10 Best Indian Food that You Can Have in the USA

India is a land of many cultures and every culture has its own set of festivals, rituals, languages, dialects, and food. Every Indian state has its own unique cuisine and style of cooking. There are fans of Indian food, outside of India (a lot of them being in the USA). If you are staying in the USA and want to try an Indian dish, then we would suggest you start with the list mentioned below.

Tandoori Chicken

Tandoori chicken is a delectable dish from India that has its own share of fan following across the globe! It is made by marinating chicken in Indian spices, curd, and Indian herbs. The chicken is marinated overnight which imbibes all the flavors in the chicken and also makes it tender and juicy. After marination, the chicken is cooked in a clay oven (aka Tandoor in India). This dish tastes best with mint chutney.

Chaat

Chaat is a quite famous street food in India and is commonly available in makeshift stands on Indian streets. There are over 100 varieties of Chaat that you can eat; boiled potatoes, tomatoes, onion, green chili, etc. being a few common ingredients of almost all the Chaat varieties. Chaats are sweet & sour, tangy, and spicy; in short a burst of different flavors, all at once, in your mouth! Some of the popular Indian Chaats are, Pani-Puri, Papdi Chaat, Aloo Tikki Chaat, etc. You can also get creative and make your version of Chaat by using the ingredients of your choice (we can call it the USA version of Indian Food!)

Samosa

Samosas are like Calzones just that the inside stuffing is made with Indian spices, herbs, veggies, etc. (also the shape is like a cone!). Traditionally, a filling made of boiled potato, peas, and Indian spices is stuffed inside the samosa; however, you can stuff any filling of your choice (meat, salsa, noodles, etc.). You can deep fry or air fry this Indian snack and serve it hot with a dip (coriander chutney, ketchup, etc.) of your choice.

Rogan Josh

Rogan Josh is a curried meat delicacy that belongs to Kashmir and has become a world-famous dish! The prime ingredient of this dish is red meat (goat meat, lamb meat, or mutton) which is cooked in slow flame along with herbs and yogurt. You can serve this Kashmiri curry along with Indian bread (aka Naan, Tandoori Roti, etc.) or plain steamed rice. When you devour this curry, you will see that the juicy and tender meat is falling off the bones. In short, it is this is an extremely delicious Indian dish that you cannot miss.

Vada Pav

Vada Pav is an Indian burger that contains a lot of Indian spices and Indian sauces. Traditionally, a patty is made with potato mixture (which is dipped in chickpea flour paste), which is then placed between a Pav (like a burger bun) and topped with coriander sauce, tamarind sauce, etc. You can also add a spice mix inside the Pav if you like spicy food. This is served with fried green chilies. It is so easy to prepare that you can make it in your home; There are some online grocery stores like quickly where you will easily get all the ingredients delivered to your home at a discounted price using promo codes, from an online grocery delivery app. 

Butter Naan

This is a kind of Indian flatbread that is made with dough made of white flour or all-purpose flour, oil, Indian herbs, yogurt, yeast, etc. This flatbread is cooked in “Tandoor” (aka Indian Oven) over the charcoal flames. You can top it up with a generous amount of butter, coriander leaves, garlic, etc. to make it more delicious. You can also stuff veggies, meat mince, cheese, cottage cheese, etc. inside this flatbread and serve it with Indian gravy.

Butter Chicken

Butter Chicken is a dish from Punjab where the chicken is cooked in buttery tomato gravy to make it a perfect non-veg curry from India. If you love chicken and can tolerate Indian spices, then this is a must-try for you! Usually, it is eaten with a variety of Indian flatbreads, but you can also serve it with steamed plain rice.

Masala Dosa

Dosa has a crepe-like texture and taste, just that Dosa is made with a batter of rice & lentils. The Dosa batter has a water-like consistency and is fermented overnight. A spoonful is evenly flattened on a hot plate and is cooked only on one side. On the inside, you can stuff potato masala (which is the traditional Masala Dosa eaten in Southern India), chicken/ mutton mince, veggies, kababs, etc. You can also apply a variety of sauces, Indian gravy, etc. to make it even more delicious.

Aloo Gobhi

Aloo Gobhi has gained an international fan-following in recent times. This is a cauliflower and potato curry that is packed with Indian spices and Indian flavor. You can serve it as a side dish along with bread & rice, or you can have it as a main dish as well. An innovative way of using this Indian curry is to stuff it in between sandwich bread and have a grilled yummy Indian sandwich!

Gulab-Jamun

We cannot end this list without an Indian dessert! There is a plethora of Indian desserts that you can try but quite a popular one is Gulab-Jamun. This is made with condensed milk (a very thick consistency one), all-purpose flour, and dry fruits. This and many Indian sweets are main attraction of Indian festivals like Diwali, Holi, etc. (sweets in Diwali is a must for an Indian, even in USA!).