Easy Aloo Palak Recipe (Potato and Spinach Curry)

Aloo palak or spinach and potato curry is a lovely Indian sabzi that tastes really good with naan bread or roti. It is a healthy vegetarian recipe that’s also naturally vegan and gluten-free. Made with simple, easily available ingredients, this dish is a gem that you’ve got to try if you like Indian food!

Love potatoes with vegetables? Try this dry cabbage and potato curry too.

This aloo palak recipe is a simple vegetarian solution to your weekday woes of 'what to cook that's easy, nutritious, and doesn't take a ton of time'. It's made with a few simple pantry ingredients and comes together in 30 minutes on the stovetop.

Aloo palak is a quintessentially Indian sabzi recipe: simple, earthy and loaded with flavor. The potatoes are simmered in a thick sauce made of red onions, tomatoes and spices, and the spinach is added to the softened potatoes as the last step. The sabzi is then cooked down until the spinach wilts and most of the liquid is absorbed.

I make aloo palak sabzi quite often as I'm pretty partial to no-fuss and wholesome vegetarian food in my everyday cooking routine. This recipe fits the bill perfectly. Oh, and sabzi, if you're wondering, is a dry or semi-dry vegetable dish in subcontinental cuisine. That said, I like my sabzi on the saucier side. It tastes much nicer and besides, it is easier to sop up with the bread.

I'm also extremely fond of this mixed vegetable sabzi and this aloo shimla mirch recipe (green peppers and potatoes stir fry). They are naturally vegan and taste so good with some hot, homemade rotis (Indian flatbread).

🥘Ingredients

See recipe card further down for exact quantities.

• Baby spinach, prewashed - saves some time since no rinsing is required and it cooks quickly and easily.
• Yukon Gold potatoes, also known as yellow potatoes - the reason why we choose these potatoes over russet potatoes is that they have smooth, thin skins that don't necessarily need peeling. (I did peel them though as seen in the pic, but it's not necessary if you're short on time).
• Light olive oil - any other cooking oil can be substituted as long as it is not too strong smelling like coconut oil.
• Cumin seeds
• Red onion - diced
• Ginger - chopped fine
• Garlic - chopped fine
• Tomatoes - chopped
• Ground spices - coriander, red chilli, turmeric
• Sea salt

🔪 How to make aloo palak curry

Time needed: 30 minutes

1. Chop the vegetables

• Chop the spinach.
• Cut the potatoes into small, even 1" pieces so they cook quickly.
• Chop the onion and tomato.
• Chop the ginger and garlic finely.

2. Prepare the masala

• Place a wok or karahi on your stovetop and add the olive oil. Heat the oil and when it starts shimmering (medium heat), add cumin. Wait for a few seconds, then tip in the onions. Cook until softened and pink (3 minutes).
• Add the ginger and garlic to the onions.

• Add the tomatoes and all the powdered spices and salt. Stir to mix everything well and cook until the tomatoes break down (5 minutes) and the raw smell of the spices is gone. If the masala becomes too dry, add a few tablespoons water while cooking it.

3. Add the cubed potatoes

• Add the potatoes and ¼ cup water, cover the wok, and cook for 8 minutes.

4. Add the spinach

• Now, add the spinach and press it down. As the spinach wilts, it will release water.
• Cook for 4-5 minutes or until the potatoes and spinach are completely soft and cooked.
• Serve hot with the bread of your choice.

💭Top tips

• Make sure to dice the potatoes into small cubes for even and fast cooking.
• Don't add the potatoes before cooking the onion-tomato masala fully. I find that it is best to add them after the onion-tomato masala is cooked otherwise they take a lot of time to soften, thanks to the sourness of the tomatoes.
• On a similar note, don't add the spinach along with the potatoes. They have different cooking times, so follow the recipe and cook the potatoes for 8 minutes prior to adding the spinach.
• Don't overcook the spinach or it will lose its bright green colour.
• The spinach will release water as it is cooking, but don't cook down the sauce completely. Stop when the potatoes are cooked through and the masala becomes shiny. As you can see in the pictures, this is not a completely dry sabzi.

🥗Side dishes

The most common way to serve aloo palak is with homemade flatbread (roti). Of course, you can also have it with any kind of bread like naan, tandoori roti, paratha, or even sliced bread! In fact, I love having this sabzi sandwich-style sometimes, tucked between two slices of toasted bread.

You can also make a simple dal (lentils) to go along with aloo palak sabzi. There are so many kinds of dal possible, I don't even know which ones to recommend here! However, since our theme is simple and easy here, this toor dal (split pigeon pea lentils) would be in order.

Here's the entire collection of dal recipes on the blog, if you want more choice.

More Indian vegan sabzi recipes and curries

• Dry aloo sabzi - a simple and tasty Indian lunch. Comes together easily with a few simple ingredients like yellow potatoes, onions, garlic and some spices.
• Baghare baingan - a delicious Hyderabadi style eggplant curry with tamarind, peanuts, sesame and coconut. It has some great layers of flavor and tastes wonderful with both bread and rice.
• Bharwa shimla mirch - small green bell peppers stuffed with a spicy potato filling and baked in the oven. 
• Mushroom masala - white button mushrooms, onions, ginger, garlic, tomatoes, cashews and just two common spices come together in this curry-style recipe.
• Bombay potatoes - crispy baby potatoes wrapped in a few spices and dressed with lemon juice, green chillies and cilantro.