A popular Japanese sweet treat, Daifuku is a small, round mochi filled with sweet red bean paste. This easy recipe shows how you can make this delicious snack at home with a quick steam on the stovetop or in the microwave.
Daifuku (大福) or Daifuku Mochi (大福餅) is a small round mochi stuffed with anko (sweetened red bean paste) made from azuki beans. We usually enjoy this popular Japanese sweet with green tea.
I’ve previously shared Strawberry Daifuku recipe on Just One Cookbook, which includes a whole strawberry inside a mochi surrounded by anko filling. While strawberry daifuku is seasonal and available during the springtime, daifuku is available all year round at Japanese confectionery shops and supermarkets. Here, I will show you how to make the classic daifuku mochi with 2 quick and easy methods— steaming and microwaving.
Table of contents
What is Daifuku
Among the wide variety of traditional Japanese sweets (wagashi), daifuku is considered a type of mochi sweet. The name daifuku literally means “great luck.” What a perfect name! Who wouldn’t get lucky after eating these adorably round, chewy and tasty sweets?!
In Japan, you’ll find all sorts of colors and fillings for daifuku. Some shops even sell daifuku the size of one’s palm instead of the usual golf ball size, which is 3-4 cm in diameter. You can also bake, grill, or eat daifuku in soups.
A Quick History
Daifuku was a later product from uzura mochi (mochi shaped like a quail) which was popular during the early Edo period (1603-1867). During the Meiji period (1868), salted red bean was a common filling as sugar was a luxury item at the time.
In 1875, it is said that a widow in Koishikawa, Edo (modern-day Tokyo), refashioned the sweets by making them in smaller sizes and added sugar to the red bean paste. It became known as habotai mochi (thick belly rice cake) because the rice cake resembled a well-fed belly. The name later changed to daifuku mochi (big belly rice cake), as fuku can mean both ‘belly’ and ‘luck’.
The new daifuku mochi was then given a new meaning by using “大福” the kanji (Chinese characters) for big luck. As a result, we often serve daifuku—known to bring good luck and fortune—during Japanese New Year and other spring celebrations.
How to Make Daifuku with Red Bean Filling
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Shiratamako (glutinous rice flour/sweet rice flour) OR mochiko – I personally prefer to use shiratamako as it yields a better texture compared to mochiko. However, I understand that mochiko is cheaper and widely accessible.
- Water
- Sugar
- Potato starch or cornstarch
- Sweet red bean paste (anko) – store-bought or homemade
Overview: Cooking Steps
- Prepare the sweet red bean paste if using homemade. You can prepare it in advance and freeze.
- Make the mochi mixture: Combine the rice flour, sugar, and water. Microwave or steam the mixture until it becomes translucent and cooked through.
- Spread and the mochi into a thin layer: Transfer the hot mochi onto a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper and dusted with potato starch. Use a rolling pin to roll out the mochi.
- Refrigerate for 15 minutes until the mochi is set.
- Cut the chilled mochi into 7-8 mochi wrapper circles.
- Stuff the anko filling: Wrap the sweet red bean filling with the mochi.
Homemade Red Bean Filling: Fine or Coarse Texture
You can make two types of red bean filling.
- Koshian (fine texture)
- Tsubuan (coarse texture)
I’m more inclined with tsubuan for its coarse texture as you can still taste the azuki bean skin in the paste. However, it’s totally personal. Get my homemade recipe here and make it in advance.
Different Types of Daifuku
Anko red bean paste is the most common filling for daifuku. However, you can find some other popular flavors and fillings, such as:
- Yomogi Daifuku – Green colored mochi made with yomogi (Japanese mugwort leaves).
- Matcha Daifuku – Matcha (green tea powder) is used to flavor either the mochi or the white bean paste (shiroan) or both to create a lovely matcha-scented mochi sweet.
- Ichigo Daifuku – A springtime favorite, this daifuku is stuffed with strawberry.
- Shio Daifuku – This daifuku uses a mix of salt and sugar in the red bean filling to create a mildly sweet and salty taste.
- Ume Daifuku – Ume or Japanese plum is another signature flavor for Japanese sweets. For this version, the tangy ume is coated with red bean paste to create a contrasting flavor before they are wrapped with mochi. A precious flavor to enjoy in early spring during ume season.
- Coffee Daifuku – Made from mochi stuffed with a creamy coffee-flavored bean paste. Some variations even include a filling made with fresh cream, sometimes called Café au lait Daifuku. Other types mix the mochi with coffee, causing the rice cake to take on a coffee-like brown color and a coffee taste and aroma.
- White bean paste (Shiroan) – After red bean paste, white bean paste (made from lima beans or butter beans) is also very popular. It has a milder taste and can be used on its own as a filling or mixed with other flavoring.
- Kinako paste – A filling made from roasted soybean flour.
More on Japanese Desserts and Sweets
- How to Make Mochi with a Stand Mixer
- Mitarashi Dango
- Wagashi Guide: History of Japanese Confectioneries
- What is Mochi? All You Need to Know About Japanese Rice Cakes
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Daifuku Mochi
Video
Ingredients
- ¾ cup shiratamako (glutinous rice flour/sweet rice flour) (or use mochiko; see the measurement below)
- ¼ cup sugar (do not omit; the sugar helps the mochi stay soft)
- ¾ cup water
- ½ cup potato starch or cornstarch
- 1½ cup sweet red bean paste (anko) (I use tsubuan chunky paste; you can make Homemade Anko)
To Substitute Shiratamako with Mochiko, Use:
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
To Make the Mochi Mixture
- Combine ¾ cup shiratamako (glutinous rice flour/sweet rice flour) and ¼ cup sugar in a medium bowl and whisk it all together. Tip: If you can‘t find shiratamako, you can substitute ¾ cup mochiko (glutinous rice flour/sweet rice flour).
- Add ¾ cup water and mix well until combined.
- Microwave Method: If you’re using a microwave to cook the mochi, loosely cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Put the bowl in the microwave and heat it on high (1100w) for 1 minute. Take it out and stir it with wet rubber spatula. Cover again loosely and cook for 1 additional minute. Stir again, cover loosely, and cook for 30 seconds more to finish cooking. The color of the mochi will change from white to almost translucent.
- Steaming Method: If you’re using a steamer, wrap the steamer lid with a towel so the condensation does not drop into the mochi mixture. Put the bowl into the steamer basket and cover to cook for 15 minutes. Halfway through cooking, stir it with a wet rubber spatula, then cover to finish cooking. The color of the mochi will change from white to almost translucent.
To Roll and Cut the Mochi
- Cover your work surface with parchment paper and dust it generously with some of the ½ cup potato starch or cornstarch. Then transfer the hot mochi on top.
- To prevent it from sticking, sprinkle more potato starch on top of the mochi. Once it cools a bit, spread the mochi into a thin layer, about 3/16 inch (4–5 mm), with your hands or with a rolling pin. Make sure to apply potato starch to your hands and the rolling pin as needed. I recommend using a rolling pin because it’s easier to evenly spread out the mochi.
- Transfer the mochi with parchment paper onto a large baking sheet. Refrigerate for 15 minutes (no more than that) until the mochi is set.
- Take out the mochi from the refrigerator and cut 7–8 mochi wrapper circles with a 3½-inch (9-cm) cookie cutter.
- Dust off the excess potato starch from these wrappers with a pastry brush. If you find any sticky spots, cover the area with potato starch, then dust it off. Next, stack the wrappers: Place a piece of plastic wrap on a plate and put a mochi circle on top. Then, layer another piece of plastic wrap on top, and add another wrapper. Repeat for all the wrappers. Roll the leftover mochi dough into a ball, roll it out into a thin layer, and cut out more wrappers circles. You can make about 12 mochi wrappers.
To Make the Daifuku
- Now, we’re ready to make the Daifuku. On the work surface, place one sheet of plastic wrap with a mochi wrapper on top. Using a medium cookie scoop, place one scoop of the 1½ cup sweet red bean paste (anko) on top of the mochi wrapper.
- Pinch the four opposite points of the mochi circle together to enclose the anko. Then pinch the remaining edges together.
- Put some potato starch on the sealed area and set aside, seam side down. Continue making the rest of the Daifuku.
To Store
- Keep the Daifuku mochi in an airtight container and store in a cool, dry place. Enjoy within 2 days. For summer months when it‘s very hot, you may want to refrigerate these; since mochi gets hard in the refrigerator, you will need to wrap the container with a thick kitchen towel to keep it cool but not cold.
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I accidentally bought a packet of mochitoriko while I was trying to find shiratamako. Would I use this instead of the katokuriko?
Love daifuku, I once saw a sign for fig/ichijiko daifuku in futakotamagawa but they were sold out. I’ve never seen it again so think I’ll make it instead using your recipe.
Hi Angelo! Mochitoriko is perfect use for mochi! “tori” means remove, and “ko” means flour. So basically you got a flour specifically use for covering the sticky surface of mochi! Yes, please use it instead of katakuriko.
Wow fig daifuku!! It must be so good. Let me know how it goes!
What if the dough is too sticky when you cut out the dough? It seems like we used a lot of corn starch…….
Hi Beth! If the surface of mochi is covered with potato starch/corn starch, it’s not sticky, so whenever you pull or cut the mochi and fresh sticky part appear, ideally you need thin layer of starch on your hand or/and mochi itself. You don’t need a lot of it. Just need thin layer so it’s not sticky. Hope that makes sense?
This daifuku looks tasty and U must try it!
Hi Jed! Thank you so much! Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Hi! I just wanted to let you know that your mochi recipe works really well in a rice cooker as well! (ó ꒳ ò✿) Mine’s a small Zojirushi with a cake setting, so I set the timer on that for 15 minutes and it worked beautifully. (I’ll be honest, I forgot I was supposed to stir halfway through. I’m sure a full batch would need it, but the half-batches have worked out really well, so I don’t know?) So far I’ve only made half-batches, but one day I’ll make a full one! I can’t wait for strawberries to come into season so I can make ichigo daifuku, and I’ve been wanting to try cookie dough daifuku as well ever since I read about it. (This is bad. Daifuku is one of my favourite treats because I love mochi so much, and now I know how easy it is to make. (^-^;;))
I’m not sure if it would make much difference in the rice cooker, but I’ve used mochiko for mine so far. If I can find shiratamako I’ll try that too, but if I can’t (or if it’s too expensive) I’m definitely happy with the results from mochiko. Even my partner likes them, which is saying something–he doesn’t usually like mochi at all!
Thank you so much for the recipe!
Hi Ashley! Wow thank you so much for your kind words! And wow, your rice cooker has a cake setting??? I’m pretty sure mine doesn’t (I don’t read instructions or pay attention to small details LOL) but I think I’ll be in trouble if mochi making is so much easier! I like that rice cooker bowl is non-stick too! Must be very easy to handle. Thank you so much for sharing your tip! I love mochi too… I can eat one with red bean paste every single day (I wish!!!). Thanks so much for writing!
How can I store the 大福 longer? (Was this correct english, apart from 大福? ^_^”)
Hi TIl! If you live in a cool place, you can store in a cool place. But I recommend keeping it in the fridge. Mochi gets hard so maybe wrap with towel so mochi doesn’t get too cold. 🙂
Hi Nami
Hope you are well. I’m thinking to make some green tea mochi and red bean paste filling for my daughters’ birthday party. How much green tea powder should I add to the mochi rice wrapper/dough? Thank you ????????
Hi Lorraine! Start with 1-2 tsp, I’d say… Hope that will work. Happy Birthday to your daughter!
I made these today! They were very easy to make and delicious (I also used your anko recipe which was fantastic)! The only thing I had an issue with was re-rolling out the dough after already cutting shapes into it. It didn’t seem to want to stick together. I think next time I will separate it into two piles and roll them / refrigerate them separately to make it a little easier. Otherwise it was fantastic! Thank you for the great recipes
Hi Gabby! Thank you for sharing your tip with us! Maybe the dusting was too much. When you pull the mochi, sticky texture comes out, and that’s where you should pinch and seal. Or remove the excess dust the best you can. 🙂 Thank you for your kind feedback!
I’m sad that your recipe uses rice flour instead of pounding mochi rice.
Also, why is the anko SO thick? It’s better when there’s more mochi than anko.
Hi Chris! I apologize for my late response. No, I used glutinous rice flour (or sometimes people call same thing sweet rice flour. Rice flour is different. Glutinous rice flour is same as “mochi rice” you’re referring to. Glutinous rice flour and “mochi” rice are not regular white rice. The thickness of mochi is really up to preference, but in general it’s pretty thin. Just don’t roll out too much if you prefer more mochi for your daifuku.
Hi Nami!
I came across this recipe while looking for a mochi recipe. Do you think that I can double this recipe, but keep the mochi mix in the pan, let it cool, then cut it into bars, similar to chi chi dango? Do you have any suggestions as to how to execute this properly? Please let me know as soon as possible. Also, for future reference can I subsitute the azuki paste with scoops of ice cream, than freeze the result to make mochi ice cream? Thank you so much for sharing this delightful recipe Nami!
Hi Ksenia!
1) I don’t recommend keeping the mochi for a long time as it lose the elastic texture (depending on how long you set aside). Mochi should be wrapped while it still has elastic mochi texture… so by doubling it, I get worried that second batch is waiting for too long. Probably worth giving it a try. I recommend testing this recipe first time though. As you practice you understand how it works and you can work faster and better. A lot of people struggle with how sticky it is, but you know how to deal with it second time better (proper amount of potato/corn starch).
2) I have mochi ice cream recipe similar to this recipe here: https://www.justonecookbook.com/mochi-ice-cream/
Thank you! I’ll definitely try
Hi, your recipes look delicious and easy to make , so I was thinking on starting making some mochi but our microwave broke down, is it possible to make using a conventional oven?
Hi Miguel! You have to use a steamer to make it on the stovetop. If your oven has a steam option, yes you can. 🙂
Good Morning, I have a question – at the very end you say “don’t omit the sugar” is that the sugar in the recipe or somewhere else? So far so good, except I didn’t see “refrigerate (before rolling)” until after I had the circles cut out. So now it is in the refrigerator. Making Yakisoba Stir Fry for cards tomorrow with mochi w/anko. I’m using the bought anko, I purchased it several months ago before I saw a recipe. Thank You, Martha
Hi Martha! I receive a lot of questions if they can omit or reduce the sugar for this recipe. I know it’s a bit scary to see how much sugar goes in… but to make mochi elastic, soft, and smooth, sugar is absolutely necessary as well as preserving for a long time. Therefore I added in my Notes “don’t omit the sugar”….. Putting in the fridge help cool down a bit faster. It doesn’t have to be cold, when it’s cooled, mochi will set and will not roll back once you cut into rounds. Hope this helps! Enjoy! xo
Is the potato starch raw or cooked ? Is it the same thing that we use for other cooking ? Does it come on a ready-to-eat style when we buy it from Supermaket? Or I have to find a Japanese brand ? Thanks n sorry I have tons of questions as i want to make it as a party treat this weekend.
Hi Wendy! Potato starch is raw, and yes it’s the same thing you use for cooking. I buy from Japanese or Asian store. Don’t worry about asking me questions. Feel free to ask me anytime. I may not be able to respond right away, but always respond. 🙂
https://www.justonecookbook.com/pantry_items/potato-starch/
Thanks for your answer. But if the potato stack is raw, is it ok to coat the mochi with it at the end ? Raw potato starch is edible ?
Hi Wendy! Mochi is always coated with potato starch to avoid from sticking (to your hands or everywhere). It’s very thin layer of raw potato starch, so we consider it is edible. 🙂
Hi, amazing recipe but I’m wondering why does it lack in texture when I bite into the daifuku, as if it is too soft and not chewy?
Hi Peter! Too soft and not chewy… so you want more texture to it. One way is to increase the thickness of mochi around red bean paste. But if it’s more of texture… then maybe reduce the amount of water. Did you use Shiratamako or mochiko?