White Bean Paste or Shiroan is a common and delicious sweet filling in popular Japanese confectionery (wagashi) like mochi and manju. With a milder taste and soft hue, it makes a great alternative to sweet red bean paste in your desserts and snacks.
White bean paste or Shiroan (白餡, 白あん) is primarily used as a filling for sweet desserts and pastries in Japanese and East Asian cuisines. It has a milder bean taste, so those of you who don’t like red bean paste may enjoy Wagashi (Japanese confectionery) filled with white bean paste.
While you can easily buy red bean paste in Japanese or Asian grocery stores, premade white bean paste is almost impossible to find outside of Japan. It’s quite simple to make, but the process does take some time. Nonetheless, you can always make white bean paste ahead of time so it’s ready for use when you make Japanese sweets.
What is White Bean Paste (Shiroan)?
Shiroan (白餡 or 白あん) is the smooth and sweet white paste called an (餡) or anko (餡子) made from lima beans or butter beans, or in Japanese, Shiro Ingen Mame (白いんげん豆). The beans are hulled, simmered till tender, drained, and pureed/passed through before sugar is added to sweeten the paste.
You may be familiar with red bean paste made from azuki beans. The red bean paste has two types; non-hulled and coarse paste “Tsubuan” (粒餡) and hulled and smooth paste “Koshian” (漉し餡). However, the white bean paste is always hulled and smooth Koshian.
Types of White Beans Used for Shiroan
In Japan, there are several types of white beans you can use for White Bean Paste.
- Shiro Ingen Mame (白いんげん豆)
- Shirohana Mame (白花豆)
- Oofuku Mame (大福豆)
- Tebo Mame (手亡豆)
- Kintoki Mame (金時豆)
- Shiro Azuki (白小豆)
If you live outside of Japan, please try finding lima beans (butter beans) or navy beans. If you can’t find them, then the last option is Cannellini Beans. I do not recommend substituting with other beans because the taste and texture will be completely off.
Frequently Asked Questions on White Bean Paste
1. What types of white beans should I use?
Use lima beans (butter beans) or navy beans. I used Shirohana Mame (白花豆) from Hokkaido in this recipe (bought in Japan).
2. Can I reduce the amount of sugar?
You can, but typical traditional recipes require ⅔ to 1 part of sugar for 1 part of dried beans (in some cases, more than 1 part). You can replace sugar with a healthier alternative, such as maple syrup or honey but the paste will be more liquidy and the flavor can be overpowering.
Sugar is necessary for the preservation of the bean paste, but if you are going to consume it soon, you can reduce the amount slightly.
3. Is salt necessary?
You may wonder why salt (or salty taste) is required in the mixture when you are trying to sweeten. Adding some salt contrarily makes it taste a lot sweeter and brings out more flavors.
4. Can I use a pressure cooker instead of simmering on the stove?
Yes, you can cut down on the cooking time by using a pressure cooker (Instant Pot). According to the Instant Pot, it takes 6-10 minutes for soaked lima beans and 7-8 minutes for soaked navy beans. However, for making white bean paste, I use high pressure for 15-20 minutes and run the food processor.
5. Can I use a food processor instead of pressing through the fine-mesh sieve?
Yes, you can use a food processor or blender to make a smooth puree. But even though you don’t have these kitchen appliances, you can use a fine-mesh sieve to make a fine and smooth puree.
Do you have any other questions? Please leave a comment below.
Japanese Sweets Recipes with White Bean Paste
You can simply replace the red bean paste with white bean paste for wagashi, Japanese confectionery. Here are some recipes you may like to try:
- Strawberry Mochi (Ichigo Daifuku)
- Manju
- Daifuku
- Imagawayaki
- Green Tea Mochi (recipe coming soon)
Try These White Bean Paste Variations
You may not see white bean paste as often, but instead, you will see colorful fillings that are made of white bean paste. To improve the taste of bland white bean paste, it is often mixed with other aromatic and colorful ingredients like the ones below:
- Matcha An (抹茶餡) – 100 g white bean paste + 2 g matcha (green tea powder)
- Sakura An (桜餡) – 100 g white bean paste + 5 g salted cherry blossoms
- Miso An (味噌餡) – 100 g white bean paste + 10 g sweet saikyo miso
- Kabocha An (南瓜餡) – 100 g white bean paste + 100 g kabocha (pumpkin/squash) puree
- Kimi An (黄身餡) – 150 g white bean paste + 1 egg yolk
- Kuri An (栗餡) – white bean paste + kuri kanroni
- Yuzu An (柚子餡) – white bean paste + yuzu zest
- Kurumi An (胡桃餡) – white bean paste + chopped chest
- Goma An (胡麻餡) – white bean paste + ground sesame seeds
White bean paste is also used to make Nerikiri combined with gyuhi (soft mochi). Add a few dollops of food coloring to create beautiful wagashi (picture above).
Are you looking forward to experimenting with wagashi filled with white bean paste? I’d love to see your creations!
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White Bean Paste (Shiroan)
Video
Ingredients
- 7 oz dried lima beans (about 1 cup; for Japanese bean names, see end Notes)
- ¾ cup sugar (5.3 oz, 150 g; adjust to taste; you can increase up to equal the weight of the dried beans; see end Notes)
- ½ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
To Soak the Dried Beans (Overnight)
- To a large bowl, add 7 oz dried lima beans and rinse them under running water. Then, soak them in plenty of water overnight (8 to 12 hours; longer hours required in winter).
To Cook the Beans
- After 8–12 hours, you can easily remove the beans’ outer skin with your fingers. Peel off and discard the skins.
- Add the peeled beans to a pot and pour just enough tap water to cover the beans. To properly cook the beans, use the minimum amount of water needed to cover them; you don’t want the beans moving around in a large amount of water.
- Bring it to a boil on medium heat. Let it boil for 2 minutes while foam starts to appear.
- Pour then beans into a sieve to drain the water. Quickly rinse the pot, then put the beans back in the pot. Add just enough cold water to cover the beans.
- Cover with a lid slightly ajar and let simmer on low heat until the beans become tender, about 1½ to 2 hours. You can shorten the cooking time by using a pressure cooker (set at High pressure for 15–20 minutes).
- Once in a while, check the beans and skim off the foam on the surface. This helps to make the white paste even whiter. Add a bit more water to keep the beans covered, if needed. Make sure the amount of water is just enough to cover the beans.
- When you can easily crush the beans between two fingers, it’s done.
- Save a little bit of cooking liquid for the next step. Then, drain the remaining liquid from the beans.
To Make the Shiroan
- Transfer a small portion of drained beans to a fine-mesh strainer set over a large plate. I used a Japanese uragoshi-ki (it‘s also a flour sifter). Press the beans through the strainer using a wooden spatula. You will get a finer and smoother paste built up under the sieve/over the plate. If it’s too dry, put a tiny bit of cooking liquid on the beans before pressing. Alternatively, you can use a food processor to purée the beans. Add a little bit of cooking liquid, if necessary.
- Put the paste in a clean saucepan. Add ¾ cup sugar and ½ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt and mix well to combine.
- Turn on the heat to medium low and let the sugar dissolve. The paste will become looser and softer.
- Then, let the moisture evaporate from the mixture until it becomes a smooth and moldable paste, roughly 15–20 minutes. Keep an eye on the paste at all times to make sure it doesn‘t burn. When you can draw a line on the bottom of the pan with your spatula, it’s done. Remove from the heat. Moisture will continue to evaporate as the paste cools down, so remove it from the pot immediately.
To Store
- Transfer the white bean paste to a clean container with a lid. If you’re using it in a few days, refrigerate. Otherwise, divide the paste into small portions and freeze for up to 2–3 months.
Notes
- Lima Beans: If you’re in Japan, you can get a variety of shiro ingen mame (白いんげん豆) such as shirohana mame (白花豆), ofuku mame (大福豆), tebo mame (手亡豆), or kintoki mame (金時豆). Or you can use shiro azuki (白小豆). For white bean paste, please use lima beans (butter beans) or navy beans. If you can’t find them, then the last option is cannellini beans. I do not recommend substituting other beans because the taste and texture will be completely off.
- Sugar: Please use granulated white sugar, and do not use sugar that has a color (such as brown sugar) because you’re trying to make WHITE bean paste. If you’re going for traditional white bean paste, the sugar amount will be two-thirds to one part sugar (by weight) to one part dried beans. If you reduce the amount of sugar significantly, it will not give enough moisture to the paste, which may result in a different texture. Wagashi is meant to be a bit on the sweet side in order to complement the bitter taste of matcha (drink).
Love the look of the flowers made with gum paste. They’re BEAUTIFUL.
Hi Linda! The wagashi is beautifully made, such a neat work too!
Hello,
I am making shiro-an for the first time using Navy (Haricot beans) and after soaking them for roughly 12 hours and removing the skins, have begun to boil them as in the recipe above. I have noticed that the beans have gotten little sprouts all of a sudden. Is it still possible to continue using these beans now to make shiro-an?
Thanks for your wonderful recipes Nami!
Hi Gail! Remove the sprout before using them. You can use them. 🙂 Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Thank you very much, I like red bean filling but it doesn’t like me. A store near me used to carry Macha Mochi with a filling I now know was white bean and I love the stuff so I’m doing what any intelligent woman would do and getting ready to make it myself.
Hi Susan! Have fun making homemade treats and keep me posted! 🙂
hi Nami!
thanks a lot for your recipe!
i finally approached this recipe today!
but i ran into an issue: after soaking the beans i threw away the package and didn’t know their original dry weight.
i googled the dry vs cooked ratio and i think my package was 250g.
the paste after the pureeing it yieled 750g.
so when i put the paste with salt and sugar into the pan it didn’t look like your pictures, it stayed pretty firm and soon started to get like a crust on the bottom (i kept low heat).
any ideas what i did wrong? not enough sugar?
thank you!
Hi Masha! If the package was Japanese one, it’s typically between 200-250 g.
1) How much sugar did you add?
2) Did you cook the beans until tender?
If you see my Step 12 (right picture), you see how dry the beans were. Then the heat will dissolve sugar into liquid, and now in Step 13, it becomes thicker “roux” like paste. If you didn’t add enough sugar, then it’s possible that it would stay dry like Step 12 right picture.
What do you think?
Hi! thanks for the recipe! its delicious, but i wonder how many days does the Shiroan last in the fridge?
Hi Luke! Thanks for trying this recipe! Transfer the white bean paste to a clean container with a lid. If you’re using it in a few days, refrigerate. Otherwise, divide the paste into a small portion and freeze them for up to 2-3 months. 🙂
Goedemiddag hoe lang kun je witte bonen pasta bewaren voordat he het gebruikt voor taart decoratie
Hello Lynch! This is what google translates.
Breng de witte bonenpasta over in een schone container met een deksel. Als u het binnen een paar dagen gebruikt, moet u het in de koelkast bewaren. Verdeel de pasta anders in een kleine portie en bevries ze tot 2-3 maanden.
How long will it stay good for in the freezer?
Hi Christina! 2-3 months. Thank you for asking! I’ve included this info in the recipe. 🙂
Thank you so much. I just made this the other day and it turned out so well. I was really happy to find this recipe, I’ve been wanting to make red bean paste but unable to find the beans, so this recipe really came in clutch. Thank you 🤗
Hi ChristTina! Aww! I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for your kind feedback. 🙂
Hello! Thank you for such clear & easy to understand recipes and photo tutorials! I’ve not yet tried my hand at any Japanese or Taiwanese desserts but love to eat them, and want to try my own. A local shop near me used to sell the most delicious persimmon mochi with the white bean paste, and I became obsessed! Sadly they no longer offer them, and I’ve been looking for a recipe off and on for over a year. This recipe + the comment about kabocha squash (equal parts squash puree + shiroan) is the closest I have found. Do you happen to know if I could do the same with a persimmon puree? Or maybe a puree + reduce it a bit? I really loved the subtle but oh so tasty treats!
PS this is the closest to what the local ones looked like – although mine did not have a piece of fruit in the middle. But they were shaped like persimmons, and a soft orange white bean paste (I assume mixed with persimmon puree) wrapped in the soft rice mochi dough and shaped liker persimmons.
https://sakurajunction.com/2017/03/01/mochi-kaki/
I think it’s do-able! Please share the picture when you make it! 🙂
Hi Lora! Wow, persimmon mochi! That sounds really delicious! Yes, you can do with the persimmon puree! I think to reduce the puree to get rid of the liquid sounds like a good idea!
Hi Nami,
Thank you for the recipe.
My son doesn’t like the salty taste, can I use sugar only, no salt.
Does there have a way the fix the paste that was already down to sweet taste ?
Thank you
Hi Wendy! This salt is added to enhance the sweetness, not to make the shiroan salty. Salt can make the sweet taste even sweeter by adding a little bit of salt, instead of adding more sugar. It’s really amazing what salt can do! I found an article saying: Salt is used as a universal flavor improver because at low concentrations it will reduce bitterness, but increase sweet, sour and umami, which is desirable for sweet recipes. But at higher concentrations it suppresses sweetness and enhances umami, which is good for savory things. It’s also easily obtained in a pure form without any interfering flavors.
[…] free to substitute the red bean paste for white bean paste (shiroan). It’s made from lima beans/butter beans instead of red adzuki and has a milder […]
Can I use canned beans ?
I’m at high altitude.
Hi DiNo! I’m not too familiar with high altitude cooking (so I apologize I can’t give proper guidance….) but I think you can use canned beans.
Thanks, Nami. It’s harder (3 days total) to soften dried beans at high altitudes without using a large volume and a pressure pot. I will give canned beans a try, and simmer gently to reduce the water content.
Hi DiNo! WOW! I had no idea! I can imagine you live in a beautiful place… but I heard high altitude baking can be a challenge. Hope the canned beans work nicely and enjoy Shiroan! 🙂
Hi did the canned beans work out?
[…] We mix matcha powder into the white bean paste (Shiroan) to make the green color paste with matcha […]
Hi Nami, do you know how much kabocha to add to make kabocha an? Kabocha or sweet potato are my favourite fillings!
Hi Chelsea! Typically equal part of shiroan and kabocha puree. Depending on sweetness, add sugar. Some add butter, vanilla essence, etc depending on how you use it. 🙂
Thank you so much! Can’t wait to make something with kabocha an!
Hope you enjoy the recipe! Kabocha an is delicious!
Just made it. I bought Goya large Lima beans. Cooking it for 1 1/2 was a bit too long for me. The beans too fragile to even transfer to sieve. They were already in paste for. My mistake. I should have kept my eyes on it. I think one hour would have been enough. I just cook it longer with sugar for 30 min to release all the moisture. I used immerse blender which worked well.
Thanks for the recipe!!!
Hi Monica, Thank you very much for trying this recipe and sharing your cooking experience with us. We think cooking time might be slightly different depends on the pot size or bean size. We are glad to hear you were able to work out with the beans and enjoyed it! Thank you for writing to us.🙂
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Arigatou!!! I really don’t like azuki lol This is perfect!
Thank you Bonnie! Hope you can use this Shiroan to make daifuku or other recipes. 🙂