Badam halwa recipe – An easy Dessert or Sweet that can be prepared on any festive occasion like holi, durga puja, lakshmi puja or even for Iftar. Badam halwa is quite popular in South India and makes it appearance in the sweet stalls and restaurants. Like any other halwa, this one too gets the flavor and taste from the pure ghee used.
Badam ka halwa is prepared by soaking almonds, then blending them. Later cooked with sugar, ghee and milk to yield a delicious halwa.To make a vegan version, just skip milk and use water for blending, replace ghee with coconut oil or almond oil of your choice.
I don’t have the habit of using food colors, so i used saffron and it is optional. In the past i had made this badam halwa with out saffron and felt apart from giving a good color to the halwa, doesn’t add any significant fragrance or taste. So you can very well skip using it.
To make the badam halwa more aromatic, I would recommend using good cardamom powder or few drops of rose water.
If you reduce the quantity of ghee than mentioned in the recipe, cook it only till it is of a semi thick consistency otherwise it is hard to eat since it becomes dry.
For variations, you can add khoya or mawa towards the end.
Related recipes: Diwali Sweets Recipes and Diwali Snacks
More Halwa recipes
Carrot halwa
Moong dal halwa
Lauki halwa
Badam halwa recipe (almond halwa recipe)
Badam halwa recipe | Badam ka halwa | How to make badam halwa
Almond halwa or badam halwa is a Indian dessert prepared with ground almonds, sugar and milk. It is a festive delight and is great to include in a special meal.
Ingredients (240 ml cup used)
- 1 cup badam or almonds
- ¾ cup sugar (you can reduce by 2 tbsp)
- 1 pinch saffron or kesar (optional) or natural food color
- 1/8 tsp cardamom powder or ealichi
- ½ to ¾ cup water or milk
- 4 to 6 tbsp ghee or 2 to 3 tbsp virgin coconut oil
- ¼ tsp rose water (optional)
How to make the recipe
Preparation for badam halwa
Bring 2 cups water to a boil in a pot. Add badam and leave them for 2 to 3 minutes. Then drain the water and soak them in fresh water for 30 to 40 mins. You can also soak badam in lot of water for 3 hours and skip putting them in hot water.
Peel off the skin and rinse them.
If you have blanched almonds, you can skip the previous step and soak them for about 2 hours.
Add badam to a mixer jar. Blend badam, cardamoms, saffron with milk or water to a slightly coarse paste. Usually badam halwa is slightly of fine rava texture.
You can also add sugar and blend together, this way there are less chances of the badam halwa turning lumpy.
How to make badam halwa
Heat a nonstick pan or heavy bottom pan. Add 3 tbsp of the ghee and heat it. Then add the ground badam paste. Cook till the halwa thickens, constantly stirring to prevent burning.
If you have not added sugar earlier then add it now and mix. The entire mixture turns gooey. Continue cooking stirring often. In between add 1 to 2 tbsp ghee in intervals and stir.
Very soon the badam halwa begins to leave the sides of the pan. Switch off and add a spoon of ghee.
Serve badam halwa in bowls. Garnish with chopped pistas and almonds.
Preparation for badam halwa or almond halwa
1. Soak almonds for about 3 to 4 hours. To quicken the process, you can also boil 2 cups of water. Then add almonds to it. Leave for 2 mins and drain the water. Then soak in fresh water for 30 to 40 mins.
2. Peel off the skin and rinse them. Its easy to peel the skin if they are soaked well.But do not over soak them, the halwa turns sticky if soaked for very long.
3. Add almonds, water or milk, skinned cardamoms and saffron to the blender jar. I also added sugar at this stage as it helps to blend the almonds easily and prevents the badam halwa from turning lumpy.
4. Make a slightly coarse paste like rava. Badam halwa is usually of a fine rava texture.
How to make badam halwa or almond halwa
5. Heat a heavy bottom pan or preferably nonstick pan. Add ghee.
6. Pour the ground almond paste.
7. Constantly stir and cook.
8. Very soon the badam will begin to leave the sides. Add the sugar at this stage if you have not added while blending.
8. If you have used saffron, you will begin to see the halwa getting better color as it is cooking and blending well with sugar.It got a better color now after cooking for about 8 minutes. When it thickens, add little more ghee and stir. Add ghee in intervals twice or thrice. You should not stop stirring to prevent burning.
9. Keep cooking until badam halwa leaves the sides of the pan. Then turn off the stove. The halwa thickens when it cools down.
Badam halwa is ready. Garnish with sliced cashews.
Jyoti says
Looks Delicious. Can I add some cashews for blending?
swasthi says
Yes you can add a handful. You may need to add more sugar. Thanks for rating
Shalini says
Yummy 😋. Love this. Will be trying this soon.
Shalini says
Thank you so much it came out good
swasthi says
Welcome Shalini
Tha rani devi says
Nice recipe. ..I tried .but it is slight sticky..pls tell me what goes wrong
swasthi says
Hi Rani devi,
Do you mean sticky from the sugar? If it is due to sugar, then it means you overcooked it. The sugar may have reached a string consistency. Just add some milk and ghee. Heat it.
Shashi says
Hai it’s toooo yammy mouth watering. I should try dis
swasthi says
Thanks Shashi