Besan ladoo are delicious sweet balls made with gram flour, sugar, ghee & cardamoms. Ladoos are ball shaped sweet delights from Indian cuisine made during festivals & celebrations. Besan ladoo are not only delicious & aromatic but also have a melt in the mouth texture.
Apart from gulab jamun, rasmalai and rasgulla these besan ladoo are also quite popular and are made for Diwali. I made these for Ganesh Chaturthi along with Coconut ladoo.
It is said that Lord Ganesha loves ladoos too apart from modak. So a variety of ladoos like Coconut ladoo, Rava laddu, Bondi ladoo and Peanut laddu are also made for Ganesh chaturthi.
Tips to make best besan ladoo
1.Besan or gram flour: Always choose good quality flour to avoid bitter taste. The best choice is the freshly milled flour or using a fresh pack of besan. Gram flour has a nature to turn bitter within a few months of milling.
So always taste it first before using to ensure it is not bitter.
There are 2 kinds of besan available in the market. The smooth kind and the coarse variety. If you prefer the crunch in your besan ladoo then choose the later one.
If you prefer a melt in the mouth texture then choose the smooth and fine besan.
2.Roasting besan correctly is the key to aromatic and delicious ladoos. If this step is not done properly the aroma does not come out from the besan resulting in raw tasting besan ladoos.
If the flour is over roasted, the ladoos can have a bitter and burnt flavor. So roasting the flour stirring constantly on a medium to low heat is very important.
When the besan is roasted properly it turns to a semi liquid state and the your kitchen will be filled with a great aroma.
3.Non stop stirring: You have to keep stirring non-stop & continuously without taking a break even for a few seconds especially at the later stage. Otherwise there are chances of the besan getting burnt.
4. Ghee: Using good quality puree ghee helps to make these besan ladoos more aromatic.
You can also check these easy 30 ladoo recipes and 100 + Diwali sweets recipes.
Note
Please note that patience is the KEY to making awesome besan ladoos. Do not get impatient while you roast the besan. Initially you can roast the besan on a medium flame.
Once it turns hot and begins to change the color slightly switch over to low flame completely until the last stage.
If you feel the mixture is getting too hot at any stage, take off the pan from the stove for a while to bring down the temperature.
Making besan ladoos is a lot of arm work as it involves stirring continuously. If you have weak arms, please do not attempt this without a helping hand.
Besan ladoo recipe
Besan ladoo recipe | How to make besan ladoo
Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )
Ingredients for besan ladoo
- 1 cup besan or gram flour
- ½ cup + 2 tbsps sugar (or boora shakkar or powdered jaggery)
- 3 green cardamoms or elaichi (or 1/3 tsp ground cardamoms)
- ¼ cup ghee (4 tbsps) (clarified butter)
- 2 tablespoons cashews chopped (optional)
How to make the recipe
Preparation for besan ladoo
- Powder sugar and cardamom pods finely in a blender jar. Set aside.
- Heat 4 tbsps ghee in a heavy bottom pan.
- When it melts, transfer 2½ tablespoons ghee to a small bowl & retain the rest in the pan.
- Add besan to the pan and stir well to coat the flour with ghee.
- On a medium flame keep stirring and begin to roast the besan.
- When it begins to turn slightly aromatic & changes to a slightly deeper color, set the flame to lowest.
- Then add the rest of the 2½ tablespoons ghee.
- Keep roasting on a low flame stirring continuously without stopping. Otherwise the besan may burn.
- After a while besan begins to turn deep golden in color and aromatic. Your kitchen will be filled with a aroma indicating the flour is well roasted.
- Be cautious at this stage & remove the pan quickly from the stove. Begin to cool down by stirring it for another 2 mins.
- I place the pan immediately on a cork board to bring down the temperature. Most often within few seconds it may turn to a runny or a semi liquid stage. Just ignore that.
- Cool down the roasted besan completely. This step is important.
How to make besan ladoo
- When the besan cools down add powdered sugar.
- Mix very well to combine the sugar.
- At first your mixture may seem dry but keep mixing or knead it with your hand.
- You will have a greasy besan ladoo mixture.
- Take small portions and press down in your palm to roll to balls. You can make about 8 ladoos.
- Store besan ladoo in a air tight jar and use within 3 weeks.
NUTRITION (estimation only)
Notes
- Choose fresh besan or least cut open a new pack of besan to avoid bitter taste. Stale flour often tastes bitter. So avoid it.
- Under roasting the flour will leave a raw smell of besan to the ladoos. So roast until you begin to get a nice aroma and the color changes to deep golden.
- Do not use the entire ghee at the beginning to roast the besan. Adding all the ghee in the beginning makes the flour mixture heavy. It is hard to roast the besan.
- It only takes a minute for the well roasted besan to burn. So be extremely cautious at the final stage. Once done remove it from the stove.
- Ensure the flame is medium until the besan turns hot. Later regulate to low flame till the end until the besan turns golden & aromatic.
- When the besan is done, you will get a very nice aroma. This is the indication to remove from the stove. It may or may not turn semi-liquid depending on the flour. Sometimes it turns to a semi-liquid stage after it is removed from the heat.
- The most important point is to add sugar only when the roasted besan cools down. If you add sugar to hot besan, then sugar will melt and the mixture turns runny. You won’t be able to bind the mixture.
Alternative quantities provided in the recipe card are for 1x only, original recipe.
If you are new to cooking, follow my detailed step by step photo instructions for best results.
Preparation
I have doubled the recipe and made so you will find the ingredients more in the pics.
1. Measure sugar and set aside. Add 3 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. Add 4 tbsps ghee to a heavy bottom pan and melt it. Keep 1½ tbsps in the pan and remove the rest to a small bowl.
5. I also added some cashews to the ghee and roasted them.
How to make besan ladoo
6. Lower the flame. Add besan to the ghee. Make sure your besan is lump free.
7. Mix to coat the besan well with ghee. Keep stirring and begin to fry on a medium heat.
8. Keep stirring constantly for even roasting and to prevent burning. After a while the color of the besan begins to change to a deeper color with a slight aroma. I suggest not to go by the time as it depends on the kind of stove, pan and the intensity of the flame.
9. Reduce the flame to low, then quickly add the rest of the ghee that was set aside. Do not stop stirring. Keep stirring to incorporate the ghee well & continue to roast the besan.
10. After a few minutes, besan changes to a deep golden color with an aroma that fills your kitchen.
11. In just few minutes you will notice that ghee begins to ooze out from the mixture. The color changes to golden and the consistency begins to change.
The quantity of ghee that is oozed out may depend on the besan again. Most times it turns to a semi solid stage. But since there are different kinds of besan in the market, the mixture may not turn runny or semi solid stage. So once the mixture turns aromatic stop roasting.
12. Switch off and set aside to cool. Do not leave on the hot stove, it tends to get roasted further. I place the hot pan on a cork board to stop cooking further & keep stirring for another 2 mins.
13. Allow it to cool down completely. Add powdered sugar and nuts (optional). Do not add sugar to very hot besan.
Making besan ladoo
14. Mix well to incorporate the sugar with the besan mixture. If required knead with your hand to mix it. At this stage, the mixture must look fairly greasy and good enough to hold shape.
15. Take small portions of the mixture and roll to balls. Store them in a air tight jar and use with in 3 weeks.
If using coarse besan, ladoo may not look smooth. Since I doubled the recipe I got 16.
To give a nice smooth finish, after few hours of making these, place each ladoo in a clean white muslin cloth and roll gently.
I did not use a cloth but just rolled them once more after 30 mins. Store besan ladoo in a air tight jar.
Suvarna Shilpa says
Came out well , but they are little more sweeter for me
Taste is authentic
Thank you so much
Dinika says
The recipe turned out great. For me personally, the sugar was slightly more than my liking. But th ever recipe and texture was amazing! Thanks very much. 🙂
swasthi says
Welcome Dinika
Glad to know! You can reduce it next time. Thank you
🙂
Dr. Pheba says
All your recipes including this one is an instant hit with my family. If anyone follows your recipe to the T, they for sure can have a lip smacking meal/snack at the end. Thank you for sharing.
swasthi says
Welcome Dr.Pheba
So glad to know the recipes are working out well. Thank you so much!
🙂
Neha says
Thanks a bunch… followed the excat recipe and the result was awsum…. no one can believe they are home made… its just i added 1 extra tbsp of ghee as it seemed that my mixture is a bit dry than the one shown in pic… it was my very first attempt of making laddoo and it was a hit… thanks
swasthi says
Hi Neha
You are welcome! Glad to know they turned out good.
Thank you!
Shanthi Rao says
It came out very well.Even I have done this sweet first time
swasthi says
Glad to know! Thank you
Jayashree says
Very nice recipe, very well instructed.
Thanks for sharing 😊
swasthi says
Welcome Jayashree
Priyanka Khatri says
I made these with ladoo besan & desi ghee from the Indian stores. Wow!!! Got a great authentic texture. I had always used semolina for the crunch but my family never liked it. Thanks for the amazing recipes.
swasthi says
Hi Priyanka
You are welcome! Glad to know your ladoos turned out good. Thanks much!
Susan says
Love these! This was my first time cooking Besan Ladoo and they turned out delicious thanks to your great instructions – very helpful with pics :).
swasthi says
Hello Susan,
Glad to know the ladoos turned out good.Thank you so much!
🙂
Chavvi says
Hey!
I made these besan ka ladoo last week. Turned out very very delicious 😋. Tonight I will be making another batch. I have some mawa to use up. Can you suggest me the quantity? Will I have to increase sugar?
swasthi says
Hi Chavvi
Glad to know! You may add about 3 tbsps mawa. I don’t think you will need more sugar, may be a tbsp more should be okay
Rita says
This was the first time I made besan ladoo. It came out perfectly,thank you very much for the recipe . Next time I will have to double the quantity as 8 laddoos didn’t last long😀
swasthi says
Hi Rita
You are welcome. Glad to know! Thank you!
Gypsy Arora says
Swasthi.. you’re such a saviour..
I can bank on you blindly when it comes to my culinary skills..
Keep posting
Keep inspiring
💗
swasthi says
Thank you so much!
🙂
Sujatha says
These besan ladoos turned out awesome. Thank you
swasthi says
You are welcome!
Poornima says
I tried besan laddu, it really came very well, thanks for posting this recipe
swasthi says
You are welcome! Glad to know!
Thank you!
Prachi says
Hi Swasthi,
Do you sieve the besan? I have butter do you think I can use it? If yes how much? TIA
swasthi says
Hi Prachi,
I don’t sieve besan. With butter the ladoos may go bad quickly. You can use about 8 tbsps butter, make ghee first and remove it to a bowl. Use the same pan to roast the besan following the recipe. Hope this helps.
Monika says
Hi Ma’am,I am someone who do not know much how to cook and I hate cooking!I have always depended on my helpers for cooking.I am married and with a kid.In this current scenario my daughter asked for laddoos!Of course we cud not order from outside and for the first time I googled besan laddoo recipe and saw your recipe…Tried my hand and it came out fab!The way u explain is amazing!now I can’t wait to try some snacks from your recipes!Thank u for teaching me that cooking is not that bad after all!!
swasthi says
Hi Monika
You are welcome! So glad to know! Hope you enjoy more recipes. Thanks much and stay safe!
🙂
Monika says
You too ma’am!I have already tried cutlets,upma vermicelli and egg biryani!It was very delicious!Thank u once again❤️
swasthi says
You are welcome! Glad to know. Thank you
Shahna yesrabi says
Thank you.my childhood favourite laddoos..you are really a very good teacher you explain very nicely.
swasthi says
You are welcome! Thank you!
Deepa says
I loved the ladoo but you really need arm strength.
swasthi says
Hi Deepa
Glad you loved them. Yes it needs a lot. Anything over 1 cup is too difficult to handle alone.Thanks for rating!
🙂
Bhavana S says
Can I prepare gram flour at home?
swasthi says
Yes you can if you have a powerful blender. You have to dry roast for a while until crunchy, cool and powder. If it is small quantity you can make.
Manju says
It seems I have added sugar lillte early.. I couldn’t bind kaadu.. Any help to correct the same
swasthi says
Hi Manju,
Unfortunately No! it cannot be corrected as the mixture turns runny. The only way is to keep it in the fridge until it turns a bit hard. Then either cut them to squares or roll to balls.
Pushpinderjeet says
I am inspired to try making besan laddoo s after reading your reciepe…
I liked that you wrote the stages that needs to be taken care at different times…
Will let you know how it turned out.
swasthi says
Thank you
Vidya Venkat says
I followed your recipie for Besan Ladoo. It turned out so tasty. Thank you for all those important tips that you have given as a part of foot note to the recipie. I will be next trying Vegetable Korma and also items that can be part of lunch box. Thank you once again Swasthi.
swasthi says
Hi Vidya,
You are welcome! Glad your besan ladoos turned out good. Thank you for the comment! Hope you enjoy more recipes from here.
🙂
Sheetal says
I made this ladoos….It turned out unbelievable tasty…So awesome…Thanks so much..
swasthi says
Hi Sheetal,
You are welcome. Glad your besan ladoos turned out good. Thanks much for the comment!
🙂
Utkarsh Prakash says
Very easy to understand
Thank you
swasthi says
You are welcome!