Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Besan Ladoo
Gram flour slow-roasted in ghee until nutty and golden, sweetened with cardamom sugar and rolled into melt-in-the-mouth balls, a quintessential Diwali mithai.
Indian · medium · serves 8
prep 10 min · cook 25 min
~367 cal · 8g protein · 45g carbs · 18g fat · 3g fiber · 29g sugars · 9g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Besan ladoo are one of North India's best-loved festival sweets: patiently roasted in until it turns deep gold and fills the kitchen with a nutty aroma, then bound with powdered sugar and and pressed into round ladoos. The whole art is in the roasting, which cooks out the raw taste of the besan and gives the sweet its fudgy, melting texture.
They are made in large quantities for Diwali, when trays of mithai are exchanged between families, and also for Raksha Bandhan and weddings; Lord Ganesha is said to be especially fond of ladoos. The traditional version needs nothing more than besan, pure , sugar and green , though many cooks fold in chopped cashews and raisins.
Because besan carries no gluten, besan ladoo has long been a sweet that almost everyone at the table can share.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 8
2 cups besan ()
1/2 cup
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp ground
3 tbsp cashews, chopped
Instructions
1
Warm the ghee in a heavy pan, add the besan, and roast over low to medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until it loosens, turns deep golden and smells nutty, 20 to 25 minutes.
✎ Chef’s note
Low and slow is essential; rushed besan tastes raw and grainy. It is ready when the mixture turns fluid and fragrant.
2
Fry the chopped cashews (or toast the pumpkin seeds) in a little of the ghee until golden, and set aside.
3
Take the roasted besan off the heat and let it cool to just warm, not hot.
✎ Chef’s note
Sugar stirred into hot besan melts and turns the mixture runny, so wait until it is only warm.
4
Mix in the powdered sugar, cardamom and cashews until evenly combined and the mixture holds when pressed.
5
Pinch off portions and roll into smooth balls between your palms. Cool completely so they firm up before serving or storing.
North Indian Diwali mithai tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Punjab. Two things worth keeping straight. Only three of the five rivers that give Punjab its name run through the Indian side today; the other two are in Pakistan. And the tandoor is far older and far wider than Punjab, with keyhole ovens found at Harappan sites and versions used across Central and West Asia, so the region adopted it thoroughly rather than invented it.
🗺️
India. A grain line runs across the country, rice through the south and east, wheat rotis through the north and west, and the cooking fat shifts with it: coconut oil and curry leaves in the south, mustard oil in the east, ghee and dairy-thickened gravies in the north. Chilli is a relative newcomer to all of them, carried in by Portuguese traders in the sixteenth century.
🌍
Asia. Fermentation is the thread that runs the whole way across: soy sauce and miso, Korean doenjang and kimchi, Southeast Asian fish sauces, the soured batter behind an idli. Chilli is the newcomer among them, arriving only after 1500 with Portuguese and Spanish traders, which makes the heat in Sichuan, Thai and Korean cooking far younger than the fermenting underneath it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
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Good to know
You’ll need: Oven, Rolling pin.
Storing it: Best straight off the heat. Leftovers keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated and reheat well in a hot oven rather than the microwave.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Besan Ladoo?
Gram flour slow-roasted in ghee until nutty and golden, sweetened with cardamom sugar and rolled into melt-in-the-mouth balls, a quintessential Diwali mithai.
Where does Besan Ladoo come from?
Besan Ladoo is a Indian dish from Punjab, India.
Can Besan Ladoo be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Besan Ladoo recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Besan Ladoo safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Besan Ladoo take to make?
About 35 minutes total (10 minutes prep, 25 minutes cooking), serving 8.
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