Dum Aloo is a North Indian curry with baby potatoes simmered in onion and tomato-based gravy, spiced with turmeric, red chili pepper, garam masala, and garnished with dried fenugreek leaves. This vegetarian Instant Pot recipe is ready in under 30 minutes with creamy kid-friendly flavors that can be easily spiced down or up. A perfect weeknight dinner and a sure-hit dish for potlucks and parties!
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This Recipe originally published in April 2017 has been updated with new photos, a video, and tips.
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Mom's signature recipe
Dum aloo is my mom's signature recipe that I grew up eating. The baby potatoes are cooked to perfection in a smooth, aromatic, and creamy sauce with a hint of homemade garam masala , and dried fenugreek leaves that take the flavors and aromas to the next level. Just like my EASY Palak Paneer and Mushroom Masala, this creamy, restaurant-style Indian curry uses a swirl of cashew paste to round up the flavors.
Ingredient Spotlight
- Baby Potatoes - red or yellow baby potatoes in this recipe, traditionally the potatoes are peeled for this recipe but you may choose to keep the skin on for added nutrients.
- Spices - Kashmiri red chili powder, turmeric, garam masala add the perfect warmth and authetic flavors to this curry
- Ginger and Garlic - fresh homemade ginger and garlic paste
- Tomatoes - I like to add store-bought tomato puree to this dish which adds vibrant red color to the dish. You can use homemade tomato puree by simply pureeing 3 rough-chopped ripe tomatoes in a blender.
Tips and Substitutes
- Potatoes - You can buy red or yellow baby potatoes, available in most grocery stores. A mix of 2 also works well. Coring baby potatoes is an optional step. I know that is the most tedious step in this recipe, so go ahead and skip coring potatoes. It will be still delicious If you do not find baby potatoes, use Yukon gold or Russet potatoes, peel, and cut into big 2-inch pieces
- Tomatoes - 1 cup of store-bought tomato puree can be used in place of fresh tomato puree
- Gluten-Free - The curry itself is gluten-free. Serve with rice for a gluten-free meal
- Vegan Dum Aloo - Use cooking oil instead of ghee and soak cashews in water instead of milk.
- Kid-Friendly - Adjust the garam masala and Kashmiri red chili powder to make the dish less spicy
- Nut Allergies - Use heavy cream or unsweetened coconut cream instead of cashew cream
- Dried fenugreek leaves - These are not the same as fenugreek seeds. So simply skip it if you do not have them
How to make Dum Aloo
- Peel the potatoes and core about half an inch using a pairing knife. Reserve the cored potato bits as we will be adding them to the sauce. (photos 1 -4)
- Set the Instant Pot to Sauté mode and heat ghee. Add onions and cook for 2 minutes with a glass lid on. Add ginger and garlic paste, tomato puree, turmeric, red chili powder, garam masala, and salt. Cook on saute mode for a minute. Next, add the potatoes, the carved-out pieces, and water. Give a quick stir and close the Instant Pot. Pressure cook(Hi) for 8 minutes followed by Quick Release (photos 5 - 8)
- Open the Instant Pot and add dried fenugreek leaves, cashew paste, and chopped cilantro. Set the Instant Pot to Sauté mode and mix everything together. Add salt to taste. Bring to a gentle boil and then turn the Instant Pot off. (photos 9 - 12)
Serving
Serve with homemade whole wheat parathas and crunchy cucumber salad. You can also serve the dum aloo with roti, kale parathas, cabbage parathas, methi thepla, or naan. For a gluten-free meal serve with Basmati rice, Brown rice, or Yogurt-Rice
Storing
Refrigerate leftover Dum Aloo for up to 5 days. To reheat simply microwave or heat on the stovetop. This is also a perfect make-ahead dish.
Love Indian food? Here are some more delicious Indian Instant Pot Recipes:
- Aloo Rasedar
- Curried Baby Eggplant
- Curried Chickpeas
- Spicy potatoes
- Vegetable Kurma
- Pav Bhaji
- Misal Pav
★ Have you tried this recipe? We love your feedback, Please click on the stars in the recipe card below to rate.
Recipe
Instant Pot Dum Aloo
Equipment
Ingredients
- 10 baby potatoes peeled and cored from the top (save the carved out potato pieces)
- 2 tablespoons ghee
- 1 large yellow onion finely diced
- 2 teaspoons ginger grated
- 2 teaspoons garlic grated
- 2 tomatoes pureed
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 tablespoon Kashmiri red chili powder or any other mild red chili powder
- ½ teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup water See Note 8
- 15 cashews
- ¼ cup warm milk or water for dairy free
- 1 tablespoon kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
- ¼ cup cilantro chopped for garnish
Instructions
- Soak cashews in warm milk for 10 minutes and set aside. Blend together to make smooth paste and reserve.
- Set the Instant Pot to saute mode and heat add ghee. Add onions and cook for 2 minutes with a glass lid on, stirring few times. Add ginger and garlic paste, cook for 30 seconds.
- Add the carved-out pieces from the potatoes. Add tomato puree, turmeric, red chili powder, garam masala, and salt. Cook everything on saute mode for 2 minutes with glass lid on, stirring a couple of times. Press the cancel button to turn off the saute mode.
- Add the potatoes to the Instant Pot insert along with the water and give a quick stir. Close the Instant Pot, and pressure cook(Hi) for 8 minutes followed by Quick Release.
- Stir in dried fenugreek leaves, cashew paste and chopped cilantro. Set the Instant Pot to Sauté mode and mix everything together. Add salt to taste. Bring to gentle boil and then turn the Instant Pot off. Serve with hot parathas.
Video
Notes
- Potatoes - You can buy red or yellow baby potatoes, available in most grocery stores. A mix of 2 also works well. Coring baby potatoes is an optional step. I know that is the most tedious step in this recipe, so go ahead and skip coring potatoes. It will be still delicious If you do not find baby potatoes, use Yukon gold or Russet potatoes, peel, and cut into big 2-inch pieces
- Tomatoes - 1 cup of store-bought tomato puree can be used in place of fresh tomato puree
- Gluten-Free - The curry itself is gluten-free. Serve with rice for a gluten-free meal
- Vegan Dum Aloo - Use cooking oil instead of ghee and soak cashews in water instead of milk.
- Kid-Friendly - Adjust the garam masala and Kashmiri red chili powder to make the dish less spicy
- Nut Allergies - Use heavy cream or unsweetened coconut cream instead of cashew cream
- Dried fenugreek leaves - These are not the same as fenugreek seeds. So simply skip it if you do not have them
- BURN Error - The newer Instant Pots are more sensitive to the BURN. You may need to add an extra ¼ cup of water.
Nutrition
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Maya says
Absolutely delicious and sooo easy!! I used unpeeled fingerling potatoes instead of baby potatoes so I could skip the coring process.
Archana says
Love the idea of using fingerling potatoes!
Prasanna Raja says
Your recipes never disappoint us Archana. You made cooking dum aloo sound so simple yet delish. I have tried several times and its a hit every single time.. I should try coring the potatoes next time but it's just the lazy me which makes me skip the process. Still we were able to enjoy heartily.
Thanks a bunch for doing all the hard work to give us such quality recipes. This dish deserves 5 stars!!!
Archana says
Thank you so much!! It's def a fail-proof recipe.
Moeena Iyer says
What’s the reason for carving out the potato pieces?
Archana says
That helps the potatoes cook evenly. I have also cooked the recipe without coring and the instant pot does a great job of cooking them to perfection!
Dee (Masala Paleo) says
This is such a delicious and simple recipe. Different from the way I cook Kashmiri Dumaloo. It was great to try this variation! Coring it is such a great tip!
Archana says
So glad you enjoyed it!
Teresa says
Delicious! Even the kid liked it! I was so happy that it was an instant pot recipe. The jarred tomato puree was perfect.
Archana says
Thank you!
Deepa says
Hi. This is one of my absolute favorite recipes and we are planning to make it for our wedding! Since we want to make it ahead of time, I’m wondering how you would recommend freezing it. Also, how do we reheat it if we freeze?
Archana says
Congratulations!! Cool it down and then freezer in an air-tight container. To reheat defrost completely overnight or a day ahead and then reheat on chaffing dish.
Mat says
Taste was good but mine got burnt … may be it needs more water
Archana says
I am so sorry yours got burnt. Newer Instant Pots are more sensitive. I will add more tips to the recipe but for future please add extra 1/4 cup of water.
Ann says
I got the burn signal 3 times, ended up using about a cup of extra water and brought it to pressure on low, then switched to high. Was absolutely delish one I finally got it cooked
Archana says
Newer Instant Pots are a bit more sensitive, next time add an extra 1/4 cup of water. Thank you for the feedback.
Heather says
My husband had a really tough day at work yesterday (okay, an entire tough week), and he really loves potatoes so I thought I'd try this recipe to cheer him up and it definitely worked. He was over the moon - I think he ate half the pan. 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing this!!
K Whitehead says
I absolutely love, love, love this recipe. I used miniature potatoes --almost the size of seed potatoes-- which made them a bit harder to core, but it was still doable. I doubled the spices used (we really enjoy spicy flavors). 10/10, can't wait to cook again.
Sangini says
Hoping to make this soon! About how much cream does 15 cashews produce? Looking to replace appropriate amount with heavy cream to make it nut-free.
Archana Mundhe says
You can add half a cup of heavy cream
DDean says
I notice how many people say they skip coring the potatoes... The addition of the potato skins makes the gravy so much richer. I don't know why someone would skip that step!? This recipe is so easy and delicious!
Archana Mundhe says
Thank you!
Sarah W says
I made this curry tonight, it’s the best most authentic curry I have ever made. I didn’t have ghee so I used coconut oil and I used chopped tomatoes instead of puréed as it was what I had in the cupboard. I plan on buying the correct things next week and making it again, I will try double batches as it was brilliant. This is the first of the recipes I’ve tried from this site, I’m looking forward to trying more. Thank you for publishing it!
Archana Mundhe says
I'm so glad to hear that you loved the curry! Using coconut oil and chopped tomatoes as substitutes is a great way to adapt with what you have on hand, and it sounds like it still turned out amazing. Making double batches next time sounds like a smart idea, especially when a recipe is that good. I hope you enjoy trying out more recipes from the site—happy cooking, and thank you for your kind words!"
I'm so glad to hear that you loved the curry! Using coconut oil and chopped tomatoes as substitutes is a great way to adapt with what you have on hand, and it sounds like it still turned out amazing. Making double batches next time sounds like a smart idea, especially when a recipe is that good. I hope you enjoy trying out more recipes from the site—happy cooking, and thank you for your kind words!"
I'm so glad to hear that you loved the curry! I hope you enjoy trying out more recipes from the site—happy cooking, and thank you for your kind words!
Sam Fraley says
Someone said that this recipe is fail proof.... I have managed to fail .... with oversized potatoes. DO NOT USE BIG POTATOES. Even after I cut them in half they were still too big. Did fix this by adding tomato paste and soup to create more sauce for the potatoes to cook in (and of course adding extra of the seasoning in).
I also added in curry leaves and powder along with some cardamon, which went well with the flavor profile of the dish!
I also added chickpeas and roasted cauliflower for protein and a vegetable. I turned this 3 person dish into enough food for a 4 person family + leftovers (served with basmati rice)
Happy eating!!!! Fantastic recipe would be better if I hadn't messed it up lol.
Archana Mundhe says
Thanks for sharing your experience! It sounds like you made some delicious adjustments along the way. Your additions of curry leaves, cardamom, chickpeas, and roasted cauliflower sound fantastic. You basically turned this recipe into a flavor-packed, hearty meal for everyone. So glad you still enjoyed it, and I hope the next round is even better!
Jo says
If this recipe has to be made in pressure cooker , how many whistles ?
Archana Mundhe says
Two whistles should be enough for baby potatoes. If they still seem undercooked after opening, just close the pressure cooker and let them simmer on low heat for another 5 minutes. Let me know how it turns out!