Besan Ladoo Recipe with Ghee: Grams, Ratio, and Fixes

Updated 12 min read 20 ladoos • 120 g ghee • 25 minutes at the stove

For this besan ladoo recipe, roast 200 g besan in 120 g ghee on a low flame for 20 to 25 minutes, until it smells nutty and turns light golden brown. Let it cool until just warm, rub in 150 g powdered sugar and a little cardamom, and roll 20 ladoos. Use 100 g ghee for firm ladoos that travel, or 150 g for soft ones.

Besan ladoo recipe: how much besan, ghee, and sugar?

By weight, besan ladoo is 1 part besan, about 0.6 part ghee, and 0.75 part sugar: 200 g besan, 120 g ghee, and 150 g powdered sugar for 20 ladoos. Cups vary so much between kitchens that grams are the only way to get the same ladoo twice. A cup of besan weighs about 92 g and a cup of ghee about 205 g, so "1 cup ghee to 2 cups besan" is really more ghee than besan.

Ingredients (20 ladoos)

  • 200 g besan (gram flour), about 2 cups, sifted
  • 120 g ghee, about ½ cup + 1½ tbsp (100 g for firm, 150 g for soft)
  • 150 g sugar (¾ cup), ground to a fine powder, or 150 g bura
  • ½ tsp cardamom powder
  • 2 tbsp chopped cashews or almonds (optional)

Equipment: a heavy kadhai 22 to 26 cm across, a flat wooden spatula, a wide steel plate for cooling, and a sieve.

Steps

  1. 1. Sift the besan. Grind the sugar to a fine powder and sift it too.
  2. 2. Melt the ghee in the kadhai on a low flame. Add all the besan and stir it into a thick paste.
  3. 3. Keep the flame low and stir the whole base with every stroke for 20 to 25 minutes. The paste loosens, turns sandy, and goes light golden brown with a nutty smell. Ghee starts to show at the edges.
  4. 4. Add the nuts for the last 2 minutes. Take the pan off the heat.
  5. 5. Tip the besan onto a wide plate so it stops cooking. Cool for 10 to 15 minutes, until you can hold a handful comfortably.
  6. 6. Add the sugar and cardamom. Rub it all together with your hands for 2 to 3 minutes.
  7. 7. Squeeze a spoonful in your fist. If it holds, roll 20 ladoos while the mix is warm. If it crumbles, add 1 tbsp melted ghee first.
  8. 8. Let the ladoos set for 30 minutes before you close the box.

One classic besan ladoo (about 23 g, without nuts): about 120 kcal, 6.6 g fat (3.8 g saturated), 13.3 g carbohydrate, 7.5 g added sugar, and 2.3 g protein, worked out from USDA FoodData Central for besan, sugar, and ghee, with the batch rolled into 20.

The one thing to watch is the flame. Besan scorches on the base long before the top is cooked, and the smell tells you first. We know that smell from our own chulha in Gir Somnath: ghee left too long over the fire turns dark, bitter, and smells burnt, and that batch never goes in a jar. Burnt besan smells the same way. If you catch it, lower the flame at once and scrape the base.

How much ghee for besan ladoo: firm, classic, or soft?

For 200 g besan, use 100 g ghee for firm ladoos, 120 g for the classic texture, and 150 g for soft, halwai-style ones. The ghee is what binds the ladoo, so less than 100 g gives a dry ladoo that crumbles, and much more than 150 g gives one that slumps and leaves a ring of ghee on the plate. People who search for a "ghee ladoo recipe" are usually asking this same question.

Firm ladoo

Ghee
100 g (about ½ cup)
You get
Holds a sharp round shape in a gift box and on a long train ride. A drier, sandier bite.
Best for
Diwali boxes, posting to family, hot weather.
Per ladoo
112 kcal, ghee 5 g, about 1¼ tsp
Ghee cost
₹231 with our buffalo ghee, ₹277 with our cow ghee

Classic ladoo

Ghee
120 g (about ½ cup + 1½ tbsp)
You get
Rolls smooth, keeps its shape, and melts once you bite it. The one to start with.
Best for
Home, prasad, most of the year.
Per ladoo
120 kcal, ghee 6 g, about 1½ tsp
Ghee cost
₹277 with our buffalo ghee, ₹332 with our cow ghee

Soft, halwai-style ladoo

Ghee
150 g (about ¾ cup)
You get
Very soft and rich, shiny with ghee. Can slump into a flat base on a warm day.
Best for
Winter, or eaten within a few days.
Per ladoo
133 kcal, ghee 7.5 g, about 1¾ tsp
Ghee cost
₹346 with our buffalo ghee, ₹415 with our cow ghee

Per ladoo, one twentieth of 200 g besan, 150 g sugar, and the ghee shown; nuts not counted. USDA FoodData Central: besan 174288, sugar 169655, ghee 173412, checked 28 September 2026. Ghee cost at our own prices for 1 litre (₹1,999 buffalo, ₹2,399 cow, checked 25 September 2026); prices change, so check the product page.

The season moves the right amount too. In summer our ghee stays liquid in the jar and ladoos made with it stay soft on the counter; in winter it sets to a fine grain and the same ladoos turn firmer. So a soft 150 g batch is a winter ladoo, and in May the 100 to 120 g batch keeps its shape better. The ghee is the costly part of the batch; besan and sugar add much less. For more sweets that stand or fall on their ghee, see cooking with ghee.

How long should you roast besan for ladoo?

Roast it 20 to 25 minutes on a low flame, until it turns light golden brown, smells strongly nutty, and ghee begins to show at the edges. Colour alone can fool you; the smell is the surer sign. If it browns in under 10 minutes, the flame is too high and the inside is still raw.

Time on low

What you see

What you smell

0 to 5 min

Thick, lumpy paste that sticks to the spatula.

Smell: Raw, beany.

5 to 12 min

Loosens and turns smoother. Still pale yellow.

Smell: Raw smell fading.

12 to 20 min

Goes light and sandy, like wet sand, and starts to change colour.

Smell: Warm and toasty.

20 to 25 min

Light golden brown, a few shades darker than raw besan. Ghee shows at the edges.

Smell: Strongly nutty. Done.

Past 30 min

Dark brown patches, specks on the base.

Smell: Sharp and bitter. Too far.

For a sure test, take a pinch off the spatula, let it cool for a few seconds, and taste it. It should taste toasted, with no raw, beany edge. Many sweet shops sprinkle 1 to 2 tbsp of milk over the besan in the last few minutes; it hisses, bubbles, and leaves the besan in small grains for a danedar ladoo. It also adds moisture, so those ladoos keep for about a week, not two. Ghee is the right fat for this long, low roast because its own water and milk solids were cooked out when it was made. Butter still carries water and milk solids that spit and brown into specks; the full difference is on ghee vs butter.

When do you add sugar to besan ladoo, and which sugar?

Add the sugar only when the roasted besan has cooled to warm, about 10 to 15 minutes on a wide plate, so you can hold a handful without it stinging. Hot besan melts the sugar into a syrup that makes ladoos sticky and flat. Cold besan will not bind at all, because the ghee has started to set.

Use sugar ground to a fine powder and sifted, or bura (the dry, crumbly sugar sold for sweets). Ordinary granulated sugar stays gritty in the mouth.

For jaggery, use 150 g of soft jaggery, grated or powdered, and add it only when the besan is barely warm; hot besan turns jaggery sticky. Jaggery ladoos are darker, taste of caramel, and hold a little softer. They are still a sugar ladoo, and anyone counting sugar should count them the same way.

Why do besan ladoos crumble, go flat, or taste raw?

Crumbly ladoos need more ghee or a warmer mix; flat ladoos have too much ghee or sugar that melted in; a raw taste means the besan came off the flame too early. Find your batch below.

Crumbles, will not hold a shape

Too little ghee for the besan, or the mix went cold before you rolled it.

Fix: Warm the mix on the lowest flame for a minute, add 1 tbsp melted ghee, rub it through with your hands, and roll again while it is warm.

Goes flat and spreads on the plate

Too much ghee, or the sugar went in while the besan was hot and melted into it.

Fix: Add 1 to 2 tbsp roasted besan or powdered sugar and roll again. Chill the ladoos for 20 minutes to set them, and keep them in the fridge in summer.

Tastes raw or beany

The besan came off the flame before it turned golden and nutty.

Fix: If the sugar is not in yet, put it back on low for 5 more minutes. Once the sugar is in, it cannot be roasted again; the next batch roasts 5 minutes longer.

Bitter, dark specks

The flame was too high, or the pan was left unstirred.

Fix: Cannot be saved. Start again on low and stir the whole base with every stroke.

Gritty in the mouth

Granulated sugar that was not ground fine enough.

Fix: Grind the sugar to a fine powder and sift it. Bura, if you can buy it, gives the smoothest ladoo.

Sticks to the teeth, sticky mix

Sugar added while the besan was too hot, so it melted into syrup.

Fix: Spread the mix on a plate to cool for 10 minutes, then add 1 to 2 tbsp roasted besan and roll.

A jar that smells flat, waxy, or stale shows up in every ladoo, because the ghee is about a quarter of what you eat. Melt a spoon before you start: good ghee smells of toasted milk and nothing else. The home checks are on how to identify pure ghee.

How many calories are in one besan ladoo?

One classic besan ladoo of about 23 g has about 120 kcal, with 6 g of ghee (about 1½ teaspoons) and 7.5 g of sugar in it. A firm one is about 112 kcal and a soft one about 133 kcal. Shop ladoos are often twice this size, so weigh one if you want to know yours.

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. One classic ladoo sits inside that ghee limit and uses about 30% of the sugar. Two ladoos go past the ghee, so on a ladoo day, go lighter on ghee at dinner. At home in Gir Somnath we eat 1 to 2 teaspoons of ghee each on an ordinary day, and more only in winter sweets like adadiya pak and gond. The day-by-day budget is on how much ghee per day, and calories by the spoon are on ghee nutrition facts.

Anyone with diabetes should count the sugar first, and jaggery or date ladoos count the same way. What a doctor or dietitian has set for you comes before this recipe; fat and blood sugar are covered on can diabetics eat ghee.

Cow or buffalo ghee for besan ladoo?

Buffalo ghee is our pick for besan ladoo: it is richer and whiter, gives the full, heavy ghee taste a festival sweet should have, and costs less for the 120 g a batch needs. Cow ghee gives a more yellow ladoo with a sharper toasted-milk smell; use it if that is the taste your family grew up with.

Both are almost pure milk fat, so the calories are about the same. Grainy ghee is fine for ladoos. People ask us on WhatsApp every winter why their jar has turned grainy; it is only the fat setting in the cold, and it all melts in the kadhai. Just weigh it, or melt it before you measure, because grainy ghee packs into a cup differently from liquid ghee. Why the grain forms is on why ghee is grainy, and the side-by-side is on cow vs buffalo ghee.

How long do besan ladoos last?

Home-made besan ladoos keep about two weeks in a closed steel or glass box at room temperature in cool weather, about a week in hot, humid months, and three to four weeks in the fridge. Ladoos made with milk, dates, or jaggery keep closer to a week.

Let them set and cool fully before the lid goes on, or steam softens them. Pick them up with dry hands or a dry spoon; water is what spoils them. Fridge-cold ladoos are hard, so take them out 20 minutes before serving. Throw them out if they smell sour or taste like old oil, since the ghee in them goes stale with time like any fat. The same rules for the ghee jar itself are on ghee storage and shelf life.

Can you add dry fruits, coconut, or saffron to besan ladoo?

Yes. Keep the besan, ghee, and sugar the same and add the extras at the point shown, so the binding does not change.

  • Dry fruit ladoo: up to 50 g chopped cashews, almonds, pistachios, and magaz (melon seeds), added for the last 2 minutes of roasting. Add 1 tbsp more ghee if the mix feels dry.
  • Coconut besan ladoo: 40 g desiccated coconut, toasted in the kadhai for 2 minutes after the besan is done, before it goes onto the plate.
  • Saffron ladoo: a pinch of saffron crushed into the sugar, not soaked in milk, so the ladoos keep their full two weeks.
  • Atta or mixed ladoo: swap half the besan for atta. It roasts a little faster and tastes like churma.

For other ladoos from the same kadhai, try rava ladoo, the syrup-soaked motichoor ladoo, or the winter gond ke ladoo. Besan cooked in syrup instead of rolled is Mysore pak.

Besan ladoo: a recipe card to keep

Screenshot this before you start; your hands will be full of besan when you need it.

  • 1. Makes 20 ladoos of about 23 g: 200 g besan (about 2 cups), 120 g ghee (about ½ cup + 1½ tbsp), 150 g sugar ground to powder (¾ cup before grinding), ½ tsp cardamom powder, 2 tbsp chopped cashews or almonds (optional).
  • 2. Sift the besan. Grind and sift the sugar.
  • 3. Melt the ghee in a heavy kadhai on low. Add all the besan and stir.
  • 4. Roast on low, stirring the whole base, for 20 to 25 minutes: sandy, light golden brown, nutty, ghee at the edges.
  • 5. Add the nuts for the last 2 minutes. Take the pan off the heat.
  • 6. Tip into a wide plate. Cool 10 to 15 minutes, until warm enough to hold a handful comfortably.
  • 7. Add sugar and cardamom. Rub together with your hands for 2 to 3 minutes.
  • 8. Squeeze a spoonful: it should hold. If it crumbles, add 1 tbsp melted ghee.
  • 9. Roll 20 ladoos while warm. Set 30 minutes, then close the box. About 120 kcal a ladoo.

Which ghee for besan ladoo?

In a besan ladoo the ghee is about a quarter of the weight, so you taste the jar in every bite. Pick one that smells of toasted milk when melted, with nothing waxy or stale behind it. Our ranking of the buffalo ghee on sale is best buffalo ghee in India.

For besan ladoo we would use our Jafarabadi buffalo ghee, and our A2 Gir cow ghee if you like a lighter ladoo. 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, yellow ladoo

Rich, firm festival ladoos

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

FAQ

Is ghee ladoo the same as besan ladoo?

Usually, yes. In most homes "ghee ladoo" or "ghee ke laddu" means besan ladoo: gram flour roasted in ghee, then rolled with sugar. Some families use the name for atta ladoo, made the same way with wheat flour, or for gond ladoo in winter. The method and the ghee ratio are close for all three; the flour changes the taste, roasting time, and colour.

What is the difference between besan ladoo and motichoor ladoo?

Both start with besan, but they are made very differently. Besan ladoo is dry flour roasted in ghee and rolled with powdered sugar, so it is sandy and nutty. Motichoor ladoo is a thin besan batter dropped through a slotted ladle into hot ghee or oil as tiny boondi, soaked in sugar syrup, then pressed into balls, so it is soft, moist, and sweeter.

How many besan ladoos does 1 kg of besan make?

About 100 ladoos of 23 g each. Scale everything by five: 1 kg besan, 600 g ghee for the classic texture, and 750 g sugar. Roast it in two or three batches in an ordinary kadhai, because a whole kilo is too heavy to stir evenly and the base scorches before the top is done. Each batch still needs its full 20 to 25 minutes.

Should I use fine besan or coarse ladoo besan?

Either works. Fine besan gives a smooth, melt-in-the-mouth ladoo and is what most homes have. Coarse besan, sold as ladoo besan or mota besan, gives the grainy, danedar texture of sweet-shop ladoos and is less likely to form lumps. If you only have fine besan and want a grainier bite, stir in 2 tbsp of fine rava with the besan.

Can I make besan ladoo in the microwave?

Yes, for a small batch. Mix the besan and ghee in a wide microwave-safe bowl, cook in 1-minute bursts, and stir well after each one. It takes 6 to 9 minutes, depending on the oven. The edges brown first, so stir from the sides in. Stop when it smells nutty and turns light golden, then cool and add sugar exactly as on the stove.

Can I make besan ladoo without sugar?

You can use about 150 g of soft dates, blended to a paste and mixed into the warm roasted besan, or chopped dates with nuts. The ladoos turn darker and chewier and keep only about a week, because dates carry moisture. They are not sugar-free, though: dates are mostly natural sugar, so anyone counting sugar should count these ladoos the same way.

Sources

  1. Chickpea flour (besan) (FDC ID 174288), SR Legacy, USDA FoodData Central. Checked 28 Sep 2026.
  2. Sugars, granulated (FDC ID 169655), SR Legacy, USDA FoodData Central. Checked 28 Sep 2026.
  3. Butter oil, anhydrous (FDC ID 173412), SR Legacy, USDA FoodData Central. Checked 28 Sep 2026.
  4. Dietary Guidelines for Indians, 2024 (Guideline 7 on visible fats; added sugar), ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition. Checked 28 Sep 2026.

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