This easy, baked samosa recipe is perfect if you have a craving for a crispy, savory samosa but want to avoid frying. Packed with a vegetarian potato filling with curry spices and peas, this easy samosa dough perfect for baking contains just three main ingredients and is the perfect healthier alternative to traditional samosas.

I’ve been making this baked samosa recipe for years now, and at every family gathering, I get requests to cook up a batch along with my mint and coriander chutney which pairs perfectly with the samosas. 

This recipe would also be perfect served as a side dish alongside a lentil dahl and/or a simple chickpea curry with naan bread.

This recipe uses a simple, beginner-friendly dough – but to save time, you could also use readymade filo pastry sheets to make your baked samosas.

Ingredient Notes

The exact quantities of the ingredients you need for this recipe are included in the recipe card at the bottom of this post. Here, I’ve added a few notes on the ingredients you need, plus a few potential substitutions you could make if you can’t eat/find a certain ingredient.

• Plain All-Purpose Flour: You’ll need plain flour to make the samosa dough. Use a gluten-free blend to make the dough gluten-free.
  
• Oil: I used vegetable oil for this recipe, adding it to the flour along with warm water to make the dough.
  
• Potato: Potato forms the main base of the filling for this recipe.
  
• Peas and carrots: I also added peas and diced carrots to add texture, flavor, and color to this recipe.
  
• Spices: To season the samosa filling, you’ll need curry powder, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, and turmeric.

Substitutions & Variations

If you can’t find one of the ingredients listed above, here are a few potential substitutions: 

• For the filling, you could use whatever samosa filling you most prefer! This article lists some potential ideas.
  
• If you don’t want to make the dough or don’t have time, I have made baked samosa using shop-bought filo pastry before. Of course, many people will say it’s not a samosa anymore if you use filo pastry and to be fair, you’re probably right! However, filo pastry does provide a very easy and quick pastry to wrap the potato mix in.
  
• To add more spice to your samosas, add some finely diced green chillies.

How To Make Baked Samosa Recipe

Again, the exact step-by-step instructions and ingredient quantities will be in the recipe card at the bottom of this page. 

Below is an overview for making this recipe, plus some process shots to help you visualize how this recipe should turn out.

Step 1) Make The Samosa Dough

To make the dough, we simply combine plain flour and salt with oil and warm water, combining the ingredients until you have a dough. 

Cover the samosa dough with a clean cloth and leave it to rest for 30 minutes while you make the potato filling.

Step 2)  Make The Potato Filling 

To make the potato filling, you’ll start by par-boiling your diced potatoes, then drain and set aside.

In a pan, heat your oil with mustard seeds and cumin seeds until they start popping, then add onion, chilli, and garlic and cook until the onion has softened.

Then, you add curry spices, finely chopped carrot, your potatoes, and some water and allow the mix to cook down. I recommend using the back of your spatula to mash up some of the potatoes into the gravy to thicken it.

Step 3) Prepare the dough

Tip your samosa dough out of the bowl and onto a lightly floured surface (this prevents the dough from sticking!).

Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough until it’s about 0.5cm thick. Then, use a large cookie cutter or a small bowl to cut circles into the dough and then cut each circle in half.

Step 3) Make the samosas

To make the samosas, we wet the straight edge of the half circle of dough with a little water, then fold the half circle in half so the straight edge meets. This should give you a cone shape when you hold the dough.

Add a tablespoon or two of your potato filling to stuff the samosa dough, then use your fingers and a little more water to seal that final, rounded edge. Place the samosa on your baking tray and repeat for the remaining samosas – this recipe should make you 9 – 11 samosas.

Step 4) Brush with oil and bake

Brush the samosa with oil and bake them for 20 – 25 minutes or until golden brown. 

Expert Tips!

Don’t panic if your first couple of tries making the samosa dough into a cone shape goes wrong! Keep going with the rest of the dough and eventually, you’ll get the hang of it. 

Try not to overfill the cone with your filling when you come to that step, as overfilling the samosa makes it very difficult to properly seal the edges and risks the filling leaking out while baking!

Storing

If you have leftover baked samosas, store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. 

You can reheat your baked samosas in the oven for 15 minutes or until the filling inside is piping hot. You can cover the samosas in foil if the dough begins to brown.

This baked samosa recipe is also ideal for freezing. I would recommend freezing the samosas flat and not touching each other on a baking tray. Then, once they’re frozen, you can tip the samosas into a large freezer bag or an airtight container to save on space in your freezer.

FAQs

Is This Baked Samosa Recipe Suitable For Cooking In The Air Fryer Instead?

Yes, absolutely! I tested the same recipe but then cooked the samosa in the air fryer at 200C | 395F for 15 – 20 minutes until the samosas were golden brown and they turned out perfectly.

My samosas might even have been a little more crispy than the baked version!

Why Is My Dough Still Pale After Baking?

If your dough isn’t turning golden in the oven, you might need to brush it with a little more oil or ghee. Alternatively, you may need to cook the samosas for longer than the recommended baking time – just take care they don’t overcook.

My Samosa Dough Is Falling Apart And Not Sticking Together, What Should I Do?

If you have combined all the ingredients listed for the samosa dough and it is still very crumbly, at a tablespoon of warm water at a time until the dough has formed.

Why Should I Do If My Dough Is Too Wet?

If you have the opposite problem and the dough is too wet, add a tablespoon more plain flour at a time until you have reached the correct consistency. The dough should stick together but should not be a wet dough.

Other Recipes You’ll Like:

If you want to make these samosas alongside a bigger meal or for a dinner party, they would go great with this Easy Chickpea Curry, Lentil Dahl, while the potato mix can also be turned into curried potatoes if you have any leftovers.