Our boba milk tea mochi recipe makes small bite-size Japanese rice cakes with a sweet bubble tea-flavoured filling and a chewy tapioca pearl centre. Pillowy and smooth, each one is about the size of an adult thumb. It’s a fun version of daifuku that’s different to other mochi recipes we’ve made.
Boba milk tea mochi is made of glutinous rice flour wrapped around a bubble tea paste filling. The paste is usually a mixture of white beans, black tea powder and brown sugar. Bite open the daifuku, and you’ll find a tapioca pearl hidden inside.
If you've tried store-bought versions and feel it didn't hit the spot, we have a homemade boba milk tea mochi recipe for you. We've taste-tested most of the popular brands and created our own version.
You can consume boba milk tea mochi all in one bite. But if you like, some matcha tea is an excellent pairing to offset the sweetness.
Bubble milk tea mochi ingredients
Here's the boba milk tea mochi ingredients you will need to make our recipe.
- Glutinous rice flour
- Water
- White sugar
- Milk tea powder
- White bean paste or lotus seed paste
- Cornstarch or additional glutinous flour (for dusting)
- Tapioca pearl (optional)
Glutinous Rice Flour
Regular glutinous rice flour will work for our bubble tea mochi recipe. However, you can also use shiratamako or mochiko. These Japanese glutinous rice flour are much finer and absorb water faster, which means the rice cakes will usually turn out plumper.
In addition, if you want to add a subtle tea flavour to the dough, you can add 1-2 tablespoon of bubble milk tea powder to the glutinous rice flour mix.
Milk Tea Powder
For a closer taste to store bought boba milk tea mochi, we use milk tea powder in our recipe. Powders have a stronger fragrant and taste when combined in the paste compared to brewing loose leaf tea.
However, if you prefer to loose leaf, we recommend only adding 2-3 tablespoon of strong brewed tea. If you add any more than this, the paste may become too watery to use.
White Bean Paste
Shiroan is the Japanese name for white bean paste. It is a smooth, sweet white paste made from lima beans, also known as butter beans.
White bean paste is a standard filling for Japanese confectionery. The paste has a mild taste, making it a great alternative to red bean paste if you want something more subtle.
Instead of white bean paste, you can also use lotus seed paste. However, if you prefer to use red bean paste, feel free to do so. You can also check out our microwave mochi recipe for making this dessert.
Tapioca Pearls
For our recipe, we like to add one single brown sugar tapioca pearl to the centre of our Japanese rice cake. However, you can skip this or add more if you like. You even try adding different flavoured tapioca pearls, too.
Boba Milk Tea Mochi Recipe
Ingredients
- 65 g glutinous rice flour
- 60 ml water
- 2 tablespoon white sugar
- 80 g white bean paste or lotus seed paste
- 2 teaspoon milk tea powder
- 1 tablespoon hot water
- 1 tablespoon tapioca pearls
- cornstarch for dusting
Cooking Instructions
- Cook tapioca pearls per instructions on the package. When the tapioca pearls are ready, strain them and let them cool in an ice bath for 1 to 2 minutes.
- Mix hot water with the milk tea powder to make a milk tea paste. Then, add them to the paste and mix until they are well combined. Taste and adjust sweetness by adding more tea or sugar. Let it cool and harden.
- Measure out 10 g of the milk tea paste and roll it into a ball. Then, gently push in the cooked tapioca pearls into the centre of the lotus seed ball. Repeat for the remaining lotus seed filling.
- Mix water, sugar, and glutinous rice flour. Cover tightly with plastic and microwave at 600 W for 1 minute.
- Remove from the microwave and mix the mixture using a plastic spatula. Cover and microwave for another 1 minute. Remove and let the steam vent.
- While the mochi dough is warm but cool enough to touch, knead the dough until smooth. Then, cut them into 8 even pieces and roll them into balls. Then, flatten the balls and wrap your filling in the centre of the dough.
- Finally, dust your boba milk tea mochi with cornstarch so it does not stick to your hands.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Calories have been calculated using an online calculator. Nutritional information offered on Honest Food Talks is for general information purposes and is only a rough estimate.
How to store
When you want to store your boba milk tea mochi, keep them individually wrapped. We've found that the best way to store boba milk tea mochi is in an air-tight container but kept at room temperature. If you keep it in the fridge or freezer, the mochi dough will turn hard.
As you can't keep it for long, we recommend consuming it as soon as possible, within 24 hours.
Our favourite boba milk tea mochi brands
There are several popular brands that you'll find while shopping. Our favourite boba mochi has to be Bamboo House's bubble tea mochi. If you're not in the mood to make your own at home, here are a few we've tried and a review of them.
Yuki and love
Yuki and love boba milk tea mochi is from Taiwan. It has a bold flavour and tastes exactly like the drink. The skin texture is soft and chewy.
It's labelled in Chinese as 'Quan Shu', which means it is vegan! So if you're vegan, stick to Yuki and love boba mochi.
Royal Family
Next up is bubble milk tea mochi from Royal Family. This dessert has a fragrant milk tea bean paste. But what makes it unique is the brown sugar inner core.
So it's a layered flavour sensation of bubble tea, brown sugar and thin rice flour! Royal Family bubble tea mochi is a good choice for those who prefer a stronger flavour.
Bamboo House
Another Taiwanese brand, Bamboo House. The small treats are a perfect size and are not too sweet.
Its subtle sweetness makes the treat perfectly balanced. Additionally, the texture is also soft and chewy.
Costco
This Costco Boba Milk Tea mochi has a soft, squishy texture. The outside is slightly powdery, whilst the inside is rich and sweet. There's a mild taste of brown sugar.
While the packaging shows a tapioca pearl inside, we could not taste much of it since there is a lot of filling. However, if enjoyed frozen, it tastes very refreshing even without the pearl.
Nestle boba milk tea
Nestle boba milk tea mochi is a trendy product that has taken Southeast Asia by storm. Open the packet and find a single ball of daifuku ice cream. Inside, there is a dense core of brown sugar syrup and brown sugar pearls. A thin skin made of rice flour encases the wagashi.
It's very sticky and sweet, as is typical of ice cream. But the brown sugar pearls are smaller than average-sized boba milk tea mochi. As a result, each bite tastes light and refreshing, and it's a very different sensation from your usual store-bought dessert.
If you prefer to try making a similar version, use our recipe for mochi ice cream and boba ice cream to recreate your version at home!
Out of all the ones above, our favourite is Bamboo House's bubble milk tea mochi. Its filling is not too sweet, and it tastes fresh. The skin is also bouncy, which makes it very pleasant to chew.
Is it vegan?
Unfortunately, most store-bought bubble milk tea mochi is not vegan.
To be vegan, it must not have dairy or other animal products. But most manufacturers will add dairy into the dessert-making process to get a creamy core. But you do not have to do so if you want a vegan option.
Making this wagashi involves soaking the rice flour with water, steaming it, and pounding it into a sticky state. Many retailers use milk for a denser taste, but it still works if you don't.
You can skip this step or substitute the dairy with almond or coconut milk to make it vegan. For the tea, you can brew black tea instead and sweeten it with vegan substitutes.
If you feel this might make the dessert too watery, you can use red beans, matcha paste or fruits to fill the wagashi. This creates a dense inner core, so you will not even notice that the confectionary tastes less creamy.
Is bubble milk tea mochi halal?
Bubble milk tea mochi is halal. Many people think the tapioca pearls inside the dessert are made of gelatin. But these pearl balls are made from seaweed extract, also known as agar. So this is a halal product.
Many assume that since boba originated from Taiwan before spreading to Southeast Asia, it is not halal. However, since Southeast Asia has a sizeable Muslim population, many products have been created for this market or tweaked to suit their needs.
Boba milk tea mochi calories
Each piece of boba milk tea mochi contains around 150-200 calories. However, this may change depending on the size of each piece and the amount of sugar added.
We hope you liked our boba milk tea mochi recipe. If you want more Asian dessert inspiration, subscribe to us our YouTube channel, Honest Food Talks.
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