Veg Cutlet Recipe (Vegetable Cutlet)

Veg Cutlet made with mixed vegetables, herbs and spices makes for a great tea-time snack that your whole family will love! Did you know that cutlet is one of the most popular snack eaten across the world. Cutlets come in different shapes, sizes and kinds but one thing is common – They are crisp and additively delicious! These vegetable cutlets are a flavor bomb, super delicious and healthy as they are pan fried.

About Cutlet

The word ‘Cutlet’ is derived from the French word ‘côtelette’ and were a typical starter/appetizer in the French Cuisine. Later they became very popular across the world and are made in numerous ways. Veg cutlet are popular in the Indian cuisine and are made with vegetables like potatoes, carrots, peas, herbs and spices. Like the traditional cutlets, our vegetable cutlets are breaded and fried until crisp.

You may be wondering what a vegetable cutlet is

A veg cutlet is a simple mashed and spiced vegetable patty that is dipped in batter, later dredged in bread crumbs and fried in oil. There are vegetarian and non-vegetarian cutlets made in Indian cuisine. However in all of these versions, potato forms the base of the patties.

My Recipe

This recipe of vegetable cutlet is simple, healthy, gluten-free and vegan. For making any kind of cutlet we need bread crumbs or flour to bind the ingredients. But my recipe can be made without both of them by simply replacing bread crumbs with flattened rice/ poha or roasted gram flour (sattu).

In this post I have shown making cutlets without bread crumbs, for both binding as well for crumb coating. However if you don’t have poha, then you can simply use bread crumbs or panko crumbs.

Apart from potatoes I use peas, carrots and beans. Sometimes I also use cauliflower, baby spinach, broccoli and sweet corn kernels. For a meaty texture you can also add some soya granules (vegetable textured protein).

Sweet potatoes, yam, raw banana and even grated beetroot can be used. But remember that the taste of your cutlets will depend on the veggies you use. So use only the vegetables you like.

These veg cutlets can also be served as burger patties in a Veggie Burger. But are best served with
Coriander Chutney
Green chutney
Schezwan sauce
Mint chutney or chilli sauce.

Apart from making a great tea time snack, they also make a great appetizer & party snack.

Photo Guide

How to Make Veg Cutlet (Stepwise Photos)

Preparation

1. Firstly rinse and fine chop 8 french beans, 1 large carrot to ½ inch and 2 medium potatoes to ¾ inch cubes. You can also use cauliflower and beets. We need

• 2 cups potatoes
• ½ cup French beans
• ¾ to 1 cup carrots
• ½ cup green peas

2. Add them to a steam basket. Pour 1½ cups water to your cooker or steamer. Place a rack or trivet and then place the steam basket in the steamer. Cover and steam them together until fork tender. They must be soft cooked and firm but not mushy or soggy.

To pressure cook, add them to the cooker and pour half cup water. Pressure cook on a medium heat for 2 whistles. When the pressure drops, drain the excess water. To cook in instant pot, pressure cook for 3 minutes and let the pressure release naturally.

3. Make sure there is no excess moisture in the veggies else your cutlets can break down. Coll down slightly and mash them well with a masher.

4. Add 3 tablespoons fine chopped coriander leaves, 1 to 2 chopped and deseeded green chilies, ½ to ¾ teaspoon garam masala and 1 teaspoon ginger paste. Mix everything well. I have also added half teaspoon roasted cumin seeds if you want you may add. I have not listed this in the ingredient list in the recipe.

5. Add 6 tablespoons bread crumbs or start with 2 tablespoons poha powder. I prefer to use powdered poha for a yeast-free option. Mix well to a smooth dough, if the mixture is still too soft, add more poha or bread crumbs. The quantity of poha you require depends on the kind of potatoes and the texture of your boiled potatoes. If they are too soft, you will need more. I use about half cup here but you may need less if your potatoes are different.

Make Poha powder: Simply add ½ cup poha (white or red) to a grinder and grind to a fine powder.

Shape Vegetable Cutlet

6. This is the texture of my cutlet mixture. It should be soft with a good binding but not sticky, too wet or soggy. Divide to 12 portions, roll to balls and flatten to patties. If you have a trouble binding because your mixture is dry, either mash it well again or mix it with wet hands or sprinkle a tbsp of water and mix well.

7. Prepare crumb coating, add half cup bread crumbs or half cup coarsely powdered poha to a plate. Next make a thin batter using 2 tbsp of besan or rice flour and 3 to 4 tbsps water in a small bowl. Place the patty in the batter and coat it well on both the sides. (For a thicker crust, you may use more flour and make a thicker batter.)

8. Place it on the bread crumbs or poha. Make sure the patty is coated with bread crumbs on both the sides. Here I used white poha powder.

9. Repeat this for all the patties and place them on a plate. Leave this aside for about 5 to 10 minutes. This helps the bread crumbs to stick well to the patties. Press down gently each cutlet so the coating sticks well.

10. Heat 2 tablespoon oil in a small pan, shake off the cutlet gently, to remove excess dry crumbs and place them in the hot oil. I used 1 tablespoon oil for every batch of 5 patties. You can also air fry or bake these cutlets following my pro tips section below.

11. Lastly turn the cutlets to the other side and fry until golden. If required drizzle more oil in the pan. Remove to a wired rack to keep them crisp.

Serve veg cutlet with green chutney or any dip.

Pro Tips

• Always steam or boil the vegetables al dente and not mushy. This prevents the cutlets from turning too soft from inside.
• Mash the veggies and then add bread crumbs or poha powder or besan to reduce the moisture in the veggie mash. My preferred choice is powdered poha as it is a healthy choice than the bread crumbs.
• The veg cutlet are dipped in batter made of chickpea or rice flour then crumb coated to make them crispy. You can also coat them with coarse crushed poha (powdered poha)
• Shallow fry them until crisp on a low to medium flame. You can also bake them.
• You can flavor the veg cutlet mixture with any spice powders you like. I have used garam masala.

Baked and Air fryer Veg Cutlet

To bake these veg cutlets, preheat the oven to 360 F or 180 C for 15 mins and place the patties on a greased tray. Bake them for 20 minutes or until the tip becomes golden and crisp.
To air fry, place the cutlets in the air fryer and spray some oil. Air fry at 360 F or 180 C for 16 to 18 minutes.
Air fried and baked cutlets won’t turn golden brown like these. But if you want them golden, then roast the bread crumbs first until light golden and use them for crumb coating.

Variations

1. You can also add half cup crumbled paneer to the mashed veggies to make paneer veg cutlets.
2. Half cup grated mozarella or cheddar cheese can also be added to make cheese cutlets. If using cheese, double coat the cutlets so that cheese doesn’t come out of the cutlets and mess up.

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Recipe Card

Cutlet recipe first published in October 2015. Updated and republished in July 2021.