Chaat Masala: What’s in It, Why It Smells of Sulfur, and How to Use It

What gives chaat masala its sour, salty, faintly eggy kick? Two ingredients most spice blends never touch: dried mango powder (amchur) for the sourness, and black salt (kala namak) for the sulfurous smell, which comes from hydrogen sulfide. This ground Indian seasoning is the finishing sprinkle on chaat, the family of savory snacks like papri chaat and sev puri, and on cut fruit. There’s no fixed formula, but the two recipes we compared share a core of amchur, black salt, roasted cumin and black pepper.

At a glance

What is in it

There’s no fixed formula. Two published recipes show the common core and where cooks go their own way:

Both recipes rest on the same four ingredients: amchur, black salt, roasted cumin and black pepper. Tarla Dalal adds asafoetida. Gulf News adds optional Kashmiri chili and a little pink salt. In the Gulf News version, black salt makes up a full tablespoon, as much as the amchur or the cumin, so this is a salty seasoning as much as a spice blend.⁴ Coriander often shows up in lists of chaat masala ingredients, but it’s in neither recipe.

Tarla Dalal gives each ingredient a job: amchur brings the tangy taste, and black salt brings the classic chatpata aroma and flavor.³

Flavor and the chemistry behind it

Chaat masala hits sour first, then salt, then a toasty cumin warmth and a mild bite from pepper. We know the compounds behind some of those ingredients but not others:

The black salt finding comes from a 2003 opinion by Germany’s Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), which looked at hydrogen sulfide in black salt using a sample imported from Britain. The BfR describes it as a very light, finely ground special salt, used mainly in fruit salads and chutneys, and notes that its sulfurous taste is exactly what cooks want.¹ We found no analysis of a finished chaat masala blend.

How chaat masala is used

Tarla Dalal calls chaat masala multipurpose. It goes over sukha puri, sev puri, papri chaat and fruit or vegetable chaat, and into drinks and sandwiches.³ Gulf News suggests sprinkling it over fruit, crisps, curries or yogurt.⁴ It’s mostly a finishing seasoning, not something you cook into a base. Neither recipe asks you to fry or simmer it.

A couple of tips:

• Taste before you salt. The blend carries black salt, so a dish seasoned with it may need less regular salt.
• If you make your own, roast the cumin only until it’s fragrant. Tarla Dalal warns against burning it.³

For a ready-made swap, see chaat masala substitutes.

Buying and quality

The USDA’s specification for spice blends names fifteen blends, from barbecue to jerk seasoning, but not chaat masala,² and we didn’t find any other standard for it. So the ingredient list is your guide. Look for amchur and black salt near the top. A blend without them won’t taste like chaat masala. Some recipes use regular salt as well as black salt (Tarla Dalal’s does), so check whether salt is listed.

Storage

Tarla Dalal says the blend keeps 2 to 3 months in an airtight container, in the fridge or at room temperature.³ Gulf News just says to store it in an airtight jar.⁴ That’s recipe advice, not a measured shelf life. If the jar has lost its sour, eggy smell when you open it, it’s faded.

Safety

Black salt. The BfR said the available data didn’t allow a firm statement on how toxicologically relevant the hydrogen sulfide in black salt is. Even so, it concluded that the salt poses no health risk to consumers when used as intended in Indian cooking, noting that black salt is used very sparingly and only occasionally.¹

Lead in spices generally. A New York City health department review of 1,496 spice samples collected from 2008 to 2017 found detectable lead in more than half.⁷ The abstract doesn’t break results out by blend, so it tells you nothing specific about chaat masala.

Salt. Black salt is a major ingredient, so chaat masala adds sodium. None of the sources we checked gives a sodium figure for it.

Health claims

You’ll see lists crediting chaat masala’s spices with treating diabetes, lowering blood pressure and aiding digestion. We found no regulator or systematic review backing those claims for the blend, so we’re not making them.

Substitutes and comparisons

• Chaat masala substitutes
• Chaat masala vs. garam masala (see also garam masala)

The main ingredients: mango powder, black salt, cumin, black pepper, asafoetida, chili powder and Himalayan salt.