Table of Contents
Watch This Video: Tips To Buy Crunchy And Tasty Boondi For Raita | Buying Guide
Best Boondi Brands in India
1. Best Boondi For Delicious, Crunchy Raita: Haldiram’s Boondi
Haldiram’s boondi is tastiest and crunchiest boondi we tested. It made the tastiest bowl of raita, as the boondi brings in its own delicious flavors.
Size: 200 grams, Price: Rs. 44*
*At the time of review
Haldiram’s Boondi scores big in visual appeal too; the gram-flour balls are consistent in shape and size, making it look appetizing. It was delightfully crunchy, and retained its crunch for a long time even after being soaked in curd.
2. Best Boondi For Delicious, Crunchy Raita: (Runner’s up) Bikano’s
Bikano’s came a close second in our review. It is as crunchy as Halidram’s, and makes a tasty bowl of raita. But we found the boondi to be a bit more salty. If you like your raita a bit saltier than normal, then Bikano is a good alternative and ticks all the checkboxes.
Size: 85 grams, Price: Rs. 20*
*At the time of review
3. Gopala’s
Gopala’s is largely a Delhi-NCR brand and is not widely available. It’s a little spicy, and has South Indian flavors thanks to the use of kadi-patta/curry leaves. Although Gopala is more expensive than the rest, but if its South Indian style raita you are looking for then Gopala’s is a good alternative.
Our Review Process
How we picked brands:
We looked at the most popular brands at supermarkets and online grocery stores like Amazon and Big Bazaar for this review. A few brands like Garden and Bikano were easily available at local kiraanas, while brands like Brij, Veer’s and Neelam Foodland were available online.
A lot of local brands were found to be selling boondi which could also be eaten as a ‘namkeen’. Since our review is about finding the best boondi for raita, boondi-namkeen brands were not made a part of our list of brands to be reviewed.
We picked the 200 gm packets, the standard size available everywhere.
Haldiram’s Boondi (plain) (Buy on Amazon)
Aakash Namkeen Raita Boondi (Buy on Amazon)
Veer’s Diet Raita Boondi (plain) (Buy on Amazon)
Neelam Foodland Plain Boondi (Buy on Amazon)
Thapar Crispy & Delicious Namkeen Khari Boondi (Salted) (Buy on Amazon)
Instamunch Ready to Cook Instant Mix- Boondi Raita (Buy on Amazon)
Ingredients in major boondi brands: Quick look
How We Tested:
Lets’ face it, all of us love boondi! And it’s hardly surprising that this crunchy gram-flour based preparation is enjoyed both as a savory and a sweet dish. Our search revolved around finding the most delicious, and crunchy boondi that would make for the tastiest boondi raita.
During our review we checked for taste and crunchiness. We observed the boondis on form and structure (how well developed were the little boondi balls) and how consistent in size they were. All brands were taken though our special Mishry Secret Sauce (read more about our Secret Sauce tests here) to arrive at final winners.
Factors we observed each brand on:
1. Colour, appearance
A robust, healthier colour was desirable. Boondi that looked pale was scored low.
2. Shape and form
We eat with our eyes, the appearance of our food matters a great deal. Well-rounded, consistently sized boondi is much more appealing. We looked for consistency in size and boondi that was well-shaped, not broken or crumbly.
3. Crunch
Boondi is traditionally made using 100% gram flour. And the consistency of the batter matters a great deal to eventually make the boondi crunchy. However, some recipes also add rice flour and/semolina for added crunch.
The flavors in boondi are crucial to making the raita tasty. To understand the individual flavors of each brand, we did several rounds of dry-tasting of the 10 boondi brands. These were blind-tasting sessions where samples were marked from 1 to 10.
Mishry Secret Sauce:
Good boondi is only as good as the raita is makes! And that’s why, our Mishry Secret Sauce for this review was about making boondi raita, using all the brands. We used the same samples, that were used for the blind, dry-tasting of bonds to make 10 different bowls of raita.
For this we used Nestle a+ nourish, one of the winners from our Best Packaged Dahi review, for making all the bowls of raita. We used a standard mix of curd, salt and freshly ground zeera powder for making all raitas. (What’s Mishry Secret Sauce? Read more here…)
Result of Mishry Secret Sauce:
The most delicious raita came from the bowl we made using Haldiram’s boondi. It was simply the tastiest and crunchiest raita amongst all 10 bowls. Here too, Bikano came a close second.
Conclusion
Haldiram’s Boondi emerged as the winner in our Tastiest and Crunchiest Boondi review.
If you do agree with our review, please give it a like! If you don’t, please tell us why! And, which one is your favorite from this list.
Food & Beverage is a constantly evolving segment with new categories of products launched daily. Our endeavor here is to help shoppers buy better. Our reviews are unbiased, all samples we use during our reviews are paid for by us. Read our entire ethics statement here.