Besan ladoo is gram flour roasted slowly in ghee until it smells nutty, cooled until warm, mixed with powdered sugar and cardamom, and rolled into balls that set as the ghee firms. Our starting ratio is two parts besan to one part ghee to one part sugar by weight: 200 g, 100 g and 100 g for 12 ladoos.
At a glance
- Wikipedia's entry on laddu calls besan laddu the most common variety: chickpea flour fried in hot ghee, then mixed with sugar and cardamom and formed into balls.
- USDA FoodData Central lists ghee at 900 kcal per 100 g, and both chickpea flour (besan) and granulated sugar at 387 kcal per 100 g.
- On those figures our 12-ladoo batch is 2,061 kcal, about 172 kcal a ladoo, with 8.3 g of ghee and 8.3 g of sugar in each.
- ICMR-NIN's 2024 guidelines say to limit ghee or butter to 1 to 2 teaspoons a day, and call sugar above 25 g a day high.
- FSSAI's 2020 guidance note for food businesses lists besan laddoo among sweets to be consumed within 30 days of making.
What is besan ladoo, and what goes into it?
Besan, ghee, sugar and cardamom. Wikipedia's entry on laddu calls besan laddu the most common variety and gives the method in two lines: besan is fried in hot ghee, sugar and cardamom powder are mixed in, and the mixture is formed into balls and allowed to cool and solidify.
Unlike ghee Mysore pak, which cooks besan in a sugar syrup, besan ladoo uses no water: the sugar goes in dry, after the heat is off.
What ratio of besan to ghee to sugar should you use?
Our starting point is 2:1:1 by weight: 200 g of besan, 100 g of ghee and 100 g of powdered sugar, for 12 ladoos of about 33 g each (400 ÷ 12 = 33.3). No standard body publishes a ladoo ratio, so treat this as a first batch to adjust, not a rule.
On ICMR-NIN's 15 g tablespoon, 100 g of ghee is about six and two-thirds tablespoons (100 ÷ 15 = 6.67); our guide to ghee spoon measures in grams explains why a scale is simpler. Use fine besan, sifted, and powder the sugar: granulated sugar stays gritty, because nothing in the method dissolves it.
Why does besan need slow roasting until it smells nutty?
Because heat is what turns raw gram flour's flat, floury taste into a toasted, nutty one, and that change needs time at a gentle heat. Go by smell and colour, not the clock.
The food science points the same way, though no study we found tested ladoo itself. A 2022 laboratory study in Food Chemistry, which baked sponge cakes with pulse flours in place of wheat, found that baking set off caramelisation and Maillard reactions, that the pulse cakes were particularly enriched in pyrazines and furanic compounds, and that the Maillard markers known to impart nutty, roasted notes were associated with the lentil and chickpea cakes. That was cake in an oven, not besan in a kadhai; take it as the general direction only.
In the pan, in our experience, besan and ghee start as a stiff, clumpy paste. After some minutes on a low flame with constant stirring, the mixture loosens and flows off the spoon, the colour deepens to light golden brown, and the smell changes from raw flour to roasted nuts. The time depends on the pan and the flame.
Why add the ghee in stages?
So that you can judge how much the besan takes up, and stop before the mixture turns greasy. This is our practice, not a tested finding. We melt about three-quarters of the ghee, stir in the besan, and add the rest a tablespoon at a time only as the mixture tightens during roasting.
In our experience besan takes up ghee differently from batch to batch, and one that starts with all its ghee can end up with a slick of fat on top.
When should the sugar go in, and why not while the mixture is hot?
Once the roasted mixture has cooled from hot to warm to the touch. In our kitchen, sugar stirred into a hot mixture turns it loose and sticky, and ladoos rolled from it slump; the same batch cooled to warm first rolls cleanly. We found no food-science source that tests this in ladoo, so treat it as kitchen experience, not a settled fact.
Do not let it cool completely: cold, the ghee sets and the mixture will not take the sugar evenly.
How do you make besan ladoo with ghee step by step?
Roast sifted besan in most of the ghee over a low flame until it loosens and smells nutty, cool to warm, mix in powdered sugar and cardamom, and roll 12 balls.
- Measure. Weigh 200 g of fine besan and sift it. Weigh 100 g of ghee and 100 g of sugar; powder the sugar with the seeds of four or five cardamom pods.
- Melt. Melt about 75 g of the ghee in a heavy kadhai over a low flame.
- Add the besan. Stir it in and break up the lumps.
- Roast. Keep the flame low and stir without stopping, scraping the base. Add the remaining ghee a tablespoon at a time if the mixture stays stiff.
- Watch for the change. The mixture loosens, turns light golden brown and smells of roasted nuts. Take it off the heat then; dark brown is too far.
- Cool to warm. Pour into a wide plate and cool until you can touch it comfortably.
- Add the sugar. Mix in the powdered sugar and cardamom until no streaks remain.
- Roll. Press about 33 g at a time firmly in your palm, then roll it into a ball.
How do you fix a mix that is too dry or too greasy?
A dry mix needs a little more warm ghee; a greasy mix needs time to cool, or a little more roasted besan. What follows is our practice.
Too dry. If the mixture crumbles and will not press into a ball, add warm melted ghee a teaspoon at a time until a handful pressed firmly holds together. Each 5 g teaspoon adds about 0.4 g of ghee to each of 12 ladoos (5 ÷ 12 = 0.42).
Too greasy. If ghee pools on the surface or the balls slump, let the mixture cool further; the ghee thickens as it cools and the mixture firms with it. If it is still loose when cool, roast a tablespoon or two of besan in a dry pan until nutty, cool it, and work it in. Never add raw besan: it tastes of flour.
How many calories are in one besan ladoo?
About 172 kcal on our batch. USDA FoodData Central's SR Legacy records give 900 kcal per 100 g for clarified butter (ghee), and 387 kcal per 100 g for both chickpea flour (besan) and granulated sugar: 9 kcal and 3.87 kcal per gram.
| Ingredient | Our starting point, 12 ladoos | Calories in the batch | Per ladoo (÷ 12) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Besan | 200 g | 200 × 3.87 = 774 kcal | 16.7 g; 64.5 kcal |
| Ghee | 100 g | 100 × 9 = 900 kcal | 8.3 g; 75 kcal |
| Sugar | 100 g | 100 × 3.87 = 387 kcal | 8.3 g; 32.25 kcal |
| Batch | 400 g | 774 + 900 + 387 = 2,061 kcal | 2,061 ÷ 12 = 171.75, about 172 kcal |
The ICMR-NIN Dietary Guidelines for Indians (2024) give the context. On ghee: "Limit ghee or butter to just 1 to 2 teaspoons/day or avoid, if possible." On the guidelines' 5 g teaspoon, one ladoo's 8.33 g of ghee is 8.33 ÷ 5 = 1.67 teaspoons. On sugar: "Consumption of sugar in quantities that contribute over 5% of total energy intake per day or 25 g/day (based on average intake of 2000 Kcal/day) is defined as 'high' sugar." One ladoo's 8.33 g is a third of that (8.33 ÷ 25 = 0.33).
On saturated fat, the guidelines call its use high "when more than 10g/day of visible saturated fats (for a 2000 Kcal diet/ day) is consumed in the form of ghee, butter or due to excessive use of palm oil, coconut oil in the preparation of snacks or sweets." USDA lists 60 g of saturated fat per 100 g of ghee, so one ladoo's ghee carries 8.33 × 0.6 = 5 g, half of that. If a doctor or dietitian has set limits for you, follow their advice.
How long do besan ladoos keep?
FSSAI's 2020 guidance note on traditional milk products, written for food businesses, gives an illustrative shelf-life list that puts besan laddoo in its longest group: "To be consumed within 30 days from date of manufacturing", with atta laddoo and sohan halwa. Boondi ladoo is listed at 4 days and kalakand at the same day.
The note names no storage condition for the 30-day group; it says same-day sweets are kept at room temperature and two-day sweets in the refrigerator, and stops there. It is guidance for businesses, not a tested home figure. We keep ours in a closed tin, which is habit, not a rule from any source.
Buying rather than making? Our guide to checking a "pure ghee" claim on sweets covers what to ask at the counter. At home, Himdhara's A2 bilona ghee carries a batch code with a published laboratory report for every batch.
The short version
Besan ladoo is besan roasted in ghee, cooled to warm, mixed with powdered sugar and cardamom, and rolled. Start with 200 g of besan, 100 g of ghee and 100 g of sugar for 12 ladoos, add the ghee in stages, and roast on a low flame until the mixture loosens and smells of roasted nuts. Add the sugar once the mixture is warm, not hot. On USDA figures each ladoo is about 172 kcal with 8.3 g of ghee and 8.3 g of sugar.
Sources
Further reading behind the figures above. Himdhara's own numbers — yields, batch results — come from our production records and the batch reports on the lab reports page.
- U.S. Department of Agriculture (2019). Butter, Clarified butter (ghee). FoodData Central (SR Legacy).
- U.S. Department of Agriculture (2019). Chickpea flour (besan). FoodData Central (SR Legacy).
- ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition (2024). Dietary Guidelines for Indians. ICMR-NIN, Hyderabad.
- Krause S, Keller S, Hashemi A, Descharles N, Bonazzi C, Rega B (2022). From flours to cakes: Reactivity potential of pulse ingredients to generate volatile compounds impacting the quality of processed foods. Food Chemistry.
- Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (2020). Guidance Note on Safety and Quality of Traditional Milk Products. FSSAI Guidance Note No. 14/2020.