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.
Terrific, simple recipe. I substituted coconut milk for water (as we sometimes do in Hawaiʻi) and it came out great. Also, I am too lazy to roll it out so just made flattened patties of dough to cover the an. Came out great, thanks!
Hi David! Coconut milk sounds great! We have to try it next time.😋
Thank you very much for sharing your tips and for your kind feedback!
I was wondering if you maybe had any ideas or thoughts on how to make custard filled daifuki? We went to Tokyo in late 2019 and found a stall in the Tsujiri outer market that offered this and fell in love. I haven’t been able to find it anywhere!
The custard was still creamy/not as solid as the paste so I am unsure how best to do it.
Hi Ellie, You can chill the custard so that easier to handle with a cookie scoop. Some people freeze the custard too.
We have not tried yet, but it might work with a piping bag.🤔 We hope this helps!
https://www.justonecookbook.com/custard-cream-pastry-cream/
This turned out great! I especially liked that there was a microwave shortcut — much faster than cooking it on the stove. This was the perfect sweetness and texture for me. (I had used someone else’s recipe before but it didn’t taste good.) I’ve shared your recipe with a few of my friends.
Hi Karen, Thank you very much for trying this recipe! We are so happy to hear this turned out perfect!
Thank you for your kind feedback.😊
Made my first batch of daifuku using your recipe. Made the pressure cooker anko too. Both turned out fabulously. Thanks so much. I love your recipes, they are easy to follow & turns out successfully.
Hi Audrey, Yay! We are glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe with homemade Anko! Thank you very much for trying and for your kind feedback.
So glad I found your webpage! I tried this daifuku recipe today and am sooooo happy with the result. Thanks so much for posting the recipe and making it so easy to follow.
Hi Silvia,
We are so glad to hear you enjoyed this Daifuku!
Thank you for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback.😊
Hi Nami! this looks so so good and I love moch so i can’t wait to try it! i can’t find shiratamako anywhere where I live, and even though I can find some on amazon, the shipping is doubled the price of the actual flour! I did find Erawan brand glutinous rice flour, but I’m not sure if it’s mochigome or shiratamako, do you know/think it would be okay to try using? thank you so much and sorry about this!
Hi Ki Li,
We have not tested it ourselves, but the reader commented here said; Thai glutinous rice flour (Erawan brand) I would say a passable substitute (cheaper) for Shiratamako (which is quite expensive in Malaysia). Slightly different texture than Shiratamako, but it will do. Can’t really tell the difference UNLESS you are used to eating the real deal or if they are put side by side.
We hope this is helpful.😉
okay thank you so much! i can’t wait to finally make mochi XD
Hi Ki Li! It’s our pleasure! Good Luck.😉
I don’t understand the part with the plastic wraps, and is there something else than potato starch I can use?
Hi Finn,
Thank you very much for your kind feedback!
The plastic wraps that are used between the mochi wrapper are for convenience. You may use parchment/baking paper or potato starch instead of plastic wraps.
If you are looking for a substitute for potato starch, it will be corn starch.
We hope this is helpful. ☺️
Okay, thank you for the response. One more question – I have glutinous rice flour or w/e, but I don’t know if it’s sweet? But I think I saw “glutinous rice flour for cakes” at the asian store, do you think that could be suitable?
Hi Finn,
Shiratamako (白玉粉) is a type of glutinous rice flour, also called sweet rice flour, made from Mochigome (もち米/糯米, glutinous short-grain Japanese rice. There are also rice flour and glutinous rice flour (sweet rice flour) using long-grain rice from other countries, but they are not substitutions to either Shiratamako and mochiko. The textures and flavors of these rice flours are not suitable for making Japanese sweets.
If yours is made from Glutinous short-grain rice, it should work for making Daifuku. 😉
You can learn more about Shiratamako here. https://www.justonecookbook.com/shiratamako/
We hope this is helpful! ☺️
I’ve been craving mochi’s For the longest time and love how I came across this recipe! They turned out delicious and were so easy to make! Thank you for the easy to follow recipe 🙂
Hi Sach,
Thank you very much for trying this recipe. We are so glad to hear that you enjoyed this Daifuku and it was easy to make!
When you have a chance, please try these recipes too! 😉
https://www.justonecookbook.com/strawberry-daifuku/
https://www.justonecookbook.com/mochi-ice-cream/
https://www.justonecookbook.com/dango-recipe/
Hi Nami. I was wondering if you know of a Japanese sweet similar to daifuku that has a more fluffy, cake texture and also has the sweet red bean inside. It is also white, like daifuku. I remember getting these as a child but do not know the name. Thank you for all of the great recipes!
Hi Toi,
I think you are talking about 蒸し饅頭 (Mushi Manju).
Nami has a recipe for this sweet, but her Manju is a brown color from brown sugar.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/manju/
We hope this is it!😊
Hi Nami,
How do I make kinako mochi, would I replace the potato starch with kinako powder, and roll the mochi mixture in kinako powder? Would you recommend the same amount of kinako powder as potato starch? Thank you!
Hi Judy,
Nami has a recipe for Kinako Mochi. Please check https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-enjoy-japanese-mochi/ for more information.
I hope that helps.
To clarify, I’m looking to make my own, not use kiri mochi. Would I use the same method as kiri mochi, I.e., wet the fresh mochi with filling and then sprinkle kinako powder on it/roll it in kinako?
Hi Judy!
I think you are making Kinako Daifuku!
Please simply replace the potato starch with Kinako from step 6.
Kinako “Mochi” is a mochi(Fresh/Kiri Mochi) with Kinako and it’s also good too.😋
Yes! Thank you!
Thank you so much for the recipe, just made a batch of peanut paste mochi and they are sooooo good and soft. I am really sitting there and admiring the result 🙂
I am now planning to introduce new stuffings like strawberry, mango and kiwi as I feel rather confident with your recipe!
Hi Irina! So happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for your kind feedback. Have fun making different types of daifuku and don’t forget to make mochi ice cream with this too! 🙂
Hi Nami! Love your recipes. I want to make daifuku this week but is there other method besides using the microwave?
Hi Nicole! Thank you so much, I’m glad you enjoy my recipes. So we have two methods; microwave and steamers. If you don’t have a microwave, you have to steam it.
If you don’t have a steamer, you can make a make-shift steamer I shared in this recipe: https://www.justonecookbook.com/shumai/
You may need a bigger pot so you can put the bowl inside. You may want to figure out the best steamer setup before starting the recipe. 🙂
I feel like I have been given a lot of power! Until now I could only find them when visiting my dad in London but now I can make them whenever I please!
(Just curious, are you using US or imperial measurements as they are slightly different. Eg US gal = 3.9L….imperial gal = 4.5L
Hi Kirsty! Thank you for your kind feedback. I use US measurements as I’m based in the US. 🙂
Hi Nami,
I gave this a try today and I’m not sure if I did something wrong but after removing my dough from the fridge I had spots of hardened dough as well as spots where the dough was still extremely sticky! What can I do to prevent this if I try again?
Thanks,
Ollie.
Hi Ollie! Do you think it’s possible that it wasn’t mixed or heated properly? It should be even texture…
I’m pretty sure I stirred it fully when I was meant to combining it all to one texture. However when I tipped it out of the bowl there was still some liquid left if that makes sense? Heated for 15 minutes via steaming. I’m probably going to try again next week! The texture was quite odd in places.
Hi Ollie! Thanks for your update. Next time try to mix while steaming if it was patchy earlier. Maybe toward the beginning of steaming time. Be careful not to burn yourself with steam. 🙂
Hi there! I just made your recipe but it seems like I cannot flatten my mochi into a thin layer 🙁 it’s like it keeps “bouncing back” to the original shape and doesn’t stretch out. Is there something I did wrong? Even when I tried to roll the excess dough to flatten it, it didn’t work either 🙁
Hi Claudia! Thanks so much for trying this recipe! What type of glutinous rice did you use? Shiratamako is easy to stretch, but mochiko is not as stretchy. They are both made from short-grain glutinous rice flour but they are made differently, so the texture is a bit different.