Palak Khichdi is a wholesome vegetarian dish made with lentils, rice, and spinach. This gluten-free dish cooked in ghee, earthy cumin, and warming garam masala makes an amazingly flavorful and satisfying meal.
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What is Khichdi
Kitchari, Khichri, or Khichdi is a nourishing, porridge-like Indian comfort food that makes an easy-to-digest, healthful meal. This variation to the simple dal khichdi is loaded with fresh spinach (Palak in Hindi) for added nutrition and flavor boost, making it a complete meal.
Serve the piping hot palak dal khichdi with a spoonful of homemade ghee and pair it with roasted papad ( a large, thin, disc-shaped crisp, made from lentil flour) and pickle for a comforting weeknight meal.
A Perfect one-pot meal for the whole family
Khichdi has been my go-to meal for many busy weeknights. My boys grew up eating khichdi. As babies, they were introduced to solids via soft-cooked Khichdi. Once they got used to the textures, I slowly introduced them to spices such as turmeric, cumin, and garam masala by adding them to the Khichdi. After a long tiring workday, Khichdi was the easiest and tastiest meal I could put together.
Over the years, I have made many different versions of Khichdi including a few South Indian varieties. Here is a list of our family favorites:
I learned this Palak Khichdi recipe from my mom back in 2017 and my whole family instantly fell in love with the creamy textures and warming flavors from homemade garam masala.
How to Make Spinach Khichdi
Here is my step-by-step recipe on how to make the best palak khichdi. Assuming you are using an Instant Pot or a pressure cooker to cook your rice and lentils, this recipe can be ready in under 45 minutes.
Step 1: Rinse rice and lentils and drain the water. Add rice, lentils, water, and salt to the Instant Pot insert and pressure cook for 6 minutes followed by 5 minutes natural pressure release. If using a stovetop pressure cooker, cook for about 15 to 20 minutes or 3 whistles.
Step 2: In a large pot bring 8 to 10 cups of water to boil. Add green chilies, baby spinach, and blanch for 1 to 2 minutes or just until the spinach starts to wilt. Take the spinach and chilies out in a colander and run cold water over it to prevent the spinach from overcooking. Drain out the water completely.
Step 3: Add garlic cloves, ginger, and blanched spinach and chilies to the blender and make a smooth puree. Tip - If you do not like the fibers from the spinach make sure to puree well.
Step 4: In a large pot heat ghee (Tip - I dry the pot used for blanching spinach and use it for making the khichdi). Add cumin seeds and allow them to sizzle, about 30 seconds. Add finely diced onions and cook for 4 to 5 mins. Stir in garam masala, salt, and spinach puree. Next, add the cooked rice and dal (from step 1 above) with more ghee and mix everything together. Serve immediately with more ghee and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Serving
For the best taste, serve piping hot khichdi immediately along with roasted papad and spicy pickle. Plain yogurt is often served with Khichdi and is great to enhance healthy gut bacteria. To reheat Khichdi, simply microwave it in serving bowls with additional ghee.
Pro Tips
- Short grain rice such as Ambe Mor or Kali Jeera rice works best for this recipe as it makes soft, porridge-like khichdi. In a pinch, you can also use Basmati or Jasmine rice.
- Pre-washed baby spinach works great for this recipe as it cuts down on the prep time
- Puree the spinach really well if you do not like to see the fiber strands in the khichdi
- This is a great dish for when you are feeling under the weather or sick. Not only is it comforting but it is packed with vitamins, iron, and magnesium that will help boost your immune system
Variations
- This recipe makes medium spicy khichdi, but you can adjust the number of green chilies or completely omit them when serving to babies or toddlers, or elderly family members
- Use Jalapeno Serrano chili instead of the small Indian green chilies
- To make with brown rice khichdi, increase the pressure cook time to 22 minutes followed by natural pressure release
- To make vegan khichdi substitute neutral vegetable oil for the ghee
- You can also use frozen spinach instead of fresh, the color may not come out as vibrant but the khichdi will still taste equally good
Love spinach? Here are some of our favorite Indian Spinach Recipes:
- Palak Paneer- This restaurant-favorite paneer dish can be made in just 15 minutes using Instant Pot.
- Spinach Dal - A staple in Indian homes, these creamy lentils are cooked in warm spices such as cumin, turmeric, and garlic and packed with fresh spinach.
- Chana Saag - Curried chickpeas cooked with spinach in a tangy onion-tomato-based sauce that is perfectly spiced with turmeric, cumin seeds, and garam masala.
- Spinach Sev - Crunchy savory snack made with gluten-free gram flour that is quick to make and utterly delicious as a snack or party starter.
Did you enjoy this healthy Indian vegetarian dish? Here are some more family-friendly recipes that will also be good for babies, toddlers, or even elderly family members:
Recipe
Palak Khichdi
Ingredients
- 1 cup short-grain rice Ambe mor or Kali Jeera or similar variety
- ½ cup mung dal
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 4 cups water
- 1 to 3 small green chiles use more or less depending on the spice level
- 1 pound baby spinach
- 8 garlic cloves
- ½ inch ginger
- 3 tablespoons ghee plus more for serving
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 medium yellow onion finely diced
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- freshly ground pepper optional for serving
Instructions
- Rinse rice and lentils and drain the water.
- Add rice, lentils, water, and salt to the Instant Pot insert and pressure cook for 6 minutes followed by 5 minutes natural pressure release. If using a stovetop pressure cooker, cook for about 15 to 20 minutes or 3 whistles.
- In a large pot bring 8 to 10 cups of water to boil. Add green chilies and baby spinach and blanch for 1 to 2 minutes or just until all the spinach wilts.
- Take out the spinach and chilies and run cold water over them so the spinach stops cooking further. Drain out the water completely.
- Add garlic cloves, ginger, and blanched spinach and chiles to a blender and make a smooth puree. Tip - If you do not like the fibers from the spinach make sure to puree well. I enjoy the fibers in the khichdi so I usually blend just for a minute.
- In a large pot heat ghee (Tip - I dry the pot used for blanching spinach and use for making the khichdi). Add cumin seeds and allow them to sizzle, about 30 seconds. Add finely diced onions and cook for 4 to 5 mins.
- Stir in garam masala, salt, and spinach puree. Then add the cooked rice and dal (from step 1 above) with more ghee and mix everything together.
- Serve immediately with more ghee and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Video
Notes
- This recipe makes medium spicy khichdi, but you can adjust the number of green chilies to more or less or completely omit them when serving to babies or sick patients
- Small Indian green chilies can be substituted with Jalapeño or Serrano chili
- Puree the spinach really well if you do not prefer the fiber strands from spinach
- To make with brown rice khichdi, increase the pressure cook time to 22 minutes followed by natural pressure release
- To make vegan khichdi substitute neutral vegetable oil for the ghee
- You can also use frozen spinach instead of fresh, the color may not come out as vibrant but the khichdi will still taste equally good
Nutrition
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Jordan says
Hi can you clarify how much baby spinach ? Thanks
Archana says
Good catch! It's one pound. I added it to the ingredient list.
Ragini Menon says
Hi can you clarify what one serving is ?
Archana says
Its hard to describe as everyone can eat different portions. Basically a nice meal for 5 people 🙂
Jennifer Goodfellow says
The instructions didn't say to cook the ginger or garlic so it's essentially raw - which makes the garlic, especially, quite potent. Should the garlic and ginger actually be blanched with the spinach?
Archana says
It gets cooked along with the onions, doesn't need too much cooking since its a paste.
Rajani says
I tried it today. I added 1/4 cup oats and 3/4 cup rice and it turned out super yummy. Thank you for the recipe.
Shilpa says
Turned out very good! You can’t taste the spinach but it added to the nutritional value. Thanks for the creative recipe.
BR says
Made this and it was very good, thank you for sharing! Do you have any comments/thoughts on replacing rice with quinoa (ex: pressure cooking time etc.)?
Archana says
It will ve yummy with quinoa too! check out my quinoa recipe for cook times - https://ministryofcurry.com/instant-pot-quinoa/
Nandita says
Perfect instructions have resulted in a perfectly tasty recipe! So good for a weekday dinner! 🙂
SR says
If using frozen spinach, do we still need to blanch the spinach?
Archana says
squeeze out excess water
Shivda Pandey says
Delicious. Flavorful. Wholesome. Easy to make for a weeknight dinner. Ultimate comfort food. Thanks, Archana!
Sai Pradyumna says
Is it alright to try a different variety of rice, say 'Sona Masoori' variety?
Archana says
Absolutely
Alma Chandrasekharan says
Amazing taste! Made it on a rainy day and it was perfect! Thank you for such a simple recipe! I didn't have mung dal so used masoor dal and broken green gram dal !
Ketaki says
My 2 year old picky eater loves this! Thank you for the recipe! It has become a staple in our household.
KP says
Hi, can the blanching of the spinach be skipped? Does it impact the flavor?
Archana says
Blanching spinach will remove the raw taste of spinach
K says
If I could give this 10 stars, I would. This was so comforting and delicious. I used extra garlic and fried some to add over the topic. I ate it with lemon pickle, yogurt and banana chips. My kids also polished off their plates. Such a keeper!
Archana says
Thank you!