A beautifully spiced dish made with potatoes and spinach, saag aloo makes a great side dish for curry night, or a delicious and filling lunch by itself.
I like to add a bit of chilli heat to mine, plus a dash of stock – which works together with the ghee and spices to create an amazing aromatic sauce that clings to the potatoes and spinach.
Such a classic on the British Indian Restaurant menu, Saag Aloo is a serious comfort food side dish.
Table of Contents
It’s easy to prepare, and you should be able to pick up all of the ingredients at the supermarket.
📋 What do we need?
- I’m using ghee for this recipe, but you could use oil (such as avocado oil) if you prefer.
- Chillies are optional – I swap and change between fresno chillies (in the image above) – which are on the milder side, or Birds eye chillies for some extra heat. You could also swap this out for 1/2 a teaspoon of kashmiri chilli powder or you can leave them out entirely if you prefer.
- Potatoes – I use Rooster potatoes, which are floury potatoes, as I like the fluffier edges and the fact that they absorb more flavour from the spices. You can use waxy potatoes if you prefer.
- Spinach – I like to use fresh spinach, but you can use frozen spinach instead. Saag basically means green leafy vegetables in Hindi. In this case, for me, I’m using spinach – which is most often used in the Western world for making saag aloo, but traditional Punjabi saag aloo uses mustard leaves. Since i’m using spinach, this dish could also be called aloo palak – aloo meaning potato and palak meaning spinach.
📺 Watch how to make Saag Aloo
**Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post**
- We start off by frying the seeds in ghee for this recipe. We’re using cumin seeds and mustard seeds. The mustard seeds like to pop in the hot oil, so it’s a good idea to be ready to add your red onions next – once these are added, the popping stops.
- Next in goes garlic, chilli, turmeric, garam masala, fenugreek and a little tomato puree. That all gets stirred together to coat the onions.
- Then we add in boiled potatoes along with a little salt. Mix it all together again and add stock and spinach.
- It should only take another minute or so of gently tossing everything together for the spinach to wilt and the dish to be ready.
👩🍳 PRO TIP
I find chicken stock gives the best flavour, but you can use vegetable stock if you’re making this a vegetarian dish.
I like to sprinkle with a little freshly chopped coriander (cilantro) before serving.
Saag aloo has a hearty spiced flavour with a little chilli-heat, earthy spinach and tender potatoes, infused with the taste of warm, aromatic flavours of cumin, turmeric, and garlic.
🍽️ What to serve with Saag Aloo
🙋FAQ’s
Yes you can make it gluten-free very easily, just ensure you use gluten free stock.
You can make it ahead and you can freeze it. However!
I find the potato goes a little mushy on reheating, so I prefer to serve this dish right away.
If you did want to make it ahead, you can make the dish, cool cover and refrigerate it for 1-2 days.
Or rather than refrigerating, you can freeze it, then defrost it overnight in the refrigerator.
Reheat either in the microwave, or in a pan with a tablespoon of ghee or oil, over a medium heat, until hot throughout.
Saag Aloo is made with spinach (saag) and potatoes (aloo), is typically mildly aromatically spiced rather than very hot spicy. The level of heat can vary depending on how many chillis you add. If you don’t like the chilli heat you can leave them out altogether.
🍲 More fantastic Indian Side Dishes
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Saag Aloo Recipe
Ingredients
- 600 g (1.3 lbs) potatoes peeled and chopped into bite size pieces (waxy or floury potatoes are fine – I use Rooster potatoes)
- 3 tbsp ghee or oil
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 large red onion peeled and diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 red chilli finely chopped (use a milder chilli such as serrano or fresno if you don’t like it too hot, or use a hotter chilli such as a couple of birds eye chillies if you like it spicier).
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp garam masala
- ⅛ tsp ground fenugreek
- 1 tbsp tomato puree paste for US
- ¼ tsp salt
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) chicken stock
- 150 g (4 packed cups) baby spinach
To Serve:
- fresh coriander
Instructions
- Place the potatoes in a pan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 8-10 minutes until tender.600 g (1.3 lbs) potatoes
- Once cooked, drain the potatoes.
- Meanwhile heat the ghee or oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat, until hot.3 tbsp ghee or oil
- Add the cumin seeds and mustard seeds and fry for 1 minute until the seeds start to pop.2 tsp cumin seeds, 1 tsp mustard seeds
- Turn the heat down to medium, add in the onion and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions soften.1 large red onion
- Add in the garlic and chilli and cook for a further minute.2 cloves garlic, 1 red chilli
- Add in the turmeric, garam masala, fenugreek, and tomato puree and cook for a minute, stirring together to coat the onions.1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp garam masala, 1/8 tsp ground fenugreek, 1 tbsp tomato puree
- Then add in the potato and salt. Stir again to coat the potatoes.1/4 tsp salt
- Add the stock and spinach, stir and heat for a minute until the spinach wilts.120 ml (1/2 cup) chicken stock, 150 g (4 packed cups) baby spinach
- Serve topped with fresh coriander.fresh coriander
Video
Notes
Can I make it ahead and/or freeze it?
You can make it ahead and you can freeze it. However!I find the potato goes a little mushy on reheating, so I prefer to serve this dish right away. If you did want to make it ahead, you can make the dish, cool cover and refrigerate it for 1-2 days.
Or rather than refrigerating, you can freeze it, then defrost it overnight in the refrigerator. Reheat either in the microwave, or in a pan with a tablespoon of ghee or oil, over a medium heat, until hot throughout. Nutritional information is per serving – this recipe serves 4.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This Saag Aloo recipe was first published in Mar 2021, Updated in Jan 2025 with a new video, extra information and for housekeeping reasons.
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Really delicious. I substituted half the potato with sweet potatoe.
Delicious saag aloo sooo tasty, I highly recommend it, I will definitely be using this recipe again.
Just made this, halved the amount of everything as there’s just two of us!
I used 1.5 tsp of home-made Panch Phoran instead of the Cumin & Mustard seeds, as I had no Cumin seeds left (the last of them went in the Panch Phoran..!).
Apart from that, it was all the same – absolutely delicious, thank you!! 😀
Loved this. Going to be a family staple.
Hello Nikki
I just wanted to tell you what a great and inspiring website. I’m Indian from England but grew up in America. Love English twist way of making all the Asian & Indian dishes. I’m up most nights as I have cancer. I’m doing fine but you are the best thing that happened for my comfort, peace of mind, and helping with all the fantastic ideas and recipes!! God bless you🥰 ps My husband loves All your dishes. Made my life so good!!
Thank you so much Sonia, I’m so happy you enjoy the recipes.
I wish you well and pray for your speedy recovery x
Made this to compliment a rump steak and it tasted delicious, recipe was spot on and so easy to follow, thank you Nicky
Looking forward to trying more delicious recipes
Excellent.
Really fab recipe, easy to follow and so tasty! Have bookmarked for future use!
My favourite side to order from an Indian restaurant, couldn’t wait to try your version and it didn’t disappoint. I quite happily tucked into a bowl of this for dinner. Making it again this weekend as part of a curry night alongside onion bhaji and chicken rogan josh😋😋