Besan Ladoo is the most popular Indian sweet to make during the festive season. You need just a few ingredients such as gram flour, ghee, and sugar to make these amazing melt-in-the-mouth dessert balls. Make this decadent sweet with this easy fail-proof recipe!
The Indian festive season is filled with lots of fun and food! We make lots of sweets and snacks at this time.
Ladoos are a popular Indian sweet. They are basically sweet balls, and there is a huge variety of ladoos in India - Besan Ladoo, Coconut Ladoo, Rava Ladoo, Chocolate Ladoo, Motichoor Ladoo....the list is endless.
Besan Ladoo is the most popular of them. They are most often made at home., but you can also buy them at sweet stores.
Besan Ladoo are made by slow roasting besan along with ghee. The whole house fills with a wonderful aroma when you make this sweet. It is so reminiscent of the festive spirit. It is hard to resist eating these ladoos as soon as they are made.
Ladoos are great as a small treat in a kids lunchbox. or as a snack with your evening chai.
Feel free to double this recipe, as otherwise you might not have ladoo left for the next day after you make them.
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What is Besan Ladoo?
Ladoo (or Laddu) can be made with many different ingredients, and are round in shape. The main ingredients in ladoo are flour, fat and sugar, with other ingredients varying depending on the type of ladoo you are making.
Besan ladoo is made with gram flour, which is called besan in Hindi. Gram flour is the flour made from split yellow bengal gram, also called Chana Dal in Hindi. Just for reference, chickpea flour is different and made with white whole chickpeas or garbanzo beans.
These ladoos are already healthy and nutritious, as they are made with gram flour. You can add chopped nuts and reduce sugar to make these even more nutritious.
More recipes with gram flour - Besan Halwa, Besan Barfi, Khandvi, Khaman, and Magas.
Ingredients
I prefer to keep this recipe super simple with the least ingredients.
Besan: There is fine and coarse besan flour available at Indian grocery stores. The coarse besan might be labelled as Ladoo Besan. I use the Ladoo Besan. It adds a slight crunch with the coarse flour.
You can use normal fine besan as well, which gives a melt-in-the-mouth feeling. Some people add 1-2 tablespoons of sooji (rava/semolina) per cup of besan to add a little crunch to the ladoo.
Ghee: I prefer to use homemade ghee when making sweets. Store bought ghee works just as great.
Sugar: Use powdered sugar for this ladoo. If you have granulated sugar, pulse it in a grinder few times to powder it. You can also use fine caster sugar in place of powdered sugar.
Ground Cardamom: This is powdered green cardamom. If you have whole green cardamom pods, you can ground them using a spice grinder. It is okay to grind them along with the sugar as well.
Optional add-ons:
- Sooji/Rava - As I mentioned above, some like to add a little sooji to get a crunch to the ladoos.
- Nutmeg - Just a little goes a long way. About ⅛ tsp if you want to add to this recipe.
- Chopped Roasted Nuts - You can add chopped roasted nuts along with the sugar just before binding the ladoo. This is a great way to increase the nutrition. You can also top each ladoo with sliced pistachios or cashew to make it look prettier. If you don't have roasted nuts, you can saute in ghee for a minute to roast them.
How to make Besan Ladoo?
Let's start with making the ladoos.
- In a heavy bottom pan, add ghee on low heat. Once the ghee has melted, add the sifted besan to the pan and mix. Make sure to sift and measure the quantity of besan.
- The besan and ghee mixture will initially form a clump. Keep stirring and breaken up to loosen the mixture. After about 10 minutes of continuous stirring, the mixture will start to loosen up.
- Keep stirring, and at around 15 minutes the besan will have a smooth paste like consistency. Keep roasting for up to 25-30 minutes when the color will have changed to golden and there will be sweet aroma filled in your house.
- Remove the pan from heat. You can transfer the besan to another container to avoid overcooking or you can keep stirring the besan in the pan for 2-3 minutes after taking it off the flame. This will help it cool down. I did not transfer to another pan.
- After the besan and ghee mixture has cooled down, add the cardamom powder to the mixture and mix.
- Once the besan mixture has cooled completely in about 15 minutes (touch to make sure), add in the sugar and nuts/raisins (if using). Mix together with your hands to make a smooth dough.
- Pinch a small lemon sized portion from the dough. Roll between your palm to form a round ladoo. You can apply a little ghee to your hands while rolling. Repeat with the remaining dough. You would get 8 to 10 ladoos.
Store besan ladoo in an airtight container in a single layer. Enjoy!
You can garnish with chopped nuts while making the ladoo. You can also apply edible silver leaf (chandi ka varak) on the ladoos to make them look more festive.
Tips to make Perfect Ladoo
- Use fresh besan to make ladoo. I understand you don't have too much control or cannot find the date the besan was made, but use the one you got recently for best results.
- Roast the besan well on low flame in a heavy bottom pan. This is the most important thing to make good besan ladoo. If you don't roast the besan well, the ladoos will have a raw taste. See the recipe step by step images when making this so you can see how the texture of the besan changes as it cooks.
- Make sure to not over roast the besan, else it can burn. You really have to keep stirring and watching the besan while making these ladoo. It only takes a minute for the besan from being perfectly cooked to burning, so be careful at the final stages.
- Be patient and stir on: Making Besan Ladoo is a lot of arm work and you need to keep stirring continuously. This is crucial for the besan to cook uniformly and not burn.
- Cool the roasted besan completely before adding sugar. It will take about 15-20 minutes to cool. This is required, so the sugar does not melt and make it difficult to bind the ladoos.
- If you double or triple this recipe, the roasting time will increase as well.
- If making it for toddlers, you can skip adding nuts inside the ladoo or ground them before adding.
Common Questions
There is fine and coarse besan flour available at Indian grocery stores. The coarse besan might be labelled as Ladoo Besan. I use the Ladoo Besan. It adds a slight crunch with the coarse flour.
You can use normal fine besan as well, which gives a melt-in-the-mouth feeling. Some people add 1-2 tablespoons of sooji (rava/semolina) per cup of besan to add a little crunch to the ladoo.
I have included the approximate time it will take to roast the besan. But you will also be able to tell from the golden color of the besan and the aroma about when it is cooked. See the recipe step by step images when making this so you can see how the texture of the besan changes as it cooks.
Let the roasted besan cool down completely before adding powdered sugar. If the besan is hot, the sugar melts and loosens the mixture making it difficult to bind. If you are unable to make the balls because the dough is too soft, you can keep it in the refrigerator for 10 minutes, and try again.
Store the ladoo in an air tight container in a single layer. They stay good up to a month. You can refrigerate them, but it is not required. If you do refrigerate, then take out of the refrigerator 1-2 hours before you want to enjoy!
More Indian desserts you will enjoy:
Besan Ladoo Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup Gram flour (Besan) 125 gms, I used coarse "ladoo besan", sifted
- ¼ cup Ghee
- ½ cup Powdered Sugar 60gms, can reduce to ⅓ cup depending on taste, sifted
- ½ teaspoon Cardamom powder (Elaichi)
- 1-2 tablespoon Roasted Nuts (optional) chopped or thinly sliced, such as cashews almonds, pistachois.
Instructions
- Heat a heavy bottom pan on low heat. Add ghee and let it melt.
- Add the sifted besan to the pan and mix.
- The besan and ghee mixture will initially form a clump. Keep stirring and breaken up to loosen the mixture.
- After about 10 minutes of continuous stirring, the mixture will start to loosen up.
- Keep stirring, and at around 15 minutes the besan will have a smooth paste like consistency. Keep roasting for up to 25-30 minutes when the color will have changed to golden and there will be sweet aroma filled in your house.
- Remove the pan from heat. You can transfer the besan to another container to avoid overcooking or you can keep stirring the besan in the pan for 2-3 minutes after taking it off the flame. This will help it cool down.
- Add the cardamom powder to the mixture and mix.
- Once the besan mixture has cooled completely in about 15 minutes (touch to make sure), add in the sugar and nuts/raisins (if using).
- Mix together with your hands to make a smooth dough.
- Pinch a small lemon sized portion from the dough. Roll between your palm to form a round ladoo. You can apply a little ghee to your hands while rolling. Repeat with the remaining dough. You would get about 10 ladoos.
- If the ladoos are not perfectly round, you can reshape them by rolling between your hands again in 5 minutes.
- Store besan ladoo in an airtight container in a single layer. Enjoy!
Notes
- Roast the besan well on low flame in a heavy bottom pan. This is the most important thing to make good besan ladoo. If you don't roast the besan well, the ladoos will have a raw taste. See the recipe step by step images when making this so you can see how the texture of the besan changes as it cooks.
- Make sure to not over roast the besan, else it can burn. You really have to keep stirring and watching the besan while making these ladoo. It only takes a minute for the besan from being perfectly cooked to burning, so be careful at the final stages.
- Be patient and stir on: Making Besan Ladoo is a lot of arm work and you need to keep stirring continuously. This is crucial for the besan to cook uniformly and not burn.
Note: Nutrition values are my best estimates. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.
Monica Patel (Monica) says
Hi Meeta- I have found roasting besan in a microwave provides as good results as on the stove top but is way less laborious.
Meeta Arora says
Hi Monica - Yes, that is a great way to roast besan too. Thank you for sharing!
Dharmangini Majmundar says
Sorry, but you should be precise in mentioning the flame intensity. It’s important to say “roast on low heat or medium or high. Also, you should mention the temp of ghee to use. Should it cold, room temp or melted?
I double the recipe, but the mixture never turned to the thick paste. Even after roasting for over a half hr. It simply changed color. I never stopped stirring either.
Please perfect your recipe. Thanks.
Meeta Arora says
Hi Dharmangini - Sorry to hear it did not work well. The flame intensity is mentioned in the first step. Also, the pictures show that the ghee was melted before the besan was added to it. That said, I will make sure to add the grams measurements for ghee to avoid any confusion in the future. Thank you for sharing your feedback.
Sarojini Subbanan says
Very tasty and easy ladoo
I love this ladoo
Thank you so much for your recipe
Piping Pot Curry says
Hi Sarojini - So good to hear that. Thank you for sharing it 🙂
Ana says
Can you make this in square pieces instead laddoos?
Meeta Arora says
Hi Ana - That could work, I just have not tried it myself, so I cannot say for sure.
Meeta Arora says
Hi Ana - Here is besan barfí recipe which is cut in square pieces - https://pipingpotcurry.com/besan-barfi/. This recipe uses a sugar syrup.
Pat Wheeler says
I used to celebrate Diwali in Bellevue, Washington at T-Mobile with my friends...Lots of great food and great friends. My 11 years there was my introduction to Indian food and culture. Even though I am now retired in Colorado I still have many good friends from around the world from that time. You just never knew what someone would bring to a potluck at work...always good food, and often, at the same time, always a surprise.
Meeta Arora says
Hi Pat - So happy to hear you enjoyed Diwali with your colleagues and friends. It is such a wonderful time of the year with all the holidays 🙂