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Aloo Bhorta (Bangladeshi Mashed Potato with Mustard Oil and Chilli)
Boiled potatoes mashed by hand with pungent raw mustard oil, fried onion, charred dried red chillies, green chilli and coriander, a comforting mash eaten with plain rice and dal.
Bangladeshi · easy · serves 4
prep 10 min · cook 30 min
~226 cal · 4g protein · 30g carbs · 10g fat · 4g fiber · 3g sugars · 1g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Bhorta means something mashed, and in Bangladesh almost anything can become one: eggplant, lentils, dried fish, tomatoes, greens. Aloo bhorta, made with potato, is the simplest and the most loved, a daily comfort food spooned beside steaming white rice and dal.
Its character comes from mustard oil and chilli. The potatoes are boiled and mashed with salt and a spoonful of raw mustard oil, whose sharp, nose-tingling bite is essential. Dried red chillies are fried or roasted until almost black and crushed into the potato, and sliced onions are fried until brown; green chilli, garlic and fresh coriander often go in too.
Everything is mixed and kneaded by hand, the way Bangladeshi cooks make every bhorta, and it is often shaped into a neat mound or balls on the plate.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
- 600 g floury potatoes
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp mustard oil, 1 tbsp for frying, 2 tbsp raw for the mash
- 3 to 4 dried red chillies
- 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, sliced
- 2 green chillies, sliced
- 2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
Instructions
- 1Boil the potatoes in their skins for 20 minutes or so, until completely tender. Drain, peel while warm, and mash them with the salt and 2 tbsp of the mustard oil until smooth and free of lumps.✎ Chef’s noteUse the mustard oil raw here. Its sharp, pungent bite is the point of the dish.
- 2Heat the remaining 1 tbsp mustard oil in a small frying pan over medium heat and fry the dried chillies for 1 to 2 minutes, turning, until dark and almost blackened. Lift them out.
- 3In the same pan fry the onion for about 6 minutes, until brown, then add the garlic and green chillies and fry for 2 minutes more.
- 4Crush the fried red chillies into the potato with your fingers, add the onion mixture with its oil and the coriander, and knead everything together by hand. Taste for salt, shape into a mound or small balls, and serve warm or at room temperature with rice and dal.
Bangladeshi home tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Dhaka. Dhaka cooks Bengali fish-and-rice classics, biryani, and an epic love of sweets. Mustard oil, panch phoron spice, and river fish define the Bangladeshi capital's table.
🗺️
Bangladesh. Bangladeshi food is fish-and-rice at its core, famous for mustard-laced hilsa, prawn malai curry, and an unrivaled love of sweets and panch phoron spice. The Bengali table moves through courses, ending sweet.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Bangladesh
Bhuna KhichuriToasted rice and moong dal cooked rich with ghee, whole spices, and caramelized onion, monsoon comfort from Dhaka.
Ruti with Aloo BhajiSoft whole-wheat flatbread with a lightly spiced potato-and-onion curry, the everyday Dhaka breakfast.
Shorshe IlishHilsa fish in a pungent mustard-and-green-chili sauce, the prized national dish of Bengal, eaten with rice.
Browse all Bangladesh recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Skillet or frying pan.
Storing it: Thickens as it sits. Reheat with extra water or milk to loosen, and keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated.
Make it a Bangladesh meal
BorhaniDrink
RoshogollaDessert
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Aloo Bhorta (Bangladeshi Mashed Potato with Mustard Oil and Chilli)?
Boiled potatoes mashed by hand with pungent raw mustard oil, fried onion, charred dried red chillies, green chilli and coriander, a comforting mash eaten with plain rice and dal.
Where does Aloo Bhorta (Bangladeshi Mashed Potato with Mustard Oil and Chilli) come from?
Aloo Bhorta (Bangladeshi Mashed Potato with Mustard Oil and Chilli) is a Bangladeshi dish from Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Can Aloo Bhorta (Bangladeshi Mashed Potato with Mustard Oil and Chilli) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Aloo Bhorta (Bangladeshi Mashed Potato with Mustard Oil and Chilli) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Aloo Bhorta (Bangladeshi Mashed Potato with Mustard Oil and Chilli) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Aloo Bhorta (Bangladeshi Mashed Potato with Mustard Oil and Chilli) take to make?
About 40 minutes total (10 minutes prep, 30 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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