Dal. Evidence ranking
Dal Makhani
#1 among published recipes we could fairly measure. We use this ranking to build The GüdDish when the method is cook-validated.
Ranking verdict
Close Contest
Number one leads, but number two is still a real contender. Both are strong starting points.
#1 ranked recipe
cookwithmanali.com
· top 25% of 713 analysed
5.00 from 176 ratings
Open recipe at cookwithmanali.com →Answer for citation
#1 published Dal by GüdScore (as of 2026-08-17): Dal Makhani from cookwithmanali.com (of 713 rated recipes across 56 sites). Verdict: Close Contest. That ranking is evidence for building The GüdDish.
Among published Dal recipes we could fairly measure, #1 is Dal Makhani from cookwithmanali.com (713 rated recipes across 56 sites). GüdScore orders them by how far each outperforms its own publisher. That ranking is how we decide what to learn from when we build The GüdDish.
Why it ranked first
This recipe
5.00
cookwithmanali.com avg
4.82
Ahead of its publisher by 0.18 stars. That gap, not the raw rating alone, drives the rank, because a 4.99 on a site where everything is 4.99 means little.
- 176 people rated it, enough that the score is not resting on a handful of opinions.
- That combination puts it in the top 25% of every Dal recipe we analysed.
Runner-up: Dal (Indian Lentil Curry) (recipetineats.com), ★ 4.94 from 62 ratings.
What this takes
5 · 2 hr 10 min total · 10 min prep · 17 ingredients · 20 steps
- 3/4 cup urad dal sabut (whole black lentil) (165 grams)
- 1/4 cup rajma (red kidney beans) (60 grams)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3.5 cups water (28 oz)
- 1 tablespoon ghee
- 3 tablespoons butter (divided, use amul butter (salted) if possible)
- 1 medium white onion (115 grams, finely grated using a food processor)
- 2 teaspoons ginger garlic paste (use fresh paste if possible)
- 1/2 cup tomato puree (use store bought tomato puree)
- 1/2 teaspoon kashmiri red chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon garam masala
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- 1.5 cups water (12 oz, as needed)
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 cup cream (60 ml)
- more amul butter (salted) (for serving)
- piece of charcoal (optional, for giving dal a smokey flavor)
The GüdDish · draft · cook QA in progress
GüdDish Dal
This is the dal we cook at home when we want the best result without juggling ten tabs. We read the strongest recipes we could find, kept the ingredients and techniques that overlap again and again, and cut the rest. What is left is one combined method: the best of the best, easy to handle, easy to run, and built to come out right every time.
serves 4 to 6
65 min total
4 steps
Needs cook QA
Preview draft GüdDish →
We already drafted The GüdDish from the field. It is not cook-validated yet, so Rank stays primary until QA is green. We do not ship a half-tested recipe as the answer.
Full evidence ranking
Showing 10 of a 10-slot list for this dish’s pool of 713 scored recipes. First 10 clear the full CrowdScore floor (at least 20 ratings and 4.5+ stars), ordered by how far each beats its own publisher after we adjust for rating volume. Star ratings and counts are the publisher’s public evidence when present. Close places can still reverse with more data.
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1Dal Makhani5.00 from 176 ratings
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2Dal (Indian Lentil Curry)4.94 from 62 ratings
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3My Go-To Masoor Dal Recipe (Red Lentil Dal)4.98 from 98 ratings
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4Chicken Dal Curry4.87 from 46 ratings
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5Spinach Lentil Dal Recipe4.80 from 135 ratings
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6Dal Nirvana4.82 from 55 ratings
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7Dal Makhani Recipe (Authentic Punjabi Style)4.94 from 343 ratings
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8Dishoom’s Black Dal Recipe4.82 from 118 ratings
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9Red Lentil Dal Recipe (Indian Masoor Dal)4.89 from 27 ratings
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10Masoor Dal Chilla | Savory Red Lentil Pancakes4.83 from 118 ratings
Major publishers (ratings not CrowdScore-verified)
Some major publishers show star totals without review-level data we can audit. Those aggregates never enter CrowdScore. They can still appear here as honest publisher claims or as method references. Below: top claims for this dish.
Behind the evidence
713Recipes rated
56Sites
9,594Ratings
HighOrdering confidence
What enters GüdScore
We only put a recipe in GüdScore when we can check the evidence behind its rating at the review level. Sites that only publish closed aggregate stars, without recoverable reviews, stay outside that score rather than being quietly down-weighted. Where we can rebuild ratings from raw public reviews, we do that before a recipe competes. Full methodology: How GüdScore works.
FAQ
What is the best Dal recipe?
#1 published Dal by GüdScore (as of 2026-08-17): Dal Makhani from cookwithmanali.com (of 713 rated recipes across 56 sites). Verdict: Close Contest. That ranking is evidence for building The GüdDish.
How does GüdDish pick a winner?
We search the open web for methods, measure rated recipes with GüdScore (evidence engine), study ingredients and techniques that set the strongest ones apart, then build one GüdDish. GüdScore does not hand you a single best recipe alone. Details: https://guddish.com/method.html
What does the verdict mean?
The Rank verdict describes the published-recipe competition, not a grade for The GüdDish. Clear Winner means number one is well ahead. Close Contest, Photo Finish, and Split Decision mean the top recipes are hard to separate. Limited corpus means we analyzed fewer recipes than a mature dish.
Why are some big publishers missing from GüdScore?
GüdScore only includes ratings we can audit at the review level. Sites that only expose closed aggregate scores, without recoverable review data, stay outside that score. Their recipes may still inform technique. See How GüdDish works for the full rules.
How often is this updated?
This page’s data was last scored or re-synced on 2026-08-17.
The public Rank is the top 10. The rest of the scored pool lives in the JSON API, not on this page.