• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
The Flavor Bells
  • Recipes
  • Bread
  • Sourdough
  • Drinks
  • Air Fryer
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Recipes
  • Bread
  • Sourdough
  • Drinks
  • Air Fryer
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Recipes
    • Bread
    • Sourdough
    • Drinks
    • Air Fryer
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • ×
    You are here Home » Air fryer recipes

    Pakoras in Air Fryer: Crispy and Healthy!

    July 12, 2022 by Meenakshi 2 Comments

    Please Share!

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    Making pakoras in an air fryer is a very convenient way to make these Indian spiced Fritters. These crispy, healthy, and delicious chickpea fritters can be stuffed with the vegetable of your choice. These quick and simple air fryer pakoras make a perfect teatime snack or can even be served as a side dish.

    crispy pakoras in a plate

    For my non-Indian readers, Pakora is a crispy, spiced, deep-fried fritter made using chickpea flour (gram flour) and vegetables. These Indian fritters are made by deep-frying the chickpea flour batter-coated vegetables like potato, paneer, onions, chili, eggplant, spinach, cauliflower, etc. They are also called bhaji, bora, and bhajiya in many parts of India. I personally love onion pakoda.

    Why will you love this recipe?

    • This is way healthier than the deep-fried pakoras. Very little oil is used in making this recipe. You can make it even healthier by skipping adding oil to the batter.  Stick to cooking oil spray only.
    • This is a vegan air fryer pakora. So, all my vegan friends must give them a try.
    • Pakoras are a great gluten-free snack that can be made healthier in an air fryer.
    • Easy and convenient. Making pakora in an air fryer is way easier and more convenient than conventional deep frying.

    Air fryer vs deep fryer pakoras

    • Deep fried pakoras not just take too much oil, but also take a lot of your active time. Whereas this air fryer pakora recipe offers hands-off cooking.
    •  It needs a certain level of skill to deep fry pakoras. A beginner is certainly not comfortable dropping batter with his hands in the extremely hot oil.  The safety concerns are always there. On the contrary, when making pakoras in an air fryer, there are no hazards involved.
    • Making pakoda in an air fryer is a healthy and convenient way to make them.
    • Without a doubt, the deep-fried pakoras are more crispy and certainly more delicious than the air fryer pakoda. But the above-mentioned advantages make the air fryer a better and healthy choice to make them.
    Jump to:
    • Why will you love this recipe?
    • 🥘Ingredients for making air fryer pakora
    • 🍶Equipment
    • 🔪Instructions to make pakoras in air fryer
    • 🫙Storage Tips
    • ♨️Reheating Instructions
    • 💭Pro Tips and Substitution Notes
    • ❓Frequently Asked Questions
    • 🍽 Related Air Fryer recipes:
    • 📝  Recipe
    • Pakoras in air fryer
    • Nutrition Facts

    🥘Ingredients for making air fryer pakora

    image showing all the ingredients required fro making air fryer pakoras

    Gram flour/ Chickpea flour/ Besan

    These all are the same thing. Back home the gram flour is called Besan. And here in the United States, it is sold as chickpea flour. It is also called Garbanzo bean flour. We need the finer version of it. Please do not use coarse or Ladu Besan that we use for making Indian desserts besan laddu, halwa, or Mohanthal, etc.

    Rice flour

    Rice flour or corn flour enhances the crunch of the pakoras. You can also replace the rice flour with corn flour. It is an optional ingredient; you can simply make pakora with chickpea flour only.

    Onions/ vegetables

    Red onions are what I have used in this pakora recipe. This kind of makes it an air fryer onion pakora recipe. You can make pakora with literally any vegetable. Be it the mushrooms, eggplants, paneer, spinach, cauliflower, potato, or onions. You can use one or more than one type of vegetable in the pakora batter to make pakoras.

    Vegetable oil

    Conventionally when we make pakora batter for deep frying, we do not add any oil to the batter. But for the air fryer pakoras, oil is important as it prevents them from becoming dry and brittle.

    Choose the vegetable oil of your choice. You can also skip it but trust me adding a little bit of oil to the pakora batter makes a great difference.

    Baking powder

    Usually, the pakora batter has a runny consistency. Also, it is beaten or whisked to make it airy and light, so that the pakoras are not doughy and dense. But when we make pakoras in air fryer, we cannot have a runny batter. We make a thicker batter that stays in place. Such batter can make dense and doughy pakoras.

    Adding a little bit of baking powder makes the pakoras a bit light and helps them to crisp better in an air fryer.

    This is something that I have come up with. I have tested it many times and adding one-fourth teaspoon of baking powder makes the air fryer pakoras closer to the deep-fried pakoras.

    Just take care not to overdo it, or else the pakoras will crack.

    Salt and spices

    You can use spices of your choice. But turmeric, cumin powder, amchur (dry mango powder), salt, and pepper are the basic spices that you must add to the pakoras. You can further add heeng (asafetida), chili powder, garam masala, chaat masala, etc. Use whatever you have or like. Make these air fryer pakoras your own.

    See the recipe card for quantities.

    🍶Equipment

    I hate to state the obvious, but for the record. Yes, you need an air fryer for making pakoras in air fryer. You can use oven style or basket air fryer. I have used an 8 qt basket style air fryer for making pakoras.

    🔪Instructions to make pakoras in air fryer

    Step 1 Prep the veggies

    Start by chopping the vegetables that you are going to add to your pakoras. I am only going to chop onions. You can thinly slice the onions or any other vegetables of your choice.

    Step 2 Prepare the batter

    steps of making batter for pakoras to be cooked in air fryer


    Into a bowl add all the ingredients. Start by adding besan and rice flour, followed by all salt and spices. Then add the vegetable oil and combine everything. Let it rest for 3-5 minutes as the onions will melt the salt in the chickpea flour, and release moisture. Then add water to make a thick paste. Do not add too much water. Add 1 tablespoon at a time and mix. Mine took 4 tablespoons of water.

    Step 3 Preheat the air fryer

    To preheat, set the air fryer temperature to 400 0F and let it run with an empty basket for 5 minutes.

    Step 4 Air fry the pakoras

    Now spray the air fryer basket with cooking spray. Then, carefully place a spoonful of batter about an inch apart from the pakoras. An 8 qt air fryer basket will be able to adjust all the pakoras in one batch. But if you have a smaller basket, you might want to do two rounds.

    After placing the pakoras in the air fryer basket, spray them with cooking spray and close the basket. You want to hurry this step as you do not want to cool the preheated basket.

    images showing steps involved in making pakoras in an air fryer

    Then, air fries the pakoras at 400 0F for 12-15 minutes or until they become golden brown. The exact time will depend on the size of the pakoras. The small-sized pakoras took 12 minutes to cook completely. Also, do not forget to flip the pakoras halfway through the cooking time.

    If your batter somehow turned runny, add more chickpea flour to fix the consistency.

    🫙Storage Tips

    Store the leftover air fried pakoras in an airtight container or a ziplocked bag and refrigerate for 3-4 days.

    For prolonged storage freeze the fully cooled pakoras in a freezer-safe ziplocked bag. They last for months when refrigerated.

    ♨️Reheating Instructions

    To reheat the pakoras, air fry them at 375 0F for 3-5 minutes until they heat up and become crispy. You can also reheat the leftover pakoras in an oven at 400 0F for 8-10 minutes.

     Or reheat them in the microwave for a few seconds, but they will not become crispy.

    You can also go for the bake mode in the instant pot to reheat the pakoras.

    💭Pro Tips and Substitution Notes

    • Substitute rice flour with corn flour.
    • Wait out before adding water to the batter. Let the onions release moisture. Then add very little water at a time and mix. Make sure that the batter does not get runny.
    • If your batter somehow turned runny, add more chickpea flour to fix the consistency.
    • The exact time will depend on the size of the pakoras. Big pakoras might take longer than small pakoras to cook. It is always better to make small crispy pakoras than to make big pakoras, which will take longer to air dry.
    • Hurry up the process of making pakoras, or the preheated basket will get cold.
    • An 8 qt air fryer basket will be able to adjust all the pakoras in one batch. But if you have a smaller basket, you might want to do two rounds.
    • Adding a little bit of baking powder makes the pakoras a bit light and helps them to crisp better in an air fryer.


    ❓Frequently Asked Questions

    Can you air fry pakoras?

    Yes, you can make pakoras in air fryer. Note to make a thick batter and use a cooking oil spray to coat the air frying pakoras.

    Why are my air fryer pakoras not crispy?

    To make crispy pakoras, choose the right air fryer temperature for pakora. Air fry them at a higher temperature of 400 0F. If you make them at a lower temperature, they will become hard and dry, but not crispy.

    How do you reheat pakoras in air fryer?

    To reheat the pakoras, air fry them at 375 0F for 3-5 minutes until they heat up and become crispy.

    crispy pakoras made in air fryer served with ketchup and chutney

    🍽 Related Air Fryer recipes:

    Now that you made these pakoras in your air fryer, you might wanna try making more recipes in your air fryer. A few more snack recipes that you can make in air fryer are:

    Some air fryer snack recipes

    • How to make best frozen mozzarella sticks in air fryer?
    • Air fryer crinkle cut fries: Quick and easy!
    • How to cook frozen pizza bites (veggie pizza rolls) in air fryer
    • Frozen potstickers in air fryer: The best way to make frozen dumplings
    • Frozen spring rolls in air fryer: Quick, easy, and crispy!

    Side dish Suggestions:

    • Air Fryer Frozen Broccoli Spiced to Perfection!
    • Frozen Cauliflower in air fryer : A Quick Recipe
    • Air fryer spaghetti squash: Low Carb, Quick and simple!
    • How to fry frozen okra in air fryer? Breaded and plain cut okra
    • Frozen Green Beans in Air Fryer

    Hope you love this air fryer pakora recipe ( bhajiya recipe). Share your results and opinions in the comment section below. Also, subscribe to never miss a recipe.

    Till then,

    Make it fast and delicious!

    📝  Recipe

    healthy and crispy looking pakoras made in air fryer served in a plate

    Pakoras in air fryer

    Meenakshi
    Making pakoras in an air fryer is a very convenient way to make these Indian spiced Fritters. These crispy, healthy, and delicious chickpea fritters can be stuffed with the vegetable of your choice. These quick and simple air fryer pakoras make a perfect teatime snack or can even be served as a side dish.
    5 from 2 votes
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 2 minutes mins
    Cook Time 12 minutes mins
    Total Time 14 minutes mins
    Course Appetizer
    Cuisine Indian
    Servings 4
    Calories 99 kcal

    Equipment

    • air fryer

    Ingredients
      

    • ½ cup Besan (chickpea flour)
    • 3 tablespoon rice flour
    • ½ medium Red onion (Chopped or thinly sliced)
    • ¼ teaspoon baking powder
    • 2 teaspoon vegetable oil
    • ¾ teaspoon salt
    • ¼ teaspoon chili powder
    • ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
    • ½ teaspoon ground cumin
    • 1 tablespoon amchur (dry mango powder)
    • ¼ teaspoon crushed black pepper
    • Cooking oil spray

    Instructions
     

    Step 1 Prep the veggies

    • Start by chopping or thinly slicing the onions or other vegetables that you are going to add to the pakoras.

    Step 2 Prepare the batter

    • Into a bowl add all the ingredients. Start by adding besan and rice flour, followed by salt and spices. Then add the vegetable oil and combine everything.
    • Let it rest for 3-5 minutes as the onions will meet the salt in the chickpea flour, and release moisture. Then add water to make a thick paste. Add 1 tablespoon of water at a time and mix. (Mine took 4 tablespoons of water.)

    Step 3 Preheat the air fryer

    • To preheat, set the air fryer temperature to 400 0F and let it run with an empty basket for 5 minutes.

    Step 4 Air fry the pakoras

    • Now spray the air fryer basket with cooking spray. Then, carefully place a spoonful of batter about half an inch apart from the pakoras.
    • After placing the pakoras in the air fryer basket, spray them with cooking spray and close the basket. Hurry this step as you do not want to cool the preheated basket.
    • Then, air fry the pakoras at 400 0F for 12-15 minutes or until they become golden brown. Do not forget to flip the pakoras halfway through the cooking time.
    • When done, serve the crispy, healthy, and delicious pakoras warm with chutney or sauce of your choice.

    Notes

    • Substitute rice flour with corn flour.
    • Wait out before adding water to the batter. Let the onions release moisture. Then add very little water at a time and mix. Make sure that the batter does not get runny. 
    • If your batter somehow turned runny, add more chickpea flour to fix the consistency. 
    • The exact time will depend on the size of the pakoras. Big pakoras might take longer than small pakoras to cook. It is always better to make small crispy pakoras than to make big pakoras, which will take longer to cook.
    • Hurry up the process of making pakoras, or the preheated basket will get cold. 
    • An 8 qt air fryer basket will be able to adjust all the pakoras in one batch. But if you have a smaller basket, you might want to do two rounds.

    Nutrition Facts

    table of nutrition facts of air fryer pakoras

    Nutrition

    Calories: 99kcal
    Keyword air fryer pakora, onion pakora air fryer, pakoda in air fryer, pakora air fryer, pakoras in air fryer
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

    More Air fryer recipes

    • golden, crispy, and delicious curly fries
      Air fryer Curly Fries: Quick and Tasty!
    • gobi manchurian made in air fryeris topped with greens
      Gobi Manchurian in Air Fryer
    • simple quick white bread made in the air fryer
      Air Fryer Bread
    • a plated tofu nuggets that were made in air fryer
      Air Fryer Tofu Nuggets

    Please Share!

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn

    Subscribe

    for your weekly recipe fix.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Suhasini Arora

      July 27, 2022 at 2:27 pm

      5 stars
      I have tried making pakoras in an air fryer before, but I found that they turned out hard and dry. Your recipe really works. They were soft in the center and crispy on the edges. Just the way I like my pakoras.

      Reply
    2. Sunanda Arora

      July 25, 2022 at 11:42 am

      5 stars
      As instructed I added baking powder and it did help with the texture. This will be my go-to recipe for pakoras in an air fryer. I am excited about trying different combinations of veggies.

      Reply
    5 from 2 votes

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    Hi, Welcome!

    Explore my passion project - a celebration of bread and sourdough recipes - all egg-free! Here you will also find vegetarian dishes inspired by my Indian heritage, bringing together the art of fermentation with the vibrant flavors and traditions I grew up with.

    More about me →

    Popular Bread Recipes

    • sourdough chocolate bread texture
      Sourdough chocolate bread recipe: Easy and delicious !
    • Japanese milk bread with sourdough
      How to make Sourdough Hokkaido Milk Bread
    • wheat pita bread
      A complete guide for wheat pita bread: sourdough/ Yeast
    • hot dog buns made up of sourdough starter
      How to make sourdough hot dog buns from scratch?

    SUBSCRIBE

    Signup for the new recipes!

    Thank you!

    You have successfully joined our subscriber list.

    Popular Air-Fryer Recipes

    • a stack of Frozen spring rolls made in air fryer
      Frozen spring rolls in air fryer: Quick, easy, and crispy!
    • 7 air fried biscuits
      A Guide to Make Biscuits in Air Fryer
    • 10 frozen potstickers made in air fryer served in a plate with sauces
      Frozen potstickers in air fryer: The best way to make frozen dumplings
    • cumin spiced air fryer frozen broccoli
      Air Fryer Frozen Broccoli Spiced to Perfection!

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    About

    • About Me
    • Privacy Policy

    Newsletter

    • Sign Up! for emails and updates

    Contact

    • Contact

    Copyright © 2022 theflavorbells.com

    Rate This Recipe

    Your vote:




    A rating is required
    A name is required
    An email is required

    Recipe Ratings without Comment

    Something went wrong. Please try again.