The Atlas · India's Loudest Department

Indian Street Food & Snacks

53 of India's 416 ranked dishes are street food and snacks, and by our raters the best is Chole bhature, the Delhi chickpea-and-fried-bread breakfast, Nº 400 in the world.

53 dishes ranked·12.7% of the cuisine·1,433 diner ratings·Top rank Nº 400

No cuisine lives on the pavement quite like India's. 53 of its ranked dishes are things you eat standing up, off a paper plate or a folded leaf: the fried potato, the crisp shell, the chickpea gravy, the tangle of sour and sweet the country files under chaat. It skews vegetarian and portable, and almost every stall is a regional accent of the same few techniques.

The best-rated by our diners is chole bhature, the Delhi big breakfast at Nº 400 worldwide, with Maharashtra's batata vada, the potato ball behind Mumbai's vada pav, close behind. Fame keeps its own ledger: the most-reviewed snack here is the samosa, with 290 ratings, well ahead on votes yet only Nº 543 by score. Read them below: the signature snacks, by region, or the complete list of all 53.

The Signature Snacks

Twelve signature street foods in rank order, four told in full, then eight more from the cart.

Chole bhature, street food from India
Plate IStreet Food · Delhi

1Nº 400 worldwide

Chole bhature

Street Food · Delhi

A north Indian feast of two halves, chole, a spicy chickpea curry, served with bhature, a large balloon of deep-fried leavened bread. Put together in Delhi in the mid-20th century, it is a favorite big breakfast, eaten with pickles, raw onion, and a glass of lassi.

★ 4.2|50 ratings

Batata vada, street food from India

2Batata vadaNº 408

Street Food · Maharashtra

A spiced potato ball dipped in chickpea batter and deep-fried, invented in Maharashtra. Mumbai made it immortal by pressing it into a soft pav bun with chutney to create vada pav, the fried potato sandwich that is the city's definitive street food.

★ 4.2|20 ratings

Samosa, snack from India

3SamosaNº 543

Snack · India

A deep-fried triangular pastry with a crisp shell and a spiced filling, most often potato and peas, sometimes lentils or minced meat. It reached India along the old Central Asian trade routes and is now the default teatime snack, served hot with tamarind or mint chutney.

★ 4.1|290 ratings

Chaat, street food from India

4ChaatNº 807

Street Food · Uttar Pradesh

Not one dish but a whole genre of Indian street snacking, its name from the Hindi for licking. Chaats layer salty, sour, sweet and spicy in a single bite: crisp fried bases loaded with potato, chickpeas, yogurt, chutneys and a dusting of chaat masala.

★ 4.1|102 ratings

  1. Aloo tikki, snack from India5

    Aloo tikki

    Nº 819

    Snack · Northern India★ 4.1

  2. Sabudana vada, snack from India6

    Sabudana vada

    Nº 962

    Snack · Maharashtra★ 4.0

  3. Panipuri, snack from India7

    Panipuri

    Nº 1,540

    Snack · India★ 3.9

  4. Medu vada, snack from India8

    Medu vada

    Nº 1,553

    Snack · Maddur★ 3.9

  5. Murukku, snack from India9

    Murukku

    Nº 1,585

    Snack · Tamil Nadu★ 3.9

  6. Papri chaat, snack from India10

    Papri chaat

    Nº 2,020

    Snack · India★ 3.9

  7. Hari mirch ke pakodey, snack from India11

    Hari mirch ke pakodey

    Nº 2,287

    Snack · Andhra Pradesh★ 3.8

  8. Khaman, snack from India12

    Khaman

    Nº 2,317

    Snack · Gujarat★ 3.8

The Gazetteer

Where the carts are

The regions of India with the deepest street-food traditions. Choose one to filter the complete ledger below.

Placed dishes only · top 6 regions

  7. Another 11 ranked dishes are logged simply as pan-Indian, with no single regional home.

The Complete Ledger

All 53 Indian street foods & snacks in the world ranking, every entry.

53 entries
  1. 400 Chole bhature Street Food Delhi ★ 4.2
  2. 408 Batata vada Street Food Maharashtra ★ 4.2
  3. 543 Samosa Snack India ★ 4.1
  4. 807 Chaat Street Food Uttar Pradesh ★ 4.1
  5. 819 Aloo tikki Snack Northern India ★ 4.1
  6. 962 Sabudana vada Snack Maharashtra ★ 4.0
  7. 1,540 Panipuri Snack India ★ 3.9
  8. 1,553 Medu vada Snack Maddur ★ 3.9
  9. 1,585 Murukku Snack Tamil Nadu ★ 3.9
  10. 2,020 Papri chaat Snack India ★ 3.9
  11. 2,287 Hari mirch ke pakodey Snack Andhra Pradesh ★ 3.8
  12. 2,317 Khaman Snack Gujarat ★ 3.8
  13. 2,368 Masala vada Snack Tamil Nadu ★ 3.8
  14. 2,476 Dahi puri Snack Maharashtra ★ 3.8
  15. 2,604 Handvo Snack Gujarat ★ 3.8
  16. 2,632 Katori chaat Street Food India ★ 3.8
  17. 3,090 Aloo chop Snack West Bengal ★ 3.8
  18. 3,573 Litti chokha Snack Bihar ★ 3.7
  19. 4,035 Uttapam Street Food Tamil Nadu ★ 3.7
  20. 4,518 Dabeli Snack Gujarat ★ 3.7
  21. 4,580 Arisa pitha Snack Odisha ★ 3.7
  22. 4,709 Ragda pattice Street Food Mumbai ★ 3.7
  23. 4,844 Masala papad Snack Punjab ★ 3.7
  24. 5,058 Boondi Snack Rajasthan ★ 3.7
  25. 5,107 Pakora Snack India ★ 3.6
  26. 5,543 Ulundu kozhukattai Snack India ★ 3.6
  27. 5,708 Papadum Snack India ★ 3.6
  28. 5,964 Dhokla Snack Gujarat ★ 3.6
  29. 6,129 Onion Samosa Snack India ★ 3.6
  30. 6,499 Bikaneri bhujia Snack Bikaner ★ 3.5
  31. 6,561 Sabudana khichadi Snack Gujarat ★ 0.0
  32. 6,566 Bhelpuri Street Food Mumbai ★ 3.5
  33. 6,797 Chikki Snack Gujarat ★ 3.5
  34. 6,837 Khandvi Snack Gujarat ★ 3.5
  35. 6,910 Upperi Snack Kerala ★ 3.5
  36. 7,106 Kachori Snack India ★ 3.4
  37. 7,369 Shankarpali Snack Gujarat ★ 0.0
  38. 7,386 R Rava idli Snack Bangalore ★ 3.4
  39. 8,142 Sev Snack Madhya Pradesh ★ 3.2
  40. 8,151 Paneer Kathi Roll Street Food Kolkata ★ 3.2
  41. 8,153 Chicken Kathi Roll Street Food Kolkata ★ 3.2
  42. 8,191 T Til pitha Snack Assam ★ 0.0
  43. 8,195 Namak para Snack India ★ 0.0
  44. 8,379 Ganthiya Snack Gujarat ★ 3.1
  45. 8,403 Gajak Snack Northern India ★ 3.0
  46. 9,067 Matthi Snack Punjab ★ 0.0
  47. 9,144 Sev mamra Snack India ★ 0.0
  48. 9,768 Methi na gota Snack Gujarat ★ 0.0
  49. 9,769 Lukhmi Snack Hyderabad ★ 0.0
  50. 9,770 R Rava bonda Snack Karnataka ★ 0.0
  51. 10,029 Amiri khaman Snack Gujarat ★ 0.0
  52. 10,482 P Palakayalu Snack Tamil Nadu ★ 0.0
  53. 10,630 Chorafali Snack Gujarat ★ 0.0

Questions, Answered

Indian street food & snacks, frequently asked, answered from 1,433 ratings.

What is the best Indian street food?
By our diners' ratings the best is chole bhature, the Delhi breakfast of spiced chickpea gravy and a balloon of fried bread, at Nº 400 worldwide. Behind it come Maharashtra's batata vada at Nº 408, the samosa, and Uttar Pradesh's chaat.
What street food is India known for?
The chaat family above all: the crisp, tangy, spiced-and-sour snacks like panipuri and papri chaat, plus the deep-fried staples samosa, aloo tikki and vada. India fields 53 ranked street foods, more than any country here except Italy, and nearly all are vegetarian and eaten on foot.
What is the most famous Indian street snack?
By number of ratings it's the samosa, the fried triangular pastry, with 290 votes, far more than any other Indian snack here. Yet it ranks only Nº 543 by score, behind chole bhature at Nº 400. Fame and rank rarely line up.
What is chaat?
Chaat is the umbrella name for India's savoury street snacks, from the Hindi for "to lick". It piles salty, sour, sweet and spicy at once: crisp fried bases topped with potato, chickpeas, yogurt, tamarind and mint chutney. Panipuri, aloo tikki and papri chaat all belong to it.
Which region of India makes the most street food?
Among dishes with a named home, Gujarat leads with 12 ranked snacks, its steamed and fried besan specialities like khaman, ahead of Tamil Nadu's four and Maharashtra's three. Many entries are logged simply as pan-Indian rather than to one state.
Where else should I look for great street food?
Almost everywhere: worldwide this department runs to 586 dishes from 111 countries, topped by Italy's pizza at Nº 1. Italy fields the most at 93, then Mexico with 43 and the United States with 41. See Street Food & Snacks worldwide.

This Department, Elsewhere

Street food & snacks from India's neighbours and rivals, ranked the same way.

Sri LankanStreet Food & Snacks4MaldivianStreet Food & Snacks4PakistaniStreet Food & Snacks2BangladeshiStreet Food & Snacks1NepaleseStreet Food & Snacks1AfghanStreet Food & Snacks1
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