12 Indian Snacks You Must Try

If you’re throwing a party, these party snacks recipes will come in handy while preparing your menu. Snacks and appetizers are a must-have at every party or celebration.

Vegetarian snacks are prepared in India in a number of ways. Some snacks have different recipes and methods depending on the locale. While some delicacies are extremely popular across India. There are various delicacies that are only popular in certain parts of India.

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Here are 12 Indian snacks that are easy to make and you can serve them to your guests at the party or get-together.

1. Paneer Tikka: Paneer (Indian cottage cheese cubes) are marinated in a spiced yogurt-based marinade, skewered, and cooked in the oven in this Restaurant Style Tandoori Paneer Tikka.

2. Aloo Tikki: A crispy, crusty, and delicious Aloo Tikki recipe. In Hindi, aloo refers to potatoes, while tikki refers to patties. So these are spicy, herby, and tasty potato patties in the Indian way.

3. Onion Pakoda: Onion fritters prepared with gramme flour are a popular street snack in India. It’s a snack that’s simple to make and tastes great. Serve them with green chutney or sweet chutney and fried salted green chilies. This entire meal can be accompanied by Indian chai.

4. Dahi Bhalla: Lentil dumplings are dipped in a creamy whipped yoghurt and topped with spicy and sweet chutneys in this popular North Indian street food snack. Dahi bhalla differs slightly from dahi vada. Papdis, boiling potato cubes, and cooked chickpeas are all added to dahi bhalla, giving it a variety of textures, tastes, and flavours.

5. Pani Puri: Crisp fried dough balls (puri) are packed with potatoes, sprouts, spicy acidic water, or sweet chutney in this popular Indian street snack. You just cannot eat just one pani puri with so many bursts of flavours and flavours in your mouth.

6. Kaman Dhokla: Gujarati cuisine has a nutritious, tasty, and wonderful vegan snack. It’s light and fluffy, with a mildly tangy-sweet flavour that’s perfect at any time of day. This is also a recipe for instant khaman dhokla.

7. Veg Cutlet: Crispy and flavorful vegetable patties cooked with a variety of vegetables. These vegan patties are best served hot with tomato ketchup and green chutney as a late-night snack. They’re a tasty teatime snack that can also be cooked during the rainy season.

8. Bhel Puri: It is a well-known Mumbai street food. Puffed rice is blended with onions, tomatoes, and other chutneys to make bhel puri. This bhel puri is simple to prepare and contains quick recipes for the three chutneys commonly used in bhel puris.

9. Dal Vada: chana dal, onions, and spices-herbs are used to make this renowned crispy and crunchy fried snack. These are crispy and crunchy, and they make a wonderful tea time snack.

10. Bread Pakora: Bread is dipped in a spicy gramme flour batter and packed with potato stuffing before being fried shallow or deep. In most Punjabi households, these bread pakoras are made for breakfast on Saturdays or Sundays.

11. Hara Bhara Kabab: These delightful and nutritious kababs are made with spinach, peas, and potatoes. It’s both nutritious and delicious, and it goes well with any chutney or sauce. They’re frequently fried in a pan. However, you may either bake or air fried them if you like.

12. Samosas: These samosas have a wonderful potato and peas mixture and are flaky and crispy on the outside. This recipe is a true winner, with a beautiful crust and a soothing filling. Give it a shot and you’ll be surprised at how easy and enjoyable it is to cook samosa at home.

Healthy Indian Snacks

It is so easy to pick junk – laden fried foods and sugar when hunger pangs and cravings take over. Here are some of healthy Indian snacks that are full of nutrients.

1. Makhana

Makhana is low-calorie option that is full of nutrients like protein, potassium, fiber, iron and zinc.

2. Oats

Oats is a whole grain food, which is again full of nutrients.

3. Gur Chana

Many Indians used to eat gur chana, it is full of nutrients like protein, iron, calcium etc. It helps in increasing Red Blood Cells.

4. Til Ladoos

Til ladoos is made up of sesame seeds and jaggery. This healthy Indian snacks can cure cancer, prevents degenerative diseases and treats anemia issue.

5. Bhel Puri

Bhel puri is made up of puffed rice, peanuts, vegetables sprinkled with mixed spices and herbs. It is tasty snacks loaded with nutrients.

THE STORY OF LAY’S

There may not be a single Indian who doesn’t love ‘Lay’s’. It is everyone’s favorite potato chips to snack on. But not many know how it began. It all started with this man.

Herman Lay

Herman Lay, a salesperson in Nashville, Tennessee, was the first to sell Lay’s on behalf of Barrett Food Products Company in 1932. (U.S.). During the Great Depression, he was a traveling salesman, selling his chips from the back of his automobile on the roadway. “He believed in giving the most affordable prices and the highest quality products at an arm’s reach of every consumer,”

After six years, when Barrett fell on hard times, Herman bought the firm and renamed it H. W. Lay & Company. H.W. Lay & Company was the company’s original name until 1944 when Herman chose to condense it to the ICONIC Lay’s Potato Chips.

Lay’s Tennessee Valley Popcorn, not potato chips, was the company’s initial product, released in 1938. H.W. Lay & Company didn’t begin making Lay’s chips until 1944. People rapidly grew enamored with the chips. Lay’s had grossed $16 million in revenue by 1957, making it the largest potato chip and snack food manufacturer in the United States.

It became the first snack food brand to advertise on television, with an animated mascot dubbed Oscar-The Happy Potato.

Around the same time, C.E. Doolin was purchasing the recipe for yet another American staple: Frito corn chips. Doolin began preparing them in his mother’s kitchen. In 1961, the two of them partnered up to form Frito-Lay.

In 1962, Lay’s potato chips first crossed the border into Canada. By 1997, Lay’s potato chips had established itself as a popular choice among Canadians, and they remain the country’s favorite potato chip brand to this day. In 1965, PepsiCo acquired the Lay’s brand. Frito Lays, a PepsiCo subsidiary, manufacture Lays.

Fritos, Doritos, Ruffles, Cheetos, Rold Gold pretzels, Munchos, Funyuns, and Sun Chips are all Frito-Lay products. Lay’s, formerly known as Hostess in Canada until 1996, is also known as Walkers in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Smith’s in Australia, Chipsy in Egypt, Poca in Vietnam, Tapuchips in Israel, Margarita in Colombia, Katkoot in Kuwait, and Sabritas in Mexico. Lay’s flavors vary by region: North America, Europe, Australia, Asia, and Africa.

LAY’S DEBUT IN INDIA

Lay’s debuted in India in 1995 and quickly rose to become one of the Before Lays, Uncle Chips dominated the Indian market. In barely five years, Lay’s positioned itself as the principal rival of ‘Uncle Chips’ and grew to become the largest chip manufacturer in India.

Economical chips packets ranging from Rs.5, Rs.10, Rs.20, and Rs.25 were launched to attract customers & According to a study, more than 72 % of residents felt the cost adequate. In 2016, Lay’s had a 50 percent market share in potato chips in India, according to Statista.

Lay’s are prepared with the finest potatoes, cooked in edible vegetable oils, and flavored with wonderful seasonings. Extensive quality control and production techniques are used. It has ISO 14000 HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) certification, USA; TQCSI (Australia) accreditation from the American Institute of Baking (USA), and OHSAS 18001 (Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series) certification, USA.

Lay’s chips come in over 200 different flavors. The chips come in a variety of flavors, like salt & vinegar and barbeque, as well as cappuccino, vegetable soup, and Beer ‘n Brats.

It introduced a variety of Indian and Western flavors, like Classic Salted, American Style Cream & Onion, Chat Chaska, Magic Masala, Tangy Tomato, and Astana Mango, to appeal to both urban and rural markets in India. To attract the health-conscious clientele Frito-Lay potato chips now have zero trans-fats and no added MSG.

Snacking healthy

 We often consider snacks “bad” because a lot of the time people only snack on unhealthy food. But, did you know snacks are as important as any other meals? Snacks if consumed correctly are a great source of energy and nutrients

So, here are a few tips on how to snack healthy:

Avoid eating straight out of a bag: We tend to lose track of how much we eat when we eat directly from the bag. So it is advisable to pour it in a plate or a bowl so you don’t end up overeating.

We eat what we see: When we are hungry we tend to eat the first thing we see. If you go in your kitchen and the first thing you see on the kitchen counter is a bag of chips, chances are you might eat it. Remove all the unhealthy snacks from your sight and instead keep fruits or nuts on the counter. So every time you are hungry you reach out for healthier alternatives.

Planning ahead of time: Plan all the snacks you will be making a week ahead. So, the next time you go grocery shopping you will remember to get the ingredients needed. This will allow your brain to be prepared for making the snacks knowing you purchased all ingredients for it.

Meal prep:  Preparing healthy snacks might seem like a lot of work. We might give up and open a bag of chips instead.

 That’s when meal prep comes to the rescue. We can meal prep by already cutting the fruits or veggies in the morning and place them in small glass containers. This would also make fruits look more appetising and chances are we might eat them. We can also use the fruits and veggies in making smoothies or eating them with our favourite dips. We can also prepare dips like hummus in advance to eat with our veggies.

Spice things up: We normally don’t prefer eating healthy snacks because we don’t think it tastes as good as junk food. So, we need to spice things up a little. Here are some healthy snacks ideas that you can enjoy:

  • Making smoothies of your choice. Smoothies are filled with nutrients and they taste amazing. Add in your favourite fruits in your smoothies and you can always try mixing new things in it to spice things up.
  • Adding pumpkin, sunflower, hemp seeds to your oatmeal or your peanut butter can add extra nutrition to your snacks. You can also add them to your smoothies.
  • Add dips in it. If you are someone who doesn’t like eating fruits alone, you can always dip them in something you like. You can dip your fruits in nut butter or eat your carrots, celery, cucumber, and cherry tomatoes with tzatziki. You can also dip your raw veggies in hummus.
  • Fresh juices. Another thing you can do is prepare fresh juices in the morning. You can have them with your snacks later during the day.
  • Eating raw nuts. Nuts have a lot of health benefits. If you don’t like eating raw nuts you can always add them to your smoothie or you can eat them roasted.
  • Greek yogurt and berries. Greek yogurt is high in protein and berries are a great source of anti-oxidants.

There are a bunch of other healthy snack recipes which are fun and tasty to eat. Eating healthy snacks will fill your craving and give your body the nutrients it needs.