There are many ways Coconut Ladoo (also known as Nariyal ke Laddu in Hindi) can be made. I share three delicious recipes. Prepare these tasty melt-in-the-mouth sweets, serve them as a sweet snack and watch them disappear in seconds.
What is Coconut Ladoo
Coconut ladoo is a bite-size sweet ball made from coconut. Ladoo is an Indian sweet-shaped ball with many variations. Some popular ladoo recipes include Besan Ladoo and Rava Laddu.
Also called as “Laddu”, these decadent treats are often made during Hindu festivals and also offered to the deities in temples.
Coconut laddu can be made in many ways. Here I share three recipes for making them.
Table of Contents
These recipe methods are different and uses unique ingredients besides coconut. So the taste and texture of the ladoo vary and do not taste same.
I have also shared a rustic and earthy recipe of coconut laddu made with jaggery popularly called as Narkel Naru in Bengal.
Coconut Ladoo with Milkmaid
This coconut ladoo is a sweet delicious crowd pleaser and is made with just 3 ingredients!
This method involves making the ladoo using fresh coconut, condensed milk (milkmaid) and cardamom powder. An advantage of this method is that it is quick, easy and great for beginners.
Prep and keep aside all the ingredients before you begin cooking. For best taste and texture, I suggest to add freshly grated coconut. Though in a pinch you can opt to use frozen grated coconut or desiccated coconut.
To make laddu with desiccated coconut, I have included instructions in the steps below.
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups of tightly packed fresh grated coconut
- 1 teaspoon ghee
- ½ teaspoon green cardamom powder
- ½ can of sweetened condensed milk – 220 grams
- ⅓ cup fresh grated coconut or unsweetened desiccated coconut
- preferred chopped nuts or dry fruits – optional
Sauté Coconut
1. Heat 1 teaspoon of ghee in a frying pan or kadai. You can also use coconut oil instead of ghee.
2. Add 1.5 cups of tightly packed grated coconut.
3. Stir and sauté the coconut on low heat for 3 to 4 minutes but make sure they don’t brown. Roasting gets rid of the excess moisture.
Tip 1: If you are using desiccated coconut then there is no need to roast it in ghee. Simply mix the desiccated coconut with condensed milk (milkmaid) and heat the mixture.
Tip 2: On the other hand, if you are using frozen coconut then let it come to room temperature before you start to roast it.
Make Ladoo Mixture
4. Now add ¾ cup of sweetened condensed milk.
5. Add ½ teaspoon of green cardamom powder.
6. Mix well and cook the mixture on a low heat.
7. The mixture should begin to thicken. Keep stirring regularly.
8. Once the mixture leaves the sides of the pan and you see some coconut fat at the sides, turn off the heat.
9. Pour the coconut ladoo mixture in another bowl or pan and allow it to cool.
10. Once the mixture has cooled completely, pinch medium balls from the mixture and form ladoo.
Rub ghee on the palm of your hands and shape the coconut ladoo. If the mixture is loose then you won’t be able to make the ladoo.
Tip: If the mixture is loose then put it back in the pan and heat it for a few more minutes.
11. Roll the ladoo in to the desiccated coconut or in fresh coconut until it is evenly coated.
12. You can also make all of the coconut ladoo at the same time and roll in them in desiccated coconut.
13. Place the coconut laddu in small muffin liners and place them in a tray. 14. Serve coconut ladoo straight away or refrigerate for later.
Coconut ladoo can be refrigerated for 2 to 3 days. Keep them covered in an air-tight container in the fridge.
Desiccated Coconut Ladoo
These are 2 Ingredient coconut ladoo made with an easy recipe. These delish ladoo are pretty quick to make. The 2 main ingredients are desiccated coconut and milkmaid (sweetened condensed milk).
The recipe is ridiculously easy to put together and even a beginner can make this easily. The method is good for students or folks who are studying or working outside India and thus can celebrate Indian festivals by making quick and easy sweets like this ladoo recipe. Ingredients like desiccated coconut and condensed milk are easily available everywhere.
You will Need
- 2.5 cups desiccated coconut powder
- 1 cup sweetened condensed milk or milkmaid
- ½ teaspoon cardamom powder
- 1 tablespoon Ghee
- 3 tablespoons desiccated coconut, for coating on ladoo
How to make
1. Keep a heavy bottomed pan or kadai on stove top. Add 1 tablespoon ghee and let it melt.
2. Keep the flame to a low and then add 2.5 cups desiccated coconut powder.
3. On a low heat sauté the coconut for 1 minute.
4. Then add 1 cup condensed milk.
5. Mix the condensed milk very well with the coconut.
6. On a low to medium-low heat with nonstop stirring sauté the mixture till it starts to leave sides of the pan.
7. Switch off the heat when the mixture has thickened and leaves the sides of pan. Add ½ teaspoon cardamom powder. Mix very well.
9. Let the mixture become warm or cool at room temperature. Then with a spoon, scoop out the ladoo mixture.
10. Shape into neat ladoo.
11. Make a round ladoo.
12. On a plate take 3 tablespoons desiccated coconut. Roll the ladoo in desiccated coconut.
13. Make all ladoo this way with the remaining mixture. Scrape off all the mixture from the pan with a spoon and use them too to make ladoo.
Serve the ladoo as a sweet. The remaining ladoo you can refrigerate and these stay good for about 8 to 10 days in the refrigerator.
Nariyal ke Laddu with Sugar Syrup
For this method, you will need desiccated coconut, cardamom and sugar. This is my go-to recipe when I offer ladoo to Bhagwan Ganesha or any other deity or for a religious occasion.
This nariyal ladoo is easy to make as long as you get 1 thread or an “ek taar” consistency in the sugar syrup. If you overcook the sugar syrup beyond the 1 thread consistency, then the nariyal ke laddu will harden.
You can also choose to flavor nariyal ke laddu with cardamom powder, saffron or skip them altogether.
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups desiccated coconut powder (unsweetened)
- ⅔ cup regular sugar or raw sugar
- ½ cup water
- ½ teaspoon cardamom powder or 3 to 4 green cardamoms – husked and powdered in a mortar-pestle, optional
Method
1. Mix ⅔ cup sugar with ½ cup water and dissolve it with a spoon. If there are impurities than strain the sugar solution. Keep the sugar solution on stove-top and on a low heat simmer the solution.
2. The solution will start to thicken and continue to cook till you get the one thread consistency in the sugar syrup. This takes some minutes.
This is a very hot syrup, so when checking for one thread consistency, cool the syrup in a spoon and then check.
3. After you get the one thread consistency in the syrup, switch off the heat. Add 1.5 cups unsweetened desiccated coconut powder. Also add ½ teaspoon of cardamom powder.
4. Be quick enough to stir the whole mixture well.
5. Make small balls from the mixture. You can spread some coconut oil or ghee in your palms before making these ladoo.
If the heat is too much too handle, wait for a few seconds till you are comfortable making the nariyal ke laddu.
The mixture should be hot or warm while shaping. If the mixture becomes cold, then making the coconut ladoo is impossible.
If this happens then return the pan or bowl on the the stove-top and slightly warm the mixture and continue to make the coconut ladoo. Sprinkle some drops of water or milk if the mixture looks too dry.
6. Use up the entire coconut mixture in making neat round balls. Serve the nariyal ke laddu to your family or as naivedyam or bhog if made for your deity.
Expert Tips
- Coconut: I like to use fresh coconut for the first recipe but you can easily substitute fresh coconuts for desiccated coconut powder and achieve the same results. For the best results use good quality desiccated coconut and make sure it is not rancid.
- Batch: If you need to feed a large crowd then feel free to double or triple these recipe. You can also half it if you are serving less people.
- Storage: Fresh coconut ladoo made with milkmaid can be refrigerated for 2 to 3 days. Desiccated coconut ladoo made with condensed milk keeps well for 8 to 10 days in the refrigerator. While nariyal ke ladoo made with sugar can be refrigerated for more than a week.
- Offering: If you are planning to offer coconut ladoo to a deity, then it is best to make the third ladoo recipe made with desiccated coconut powder and sugar.
Variations
- I have added cardamom powder in all the three recipes for a nice aroma. Feel free to skip it if you prefer.
- Also, I have not added nuts or dry fruits in any of the recipe. But you can add any nuts or dry fruits that you like.
- In the recipes using milkmaid or sweetened condensed milk, there is no need to add any sugar as condensed milk gives enough sweetness. Though for a less sweet taste, you can reduce the quantity of sweetened condensed milk.
- The desiccated coconut used is not the grated or shredded dry coconut, but one in a powder form. Its also called as desiccated coconut powder.
- In the second recipe, ghee is optional to use and so is cardamom powder. If not using ghee, then just roast the desiccated coconut in the skillet or pan on a low heat for a minute.
- Rolling the ladoo in desiccated coconut is optional and can be skipped.
FAQs
When cooking the ingredients in a pan there should not be too much moisture. If the mixture is too moist then add it back to the pan and cook it for a bit longer to remove excess moisture. This should eliminate sogginess.
Yes, you can use dry coconut (gari gola) but you have to grate it. Grating dried coconut is not easy and takes time. You will have to sauté the grated dry coconut for few minutes first and make sure you don’t brown them.
Coconut powder is coarsely ground dry coconut and typically has a semi-fine texture where as desiccated coconut can be grated or shredded.
Yes, feel free to use khoya (mawa) or evaporated milk instead of condensed milk. Adjust the sugar as needed.
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Coconut Ladoo Recipe | Nariyal ke Laddu Made In 3 Unique Ways
Ingredients
For fresh coconut ladoo with milkmaid
- 1.5 cups coconut – fresh, grated and tightly packed
- 1 teaspoon Ghee (clarified butter)
- ½ teaspoon cardamom powder or 4 to 5 green cardamoms crushed in a mortar-pestle
- ½ can sweetened condensed milk or milkmaid – 200 grams
- ⅓ cup desiccated coconut or fresh grated coconut – for rolling
- chopped nuts or dry fruits – of your choice, optional
For desiccated coconut laddu with condensed milk
- 2.5 cups desiccated coconut powder – unsweetened
- 1 cup sweetened condensed milk or milkmaid
- ⅓ teaspoon cardamom powder
- 1 tablespoon Ghee
- 3 tablespoons desiccated coconut – for coating ladoo
Instructions
Making Coconut Ladoo with milkmaid
- Heat ghee in a heavy frying pan or kadai. Keep flame to a low.
- Add 1.5 cups tightly packed coconut.
- Stir and roast the coconut on a low flame for 3 to 4 minutes. The roasting is to just get rid of some moisture. Don't brown the coconut.
- If using desiccated coconut, then no need to roast it in ghee. Simply mix the desiccated coconut with condensed milk and heat the mixture.
- Now add the sweetened condensed milk and cardamom powder.
- Mix thoroughly and cook this mixture on a low heat.
- When you see that the mixture has begun to thicken, then keep stirring nonstop.
- When the mixture begins to leave the sides of the pan and when you see some coconut fat at the sides, switch off the heat.
- Pour the ladoo mixture in another bowl or pan. Allow it to cool at room temperature.
- When the mixture has cooled completely, pinch small to medium balls from the mixture and form ladoo.
- Roll the coconut ladoo in desiccated coconut or in fresh coconut evenly.
- You can also make all the ladoo at once and then roll in the desiccated coconut.
- Place them in small muffin liners or just place them in a tray.
- Serve coconut ladoo straight away or refrigerate and serve them later.
- This ladoo stay good for a week in the fridge.
Making desiccated coconut ladoo with condensed milk
- Keep a heavy bottomed pan or kadai on stove top. Add ghee and let it melt on a low heat.
- Keeping the heat to a low add the desiccated coconut powder. Mix and sauté the for 1 minute.
- Then add the condensed milk and mix it thoroughly with the coconut.
- On a low to medium-low heat with non stop stirring sauté the mixture till it starts to leave sides of pan. Then switch off the heat and add cardamom powder. Mix very well.
- Let the mixture become warm or cool at room temperature. With a spoon, scoop the ladoo mixture and shape in round balls.
- In a plate spread the desiccated coconut evenly. Roll each ladoo in the desiccated coconut. Make all ladoo this way. Scrape off all the mixture from the pan with a spoon and use them too to make ladoo.
- Serve as a sweet. Refrigerate any leftovers and these stay good for about 10 to 12 days in the fridge.
Making Nariyal ke Laddu with sugar syrup
- Mix the sugar with the water and dissolve it. If there are impurities than strain the sugar solution.
- The sugar can be adjusted as per your sweet likings. For a less sweet taste you can use ½ cup sugar and for a more sweeter taste use ¾ cup sugar.
- Keep the sugar solution on the stove-top and on a low heat. Cook the solution. The solution will start to thicken. Continue to simmer till you get a one thread consistency in the sugar syrup.
- Turn off the heat and add the desiccated coconut powder and cardamom powder to the sugar syrup.
- Quickly stir and make small balls from the mixture. If the heat is too much too handle, wait for a few minutes till you are comfortable in shaping the laddu.
- The mixture should be hot or warm while making the coconut laddu. If the mixture becomes cold, then shaping the ladoo is impossible. In this case, return the pan or bowl on the fire and slightly warm the mixture and continue to make the laddu.
- Serve these tasty nariyal ke laddu.
Video
Notes
- Feel free to add your preferred choice of nuts and dry fruits in any of the coconut ladoo recipe.
- Omit cardamom powder if you prefer.
- All the three recipes can be scaled up to make a large batch of coconut ladoo for festivals or religious occasions.
- Note that the servings is for the coconut ladoo recipe made with milkmaid and fresh coconut. The approximate nutrition info is for 1 coconut ladoo made with sweetened condensed milk.
Nutrition Info (Approximate Values)
This Coconut Ladoo recipe from the archives first published on March 2015 has been updated and republished on May 2022.
