How to Create an Indian Dinner Party Menu + Sample Menus

Creating an Indian Food Menu

Friends and blog readers often ask me what dishes to pair together when creating a menu. While there are no set rules, I typically aim to serve dishes that differ in taste and texture. I pair a “wet” dish (e.g. butter chicken) with a “dry” dish (e.g. cabbage and peas). And I also try to include a good variety of vegetarian and non-veg.

Take a look at my sample menus below and feel free to switch recipes out! You can find all of my Indian recipes here and all of my Instant Pot Indian recipes here. Nearly all of the recipe suggestions in my sample menus are Instant Pot recipes because they are easy to make and perfect for parties!

Snacks/Appetizers

Before I get into planning a lunch/dinner party, I want to talk about snacks. Depending on the type of event you’re planning you may want to have some snacks. If you’re having a small casual dinner, you can skip this part. But if you’re having a party with several guests, you’ll want to include snacks. It’s very common during “Indian parties” to serve a few different appetizers. This way, you have food ready for friends to munch as soon as they arrive. They can enjoy the snacks while you wait for all of your guests to arrive.

The photo above is from my husband’s birthday lunch. We had around 20 friends over (half adults, half kids) and what you see is our lunch. Before serving lunch, I served the following snacks (not pictured):

• samosas with chutney (store-bought samosas with homemade tamarind chutney and green chutney)
• pani puri with chickpeas and boiled/roughly mashed potatoes and chutney (store-bought puris with homemade tamarind chutney and green chutney, simple raita and spiced pani)
• chicken bhuna

There are tons of different Indian snacks you can serve. This blog post is focused on meals but if you’re interested in more snack ideas, leave a comment to let me know!

Serve the following with each menu listed below:

• Plain Basmati Rice or Matar Pulao
• Naan (when organizing a lunch or dinner party, I serve naan that I buy from Costco or Trader Joe’s)
• Salad
• Raita (yogurt thinned out with a little water, salt and roasted cumin powder)
  • Try my simple beetroot raita
• Pickles or Chutney

Here are Several Sample Menu Plans:

Lunch Party Menu (as pictured in the top photo of me standing by my kitchen island)

This is the menu from the photo above of me standing next to several dishes. On the day this photo was taken, we had around 10 adults and 10 kids at our place and so I doubled all the recipes below in my 6 quart Instant Pot. We had a good amount of leftovers (except for the butter chicken). Everyone finished all the snacks I mentioned in the snack section, so if you’re not going to serve snacks, you likely won’t have leftovers.

• Butter Chicken (Murgh Makhani)
• Keema
• Vegetable Korma
• Langar Dal
• Aloo Beans (Punjabi Potatoes and Green Beans)

(For this particular event, I prepped/cooked everything needed for the snacks as well as the butter chicken, keema and langar dal the day before. I cooked the korma, aloo beans and matar pulao the morning of the party).

Fancy Dinner Party Menu

• Chicken Biryani
• Paneer Onion Masala Stir-fry or Paneer Butter Masala or Tangy Tomato and Fresh Corn Soup (recipe in my cookbook)
• Spiced Buttery Lentils (Dal Makhani)
• Potato and Eggplant in Pickling Spices (Achari Aloo Baingan) or Vegetable Korma (though I wouldn’t serve the korma if you are serving the paneer butter masala)
• Mango Cheesecake or Kheer (Creamy Cardamom Rice Pudding)

Fancy Dinner Party Menu (All Vegetarian)

• Egg Biryani
• Vegetable Korma or Butter Chickpeas
• Aloo Methi
• Spiced Buttery Lentils (Dal Makhani)
• Indian Cheesecake or Sweet Saffron Fruit and Nut Rice (Meethe Chawal)

Weeknight Menu

• Spiced Ground Meat and Rice (Keema Pulao)
• Yellow Lentils with Spinach (palak moong dal) (recipe in my cookbook)
• Cabbage and Peas (recipe in my cookbook) or Potatoes and Cauliflower (Aloo Gobi) or Aloo Beans (Punjabi Potatoes and Green Beans)

Vegan Menu

*substitute ghee with coconut oil and heavy cream with full-fat canned coconut milk

• Vegetable Korma
• Masala Dal
• Potato and Eggplant in Pickling Spices (Achari Aloo Baingan) or Aloo Methi
• Carrot Pudding (Gajar ka Halwa)

Vegetarian Menu

• Masala Egg Roast (Nadan Mutta Roast)
• Lentils in Coconut Curry (Kerala Parippu)
• Mushrooms in an Onion Gravy (Mushroom Do Pyaza) (recipe in my cookbook)
• Butternut Squash Pudding (Halwa)

Keralite Menu

• Kerala Beef Fry (Erachi Ularthiyathu)
• Coconut Rice
• Beet Stir-fry (Beet Thoran)
• Mixed Vegetables in Yogurt Sauce (Avial)
• Sweet Lentils in Coconut Milk (Moong Dal Payasam)

Punjabi Menu

• Butter Chicken (Murgh Makhani)
• Spiced Chickpea Curry (Chole/Chana Masala)
• Potatoes and Cauliflower (Aloo Gobi) or Potato and Eggplant in Pickling Spices (Achari Aloo Baingan)
• Spiced Buttery Greens (Saag)
• Carrot Pudding (Gajar ka Halwa)

Brunch Menu

• Steamed Rice Cakes (idli) or Crispy Crepes (Dosa)
• Aloo Masala for Dosa (recipe coming soon)
• Split Pea & Vegetable Soup (Sambar)
• Spiced Brown Chickpeas (Sookha Kala Chana Masala)
• Sweet Saffron Fruit and Nut Rice (Meethe Chawal)
• Masala Chai/Chai for a Party & Stovetop Chai

Dessert/Chai

I shared some dessert ideas in some of the sample menus above. Dessert is a must when having guests over! You can buy store-bought dessert or if you’re looking for something very simple, try my Instant Pot Kheer!

I also have a recipe for How to Make Chai for a Party in an Instant Pot which is great for a large crowd. Chai is also easy to make on the stovetop. Depending on the crowd, you can offer chai before or after the event. I’ll usually do some type of cocktail/drink to start the party then end with chai but totally your preference!