- Country of origin
- 🇮🇳 India
- Category
- Main Course
- Difficulty
- ●●○ Medium
- Preparation
- 20 min (+ 2h marinating)
- Cooking
- 45 min
- Servings
- 6 people
History
Vindaloo is a curry originating in Goa, the former Portuguese colonial trading post on India’s west coast, whose name is thought to come from a corruption of the Portuguese “carne de vinha d’alhos,” a pork dish marinated in wine and garlic that Portuguese colonists likely introduced as early as the 15th or 16th century. Locally, Goan cooks replaced the wine, hard to source there, with palm or cane vinegar, and enriched the dish with Indian spices such as chili, cumin and turmeric, turning it into something far bolder than its Portuguese ancestor.
Traditionally made with pork in Goa, vindaloo has spread widely to Indian restaurants around the world in forms quite far removed from the original recipe, especially in the United Kingdom, where it has often become synonymous with an extremely spicy, almost caricatural curry — a far cry from the acid-forward balance of the original Goan version, which remains defined above all by the tang of vinegar rather than sheer heat.
Ingredients — for 6 people
- 800 g (1.75 lb) pork or lamb, cut into pieces
- 4 tbsp wine vinegar or palm vinegar
- 6 garlic cloves, ginger, dried chilies
- Cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, cloves
- 2 onions, crushed tomatoes
Step-by-step Indian vindaloo recipe
- Blend the garlic, ginger, rehydrated dried chilies and spices with the vinegar into a smooth paste.
- Marinate the meat in this paste for at least 2 hours, ideally overnight in the fridge.
- Sauté the sliced onions until deeply golden.
- Add the marinated meat and brown it on all sides.
- Stir in the crushed tomatoes and a little water, cover, and simmer gently until the meat is very tender.
- Adjust the seasoning with salt and vinegar to taste before serving with rice.
Cooking method
Technique: a long, acidic vinegar marinade that tenderizes the meat and builds flavor before a slow simmer melds it all together.
Traditional equipment: mortar and pestle for the spice paste, a large clay pot for simmering.
Benchmarks: always marinate the meat overnight if possible; too short a marinade gives a flat vindaloo, lacking its signature acidic depth.
Nutrition, per serving
Calculated from the raw ingredient quantities above, divided by six servings.
Notable amounts: carbohydrate is low, coming mainly from the onions and the small amount of dried chili and spice used, rather than from any starch in the sauce itself. Fiber sits around 3 g per serving from the dried chilies and onions together.
Economic context
Vindaloo’s Portuguese ancestor called for wine, an imported good in colonial Goa; Goan cooks substituted the locally produced palm or cane vinegar instead, a swap that both cut cost and gave the dish its now-defining tang.
Source: World Bank / FAO, Food Prices for Nutrition database (Cost and Affordability of a Healthy Diet) v4.0, 2024 data, CC BY 4.0, DOI 10.57966/41AN-KY81. Retrieved 29 July 2026. This figure describes the cost of a healthy diet in India generally — it is not a costing of this specific recipe.
Who this dish suits
Fits well with
- Low-carbohydrate, higher-fat eating patterns
Worth knowing
- The signature tang comes from vinegar, not primarily from chili heat — genuine Goan vindaloo is less extreme than many restaurant versions abroad
- No dairy or gluten in the standard recipe
What about you?
In your opinion, where’s the best place or restaurant to enjoy great vindaloo?