ઇડલી (અને વરાળથી બાફવાની પદ્ધતિ) ભારતમાં છેક ઇ.સ. ૭૦૦થી જાણીતી હતી. ઇ.સ. ૮૦૦થી ૧૨૦૦ની વચ્ચે ઇન્ડોનેશિયાની આવી રાંધણપદ્ધતિનો પ્રભાવ ભારતીય શૈલિ પર પડ્યો અને તેને કારણે આધુનિક ઇડલીનો ઉદભવ થયો. Earliest mention of the term 'Idli' occurs in the Kannada writing of Shivakotiacharya in 920 AD,</ref> and it seems to have started as a dish made only of fermented black lentil. Chavundaraya II, the author of the earliest available Kannada encyclopaedia, "Lokopakara" (c. 1025), describes the preparation of idli by soaking urad dal (black gram) in butter milk, ground to a fine paste and mixed with the clear water of curd, and spices. The Kannada king and scholar Someshwara III, reigning in the area now called Karnataka, included an idli recipe in his encyclopedia, The Manasollasa, written in Sanskrit ca. 1130 A.D. There is no known record of rice being added until some time in the 17th century. It may have been found that the rice helped speed the fermentation process. Although the ingredients used in preparing idli have changed, the preparation process and the name have still remained the same..

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