Instant Pot Pav Bhaji - You’ll need only 30 minutes (from start to finish).I mean from chopping veggies to serving the dish, just takes 30 minutes. Isn’t it cool? You will have delicious, Indian street style Mumbai pav bhaji ready in your electric pressure cooker.
❤️Why I Love This Recipe
- It is much faster to make compared to stovetop pav bhaji (authentic version).
- Even though making in instant pot, it tastes the same as Indian street vendor style.
- It is smooth, buttery, and heavenly delicious. And tastes even better with butter toasted soft ladi pav (buns).
- A quick meal on busy days (Only 30 mins required).
- Perfect for a crowd or get-to-gather. This pav bhaji recipe can be doubled or tripled to accommodate a large group of people.
🧾Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you need to make pav bhaji in an instant pot. It looks many but trust me they are easily available in the grocery store (Indian) and it is very easy to make with simple steps.
Ingredients Notes
- Butter: I cannot imagine my pav bhaji is made/served without butter. To get the best taste (when we talk about the authentic taste), butter is an essential ingredient. Bhaji is cooked in butter and it is topped with a dollop of butter before serving. But if you are health conscious then you can reduce the amount or substitute with oil.
- Pav bhaji masala: It is the second essential ingredient here, so it has to be good in quality and taste. I recommend using the Everest brand. MDH comes after that. I have a really bad experience with Badshah. Or if you have time you can make it at home by following this pav bhaji masala powder recipe.
- Potatoes: It is the essential ingredient to make the base of thick, creamy bhaji. So do not skip or reduce the amount of potatoes here.
- Veggies: The combination of cauliflower, carrot, peas, and potatoes is the standard veggie combo for authentic tasting bhaji. Do not have fresh ones in the refrigerator, you can use frozen vegetable mix (which contains carrot, peas, corn, and beans). But I would add sure add potatoes.
🎥Watch The Recipe Video
🍳Step By Step Photo Instructions
1) Take the chopped onion, bell pepper, and garlic cloves in a food processor jar.
2) Pulse it to make it finely chopped.
3) Turn on the instant pot on saute mode. Once hot add 1 tablespoon of butter and cumin seeds. Let the seeds sizzle a bit.
4) Then add prepared onion mixture. Sprinkle salt, mix and let it cook.
5) Meanwhile, onion mixture is cooking, add tomatoes to the same food processor jar.
6) Make it chunky puree. It does not require smooth puree.
7) Now onion mixture is cooked, you can see onions become soft and translucent.
8) Add pureed tomatoes.
9) Add red chili powder and remaining salt.
10) Mix well.
11) Add all the veggies (cauliflower, carrot, peas, potatoes).
12) Add water and mix well.
13) Cover with lid, keep the vent to sealing. cancel the saute mode. Pressure cook on manual (high pressure) for 6 minutes. You can let NPR (natural pressure release). If in rush QPR (quick pressure release) after 5-10 minutes. Once pin drops open the lid.
14) Add pav bhaji masala.
15) Using the potato masher, start mashing and mixing. Alternately you can use a hand blender. But be careful not to make pasty smooth puree. It has to be slightly chunky.
16) Now turn the saute mode back on and simmer for 2-3 minutes. This simmering time may vary depending on how watery your bhaji is.
17) While it is simmering add remaining butter and lemon juice. Stir well.
18) Lastly, garnish with chopped cilantro.
🍳Toasting Ladi Pav To Serve With:
1) Heat the pan on medium heat. Meantime cut the pav into half (not all the way through, keep the two slices intact). Once the pan is hot, add little butter, add pav bhaji masala, mix and spread in the pan.
2) Place the pav on it. While the bottom side is getting toasted, apply butter on top.
3) Once the bottom is light brown, fil with spatula and toast the other side.
4) Close the pav, remove from the pan, and serve with bhaji.
🍽How To Serve Pav Bhaji?
Take bhaji into an individual serving bowl. Top it with a dollop of butter. Sprinkle a good amount of chopped onions. Serve with soft, butter toasted ladi pav (buns). Also, keep the lemon wedges in a bowl ready, if someone wants to squeeze the fresh lemon juice on top of bhaji.
💭Expert Tips:
- Be generous on butter while making pav bhaji. It tastes better with butter.
- Use the good tasting pav bhaji masala. I prefer Everest or MDH brand.
- This recipe makes the medium spicy tasting bhaji. For more spicy taste, increase the amount of red chili powder.
- Do not over mash the bhaji. We do not want a smooth puree kind texture. It should have a grainy texture.
- I prefer to mash the bhaji using potato masher only. It takes some time but gives the best result. To make it quick, use hand blender like pulse mode so it does not become a smooth puree.
It Is Important When You Add Pav Bhaji Masala.
-- Whenever making pav bhaji in pressure cooker, always add masala after vegetables are cooked. If added along with vegetables and then it is cooked on high pressure, the masala loses its flavor and aroma.
FAQs
You can use your choice of veggies or what you have in your refrigerator. Keep in mind that taste purely depends on what veggies you are using. Few options are broccoli, green beans, sweet corn, eggplant, cabbage, zucchini, bottle gourd, beetroot (in small quantity), etc. But make sure not to skip the potatoes because it makes the base of the bhaji. Potatoes are a must.
Instead of ladi pav, you can use burger buns, potato rolls, dinner rolls, or any sandwich bread slices.
Yes, you can. But sure you’ll miss the taste and texture.
Check Out Other Indian Street Food Recipes
PS Tried this recipe? Please leave a star rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comment section. I always appreciate your feedback! Plus, Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook for all the latest updates.
📋 Recipe Card
Instant Pot Pav Bhaji
Ingredients
- 1 + 3 tablespoons Butter
- 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds
- 1 medium or 1 ½ cups Red onion roughly chopped
- ½ of medium or ¾ cup Capsicum (Green bell pepper) chopped
- 3 cloves Garlic
- 4 medium or 3 ½ cups Tomato chopped
- 2 medium or 2 cups Potatoes peeled and cubed
- ½ cup Cauliflower (gobi) cut into florets
- 1 cup Green peas
- ¾ cup Carrot chopped
- Salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon Red chili powder
- ¾ cup Water
- 1 ½ tablespoons Pav bhaji masala
- 3 tablespoons Cilantro or coriander leaves finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon Lemon juice
For serving:
- 12 Ladi pav (or you can substitute with burger buns)
- Butter as needed to toast the pav, plus for topping
- ½ cup Red onion finely chopped
- 1 Lemon cut into wedges
Instructions
- Take the chopped onion, bell pepper, and garlic cloves in a food processor jar. Pulse it to make it finely chopped.
- Turn on the instant pot on saute mode. Once hot add 1 tablespoon of butter and cumin seeds. Let the seeds sizzle a bit.
- Then add prepared onion mixture. Sprinkle salt, mix and let it cook.
- Meanwhile, onion mixture is cooking, add tomatoes to the same food processor jar. Make it chunky puree. It does not require smooth puree.
- Now onion mixture is cooked, you can see onions become soft and translucent.
- Add pureed tomatoes, red chili powder, and remaining salt. Mix well.
- Add all the veggies (cauliflower, carrot, peas, potatoes) and water, mix well.
- Cover with lid, keep the vent to sealing. cancel the saute mode. Pressure cook on manual (high pressure) for 6 minutes. You can let NPR (natural pressure release). If in rush QPR (quick pressure release) after 5-10 minutes. Once pin drops open the lid.
- Add pav bhaji masala. Using the potato masher, start mashing and mixing. Alternately you can use a hand blender. But be careful not to make pasty smooth puree. It has to be slightly chunky.
- Now turn the saute mode back on and simmer for 2-3 minutes. This simmering time may vary depending on how watery your bhaji is.
- While it is simmering add remaining butter and lemon juice. Stir well.
- Lastly, garnish with chopped cilantro.
- Remove it an individual serving bowl, top with butter, a sprinkle of chopped onions, and serve with pav.
- Toast the pav: heat the pan on medium heat. Meantime cut the pav into half (not all the way through, keep the two slices intact). Once the pan is hot, add little butter, add pav bhaji masala, mix and spread in the pan. Place the pav on it. While the bottom side is getting toasted, apply butter on top. Once the bottom is light brown, fil with spatula and toast the other side. Remove from the pan and serve with bhaji.
Notes
- Butter is a must. It makes bhaji smooth and rich.
- Use good tasting pav bhaji masala. I prefer Everest or MDH brand.
- Potatoes are must, it makes the base of the bhaji. Now you can play with other veggies. Use what you like and what you have in the refrigerator. E.g broccoli, squash, zucchini, beans, corn, eggplant, bottle gourd, cabbage.
- It Is Important When You Add Pav Bhaji Masala. Whenever making pav bhaji in pressure cooker, always add masala after vegetables are cooked. If added along with vegetables and then it is cooked on high pressure, the masala loses its flavor and aroma.
- This recipe makes the medium spicy tasting bhaji. For more spicy taste, increase the amount of red chili powder.
- Do not over mash the bhaji. We do not want a smooth puree kind texture. It should have a grainy texture.
I was feeling lazy to make pav bhaji the regular way and I stumbled upon your rexioe. This recipe came together quickly, and I really loved how easy it was to make. I just had one tiny issue: 1.5 cups water was way too much for my recipe, but I think that's because I didn't add all the veggies in your recipe.
The taste is delicious though and I know I'm going to make pav bhaji in the instant pot from now on!
Thank you for this recipe!
Very glad that you liked the recipe.
Just to confirm, If you have made the 4 serving quantity as mentioned here, I have used 3/4 cup of water only. You can see it is mentioned in the ingredient list.
Made this tonight. It turned out beautifully. Your ingredients and spices are always so well-balanced. Thank you!
Thank you Zarana.
Very glad to know that you liked it.