Badam Halwa Recipe in Grams, and How Much Ghee It Needs

Updated 12 min read 1 cup almonds • ½ cup ghee • ¾ cup sugar • 1 cup milk

This badam halwa recipe uses 1 cup of almonds (143 g), ½ cup of melted ghee (103 g), ¾ cup of sugar (150 g), and 1 cup of milk. Soak and peel the almonds, grind them to a paste, cook it in half the ghee with saffron milk and sugar, then add the rest of the ghee a spoon at a time until the halwa leaves the pan. It makes 6 bowls.

How do you make badam halwa at home?

Soak 1 cup of almonds, peel them, and grind them with ¼ cup of milk to a smooth paste. Cook the paste in ¼ cup of ghee for 3 to 4 minutes, add ¾ cup of warm saffron milk and ¾ cup of sugar, and stir until thick. Add another ¼ cup of ghee a tablespoon at a time until the halwa gathers into one glossy mass. About 25 minutes on the flame.

Ingredients (6 bowls)

  • 1 cup whole almonds (143 g)
  • ½ cup ghee, melted before measuring (103 g)
  • ¾ cup sugar (150 g)
  • 1 cup full cream milk (244 g)
  • A pinch of saffron, about 15 strands
  • ¼ tsp cardamom powder
  • Sliced pistachios or almonds to top (optional)

Equipment: a mixer grinder, a heavy kadhai or thick non-stick pan, and a flat spatula.

Steps

  1. 1. Soak the almonds in hot water for 30 minutes, or cold water overnight. Pinch each one and the skin slips off.
  2. 2. Grind with ¼ cup milk in short bursts to a smooth, thick paste. Warm the other ¾ cup milk and drop in the saffron.
  3. 3. Heat ¼ cup ghee in the kadhai on medium-low. Add the paste and stir 3 to 4 minutes, until it loses the raw smell.
  4. 4. Pour in the saffron milk and sugar. Stir and scrape the base for 8 to 10 minutes until it is thick like porridge.
  5. 5. Add the last ¼ cup ghee a tablespoon at a time over 6 to 8 minutes. When it leaves the sides and ghee oozes at the edge, stir in the cardamom and turn off the flame.

One of 6 bowls: about 409 kcal, 30.2 g fat (12.2 g saturated), 32.1 g carbohydrate with 28 g sugar, and 6.4 g protein, worked out from USDA FoodData Central. Most of the fat is the almonds' own and the ghee in about equal shares. Badam halwa sits with the richer halwas; for the lighter everyday one, see suji ka halwa.

What goes into badam halwa, in cups and grams?

Almonds, ghee, sugar, and milk, in a cup ratio of 1 : ½ : ¾ : 1. Cups are fine for this dish, but they hide the weights. By USDA's cup weights a cup of whole almonds is 143 g and a cup of melted ghee is 205 g, so recipes that say "equal parts" mean very different halwas depending on whether they weigh or scoop.

Ingredient

Cups

Weight

Note

Almonds (badam), whole

1 cup

143 g

Weighed dry, before soaking. About 120 almonds.

Ghee, melted

½ cup

103 g

Melt before measuring. Half goes in first, half at the end.

Sugar

¾ cup

150 g

A full cup (200 g) for sweet-shop sweetness.

Milk, full cream

1 cup

244 g

¼ cup to grind the paste, ¾ cup warmed with the saffron.

Saffron and cardamom

A pinch, ¼ tsp

About 15 strands

Optional. Cardamom goes in at the very end.

Cup weights from USDA FoodData Central: 170567 (almonds, 143 g a cup whole), 173412 (butter oil, 205 g a cup), 169655 (granulated sugar, 200 g a cup), and 171265 (whole milk, 244 g a cup). One cup = 240 ml. Checked 28 September 2026.

How much ghee does badam halwa need?

Half a cup (103 g) for 1 cup of almonds gives a soft, glossy halwa that leaves the pan without ghee pooling on the plate. With ¼ cup it stays sticky and dries as it cools. Many recipes print ¾ cup or more, which is richer, not better. Each row below is one of 6 bowls, with the same almonds, sugar, and milk.

¼ cup (51 g)

Thick and a little sticky. Never quite leaves the pan, and turns dry as it cools. Eat it warm.

334 kcal, 2 tsp ghee

Use: A lighter everyday bowl.

½ cup (103 g)

Soft and glossy, gathers into one mass, a thin line of ghee at the edge.

409 kcal, 4 tsp ghee

Use: This recipe. Home, guests, festivals.

¾ cup (154 g)

Very glossy, ghee shows round the halwa on the plate.

484 kcal, 6 tsp ghee

Use: The 1:1:1 by weight halwa many recipes print.

1 cup (205 g)

Ghee pools in the pan and on the plate. Heavy after a few spoons.

559 kcal, 8 tsp ghee

Use: Equal cups of almonds, ghee, and sugar.

Per bowl, worked out from USDA FoodData Central 170567, 173412 (4.27 g of ghee a teaspoon), 169655, and 171265.

The ghee goes in two halves for a reason. The first ¼ cup cooks the paste and stops it catching while the milk and sugar reduce. The second goes in once the halwa is thick, and that is the ghee you see at the edge at the end. Pour it all in at the start and it floats on the milk for ten minutes doing nothing; hold it all back and the paste scorches before the sugar has melted. How ghee behaves in other everyday dishes is on cooking with ghee.

How do you peel almonds and grind a smooth paste?

Soak them in just-boiled water for 30 minutes, or in cold water overnight, and the skins slip off between your finger and thumb. Then grind with ¼ cup of milk in short bursts. The paste decides the texture of the halwa more than anything that happens in the pan.

  • In a hurry: boil water, turn off the flame, drop the almonds in for 2 to 3 minutes, drain, and rinse in cold water. The skins come off just as easily, and the almonds stay firm.
  • Grind cool: run the mixer for 20 seconds, stop, scrape down, and repeat. A jar that runs hot for two minutes pushes oil out of the almonds and the paste turns greasy and heavy.
  • How smooth: rub a pinch between your fingers. Fine sand is right for a smooth halwa. A few tiny bits give the danedar texture some families like. Brown flecks mean skins, and those do not cook out.
  • How thick: like thick chutney. If the mixer will not turn, add milk a tablespoon at a time. A runny paste only means more stirring later.

Can you use almond flour instead of whole almonds?

Yes, but measure by weight, not by the cup. USDA lists a cup of ground almonds at 95 g against 143 g for a cup of whole ones, so a cup of almond flour is only two-thirds of the almonds in this recipe. Use 140 to 145 g of blanched almond flour, about 1½ cups. Skin-on almond meal gives brown specks and a coarser halwa.

Flour skips the soak and the grinding, but it scorches faster. Whisk it into the ¾ cup of saffron milk first, then pour that into the hot ghee, and add the ¼ cup of milk you would have used for grinding as well. From there, cook it exactly like the paste. It is the quickest route to badam halwa on a weeknight, and the texture comes out a little softer and less nutty than fresh almonds.

How long do you cook badam halwa, and how do you know it is done?

About 20 to 25 minutes on a medium-low flame for a cup of almonds. It is done when the halwa leaves the sides of the pan as one soft lump, turns glossy and light gold, and a thin line of ghee oozes at the edge. It will firm up as it cools, so stop a minute before it looks set.

Minutes

What you see

Smell

What to do

0 to 4 min

Paste in the first ¼ cup of ghee. Pale, loose, sticks in places.

Smell: Raw nut.

Do: Medium-low flame. Scrape the base without a break.

4 to 14 min

Saffron milk and sugar in. Goes runny as the sugar melts, then bubbles and thickens like porridge.

Smell: Warm milk.

Do: It spits, so use a long spatula. Keep scraping the base.

14 to 22 min

Pulls together into one soft mass. Colour moves from ivory to light gold.

Smell: Roasted almonds.

Do: Add the second ¼ cup of ghee, a tablespoon at a time.

Done

Leaves the sides as one lump, glossy, ghee oozes at the edge.

Smell: Nutty, like almond barfi.

Do: Cardamom in, flame off. It firms as it cools.

Past that

Dry, crumbly, brown at the base, sugar starts to crystallise.

Smell: Caramel, then sharp.

Do: Off the flame now. Stir in 2 tbsp warm milk.

Trust your nose as much as your eyes. At our chulha in Gir Somnath, ghee comes off the flame when the bubbling goes quiet, the milk solids turn golden-brown, and the kitchen smells of toasted milk. A batch that goes past that turns dark and bitter, and it never goes in a jar. Badam halwa gives the same kind of warning: the smell moves from warm milk to roasted almonds, and a minute or two after that the base starts to catch. A heavy kadhai gives you that minute; a thin steel pan does not.

Which ghee is best for badam halwa?

A plain ghee with nothing added, that smells of toasted milk when it melts. With only four ingredients, the ghee is half the flavour, and a stale or sour jar shows across the whole kadhai. If your ghee smells cheesy, sour, or of nothing at all when warmed, read how to identify pure ghee. Butter holds water and milk solids that brown before the halwa is done; the difference is on ghee vs butter.

Cow or buffalo is a matter of taste. Buffalo ghee gives a rounder, richer halwa and is the one we reach for in sweets. Cow ghee is lighter and more yellow, and in monsoon, when green fodder makes our cow ghee deeper yellow, the halwa comes out a warmer gold. How the two differ is on cow vs buffalo ghee.

Measure it melted. In summer our ghee stays liquid in the jar and pours straight into the cup. In winter it sets to a fine grain, and a cup packed with set ghee holds more than a cup of melted ghee, which is the usual reason for ghee pooling round the halwa. The grain is normal; why it forms is on why ghee is grainy.

Why is my badam halwa grainy, sticky, or hard?

Almost always the paste, the flame, or when you stopped. Find your problem below.

Grainy or gritty on the tongue

The paste was not ground fine, or bits of skin were left on.

Fix: Grind in 20-second bursts with a pause between, until a pinch rubbed between your fingers feels smooth. A slightly grainy (danedar) halwa is a style some families prefer; skin flecks are not.

Sticky, will not leave the pan

Undercooked, or the second half of the ghee never went in.

Fix: Keep going on low, adding ghee a tablespoon at a time, until it gathers into one mass and ghee shows at the edge.

Hard or chewy once cool

Cooked past the done stage, so the sugar set like barfi.

Fix: Warm it with 2 to 3 tbsp of milk on a low flame, stirring. Next time, stop when it first leaves the sides.

Ghee pooling on the plate

Set, grainy ghee packed into the cup, or all the ghee dumped in at the end.

Fix: Melt, then measure. Tilt the pan and spoon the extra ghee off for tomorrow's dal.

Pale and tastes of raw nuts

Flame too low and time too short, or the paste went in with too much milk.

Fix: Keep cooking on medium-low until it turns light gold and smells roasted. Colour and smell, not the clock.

Brown specks and a bitter edge

High flame, a thin pan, or scraping in a burnt base.

Fix: Use a heavy kadhai on medium-low. If the base has caught, move the halwa to a clean pan and leave the dark layer behind.

For kesar badam halwa, double the saffron and soak it in the warm milk for 10 minutes before it goes in. The bright orange of some sweet-shop halwa comes from food colour, not saffron. If you would rather have firm pieces for a Diwali box, cashew paste cooked the same way becomes kaju katli.

How much ghee and sugar is in one bowl of badam halwa?

One of 6 bowls holds about 17 g of ghee, close to 4 teaspoons, and 25 g of added sugar, at 409 kcal. ICMR-NIN's 2024 dietary guidelines suggest limiting ghee or butter to 1 to 2 teaspoons a day and say limiting sugar to 25 g a day is better for health. So one bowl is two days' ghee and a whole day's sugar.

Portion of a 1-cup batch

kcal

Ghee

Sugar

Whole batch

2,455 kcal

Ghee 103 g, about 24 tsp

Sugar 150 g

1 of 6 bowls

409 kcal

Ghee 17 g, about 4 tsp

Sugar 25 g

1 of 8 small katoris

307 kcal

Ghee 13 g, about 3 tsp

Sugar 19 g

1 of 12 spoonfuls on a thali

205 kcal

Ghee 8.5 g, about 2 tsp

Sugar 12.5 g

Worked out from USDA FoodData Central 170567, 173412, 169655, and 171265, checked 28 September 2026. Limits from ICMR-NIN, Dietary Guidelines for Indians 2024.

That is fine for a festival or guests. It is a reason to serve small katoris rather than big bowls, and to go easy on ghee in dal and roti on a halwa day. Our family eats 1 to 2 teaspoons of ghee each a day and more in winter sweets, so a sweet day counts as the sweet day. How the daily limit works is on how much ghee per day, and with diabetes, read can diabetics eat ghee and ask your doctor what a halwa portion does to your plan.

Badam halwa for children and new mothers

Not the sweet version before age two: ICMR-NIN's 2024 guidelines say no added sugar for children under two years old. For older children, a couple of spoonfuls is a festival treat, not a daily tonic. Keep it away from anyone with a nut allergy, and check with guests before serving.

Many families send badam halwa or badam sheera to a new mother, as household tradition. It is rich food: 409 kcal a bowl. If she had gestational diabetes, or her doctor has asked her to watch sugar, ask them first. What a postpartum kitchen usually cooks with ghee, and how much, is on ghee after delivery.

How do you store and reheat badam halwa?

It is made with milk, so treat it like any cooked dish with milk in it. The UK Food Standards Agency advises cooling cooked food and putting it in the fridge within one to two hours, and eating leftovers within 48 hours or freezing them. Keep it in a lidded steel or glass box.

It sets firm in the fridge because the ghee sets. Warm a portion in a pan on a low flame with 1 to 2 tablespoons of milk, stirring until soft and glossy, or microwave it covered in 30-second bursts, stirring in between. You should not need more ghee. The ghee jar itself needs no fridge; how to keep it is on ghee storage and shelf life. For the other winter halwa that uses the same ghee, try gajar ka halwa.

Badam halwa: a recipe card to keep

Screenshot this and keep it by the stove.

  • 1. For 6 bowls: 1 cup almonds (143 g), ½ cup melted ghee (103 g), ¾ cup sugar (150 g), 1 cup milk (244 g), a pinch of saffron, ¼ tsp cardamom.
  • 2. Soak the almonds in hot water for 30 minutes, or cold water overnight. Slip the skins off.
  • 3. Grind with ¼ cup milk in short bursts to a smooth, thick paste.
  • 4. Warm ¾ cup milk, add the saffron, set aside.
  • 5. Heat ¼ cup ghee in a heavy kadhai, medium-low. Paste in, stir 3 to 4 minutes.
  • 6. Saffron milk and sugar in. Stir and scrape 8 to 10 minutes until thick.
  • 7. Add the last ¼ cup ghee a tablespoon at a time over 6 to 8 minutes.
  • 8. Done when it leaves the sides as one mass and ghee oozes at the edge. Cardamom in, flame off.
  • 9. One of 6 bowls: 409 kcal, 4 tsp ghee, 25 g sugar. A festival bowl.

Which ghee should you buy for badam halwa?

Almonds are the costly part of this dish, so do not let a flat ghee waste them. Pick a plain ghee with nothing added that smells of toasted milk when it melts. For halwa and sweets, buffalo ghee gives the richer, rounder taste; our ranking of what is on sale, with prices, is best buffalo ghee in India.

For badam halwa we would use our Jafarabadi buffalo ghee, and our A2 Gir cow ghee for a lighter, more golden halwa. Both come from grass-fed village animals near the Gir forest: the milk is set to curd overnight, churned by hand (Bilona), and the makkhan cooked in a matki on a wood chulha. The jar is made after you order, a video of it being cooked and packed comes on WhatsApp, and Varsha tastes every batch before it goes in a jar. We test every month against the FSSAI limits; the steps are on how we make ghee.

A lighter, more golden halwa

Badam halwa and festival sweets

Each order is cooked after you place it, and the packing video is of that batch. Past order videos are on the shop.

FAQ

Badam halwa kaise banate hai?

Ek cup badam (143 g) garam paani mein 30 minute bhigo kar chhilka utaar lo, phir paav cup doodh ke saath mahin pees lo. Kadhai mein paav cup ghee garam karke paste 3 se 4 minute bhuno. Teen-chauthai cup kesar wala doodh aur teen-chauthai cup cheeni daal kar gaadha hone tak chalao. Baaki paav cup ghee thoda thoda daalo. Jab halwa kinaare chhodne lage aur ghee bahar aaye, elaichi daal kar aanch band karo.

Can I make badam halwa with jaggery instead of sugar?

Yes. Use about the same weight, 150 g of grated jaggery for a cup of almonds. Melt it in ¼ cup of warm water, strain out any grit, and add it after the paste has cooked in the ghee, in place of the sugar. Keep the milk warm, not boiling, when jaggery is in the pan, or it can split. The halwa turns brown and tastes of caramel. Jaggery is still sugar, so portions stay small.

Can I make badam halwa without milk?

Yes. Grind the almonds with water and cook them in water with the saffron, the way many South Indian homes make it. The halwa is a little less creamy and paler, and by USDA figures a bowl drops from about 409 to 384 kcal. For a dairy-free halwa you would also need to swap the ghee for a neutral oil, which loses most of the flavour, so we would keep the ghee.

Mamra or California almonds for badam halwa?

Either works. Mamra almonds, the small curved ones often sold as Iranian or Afghan, cost more and many cooks like their deeper taste, but their skins can be harder to slip off. California almonds, the flat ones most shops sell, peel easily and make a pale, even halwa. Taste one first: if it is bitter or smells like old paint, the stock is stale.

What is the difference between badam halwa, badam sheera, and badam barfi?

Badam halwa is soft and spooned warm into a bowl. Badam sheera is a looser version, often with more milk, served almost pouring. Badam barfi, or badam katli, starts the same way but is cooked further, with less ghee, until the paste can be rolled and cut into firm pieces once cool. If your halwa went too far and set hard, you have made a rough barfi.

How do I make badam halwa for 20 guests?

Plan one small katori each, so a batch made with 2½ cups of almonds serves about 20. Keep the ratio: 360 g almonds, 255 g melted ghee (1¼ cups), 375 g sugar, and 610 ml milk. Grind the paste in two or three lots. A large batch takes longer to thicken, so allow 35 to 45 minutes and go by the done sign, not the clock. Use a wide, heavy kadhai.

Sources

  1. Nuts, almonds (FDC ID 170567), SR Legacy, USDA FoodData Central. Checked 28 Sep 2026.
  2. Butter oil, anhydrous (FDC ID 173412), SR Legacy, USDA FoodData Central. Checked 28 Sep 2026.
  3. Sugars, granulated (FDC ID 169655), SR Legacy, USDA FoodData Central. Checked 28 Sep 2026.
  4. Milk, whole, 3.25% milkfat, with added vitamin D (FDC ID 171265), SR Legacy, USDA FoodData Central. Checked 28 Sep 2026.
  5. Dietary Guidelines for Indians, 2024 (ghee limit, PDF p. 71; sugar, PDF p. 111; children under two, PDF p. 28), ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition. Checked 28 Sep 2026.
  6. How to chill, freeze and defrost food safely, Food Standards Agency (UK). Checked 28 Sep 2026.

Read next