Mysore Pak Recipe

Mysore Pak is a traditional South Indian sweet made with gram flour (besan), ghee and sugar. This classic sweet is immensely popular in the South Indian states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It is believed that Mysore pak originated in the Royal kitchen of the Mysore Maharaja palace. This aromatic and super delicious Mysore pak is a real treat to the taste buds. In this post I share how to make it the traditional way.

About Mysore Pak

While the traditional Mysore pak is made with a combination of pure ghee and oil for a unique porous texture, the commercial versions are made in numerous ways with just ghee or just oil or both and sometimes even with Vanaspati.

The quantity and kind of fats used decides the texture of your Mysore pak. You can find rock hard to super mouth melting versions of in the South Indian sweet shops.

The store bought versions are equally delicious as the homemade Mysore pak but loaded with ghee/ oil or Vanaspati. With homemade you have the choice of using organic ingredients.

This recipe will help you make Mysore pak that has a light porous texture with a slight crunch. It won’t be greasy or hard as some of the store bought versions.

Making perfect traditional Mysore pak requires understanding the sugar syrup consistency and also the method of cooking the flour in the syrup. It is not one of those easy peasy burfis where we dump the ingredients and cook until the final consistency is achieved.

If you are a new cook you may not get it right in the first trail. This is an old post which I shared a few years ago so thought of updating it with my latest tips and tricks which may help you.

A well-made Mysore pak is non-greasy meaning it should not have traces of ghee over it.

If you love Burfis, you may check these
Besan Burfi
7 Cup Burfi
Coconut Burfi
Kalakand

Pro Tips & Notes

• Ratio of ingredients is the key to the texture of the Mysore pak. If you alter the quantities the results will vary. Do not alter the recipe if you are keen to get the same texture as seen in the pictures.
• Oil is used to give a light porous texture to your Mysore pak. If you alter the quantities or skip oil, your pak will be more like a burfi, soft and smooth with absolutely no texture.
• Besan is never roasted to make a traditional Mysore pak. The flour will be cooked in a very hot bubbling sugar syrup which cooks it very well. So no raw flavour is left.
• Color of mysore pak – Store bought traditional Mysore pak has a deep golden to light brown color. Since it is made in large batches in an iron kadai (wok), the mixture gets the deep color on its own. Don’t aim for that color, you may end up with powdery mixture.
• This recipe can be doubled or tripled but stirring a large batch would be a real arm work as it requires constant stirring and you need to be quick. So I usually make 2 batches on the same day as it is easy to handle small batches.
• Choice of cookware: Do use a heavy kadai or pan with a good strong spatula for stirring. Avoid using a non-stick pan for this recipe. About 3 to 4 years ago, I had made this in a brand new prestige omega plus nonstick handi. The entire coating completely came off to the mysore pak.

Even a cast iron pan didn’t work well for me as it is hard to control the heat and the Mysore pak got overcooked towards the end. So a heavy bottom steel pan, pressure pan or a kadai works well.

More Diwali Sweets Recipes
Burfi recipes
Halwa recipes
Kheer recipes

How to make Mysore pak (Stepwise photos)

Preparation

1. Sieve 1 cup besan (105 to 110 grams) to a large bowl. Repeat the sieve twice. Set this aside roughly dividing to 3 parts. I usually transfer this to 3 small cups. Make sure there are no lumps in the flour.

2. Grease a small pan well and set aside. I use a mini loaf pan.

3. Burner 1 – Begin to heat 1 cup ghee and half cup oil in a kadai or pot on a low to medium flame. We need hot ghee and oil to add to the bubbling besan and sugar syrup later, as and when needed.

4. Burner 2 – Add 1 ¾ cup sugar to a kadai along with ½ cup water.

Make sugar syrup

5. Boil it on a medium heat stirring often until a one string consistency is achieved.

6. To check one string consistency, take a small portion of the sugar syrup and cook it slightly, take in between your thumb and index finger. Move the fingers apart, you should be able to see a single string formed. Take care as the syrup will be too hot.

Caution: If you go past this stage and make a 2 string or 1½ string consistency your mysore pak will become hard or turn to powder. If that happens, drizzle some water and cook to 1 string consistency.

7. Make sure your oil and ghee are getting hot while you make the sugar syrup.

Adding flour

8. Add 1/3 rd portion of the besan to the bubbling sugar syrup. The flame has to be medium and the syrup bubbling well at this stage else the mysore pak turns flat and not porous. Stir until all the flour blends well with the syrup.

9. Then add the next 1/3rd portion of flour and repeat adding the last part too following the same process.

10. At this stage there should be no lumps and the flour should have blended well with the sugar syrup.

11. Add in 1 ladle full of hot ghee & oil to the besan mixture. Immediately the oil and ghee must sizzle, meaning it is hot enough. Make sure the ghee is really very hot otherwise increase the flame of burner 1 to keep ghee & oil consistently hot. Quickly stir well until all the ghee has been absorbed.

12. Repeat adding the ghee in parts and repeat stirring until the ghee is well absorbed each time.

13. As you keep adding the ghee, every time it has to sizzle, then stir well until absorbed. If you do not have enough ghee and oil left in the kadai on burner 1, then you can add 2 tbsp more each of oil and ghee and heat it quickly. I did not use any excess.

Consistency of mysore pak mixture

14. At one stage, you will see the mixture just begins to leave the pan.

15. Quickly add some hot ghee and stir. Do not add a lot at this stage as it will leave out the excess.

16. When the mysore pak is about to finish,  the mixture will become very thick, with lot of pores or bubbles. No more adding ghee at this stage otherwise it will ooze out the excess. The mixture will leave the pan completely within few seconds.

Setting the mixture

17. Be very very quick and transfer to a greased pan. With the help of a greased spoon, lightly level the top. Traditional Mysore pak is actually not leveled but I suggest this to reduce the crumbs.

18. Set aside for 10 to 15 mins. Invert it on a board. Cut to desired size pieces.

Cool Mysore pak completely and store in a air tight jar. It keeps good for 10 days at room temperature.

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Mysore Pak Recipe first published in August 2017. Updated and republished in October 2022.