These Open-Faced Samosa Bites are the perfect handheld appetizer and so easy to make with naan – no fiddling with phyllo pastry required.
Ingredients and substitutions
- Naan bread – both store-bought or homemade naan bread will work great. Roti or pita bread can be used as well.
Chicken & potato seasoning
- Chicken breast – chicken thighs can be used instead.
- Russet potatoes – white or red potatoes are also great options for this dish.
- Greek yogurt – sour cream or smooth cottage cheese can be used if you don’t have any Greek yogurt.
- Lemon juice – lime or orange juice will work in a pinch.
- Minced garlic – fresh or jarred minced garlic are both great options. Garlic powder or onion powder can also be used.
- Ginger root – ground ginger or jarred minced ginger will work as well.
- Garam masala – masala curry powder would be the best substitute here.
- Turmeric – using dry mustard or ground ginger will give your filling a pretty similar taste.
- Cardamon – a blend of cinnamon and nutmeg will offer a flavour that is close to cardamon.
- Cumin – chili powder or curry powder are great substitutes for cumin.
- Coriander – though the cilantro from the chutney will give the dish this flavour, you can still substitute the coriander for curry powder or caraway.
- Cayenne pepper – chili powder or paprika can be used in place of cayenne if needed.
- Fennel seed – anise seeds is a great substitute for this. You can also add additional cumin, too.
Toppings
- Cilantro chutney – though I do highly recommend using the cilantro chutney for your recipe, a jarred or homemade salsa can also be used instead. Different chutneys, like mango or tamarind, can work as well.
- Red onion – if red onion isn't your preference, chives, leeks, or white or yellow onion can certainly take its place.
- Tomatoes – use fresh or canned diced tomatoes. Make sure your canned tomatoes are diced and not crushed, as crushed tomatoes would change the texture of your dish.
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How to make this recipe
- Marinate the chicken.
- Blend the chutney.
- Cook the chicken and potato mixture.
- Assemble the naan bites.
- Bake in the oven.
- Drizzle with tomatoes and chutney, serve and enjoy!
Samosa dipping sauce
Though the list of sauces to pair with this dish is endless, my cilantro chutney is super easy to make and can either be drizzled over top of the samosa bites or used as a dipping sauce. It adds some beautiful notes to this meal and takes no more than a few minutes to whip up! If cilantro is not your taste, you could even try a nice mango or tamarind chutney instead.
Frequently Asked Questions
Samosas typically contain savoury ingredients like potatoes, peas and onions that are stuffed into a fried or baked pastry shell. For this recipe, I took all the components of a samosa and made them on little pieces of naan – it’s way easier than having to fiddle with phyllo pastry (and is healthier, too).
This recipe has 114 calories per samosa bite including the cilantro chutney drizzle.
To cut down on multitasking, you can make your chutney ahead of time. Simply follow the given directions and store it in a container in the fridge until you're ready to serve your samosas. Your chicken can also marinate beforehand, if desired, but this can also conveniently be done during the time it takes for your oven to preheat. If you want to make your filling prior to serving, you can certainly cook your filling in advanced and keep it in the refrigerator until ready to reheat and serve.
Storing and reheating
To store your samosa bites, I highly recommend keeping your filling, chutney and naan bread separately until it’s ready to be served. You can cook and cool your filling, then store it in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. You can also refrigerate the cilantro chutney.
To reheat the chicken and potato filling, microwave it for about 2 to 3 minutes or until hot. Then assemble your samosa bites fresh, drizzle with the chutney and enjoy!
Freezing components of this recipe
While you can’t freeze this recipe whole, you can freeze the chicken either raw and marinated or fully cooked for up to 3 months. Store it in an airtight glass container or Ziploc bag. When you’re ready to enjoy, let the mixture defrost in the fridge overnight then cook or reheat following the recipe card instructions.
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More Indian-inspired recipes
- Indian-Inspired Chicken Naan Burger
- Indian-Inspired Chicken Meal Prep Bowls
- Slow Cook Chicken Tikka Masala
Meal prep tools for this recipe
- Grab some glass meal prep bowls for the leftovers.
- I get all my chicken from Butcher Box, conveniently delivered to me frozen.
Open-Faced Samosa Bites {Easy Appetizer}
Ingredients
- 8 pieces naan bread
Chicken & potato seasoning
- 2 chicken breasts
- 1 medium-sized Russet potato
- 1/4 cup Greek yogurt
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1- inch piece of gingerroot minced
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp cardamom
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp coriander
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- Pinch fennel seeds
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
Toppings
- Frozen peas defrosted
- red onion diced
- tomatoes diced
- Cilantro Chutney see below
Cilantro Chutney
- 1/2 cup cilantro chopped
- 5 inch green chili, deseeded (or 1/2 jalapeno, deseeded)
- 1/8 cup Greek yogurt
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Cut chicken into small 1-inch cubes, and marinate with listed ingredients for at least 20 minutes (should be about the time the oven takes to preheat).
- In the meantime, make chutney by blending all ingredients together in a Magic Bullet or blender.
- Cut potato into very small cubes, and rinse off starch thoroughly in cold water. I cut my potato cubes to be as small as my thumbnail so they would cook at the same speed as the chicken.
- Mix potato and chicken together in an oven safe dish and cook in the oven for 22-23 minutes.
- Meanwhile, using a cookie cutter or sharp glass (we have a stainless steel glass that I used), cut naan bread into 2-3 circles. I was able to get 3 circles out of the larger pieces of bread I bought.
- Top naan circles with chicken and potato mixture, peas and red onion. Cook on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 8-10 min.
- Remove from oven and top with tomatoes and drizzle with cilantro chutney. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
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Comments & Reviews
Kate Cook says
What does 5 in green chilis mean? Five inches?
Taylor Stinson says
So sorry Kate, this is one of my older recipes and I believe I meant 5 inches – you can use 1/2 a jalapeno pepper instead 🙂
Kate Cook says
Thanks. That helps.
Mello says
Made this with one exception and it was very good. Instead of cutting the Naan bread into rounds I just left the Naan whole, put it on a cutting board and we just cut into it…like bruschetta. The rounds would be better if you are having a party.
Taylor Stinson says
Oooooh I love the way you made it! What a great idea! Would probably cut down on quite a bit of prep time 🙂