Finely sliced onion smothered in a simple, fragrantly spiced batter and fried to crispy perfection.
This recipe uses gram flour – which is a flour made from chickpeas. This means they’re also naturally gluten free!
The gram flour is pretty inexpensive (and you can use it for my chicken pakora too!)
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A really fantastic side dish or starter to serve with that Indian fakeaway!
We love a crispy onion bhaji dipped in sweet chilli sauce.
I find onion bhajis can be a little hit and miss when eating out. Sometimes they can be a little greasy and flavourless. But when they get it right? Oh yes!! That’s when I eat too many and can’t fit in the main course.
That perfectly crispy, slightly salty and mouth-wateringly spicy combo is what we’re getting with this recipe.
📋 What do we need?
- Onions – use 2 large brown (or yellow) onions to make around 10-12 bhajis. Brown onions are best as they have a stronger onion flavour than white or red onions which mellows out during cooking to give the pakoras a sweet & savoury flavour.
- Gram (besan/chickpea) flour – gives the bhaji a mild, nutty taste and beautiful crunch. Plus it also happens to be gluten-free, so it’s a great option if you have gluten-free guests or family members.
- Spices – we’re going in with lots of lovely spices plus a little chilli heat and some dried coriander (cilantro) leaf.
- Bicarbonate of soda and cornflour (cornstarch). These ingredients help to lighten the batter, and to ensure the bhajis are crispy rather than having a heavy, thick crunch.
🔪 How to make Onion Bhaji
**Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post**
- Finely slice the onions – you can do this with a mandoline or a knife. I use a knife as I quite like having some bits of onion that aren’t too uniform in size to give the bhajis a more rustic look.
- Place the onion in a bowl and add the spices, gram flour, cornflour (cornstarch) and bicarbonate of soda. Mix together to coat the onion.
- Add water a splash at a time and mix. Keep going until you have a thick batter on the onions.
- Take a rounded spoonful of the batter, place in your hands and squash it together to compact it a little, then place back on the spoon and lower into a waiting pan of hot oil. Repeat, until you have 4-5 bhajis in the pan (you’ll need to work in a couple of batches).
- Fry for 3-4 minutes, until golden. You’ll need to turn them over once so they cook evenly.
👩🍳PRO TIP The gram flour can go a little hard if the batter is left to sit too long, so it’s important to fry the bhajis right after mixing the batter.
Serve with sweet chilli sauce.
🍽️ More Indian sides
Pile up the table with these Indian-inspired extras:
- Homemade sweet chilli sauce or raita for dipping those bhajis in
- Tomato and onion salad
- Chicken Pakora (another great use for that gram flour)
- Homemade chapati
📺 Watch how to make it
🍲 Delicious Curries to serve with your
Onion Bhaji
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Onion Bhaji Recipe
Ingredients
- vegetable oil for deep frying approx. 3-4 cups (720-960ml)
- 2 large onions peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp minced ginger
- 1 green chilli finely chopped
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tbsp dried coriander leaf
- 1 tsp chilli flakes
- 1 tsp ground fenugreek
- ¾ tsp salt
- ½ tsp garlic salt
- 130 g (1 ½ cups + 2 tbsp) gram flour also known as chickpea flour or besan
- 1 tbsp cornflour/cornstarch
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda baking soda
- 135 ml (1/2 cup + 1 tbsp) water
To Serve:
- 1 tbsp freshly chopped coriander
- sweet and sour sauce or sweet chilli sauce for dipping
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a wok or large heavy-based pan over a medium heat. You need at least 3 inches of oil but do ensure the pan or wok is less than half full of oil as you don’t want it to bubble over.vegetable oil for deep frying
- Place the sliced onion in a bowl.2 large onions
- Add the minced ginger, chopped green chilli, cumin, ground coriander, dried coriander leaf, chilli flakes, ground fenugreek, salt, garlic salt, gram flour, cornflour (cornstarch), and the bicarbonate of soda.1 tbsp minced ginger, 1 green chilli, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp ground coriander, 1 tbsp dried coriander leaf, 1 tsp chilli flakes, 1 tsp ground fenugreek, 3/4 tsp salt, ½ tsp garlic salt, 130 g (1 ½ cups + 2 tbsp) gram flour, 1 tbsp cornflour/cornstarch, ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- Mix together to coat the onion.
- Add in the water, a splash at a time, until you have a thick batter that coats the onion. You may not need all of the water.135 ml (1/2 cup + 1 tbsp) water
- Test the heat of the oil by dropping a little blob of the batter in the wok. It should sizzle and rise to the top.
- Carefully add a rounded tablespoon of the onion bhaji mixture into the oil. I like to squeeze the mixture in my hand to compact it, then put it back on the spoon to lower it in the oil – this will help give you a uniform shape that doesn’t fall apart in the oil.
- Repeat, so you have 4 or 5 bhaji’s frying at the same time (don’t add more than this as the oil may boil over and also too much mixture will cool the oil – resulting in greasy bhajis that aren’t as crisp).
- Fry for 3-4 minutes until the coating is dark golden brown.
- Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.
- Repeat, frying further bhajis, until the mixture is used up.
- You can keep cooked batches warm in a warm oven (approx. 130C/250F (fan)) whilst cooking the remaining bhajis.
- Once all of the onion bhajis are cooked, place in a serving bowl and sprinkle with fresh coriander.1 tbsp freshly chopped coriander
- Serve with sweet and sour or sweet chilli sauce.sweet and sour sauce or sweet chilli sauce
Video
Notes
Reheat on a tray (uncovered) in the oven at 200C/400F for 5-6 minutes, until hot throughout. Can I freeze them? Yes, make the bhajis, then cool, cover and freeze for up to a month. I find it’s best to freeze them on a tray, so they’re not touching, then after a couple of hours (when they’re fully frozen), transfer to a sealed container or freezer bag. Defrost overnight in the refrigerator, then reheat on a tray (uncovered) in the oven at 200C/400F for 5-6 minutes, until hot throughout. Ingredient swaps
- Use red onions for a milder onion flavour and hint of colour.
- Add grated carrot, parsnip or courgette (zucchini) for extra veg
- Change up the spices if you fancy a change – add more chilli flakes to make them hotter, swap out the cumin and coriander for your favourite curry powder, add more ginger for a bit of zing!
I’ve estimated 1/3 cup of oil is absorbed during the frying process – you may find your onion bhajis absorb more or less than this.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Sounds amazing, could I oven bake these?
By far the best onion bhaji recipe out there. I have tried so many over the years but these top them all. I made them to go with my slow cooker curry.
However, I made them at lunchtime which was a big mistake, I tried one to test and I ended up with just a couple left. Thank you for this recipe, it is amazing, I am now going to look at your other recipe’s and your book.
John. Essex.UK
I couldn’t find Gram flour in local supermarket. Had to substitute it a little plain flour. The flavour was there for sure. They turned out how I remembered them from years ago, delicious. Going to source some Gram flour for next time. Thank you.
Didn’t have gram flour, but still tastiest bhaji’s I’ve ever made.
Excellent recipe, Nicky. Will use the gram next time.
This was the best recipe I’ve tried. Crisp on the outside and not dense. I made double the quantity for 10 of us and they were not enough!
Doubled it as had hungry teens in the house! Great recipe, start off with oil too hot and they didn’t cook inside properly but soon got hang of it, awesome.
Absolutely delicious, the bhajis came out crisp on the outside and lovely and light on the inside. I will be cooking these again for sure.