What is benne dosa, the dish making Delhi queue up outside a new eatery?
A benne dosa is a Karnataka-style dosa best known for one thing: butter.
Benne, the food institution, hardly needs an introduction. After creating ripples in Mumbai’s Bandra, it has now landed in Delhi’s Greater Kailash, with people lining up in large numbers just to get their hands on its benne dosas. But what is it about this particular kind of dosa that’s drawing such crowds? Indulgence could be one reason. To understand the dish better, we dug deeper.
What exactly is a benne dosa?
A benne dosa is a Karnataka-style dosa best known for one thing: butter.
“Benne” literally means butter in Kannada, and unlike regular dosas, where oil is used sparingly, benne dosas are cooked generously in butter, often both on the tawa and brushed on top before serving.
The result is a dosa that’s rich and aromatic, crisp on the outside, soft within, and unmistakably indulgent.
Long before it became a menu headline or a viral reel, benne dosa was a modest street-side invention in Karnataka's Davanagere. In the early decades of the 20th century, a woman named Chennamma began selling rich, butter-heavy dosas outside a local theatre, cooking them to sustain her household.
What started as a simple, ghee-laced ragi dosa slowly evolved when her sons began experimenting with the batter—switching to rice, adding avalakki for a softer texture, and pairing it with urad dal. The defining flourish was generous homemade white butter, or benne, which gave the dosa its signature richness.
By the 1940s, the dish had travelled beyond Davanagere, finding a loyal audience in Bengaluru through family-run eateries such as the Mahadevappa Benne Dosa Hotel, cementing its place in Karnataka’s food canon. Two legendary names are almost inseparable from the dish: CTR (Central Tiffin Room) and Vidyarthi Bhavan.
These places have been serving benne dosas for decades, often with queues snaking outside and recipes that have largely remained unchanged. You may have seen viral Instagram reels where servers stack multiple plates of dosas effortlessly, serving waiting patrons in a matter of seconds.
What makes it different from a regular dosa?
The batter
Traditionally made with rice and urad dal, the batter often includes a small amount of poha (flattened rice) or, in some versions, maida. Fermentation is mild, resulting in a thicker batter that’s less tangy than a typical dosa batter.
The texture
It’s neither paper-thin like a plain dosa nor spongy like a set dosa. Instead, it’s crisp around the edges and soft, slightly fluffy on the inside.
The cooking fat
Unlike most dosas, benne dosa is cooked almost entirely in butter—not oil or ghee. The butter seeps into the dosa, giving it its signature aroma and richness.
What is it served with?
This is where benne dosa really stands apart. It is traditionally served with coconut chutney, a dollop of butter on top, and sometimes a simple saagu or palya, not sambhar. Unlike many South Indian breakfasts, sambhar is often absent or strictly optional.
Why is it so popular now?
By now, it’s clear that benne dosa isn’t new. So why the sudden obsession? Its popularity has as much to do with timing as with taste. Benne dosa sits at the intersection of nostalgia, regional food pride, and social-media discovery—where dishes that feel rooted and familiar are finding new audiences far from where they originated.
Have you ever had a benne dosa?
Benne, the food institution, hardly needs an introduction. After creating ripples in Mumbai’s Bandra, it has now landed in Delhi’s Greater Kailash, with people lining up in large numbers just to get their hands on its benne dosas. But what is it about this particular kind of dosa that’s drawing such crowds? Indulgence could be one reason. To understand the dish better, we dug deeper.
What exactly is a benne dosa?
A benne dosa is a Karnataka-style dosa best known for one thing: butter.
“Benne” literally means butter in Kannada, and unlike regular dosas, where oil is used sparingly, benne dosas are cooked generously in butter, often both on the tawa and brushed on top before serving.
The result is a dosa that’s rich and aromatic, crisp on the outside, soft within, and unmistakably indulgent.
Long before it became a menu headline or a viral reel, benne dosa was a modest street-side invention in Karnataka's Davanagere. In the early decades of the 20th century, a woman named Chennamma began selling rich, butter-heavy dosas outside a local theatre, cooking them to sustain her household.
What started as a simple, ghee-laced ragi dosa slowly evolved when her sons began experimenting with the batter—switching to rice, adding avalakki for a softer texture, and pairing it with urad dal. The defining flourish was generous homemade white butter, or benne, which gave the dosa its signature richness.
By the 1940s, the dish had travelled beyond Davanagere, finding a loyal audience in Bengaluru through family-run eateries such as the Mahadevappa Benne Dosa Hotel, cementing its place in Karnataka’s food canon. Two legendary names are almost inseparable from the dish: CTR (Central Tiffin Room) and Vidyarthi Bhavan.
These places have been serving benne dosas for decades, often with queues snaking outside and recipes that have largely remained unchanged. You may have seen viral Instagram reels where servers stack multiple plates of dosas effortlessly, serving waiting patrons in a matter of seconds.
What makes it different from a regular dosa?
The batter
Traditionally made with rice and urad dal, the batter often includes a small amount of poha (flattened rice) or, in some versions, maida. Fermentation is mild, resulting in a thicker batter that’s less tangy than a typical dosa batter.
The texture
It’s neither paper-thin like a plain dosa nor spongy like a set dosa. Instead, it’s crisp around the edges and soft, slightly fluffy on the inside.
The cooking fat
Unlike most dosas, benne dosa is cooked almost entirely in butter—not oil or ghee. The butter seeps into the dosa, giving it its signature aroma and richness.
What is it served with?
This is where benne dosa really stands apart. It is traditionally served with coconut chutney, a dollop of butter on top, and sometimes a simple saagu or palya, not sambhar. Unlike many South Indian breakfasts, sambhar is often absent or strictly optional.
Why is it so popular now?
By now, it’s clear that benne dosa isn’t new. So why the sudden obsession? Its popularity has as much to do with timing as with taste. Benne dosa sits at the intersection of nostalgia, regional food pride, and social-media discovery—where dishes that feel rooted and familiar are finding new audiences far from where they originated.
Have you ever had a benne dosa?