then you add all the spices and continue frying for about 2 minutes, until the spices release their aroma. Next, add chopped tomatoes and let them cook longer until you get a smooth masala (cooked spices).

Try to mash the tomatoes every now and again until your masala (spices) turns into a smooth sauce. And then add the spinach, followed by the potatoes and Kasuri Methi (fenugreek leaves).

If you use frozen spinach, you cook it first until it’s fully thawed and halfway cooked. Then you add the fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi) and the potatoes. 

Leave it to cook until everything is fully cooked and all the juice evaporates.

And if you use fresh spinach, add in the cubed potatoes and cook further until the spuds are half-cooked. 

It can take about 20 to 30 minutes to cook Aloo Palak with a little gravy. 

If you prefer it dry, just let it cook a bit longer. It takes me another 10-15 minutes at medium-high heat to do so.

Ways to Enjoy 

There are two basic ways to make this dish: dry curry and a curry with gravy/juice. 

So you will want to serve your aloo palak with something that pairs well with it.

If you cook it as a dry curry, it is best enjoyed with roti/chapati, naan, flatbread, or pita bread. 

But if you cook it with a little sauce/ gravy, it’s ideal to serve your aloo palak with rice. You can have it with either plain white Basmati rice or with rice dishes such as biryani or pilau. 

But really, there is no restriction. You can eat your aloo palak however you want with whatever you like.

Menu Idea for the Occasional Food Spread

And just to give you an idea, this aloo palak is good to serve with the following menu. 

In fact, the menu below often appears in food spreads for occasions such as Eid, weddings, and family gatherings. 

• Chicken kebab patties (starter).
• Dahi Baray – lentil dumplings in spicy yogurt (starter).
• Biryani rice (main), or
• Pilau rice (main).
• Achari chicken (main), or
• Aloo Gosht (main).
• Aloo Palak (side).
• Chana Aloo (side).
• Salad.
• Gajar ka Halwa (dessert).

Thank you for reading the post. I hope you’re now wanting to try this aloo palak recipe. 

Let me know what you think about it in the comments below (leave a reply).

Last but not least, please follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and/or Pinterest. To sneak a peek at what’s cooking in my kitchen. 

Take care and all the best.

Aloo Palak

4.56 from 9 votes

Aloo Palak, the potato and spinach curry is one of the classic curries among Pakistani cuisines. This vegan curry is delicious to enjoy with roti/ chapati, naan bread, pitta bread or rice.

BY: Devy Dar

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Prep : 10 minutes mins

Cook : 45 minutes mins

Total : 55 minutes mins

Servings: 6

Equipment

• Chopping board
• Kitchen knife
• Cooking pan with lid.
• Wooden spoon

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Ingredients

 

1x2x3x

US CustomaryMetric

• 1.3 lbs spinach.
• 2-3 potatoes medium size, cut in 1-inch chunks.
• 1 brown onions chopped.
• 1- inch ginger minced.
• 4 cloves of garlic minced.
• 1 ½ teaspoon ground cumin.
• 1 ½ teaspoon ground coriander.
• 1 teaspoon paprika powder.
• ½ teaspoon chilli powder.
• ½ teaspoon turmeric powder.
• 1 teaspoon coarse/ ground black pepper.
• 1 teaspoon table salt or according to taste.
• 2 medium tomatoes chopped.
• ⅓ cup cooking oil.
• 1 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves/ Kasoori Methi.

Instructions

• In a medium cooking pot, heat the oil and fry the onions at medium heat until it turns light golden.
• Then add in the minced ginger and garlic. Fry further for a minute or two.
• Put all the spices and salt in. Give it a stir and leave to cook until the spices smell fragrant.
• And then add the tomatoes in, stir well and let it cook with the lid on until the tomatoes are softened. Try to mash the tomatoes with the back of the spoon every now and again.
• When the masala/ spices mix becomes thick and the oil separates from the spices, put the spinach in the masala/ spice mix. Stir it well until all the green leaves are mixed thoroughly with the spices/ masala. Put the lid back on and leave it to cook at medium heat for about 15 minutes.
• Take care and keep checking the spinach to make sure it doesn’t stick at the bottom of the pot. Sprinkle the fenugreek leaves and stir the spinach well.
• Then add the potatoes in, mix well so that the potato pieces are covered with spinach and spices. Continue to cook with the lid on at low-medium heat for about 15 minutes or until the potatoes are fully cooked. 
• Enjoy your Aloo Palak with roti/ chapati, naan bread, or pitta bread. If you want, you can also eat it with rice.

Notes

• If you don't have Kashmiri chilli powder, you can just use 1 tsp red chilli powder.
• If you can get fresh fenugreek leaves, you can use about one cup of chopped fenugreek leaves. Sometimes I use fresh leaves if I can go to Asian shops. 
• You can use any cooking oil you like. But I personally use either rapeseed oil or sunflower oil. I understand that traditionally, many Pakistanis/ Indians use ghee (clarified butter) for Aloo Palak. However, I’m not a big fan of ghee therefore I don’t really use this ingredient. If you like, you can partially use ghee for the oil. Or even use ghee for the whole portion of fat. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 157kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g | Sodium: 473mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 3g

Devy Dar

Devy founded So Yummy Recipes and Drizzling Flavor to share her love of food after exploring various cultures and cuisines for more than two decades. Her mission is to help others easily recreate traditional and non-traditional food with readily available ingredients. Her works have been featured in Reader’s Digest, Al Jazeera, MSN, Yahoo, Bon Appétit, and more.