Walnut ladoo recipe – Delicious, wholesome and nutritious walnut ladoos made without refined sugar and fats. These walnut snack balls are great to enjoy for a quick snack or even for breakfast. If you are looking for ways to include more walnuts in your diet then these sweet snack balls are a must try!
Ladoo is a traditional Indian sweet made with flour, nuts, dry fruits, sweetener and ghee. We Indians make a lot of ladoos and for every occasion. Besan ladoo, coconut ladoo, atta ladoo & boondi laddu are some of the most popular ladoo varieties.
These walnut ladoos are not a traditional Indian sweet but are super quick to make and taste delicious. I often make different kinds of ladoos for my kids’ school box. It is very hard for me to get them eat walnuts. Sometimes I add them to banana muffins & carrot cake.
I keep making these walnut balls time and again for their school snack. Usually kids are choosy and go by the looks so I garnish them with desiccated coconut.
This recipe uses no flour, no ghee, no milk and not even refined sugar. It is just the walnuts, jaggery and cardamom powder that is used. To add some carbs and crunch I have added some poha, flattened rice flakes.
Step-by-step photos
Preparation
1. Toast poha or oats on a medium flame until slightly crunchy. If using cornflakes or any other flakes then just skip toasting them. Cool these completely and pulse them in a dry grinder to get tiny bits.
2. Toast walnuts for 2 to 3 mins until hot. You can skip this step as well. I toast them since I store them in the fridge. Toasting also extends the shelf life of the ladoos.
3. Cool the walnuts completely and add them to a blender.
4. Pulse them to powder. Do not over blend the nuts as they will begin to release the oils. Then add grated jaggery. I used palm jaggery here. Also add cardamom powder.
5. Pulse all of them just to mix them up well.
6. Remove the mixture to the plate and Mix it up with poha. Instead you can also blend the poha together.
7. Take small portions of this mixture and roll to balls. If you have fussy kids, then garnish them by rolling in desiccated coconut.
Store walnut ladoos in a airtight jar. They keep good for a week at room temperature and for a month in the fridge.
Tips
Nuts: Walnuts can be replaced with any other nuts like pecans, almonds or mixed nuts.
Sweetener: I have used palm jaggery here. You can also use regular jaggery or any other sweetener in the powdered form. To use liquid sweeteners like maple syrup you will need to add more cereal flakes in the recipe.
Fats: This recipe uses no added fats, only the fats in the walnuts will be good enough to bind the mixture.
Freshness: Ensure your walnuts are fresh and not rancid before using them.
Substitute to rice flakes: These can also be made without poha or can be replaced with any ready to eat cereal flakes like wheat flakes, rolled oats or even cornflakes.
Garnish: These days I always roll these walnut balls in desiccated coconut.
Walnut ladoos keep good for about 10 days at room temperature. You can also refrigerate and use upto a month.
more quick ladoos
badam ladoo
peanut cornflakes ladoo
sesame seeds ladoo
oats dry fruits ladoo
Recipe
Walnut ladoo recipe
Walnut ladoo recipe
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )
- 1 cup walnuts (or any other nuts)
- 1 cup oats or poha (beaten rice or cornflakes) (optional)
- ¾ cup jaggery or palm jaggery or any other sweetener
- ¼ tsp cardamom powder
Instructions
- Toast walnuts until slightly hot. Remove and set aside to cool.
- Optional – Dry roast oats or poha on a medium high flame till they turn crispy. (Do not discolor them by burning). Cool them.
- Add poha or cereal flakes to a dry grinder & crush them to get tiny bits. Set this aside.
- Powder the walnuts in a mixer just until they get crushed. Do not over blend else they release oils.
- Grate jaggery or palm jaggery and add it to the blender.
- Pulse a few times until the entire mixture blends.
- Add this mixture with the beaten rice crisps.
- Mix them well and make small walnut balls.
- Store them in a air tight jar.
NUTRITION (estimation only)
Notes
Alternative quantities provided in the recipe card are for 1x only, original recipe.
For best results follow my detailed step-by-step photo instructions and tips above the recipe card.
© Swasthi’s Recipes
Walnut ladoo recipe was first published in May 2012. Republished in September 2019.
Zanna says
I had planned to make this before going away to visit my parents and so I had used up most of the store cupboard things. As it turned out, I didn’t have any avalu left so instead I used besan which I roasted with only a very little coconut oil. Well, I was a little annoyed that I forgot about the avalu because I felt the taste of besan would overpower the walnut flavour, but the laddus came out so good. My husband was really impressed and my mum also loved them 🙂
swasthi says
Hi Zanna,
Thank you! Glad your ladoos turned out good. Actually you can skip the aval completely in the recipe. I will update it. Enjoy your stay with your parents!
🙂
swarna Yachamanani says
Can I use pecans instead of walnuts
swasthi says
Hi Swarna
Yes you can use pecans. Toast them for about 3 to 4 mins. You can also replace or skip poha in the recipe completely.
Anjali says
Hi swathi can I use red poha for this instead of the white or can I straight away replace the poha with oats
swasthi says
Hi Anjali
Yes you can use oats. For similar ideas you can check these links Oats ladoo, oats dry fruits ladoo
Lakshmi says
Will u plz post some bachalikura recipes if possible.
swasthi says
Hi Lakshmi,
I usually make simple foods with it. You can try adding it to some of your stir fry veggies (vepudu) like potato fry, carrot fry, mix vegetable fry. I also make pappu the same way like this menthi kura pappu or this dal palak. I will try to share some new recipes with it.
Lakshmi says
Hi swasthi, happy sriramanavami. I tried to give walnuts to my baby without tasting it she throwing out. She is 23 months old. Can i give this laddu to her? How many days these will stay good? Is there any alternative to aval ? Want to buy palm jaggery i tried in fairprice n shensiong but it written as cocunut candy n ingredients are water, sugar like dat. If pure means what should be da ingredients ? Last time i bought in mustafa but i did not remember which brand i bought at dat time. So plz suggest me
swasthi says
Hi Lakshmi,
Thanks a lot for the wishes. Yes you can give her walnuts. But most kids don’t like them. You can make ladoos with jaggery and give her. Just skip the aval, it only adds crunch. These ladoos will keep good for 5 to 7 days without refrigeration. Coconut candy is refined and not good to eat regularly. You can find pure palm jaggery in fair price, cold storage and mustafa. You will also find organic brands. The ingredients should be only palm jaggery or gula melak. There should be no additives otherwise often children get cough after eating for 2 to 3 days. Do not buy those which do not mention the ingredients. It means there are additives in it.
lakshmi says
Ok thank u very much swasthi. I will try
little prince says
the walnut jaggery ladoo was fantastic, my sister in law had made and now I am inspired to make it. What if I add pecans and peanut butter to it? and oats instead of poha?
swasthi says
Hi,
Glad to know you liked them. Yes you can try with pecans and oats, but not sure if peanut butter can be used. May be you can try adding only a little. You can also take a look at these ladoos using oats just to know how they can be used in different ladoo recipes.
dry fruits oats ladoo
sesame oats ladoo
Oats coconut ladoo
Sowmya says
Awesome recipes using nuts and dry fruits. Will try all of them.
Very informative write ups.
Great blog!!
swasthi says
Thanks Soumya
Rohini says
Can I use plain refined sugar since palm sugar is not easily available at my place?
swasthi says
yes rohini, you can use jaggery or sugar as well
Avanti says
Tried this awesome recipe for my 1.5 yr old fussy eater and she loved it! Thanks 🙂
swasthi says
Hi Avanti,
You are welcome! Glad your kid loved it!
🙂
Rujuta says
Instead of jaggery, can I use dates ?
swasthi says
Yes you can use dates.
Ana says
This would be really good for people with high Cholesterol as walnuts are really good for such people. Thanks for sharing
Sag says
wow.. lovely!<br /><br />i'm going to try this. I add walnuts to salads,but never thought of making a laddu out of it.