Anko (餡子,あんこ), or sometimes we call it An (餡, あん), is sweet red bean paste made from azuki beans.
It’s one of the basic ingredients for wagashi (Japanese confectioneries). It’s usually used for filling for mochi, dango, and dorayaki, and topping for Anmitsu and Green Tea Shaved Ice, as well as for dessert soup called Zenzai (Oshiruko).
There are several types of red bean paste.
Tsubu-An (粒餡,つぶあん)
When azuki beans are cooked until soft and the mixture is not pureed and there are still whole beans left, it’s considered Tsubu-an (つぶあん).
Because it’s still chunky, it’s great for fillings for sweets like Strawberry Daifuku, Dorayaki, Daifuku, and Taiyaki etc.
If you would like to make homemade recipe, please scroll down.
Tsubushi-An (つぶし餡)
It’s between tsubu-an and koshi-an, where some of azuki beans are crushed but the skins are included.
Koshi-An (漉し餡, こしあん)
Koshi-An (こしあん) is very smooth, pureed azuki beans where the beans are cooked until soft and passed through a sieve to get the finest texture without the skins. The package looks like this.
If you would like to make homemade recipe, please scroll down.
Ogura-An (小倉あん)
Traditionally, ogura-an (小倉あん) means the regular koshi-an mixed with tsubuan which is cooked in sweet syrup.
For tsubu-an, dainagon azuki bean (大納言小豆), the highest quality of azuki beans, is used. However, in recent years, “ogura-an” is basically just tsubu-an.
How To Make Anko from Scratch
To learn how to make Tsubu-an, click here for the recipe.
Or to learn how to make both Tsubu-an and Koshi-an with a pressure cooer, click here for the recipe.
Thank you for all the great info!
Thank you for reading, Susie! 🙂
Hi! How do you store leftover red bean paste? I just made your red bean pancakes and they were delicious.
Hi Neelie! I always freeze the leftover. If you know what you’re going to use it next time, just portion out. If it’s for Zenzai (red bean mochi soup), then I would wrap one bowl portion in plastic wrap and then put it in ziploc bag. But if I need a large amount, I’d put it in a glass airtight container and freeze it. I’m so happy to hear you liked the red bean pancake recipe! 🙂
Thank you for post. ifI need to eat I go to va fair fax to get them. please keep post Japanese foods.I am always looking for Just one cookbook. Thank you very much.
Hi Kumiko! Thank you for reading my blog! I’m really happy to know that you enjoy what I share here. 🙂 xo
I’ve recently made Anko according to this recipe. Both my friend and me have a difficult time enjoying it. It is way too sweet for our taste.
Are you sure that’s how it is supposed to taste?
Hi Denise! Anko is supposed to be sweet. If you look at the majority of the recipe, it tells you that the weight of the sugar and beans should be the same. The anko is supposed to be kept at room temperature along with the sweets you make, so the amount of sugar is important for preservation. You can slightly lower the sugar, especially if you’re using it up and no need to put in sweets like Dorayaki or Daifuku (that need to be kept at room temp). Also, compared to the store-bought anko, this should be still less sweet. 🙂