Besan Ladoo is among the most loved Indian sweets, which is not only made during Diwali, but also during festivals and poojas throughout the year. Mostly because these ladoos are melt-in-mouth delicious, but also because they are fairly easy to make, requiring only a handful of readily available ingredients like gram flour, powdered sugar, ghee & some flavorings. Today I am sharing my besan ladoo recipe with step by step photos and video, along with tips on how to make them, and mistakes to avoid while making besan ladoos, so that you can make and enjoy these delicious besan ladoos with your family too. 🙂
Ingredients You Need
Ingredient notes:
- Fine besan vs ladoo besan – I have used fine besan here, but you can use ladoo besan flour which is coarser instead, or if you are using fine besan, then add a couple spoons of rava / semolina for that coarser texture of ladoo that is more popular in Northern India. I like how the ladoos turn out using the regular besan, and no rava, so I stick to that.
- Flavoring and garnish – You can add raisins, or even your choice of crushed nuts to the ladoos, right along with the sugar and elaichi powder. I skipped it this time because I have a picky eater who doesn’t like raisins and nuts in the ladoos. So I chose to garnish with crushed pistachios instead. You could do both.
How to Make Besan Ladoo
Seive the besan flour, and then in a wide pan, lightly heat up the ghee, add in the sieved besan flour, mix well, and roast the besan on a LOW flame, stirring constantly – till it turns golden in color & leaves a light nutty fragrance. This step might take about 30 minutes — on a LOW flame, and all the stirring means this is quite the hand workout. But this step of roasting the besan is key to making good besan ladoos. So do not try to speed up the process by increasing the flame, as the besan flour will get burnt, while still being raw. And do not turn off the heat prematurely before you see the besan turning lightly golden in color & leaving a nutty fragrance.Also, when you first add the besan flour to ghee & start to mix it in, it will form clumps (as you can see in image #3), but as the besan gets roasted, it will loosen up & form a smooth, paste-like consistency (image #4).
Once the besan is roasted well, transfer the besan paste in another container, so that it doesn’t keep cooking (image #5). And let the besan paste cool for 5-10 minutes till it cools down just a bit, but not too much, as it is best to start shaping the ladoos while the flour is still warm, because it binds better. That being said, it does need to cool down to warm and not be hot when you add powdered sugar, else the sugar will further loosen up the besan, and it will be difficult to shape the paste into ladoos.Meanwhile, sieve the powdered sugar, and add elaichi powder, raisins and chopped nuts of your choice to it (image #6). Like I mentioned earlier, I have skipped the raisins and nuts in this case to cater to my picky eater.Once the besan paste is warm, but not too hot, mix it in with the powdered sugar, elaichi powder, and raisins or nuts. This will form a soft, a little crumbly dough (image #7), which you can then shape to form ladoos.
To make a ladoo – take a small portion of the flour mix in the palm of your hands, and press the mixture tightly together, while slowly trying to shape it into a small ball. Repeat with the rest of the mixture, and place the ladoos on a serving tray to set for 5-10 minutes before you serve.Finally.. with besan ladoos, if you do not achieve your desired ladoo shape at first attempt, try to shape it again in 5-10 minutes. But do not let it stay longer than that, before you try to re-shape the ladoos, because otherwise the ladoo shape will be more firmly set & trying to re-shape it will lead to cracks in the ladoo.Garnish with crushed pistachios, or crushed nuts of your choice, and enjoy!
Tips for Making Good Besan Ladoos
1. ROASTING the Besan
This is the single most important step to pay attention to. The quality and taste of the besan ladoos will mostly depend on how well you have roasted the besan. Under roasting the besan will lead to the ladoos tasting of raw flour, and over roasting the besan will lead to the ladoos tasting bitter or burnt.
2. LOW Flame is Key
While roasting the besan flour, it is important to keep the flame LOW at all times. Do not try to speed up the process by increasing the flame, as it will lead to the flour getting burnt, while still being raw.
3. CONSTANT Stirring
It is very important to constantly stir the besan flour while it is getting roasted, even though it can be quite the hand workout. Because it’s also the only way to ensure that the besan will get well and evenly roasted.
Mistakes to Avoid While Making Besan Ladoos
1. Adding Powdered Sugar to Hot Besan Paste
When you take the roasted besan paste off the heat, it is important to let it cool down a bit, till it is still warm but not too hot, before adding / mixing in the powdered sugar, elaichi & flavorings. Because adding the sugar to hot besan paste, will make the paste loosen up further, which will then make it difficult to be shaped into ladoos.
2. Waiting Too Long to Bind the Ladoos
Once the besan paste has cooled down a bit to where it is still warm, but not too hot, and you have mixed in powdered sugar & flavorings, it’s important to start binding the dough into round ladoos immediately, as the dough is at its most pliable at this time. That being said, the dough might be too soft to be shaped into perfectly round ladoos. In which case you can try re-shaping the dough in 5 ish minutes or so. But do not wait too long before you try to shape / re-shape the ladoos, because once the dough starts hardening up, you might see cracks in the ladoos you shape / re-shape.
Storing the Ladoos
You can store these ladoos at room temperature in an airtight glass container for a few weeks, even a month without them going bad. That is IF they last that long before getting devoured. 😀
Video Recipe
More Indian Sweets / Diwali Recipes:
Churmundo /Wheat Flour LadoosMysore Pak Recipe with time stampsKhasta Nankhatai – 30 min recipe As always, I hope you found this recipe useful. If you did, please let me know your rating ⭐️ and feedback 📲 in the comments below, or simply rate the recipe right on the recipe card. I’d really appreciate it. ❤️
📖 RECIPE
This post was first published in Oct 2018, and has been republished with updated notes /photos and recipe video in Nov 2020. If you’d like FREE recipes and meal prep ideas delivered directly to your email inbox every Friday in one short email, then subscribe to the Foodie Friday list HERE, and never run out of ideas on what to cook over the weekend or prep for the week ahead. 🙂
