Besan Ladoo Recipe

Besan Ladoo is one among the most  popular Indian sweets for Diwali. It is rich, delicious and has a melt in mouth texture with a wonderful nutty aroma of roasted chickpea flour.

Made with fragrant roasted besan or chickpea flour and desi ghee, these laddu are a top favorite among toddlers and kids too. Packed in pretty boxes these make for a excellent Diwali gift just like kaju katli, peda or badam halwa.

Ladoos are popular Indian mithai or sweet. No Indian festival like Diwali, Holi, Ganesh Chaturthi or janmashtami is incomplete without laddus.

There are many varieties of ladoo recipes like dry fruits laddu, atta ladoo, ragi ladoo, coconut ladoo, khoya coconut ladoo, pista ladoo, rava ladoo you can prepare for diwali.

Among all the ladoos this besan ke ladoo is the most popular one. Especially in north India, this sweet is synonymous to Diwali among with other classic Indian desserts like

Rasgulla

Malpua

kalakand

What Is Besan Ladoo?

Besan ladoo is a semi soft fudge or sweet ball made of roasted chickpea flour, sugar and ghee. It is a super popular Indian sweet made with gram flour, ghee and sugar.

These ladoos have an amazing flavor, excellent taste and a melt in mouth texture.  With just three main ingredients, these are one of the best sweet you can make at home.

Besan gram flour means chickpea flour or gram flour in Hindi. At home we love this ladoo and I often make as it needs basic ingredients and easy to make once you get the knack. This flour is made from white chickpeas or garbanzo beans or chana dal.

You will have to roast the chickpea flour in ghee well to make perfect besan ladoo. This step alone can make or break this recipe. Then you will add powdered sugar and furthermore make small balls.

You just need very few simple ingredients to make this besan laddu yet it tastes very exotic and rich.

This Besan Ladoo Is

Traditional & authentic recipe

Delicious, flavorful & melt in mouth

Uses just the required amount of ghee

Simple recipe with just three main ingredients

Best sweet for festivals like Diwali

Kid friendly sweet with mild flavor.

Two Ways Of Making Besan Ladoo Recipe

Method-1

In first method the besan is dry roasted first.

Ghee is added to the roasted besan and further sautéed. This method is for easy besan laddu.

Method-2

In second way of making besan laddu, the besan or gram flour is roasted in ghee & sugar is added to hot besan mixture.

I always follow this method as the ladoo are shiny and more flavorful here.

The taste and texture of besan ladoo is much better than the first method. Also this recipe works well with both coarse or smooth besan.

This is my tried and tested recipe for best besan ladoo.  This is one of the fool proof recipe to try at home and below I have listed some tips and tricks.

How To Make Besan Ladoo Recipe

Roast Besan & Nuts

Heat 2 tablespoons ghee in a pan and fry the chopped nuts well.  Remove the roasted nuts along with ghee and set aside.

In the same pan add ghee or clarified butter and heat it. Once it is hot but not smoking, add besan and start roasting. Maintain low flame through the entire process. If your flour is very coarse you can sift and use the sifted besan in the recipe of besan ke laddu.

Keep stirring continuously in medium heat. The flour has to completely absorb the ghee, turn golden brown with a nutty aroma. The whole ghee mixture should turn nutty and aromatic. You can 1 tablespoon more ghee if required. The sweet aroma of roasted chickpea flour is just wonderful.

Making Besan Ladoos

Once the besan is roasted, add crushed saffron, nuts along with ghee, ground cardamom or cardamom powder and stir the ghee mixture well.

Remove from flame, add powdered sugar and mix well without any lumps. Some recipes ask you to cool the roasted besan completely before adding the sugar but I do not do that.

Keep mixing till all the sugar is absorbed and the mixture solidifies a bit. At the stage you will find the besan and ghee mixture to be loose. The besan mixture will solidify on cooling. Let the roasted besan cool for few minutes.

Once the mixture is warm to handle make besan ladoos of desired size. You can refrigerate the mixture for 10 minutes if the mixture is still loose after cooling for sometime. Add nuts while shaping ladoos. Delicous ladoos are ready

Pro Tips To Make Besan Ladoo.

Choose The Right Ingredients

Ghee

Use finest quality desi ghee for making these ladoos. I always prefer fresh homemade ghee for Indian sweets.

Type of chickpea flour Or Gram Flour

You can use fine besan or coarse chickpea flour in this recipe. If you use coarse flour there will be a delicious crunch in your ladoos. However make sure to use fresh besan and very good quality besan for ladoo.

The chickpea flour you use should be fresh, aromatic without any rancid flavor or taste. Typically coarse besan or ladoo besan is used for this recipe. These are easily available in Indian grocery stores.

Powdered Sugar

Traditionally besan ladoo is made with bura shakkar or tagar is used. Here I have just used powdered regular sugar. You can even add super fine caster sugar or powdered refined sugar

While Making The Recipe

Roasting besan

An important step that will make or break the besan ladoos is roasting the chick pea flour in ghee. Roast the besan in low flame for good 15 minutes. This has to be done only in low flame.

You can add 1 cashew along with besan while roasting. Once the cashew turns dark golden it means besan is roasted. This tip is for beginners. Just make sure the besan is dark golden and emits a nutty aroma to check if it is done.

If the chick pea flour is not roasted properly your laddu will leave a raw after taste. So roast the flour very well.

The ghee should not be smoking hot for roasting the chickpea flour.

Keep Stirring throughout

While roasting besan you need to keep stirring it throughout the time. It will take around 25-30 minutes in low flame. Continous stirring is a must for uniform roasting of the besan or chickpea flour.

Adding Sugar & Ghee

Next do not add all the ghee at a stretch. Start with 1/2 cup and add more only if required while making besan ladoos. Keep the melted warm ghee at ready though.

Add sugar only after removing the besan from flame. Use superfine powdered sugar or bhoorah in this recipe. Do not use granulated sugar.

To make shiny and smooth besan ladoos like seen here add 2 more tablespoons of warm ghee while shaping them. Also grease your palm generously with ghee 🙂

Semolina or Rava

In some recipes you will find some rava or fine semolina added along with besan in this laddu recipe. Adding rava yields crunchy texture to this laddu. If  you prefer add 1 or 2 tablespoons roasted fine semolina in this recipe.

Storing the laddus

Store besan ladoo in airtight container. Keeps well for a week. You can refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.

A pack of besan laddu is a wonderful edible gift for festivals like diwali, new year. These homemade ladoos are much better than store bought ones.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Diwali Sweets Recipes

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Gulab Jamun

basundi

phirni

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