Besan ladoo recipe – Ladoo are ball shaped sweets from Indian Cuisine and are made for most festivals and celebrations. Besan ladoo are sweet balls made from chickpea flour, sugar, ghee and nuts. It is said that Lord Ganesha loves ladoos too apart from modak / modhakam. So a variety of ladoos like Coconut ladoo, Suji/ Rava laddu, delicious Bondi ladoo and Peanut laddu are also made for Ganesh chaturthi.
To make these besan ladoo, chickpea flour is roasted in ghee until aromatic and turns to a dark golden to light brown color. The flour is then cooled down a bit, powdered sugar and nuts are added, the mixture is then shaped to balls.
Few years ago we used to buy ready besan ladoo packs very frequently. We no more buy them for health reasons. Since then I make these at home few times a year.
The recipe I am sharing here is from the pack of ladoo besan I buy. It works out good with any kind of besan – smooth or coarse.
To make good delicious besan ladoo, choose the best quality and fresh besan available in the market. You can also get the chana dal milled in a flour mill to make fresh flour.
Some folks prefer to use coarse besan which gives a nice crunch in every bite of the laddu. The quantity of ghee that is absorbed by the coarse variety is less than the fine flour. You can use coarse or fine flour to suit your liking.
You can also check these easy 30 ladoo recipes and 100 + Diwali sweets recipes on the blog.
Besan ladoo recipe
Besan ladoo
Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )
Ingredients for besan ladoo
- 2 cups besan or chick pea flour or gram flour
- 1 ¼ cup organic sugar or boora shakkar or powdered jaggery
- 4 to 5 green cardamoms or elaichi
- ½ cup ghee (if needed add 1 tbsp more)
- ¼ cup Cashews chopped
- 2 tbsp raisins (optional)
How to make the recipe
Preparation
- Powder the sugar finely with elaichi.
- Heat ghee and fry nuts. Set aside 3 tbsp ghee and cashews.
- Add flour and stir well. If ghee is not sufficiently coated over the flour, use 1 tbsp more ghee.
- On a medium to low flame keep stirring and roast until the besan turns aromatic. It also begins to turn dark golden in color. You must consistently keep stirring otherwise the flour may get burnt.
- At one stage when the besan is roasted well, the ghee begins to ooze out from the flour.
- Remove the pan from the stove. Cool down little so that it is easy to handle.
How to make besan ladoo
- Add powdered sugar and nuts. Stir and check if the flour can bind well to make the ladoos.
- If it is dry, add the ghee as needed little by little.
- When the flour looks greasy enough, do not add any more ghee.
- Take small portions and roll to balls.
- Store besan ladoo in a air tight jars.
NUTRITION
Notes
Do not use too much of ghee at one time, this may make the mixture very greasy and the flour may not bind well to shape the laddu.
Preparation
1. Measure 1 ¼ cup sugar. Add 4 to 5 cardamoms and little sugar to a blender jar and make a fine powder. Add the rest of the sugar. Powder it finely. You can use white sugar or any variety of sugar.
2. Set this aside.
3. Make sure besan is at room temperature before using. In case you refrigerate, then allow it to come down to room temperature first before adding it to the ghee.
4. Heat ½ cup ghee in a deep pan, fry ¼ cup chopped cashew until golden. You can use less too. If using raisins, you can add them towards the end. When they puff up set these aside.
5. Set aside cashews as well along with 3 tbsp. of the ghee.
How to make besan ladoo
6. Lower the flame. Add besan to the ghee.
7. Mix to coat the besan well with ghee. To get the right taste and fragrance, besan must be coated well with ghee. If the mixture looks dry, add 1 tbsp. ghee that was set aside. Some variety of besan absorb ghee well, some do not. Especially if using coarse besan, you may have to be careful as it doesn’t absorb much ghee.
8. Begin to roast on a medium flame, constantly stirring for even roasting and to prevent burning. After a while the color of the besan begins to change, in between 12 to 15 minutes. I suggest not go by the time, it is just for an approximation. The time it may take depends on the flame, the kind of pan used and the source of heat.
9. When the besan begins to change the color, lower the flame and continue to stir. Take care it may get burnt. When it changes to a slightly dark color, you will notice, ghee begins to ooze out slightly from the mixture. The quantity of ghee that is oozed out may depend on the besan again. Switch off and set aside to cool. Do not leave on the hot stove, it tends to get roasted further.
10. Allow it to cool down a bit, so that it is easy to handle. Add powdered sugar, cardamom powder and nuts. Do not add the ghee now. Do not add sugar to very hot besan. Mix well.
Making besan ladoo
11. At this stage, the mixture must look fairly greasy and good enough to hold shape, otherwise add the rest of the ghee little by little as needed. Do not pour the ghee at one time. Use only as needed. I used up the entire ghee. Mix well.
12. Take small portions of the warm mixture and roll to balls. Store them in a air tight jar and use with in 2 to 3 weeks. If using coarse besan, laddo may not look smooth. To give a nice finish, after few hours of making these, place each ladoo in a clean white muslin cloth and roll gently.
Store besan ladoo in a air tight jar.
Jagbir kaur says
Hi
I am new to your blog. My toddler is big fan of laddoos. I was searching for an easy recipe coz I never made laddoos before. I tried this recipe today. The laddoos were yummy. Everybody at home loved this delicious laddoos. Thank you for sharing the recipe.!
swasthi says
Hi Jagbir
You are welcome. Thanks for trying. Happy to know the ladoos came out yummy. You can check this collection of ladoo recipes. I have some very healthy ladoo recipes on the page. Do try them.
🙂
Mridula says
Dear Swasthi
Perfect recipe for besan laddu
So precise and clear.Tried it last winter too
My family loves the aromatic ,crisp and delicious laddus
Thanks sooo much
swasthi says
Welcome Mridula
Thank you so much for trying. Glad to know they came out good.
Anumeha says
Made this as Diwali special sweet today and it came out perfect. Have never tried my hands on besan laddos so this was my 1st shot and am pretty happy with the outcome. Both my kids are big laddoo fans and am sure they’ll savor them. Thanks so much Swasthi!
swasthi says
Welcome Anumeha
So glad to know they turned out good. Thanks for the comment. Happy Diwali to you all!
🙂
Urshila says
Easy recipe. Turned out great. Thanks.
swasthi says
Welcome Urshila
Thank you for the comment.
Kajal says
Nice recipe. Looking forward to try it Soon. All your recipes are so good 😊 . Thank you. Very inspiring and so simple
swasthi says
Thanks Kajal
Yes do try it
Ankita says
Wow! loved this besan ladoo recipe. My besan ladoo always would turn flat the next morning. Wondered why? I got it perfect now. Thanks for the good recipe
swasthi says
Welcome Ankita
Thanks for trying. More ghee in the ladoo can flatten them during hot weather. Glad to know you got them right.
🙂
Charu says
Stumbled upon your wonderful site while looking for quick recipes. Just tried the date laddoos and they came out well. Instead of using coconut powder I coated them with peanut powder as it was ready. Besides coconut goes stale quickly in my weather. Thanks for the easy n wonderful recipes. Look forward to making many more laddoos.
swasthi says
Hi Charu
Thanks for being here. Glad to know you liked the date ladoos. Yes do try more recipes.
Thanks again.
🙂
Jhuma says
Absolutely delicious laddu made with this. My husband said ” these are better than sweet shops”.
swasthi says
Thanks Jhuma
Very glad to know they turned out good.
Prerna says
Perfect recipe.. love the details that you put in about the ghee usage.. very useful for an amateur when making it for first time
swasthi says
Thanks Prerna
Glad to know the recipe is useful.
Rehma says
Hi akka.
I tried this now. Taste is awesome. But when I made ladoo and kept in the plate it became flat almost??♀️
Please tell me Did I go wrong somewhere
swasthi says
Hi Rehma
You have used more ghee so they have turned flat. Adding the right amount of ghee to the mixture is the important thing to make good and perfect besan ladoos. I have shown in the step wise instruction 5 to set aside some amount of ghee along with cashews. If you do not do this or you add more than needed at step 11 then they will just turn flat later. Besan sold by different brands has different texture. Some absorb lot of ghee while some don’t need much. So you must add just the correct amount. Now you can fix this by dry roasting some besan till aromatic. Cool it completely. Crumble all the ladoo mixture done previously. Add the dry flour to it and if needed more powdered sugar. Mix well with your hands and form ladoos. You can try with 6 to 8 tbsps of besan and 3 to 4 tbsps of sugar. I am sure this will fix the ladoos.