Papdi chaat layers crispy crackers, potatoes, chickpeas, and tangy chutneys into one bite. Sweet, spicy, and savory all at once—ready in minutes, no complicated cooking needed.

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What Is Papdi Chaat?

This potato and chickpea salad has a unique taste. It’s sweet, spicy, and savory at the same time. It’s delicious to have before your main course.

A bowl of Papdi chaat with mint green napkin and a spoon on the side. — Photo Credit: So Yummy Recipes.

The words papdi chaat themselves may not be easy to translate into English. Because there are no exact words to describe it in just a few words.

Let me try. Papdi refers to fried crisps made from flour. Chaat means “to taste,” which refers to any finger-food snack. So the two words combined basically mean “fried snacks” in taste. Literally.

However, the actual thing is more like a salad. Because it is a mix of quite a few things. They are potatoes, chickpeas, tomatoes, onions, spices, yogurt, tamarind sauce, and crispy papdi.

This chaat is popular in the Indian subcontinent. You can find it as street food in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and other countries, along with samosa chaat, chana chaat, and fruit chaat. Papdi chaat is also called papdi chaat masala, aloo papdi chaat, papri chaat or dahi papdi chaat (dahi means yogurt).

It is usually served as a starter/ appetizer among a food spread. And it is also a popular choice for iftar among Ramadan recipes.

two bowls of potato and chickpea salad - papdi chaat.

Chaat Recipe in Pakistani Style

So the recipe I’m sharing here is Pakistani papdi chaat. And it is one with yogurt sauce. Hence, you may call it dahi papdi chaat, as dahi means yogurt. It is an easy recipe with simple ingredients. Though you need quite a few items to make this chaat.

You may think twice when you see the ingredient list. But most items are quite basic and almost always available in our kitchen.

If you like Indian/Pakistani cuisine, I suggest you try this potato and chickpea salad with yogurt and sweet tamarind chutney. It’s so tasty and moreish. Once you make it yourself, you’ll wonder why you didn’t try it sooner.

It’s that good.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Every bite hits differently depending on how you layer it, so it never gets boring the way a fixed recipe can.
It’s a good way to use up leftover boiled potatoes or chickpeas sitting in the fridge instead of letting them go to waste.
Works as a quick appetizer when guests show up unannounced. There’s no waiting on anything to bake or simmer.
The mix of textures (crisp, soft, crunchy) means it satisfies a craving for something substantial without being heavy.
Easy to scale up or down, whether you’re feeding two people or a full table at a gathering.
It’s naturally vegetarian, so it fits into a lot of different guest lists without extra planning.
Easy enough to prep components ahead and assemble right before serving, which makes party planning less stressful.

Easy-To-Get Ingredients

You need to prepare 15 items to make this sweet-and-spicy potato-chickpea salad.

Potatoes, chickpeas, tomato, brown onion, roasted cumin powder, red chili powder (or cayenne pepper), natural yogurt, salt, sugar, milk, imli sauce (tamarind chutney), chaat masala, thin sev, chaat papdi or mini poppadom, and cilantro/ green coriander.

It’s best to use a waxy potato variety. Charlotte, salad potatoes, and Jersey can be options.

Although I use canned chickpeas, you are more than welcome to use dried chickpeas.

For this recipe, ½ cup dried chickpeas is enough. You can soak them overnight, then rinse and boil them until fully cooked.

You can roast cumin powder in a frying pan. Do so until the spice seeds release an aroma. Then blitz them in a grinder until becoming fine powder.

When it comes to tamarind chutney and chaat masala, you can make them yourself using my recipes for imli sauce and chaat masala.

Or you can get bottled tamarind sauce from Asian/Indian shops, along with other ingredients such as thin sev, poppadom, chaat papdi, etc.

How to Make Papdi Chaat

Besides boiling potatoes and chickpeas, cooking is hardly involved in making this delicious salad for your next snack.
Once you have boiled the potatoes and chickpeas, leave them to cool while you prepare the sauces.
Mix the yogurt, milk, and sugar in a small bowl. You can use a fork to mix until the sugar dissolves. Mix in the tamarind sauce.
Then chop the onion, tomato, and cilantro.
When the potatoes and chickpeas are at room temperature, add the roasted cumin powder, chili powder/ cayenne powder, salt, onion, and tomato.
Stir well until everything is coated with the spices.
Add the yogurt mixture to the potato mixture and stir well.
Divide the potato-and-chickpea mixture into small serving bowls. Put some thin Sev over each bowl, followed by crushed papdi.
Drizzle a teaspoon of tamarind sauce over each bowl and sprinkle with a pinch of chaat masala.
Last but not least, garnish with chopped cilantro.

Top Tips for the Best-Tasting Papdi Chaat

You can prepare all the ingredients and keep them in individual containers. Then assemble them when you are ready to serve the chaat.
It is best to leave the potato-and-chickpea mixture to rest once you have mixed in the spices. It gives the flavor to develop better. Half an hour to an hour is good.

Thank you for checking this papdi chaat recipe. I hope you will try it. When you do, please share your thoughts in the comments below. I really appreciate it.

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Take care and all the best.