Daifuku mochi
大福
Soft, stretchy mochi made from shiratamako or glutinous rice flour, wrapped around sweet red bean paste and dusted with starch. Best eaten the day you make it.
Recipe by I Want Some Food · Reviewed by the editorial kitchen. Native name preserved: 大福.
- Prep
- 40 min
- Cook
- 5 min
- Rest
- 30 min
- Total
- 1 hr 15 min
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Spice
- No chilli
- Cost
- Cheap nightUnder $8 USD · indicative, not a store price
About
Daifuku is a soft round of mochi wrapped around a ball of sweet red bean paste, dusted with starch so it does not stick to everything it touches. At home nobody pounds steamed rice for it. The dough is shiratamako or glutinous rice flour mixed with sugar and water, then cooked in short bursts in the microwave, stirred between each, until it turns translucent, glossy and elastic. It is cut while hot, flattened in a starch-dusted hand and pinched shut around cold anko. Shiratamako gives a smoother, stretchier skin; plain glutinous rice flour is easier to find and works. Daifuku is best within hours of making.
What you'll need
5 ingredients. Tap each one once it's out on the bench.
- Mochi
- Filling
Ingredients
Mochi
- Sticky rice flour, shiratamako, or glutinous rice flour such as mochiko200 g
- Sugar50 g
- Water, 10 to 20 ml less for glutinous rice flour220 ml
- Potato starch, katakuriko, for dusting; cornflour works50 g
Filling
- Sweet red beans, anko: smooth koshian or chunky tsubuan, bought or homemade400 g
Scaling multiplies the written quantities. Baking still prefers a scale.
Steps
Step 1
Roll the anko into 8 balls of 50 g each and chill them on a plate for 30 minutes. Firm, cold anko is far easier to wrap.
30 min
Step 2
In a large microwave-safe bowl, mix the flour and sugar, then add the water a little at a time, crushing any lumps, until you have a smooth, thick batter.
5 min
Tip: Shiratamako comes in hard granules. Rub them between your fingers in the first splash of water.
Step 3
Cover the bowl loosely and microwave on high (600 to 800 W) for 1 minute, then stir hard with a wet spatula. Repeat for another minute, then in 30-second bursts, until the whole mass is translucent, glossy and stretchy, with no white, chalky patches left, 4 to 5 minutes in all for this amount. Without a microwave, stir it constantly in a non-stick saucepan over medium-low heat for 6 to 8 minutes.
5 min
Watch: Cooked mochi is very hot and clings to skin. Handle it with a wet spatula, not fingers.
Step 4
Dust a tray thickly with starch and scrape the mochi onto it. Dust the top, leave 2 to 3 minutes until you can handle it, then cut it into 8 pieces with a starch-dusted knife.
5 min
Step 5
Flatten each piece in a dusted palm to an 8 cm disc, thinner at the edges than in the middle. Set a ball of anko in the centre, bring the edges up around it and pinch and twist them shut. Turn it seam down, round it gently and brush off the excess starch.
15 min
Step 6
Serve at room temperature, ideally within a few hours. Do not refrigerate; the cold turns mochi hard.
1 min
Watch: Mochi is a known choking risk. Cut it small for children and older people, and chew well.
Nutrition
Per serving · estimate
- Calories
- 128 kcal
- Protein
- 4.7 g
- Carbs
- 27 g
- Fat
- 0.4 g
- Saturated fat
- 0.1 g
- Fibre
- 3.9 g
- Sugar
- 6.6 g
- Sodium
- 58 mg
Calculated from canonical ingredient data (USDA FoodData Central averages and equivalent published tables). Estimates only.
Allergens
Informational only. Not a medical guarantee. Cross-contamination happens in real kitchens.
- No major allergens flagged in the structured ingredients.
- Vegan
- Vegetarian
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
- Nut-free
Adapt this recipe
The original recipe stays as it is. Personal versions are labelled. Serving changes are simple maths.
Adaptations · 0 / 15 used. Resets 12 November.
Substitutions
Shiratamako → Glutinous rice flour (mochiko)
Slightly less stretchy and a little stickier. Use 10 to 20 ml less water.
Anko → Sweetened chestnut purée or a ball of ice cream
Chestnut keeps it a tea sweet. Ice cream makes mochi ice cream; freeze the wrapped balls straight away.
Tips
- For ichigo daifuku, wrap a hulled strawberry in a thin layer of smooth anko first, then in the mochi.
- If they have hardened by the next day, microwave one for 10 seconds to soften it again.
History & culture
Daifuku is a tea snack, sold in wagashi shops, supermarkets and convenience stores across Japan. Mame daifuku has whole beans in the skin; ichigo daifuku wraps a strawberry with the anko and turns up in winter with the strawberry season. People buy them for visits and for the walk home, since they harden by the next day.
The usual account takes daifuku back to the 18th century and a plainer, salted rice cake called uzura-mochi, quail mochi, for its plump shape. Filled with sugared anko in Edo, it was renamed daifuku, big luck, a pun on an older name meaning big belly. Ichigo daifuku only appeared in the 1980s.
Traditional — Wagashi shops make the skin from pounded steamed glutinous rice, or cook it on the stove as gyuhi. The microwave method here is how most Japanese home cooks make daifuku now and gives a very similar skin. A stovetop method is given for anyone without a microwave.
Provenance: Editorial adaptation.
Questions about this recipe
Answers taken from this dish's times, amounts, swaps and tips.
How long does Daifuku mochi take?
1 hr 15 min all in — 40 min prep, 5 min cook, 30 min rest. Cook and rest follow the method. Leftover storage and optional extra waits are not included.
How many does it serve?
The recipe is written for 8 pieces. Scale the ingredient list on the page if you are cooking for a different number.
How hard is it?
Medium.
How spicy is it?
No chilli.
Does it fit a diet?
The published recipe is labelled Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Nut-free.
What does it cost to cook?
Cheap night — about Under $8 USD, as a grocery budget for this recipe, not a restaurant price.
8 more questionsFewer questions
What equipment do I need?
Mixing bowl, Saucepan, Kitchen scale, Chef's knife.
How much salt do I put in?
This recipe does not list a salt amount. We will not invent one.
How much sugar?
50 g of Sugar.
What can I use instead?
Shiratamako → Glutinous rice flour (mochiko). Slightly less stretchy and a little stickier. Use 10 to 20 ml less water. Anko → Sweetened chestnut purée or a ball of ice cream. Chestnut keeps it a tea sweet. Ice cream makes mochi ice cream; freeze the wrapped balls straight away.
What should I watch for?
Cooked mochi is very hot and clings to skin. Handle it with a wet spatula, not fingers. Mochi is a known choking risk. Cut it small for children and older people, and chew well.
Any tips from this recipe?
For ichigo daifuku, wrap a hulled strawberry in a thin layer of smooth anko first, then in the mochi. If they have hardened by the next day, microwave one for 10 seconds to soften it again.
Can I prepare this ahead?
If they have hardened by the next day, microwave one for 10 seconds to soften it again.
Can I use an air fryer?
This method is not written for an air fryer. The core technique on the page still applies.
Similar dishes
Dorayaki
どら焼き
Two small honey-sweet pancakes, browned evenly and soft as sponge, sandwiched around chunky red bean paste. A Japanese tea-time classic.
Easy
Muah chee
麻糍
The viral peanut-coated sticky dough — Teochew/Malaysian-Singapore snack TikTok cannot stop snipping.
Easy
Patbingsu
팥빙수
Shaved ice with sweet red beans, milk and a few chewy toppings — summer dessert that is not a smoothie bowl.
Easy