Mochi (餅) is Japanese sticky rice cake used both in savory and sweet dishes. Mochi is usually made from “sweet rice” (also called Mochi rice and it’s not actually sweet by itself) cooked and pounded until it becomes a paste that is very sticky and smooth, then formed into cakes or blocks. It is often eaten in New Year’s Ozoni soup or baked with soy sauce. Mochi made from cooked sweet rice doesn’t stay fresh and soft too long, and usually needs to be grilled or reheated to be eaten later. Sweet Mochi, however, uses Mochiko (#ad) sweet rice flour and a lot of sugar, and it stays soft for an extended period of time at room temperature because of the large amount of sugar. It is elastic and malleable, and it can be shaped the way you want for various desserts. You may even see it at frozen yogurt shops in the US as a topping, which is actually Gyuhi (求肥) cut into mall bite size pieces.
Mochiko is powdered sweet rice, and that sweet rice flour becomes Mochi simply by adding water and steaming. It’s not to be mistaken for rice flour or even glutenous rice flour. When you make Mochi, make sure you use Mochiko or sweet rice flour. The main reason why we use Mochiko is because it becomes sticky Mochi when cooked, not soft congee. Also it is much easier to make Mochi with Mochiko than to make it from actual sweet rice. Mochi made from Mochiko may seem a little softer than traditional Mochi made from rice, but it works especially well to make this kind of soft Sweet Mochi. Sweet Mochi indeed has a lot of sugar and it’s quite sweet, but Mochi’s texture and its shelf life may suffer a bit if you cut too much of the sugar. If you’ll eat Sweet Mochi right away, you may be able to hold back some sugar, but we don’t recommend it generally. With this Sweet Mochi, you can make many varieties of Japanese sweets. Freshly cooked Sweet Mochi is very sticky, so use starch liberally to handle it. You could wrap a ball of Anko (sweet red bean paste) with Mochi and make it into Daifuku Mochi, put ice cream inside to make Mochi ice cream, or just as is coated with some Kinako (soy bean powder).
Ingredients for this recipe are simple enough to find locally. Mochiko is often available in regular supermarkets (Mochiko can be used as a thickening agent for cooking) or Japanese stores, of course, in the US. In this new edition of our recipe, we amended some of the steps to make it easier for you. Because a lot of people commented that they had a hard time fully dissolving the sugar in a pot with the Mochi dough, we made sugar syrup first to be mixed with Mochi instead (step 3). Take care cooking and mixing Mochi dough and syrup at low heat without browning. Watch our whole video first, then tackle it to make this yummy sticky treat. It is easier than you may think to make Japanese Sweet Mochi at home.
This video and article is newly updated from December 2013.
Sweet Mochi Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup Mochiko
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 3/4 cup water
- Katakuriko potato starch (or cornstarch)
- Anko sweet red bean paste (optional)
- Green Tea Ice Cream (optional)
Instructions
- Mix Mochiko and 3/4 cup water in a glass (or other heat proof) bowl and mix well. Add some more water if it's too dry, 1 Tbsp at a time.
- Steam the Mochiko dough (leaving the dough in the bowl) in a steamer for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, put 3/4 cup water and sugar in a medium pot, cook until sugar dissolves to make sugar syrup.
- Transfer the steamed Mochi into a pot and cook at medium low to low heat, adding and mixing in the sugar syrup. Cook until syrup is completely incorporated, mixing constantly, and the Mochi becomes sticky. Take time and be careful not to burn it.
- Take the hot Mochi out from the pot onto a sheet pan liberally dusted with cornstarch. Shape and cut as you like.
Video
Notes
152 Comments
Thanks for sharing. I never thought I’d be able to make mochi myself. I’ll have to try and find some mochiko and give it a go. 🙂
Jen,
thanks!
Also, if I put the mochi in microwave instead of steamer for 10 minutes, bring out & then make on stove will it still b the same?
Shae,
we never tried microwave instead of steamer, so hard to say. You can certainly experiment it! Let us know how it went!
it was so great
bob,
thanks!
Is glutanuoes rice power same with mochiko
I tried the recipe to a T but it was just liquid by the time I was going to put it on the sheet pan dusted with cornstarch. Where could I have gone wrong?
Thanks for the great video and recipe. Is it possible to cook mochi in the microwave?
Michael,
I would do stove top first to be able to control heat better.
Where can I buy the ingredients from?
Julie,
Japanese markets, some Asian markets, or Asian section of American markets if you’re in California. You can also buy online. Look for “Mochiko.”
I get mine at the Nijiya Market. I also like to use rice cake maker because I am lazy and I make the mochi into teeny tiny balls for frozen yogurt topping. I want to try it with colored sugar to see if I can get colored mocha balls.
Mrs. Iwafuchi,
wish I had a mochi maker too!
Amazon sells them too. Blue star brand
Hi, I just wanted to let you know I found my Mochiko at Walmart in the foreign section. Hope that helps.
Can I use glutinous flour instead of mochi flour? There’s no mochi flour here in Saudi Arabia. Thanks.
Maura,
I’ve never used it, so I can’t say if it works. Have you gone online to get Mochiko?
When I’ve run out of mochiko I have used glutinous flour. It tastes relatively the same, but is harder and lumpier in texture and does not need as much water or sugar
Sara,
a lot of people have trouble using glutinous flour. Try our original recipe using Mochiko. You may also like our Dango recipe too.
thanks for this recipe , since the first time i tasted the mochi im starting to search and learn how to make one.
Jay,
glad to help.
I fell in love with mochi the first time I tasted it, as well.
Dawn,
try our Dango recipe too!
Hi, the mochi ice cream in your pictures look very evenly wrapped. How did you make the seams of the wrap so even? Thanks!
Jean,
tuck the seams underneath.
Hi, I got the flour to steam perfectly, but when I added the sugar to the mix, it separated and became watery. Do I need to cook it longer? Thanks!
Nate,
sugar turns to liquid when it gets hot, so keep stirring until all incorporated.
Your instructions are clear. Thanks for sharing!
Nigel,
thanks! and you’re welcome!
So excited to make daifuku mochi but can I refrigerate them or how long do I have to eat them?
It should last for 1-2 days without refrigeration.
Do you have an alternative for someone who does not have access to a steamer?
Jacob,
If you don’t have a steamer, here’s one technique. Put a bowl upside down in a pot. Put a flat plate on top of the bowl (the bottom of the bowl). Be careful to use a heat-proof plate and bowl so they won’t crack or shatter. Add water to the pot, but don’t go up to the plate. When you turn on the heat and the pot is covered, the water will steam whatever food is on the plate. There aren’t holes in the plate so it may not work quite as well as a real steamer, and your results will vary depending on the size and shape of the plate, bowl, and pot, but it can get the job done.
Can I use fruit purée or juice instead of water to make flavored mochi?
Becca,
never tried that before. Let us know how it went!
My daughter loves Mochi! Attempting it now with your recipe for the first time … we’ll let you know 🙂
L&L,
good luck!
I tried to make the mochi but I don’t know why the dough came out was not smooth and silky as yours. How I can make the dough like yours?
cadence,
I don’t know which step you had a trouble with, but steaming the dough enough and incorporating sugar well is important. Hope you had a better luck next time.
Hello, Noriko,
My dough got lumpy after steaming, and even after adding the sugar 1/3 at a time, the dough didn’t get silky and smooth. Did I steam the dough for too long or too short, that result in it appearing lumpy.
veronica,
did you measure ingredients exactly? No substitutions?
If I want to use the mochi to wrap ice cream and freeze it , will the mochi become hard?
Carina,
this recipe is ok to freeze.
Hi, can i use brown sugar instead? Thank you.
Steph,
that will give brown color and different flavor.
How many does this recipe make?
This recipe looks amazing.
nat,
depends on size, but at least 15 medium sized ones.
Hiii. For one cup of mochiko and 2 cups of sugar, how many grams of each?
Thanks before
Narda,
1 cup sugar = 200g
1 cup Mochiko = 160g
Hope this will help!
Great recipe! But can we use all-purpose flour instead of mochiko? I can’t find it here in Arabia 🙁
Amina,
No, the result is completely different. Try buying it online.
I’m wondering how to use a bamboo steamer to do this. Also, for the anko, I use dry beans, correct?
Isabel,
you can use wet cloth to wrap the mochi instead of holding it in a bowl (is that your question?) when you steam it. If you are using our Anko recipe, please use dry beans.
Mine came out very brittle. It was steamed all the way through, so I think I didn’t get the sugar right. Roughly how long does it take to incorporate the sugar when you make it? Do you know what temperature it is at? Should it bubble at all?
Thank you!
Ralph,
did you use Mochiko? A lot of people have a trouble making it by substituting with different flour. After adding sugar, cook until sugar completely melts probably 5 minutes or so.
I tried three times and failed at the part of steaming the glutinous rice flour, please enlighten me on the following points Noriko sensei ><:
1. Is mochiko different from normal glutinous rice flour, because that is what i used. (i read from wiki that it is powdered 'cooked' glutinous rice and highly suspect that is the reason 🙁 )
2. The consistency of my flour mixed seemed more smoother than the ones in the one shown in the video when you are commenting on soft dough. As in the main bulk of the flour does not have all the lumps as seen in the video.
3. I did not use a clot for steaming does it make a difference?
4. After steaming my mochi is not pastey like the one in the video, it is much more solid and cooked. I failed to meld the sugar with it, all it ended up was being chopped by my spoon into small pieces.
Thank you very much!!!!!!!
Our recipe called for Mochiko, and we didn’t test the recipe with glutenous rice flour, so we don’t know how it comes out…A lot of people seemed like they have trouble when they use the rice flour. Please use Mochiko (we used Koda Farm brand) when you try this recipe!
I tried glutinous rice flour and my texture was the same.
Mochi,
that’s great! But I would still recommend people to use Mochiko since the outcome is so unpredictable depending on what brand of glutinous rice flour you use.
Something that may help people is that “mochiko” is also packaged under the name “Sweet White Rice Flour” as well.
Thanks for the tutorial. Looks easy, now I have to try it. If it is filled with anko or ice cream, does it need to be filled and molded while it is still hot?
you can cool it and use it with filling.
Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I just made this mochi and it turned out fantastically! It’s been so difficult to find a way of doing it other than the microwave, which has resulted in so many failures. I filled these with your anko recipe and it turned out wonderfully!
Jon,
glad you liked our sweet mochi recipe! We have more Japanese sweets on our web and video sites. Come back soon!
Umh hello can I glutinous rice flour instead of mochiko rice flour ? would it be the same result ? I can’t find mochiko rice flour here in the Philippines.
Francis,
we didn’t test with glutenous rice flour, so we cannot say it will work. But you can certainly try it. You can look online to buy mochiko.
Can I use a bamboo steamer?
Eric,
of course!
Hi! Thanks you for sharing this recipe ^^
By the way, can I use Corn starch instead of Mochiko?
I can’t find it in Indonesia..
Bonita,
no, cornstarch is different from Mochiko. You may be able to find it online.
Hi I’ve tried the anko recipe and it was amazing! But I used glutinous rice flour, which I thought was the same as mochiko, and it turned out as a paste when mixed in the 3:4 ratio. Is there actually a difference between glutinous rice flour and mochiko? Thank you!
Johnson,
people having problems using glutinous rice flour. We didn’t test the recipe with that, so we can’t say if that will work. You could try again our original recipe using Mochiko (sweet rice flour). Hope that will work for you.
Hi, wondering if the sugar can be lessened? Or would it change the taste?
Faith,
you could reduce amount of sugar (say half), but that will change the shelf life of Sweet Mochi. It will get hard faster.
How difficult would you say this is
Tyler,
it’s not difficult at all. However, exact measuring and no substitutions seem important for this recipe.
Hi, what type of sugar does this recipe use? Can I use raw sugar? Thanks!!
Faith,
we used white granulated sugar. Raw sugar may change the color of mochi more brown.
First of all, thank you sooo much for sharing this recipe. My craving for mochi has finally been solved!!
Ok, so mochiko is not available where i live and i do not like buying products through the internet so i used glutinous rice flour as an alternative. I was worried at first because after steaming the dough it was very very sticky. Did i perhaps over-steamed it? Then i placed the sticky dough into the pot and gradually poured the sugar. I had a good work out from this, btw because the dough was so sticky that the pan lifts everytime i stir the super sticky dough. Anyway, thanks to whatever, the sugar magically blended with the dough and it looked and tasted like mochi afterwards.. XD
Once again, super duper uber thanks.. 🙂
Miss Aica,
glad you liked our Sweet Mochi recipe! It was good for you to be able to work out well with glutinous flour. Some people have trouble using that, I still recommend everyone to stick with original recipe (using Mochiko). We also have Dango recipe you can try!
Your video is simply great. I was looking for how to make daifuku or manju and here you come! ありがとうございます！
Laura,
glad youliked our Sweet Mochi recipe! Try our Dango recipe too.
Everything goes well up until the point where I go to add the sugar. The dough just becomes a clumpy mess and when the sugar dissolves, I just get dough clumps floating in a thin sugar soup and then it dries rock solid.
Daniel,
did you use Mochiko?
do you need to put sugar in it? I don’t want my mochi to be too sweet.
Tiffany,
If you don’t like your mochi to be sweet, closest recipe we have is Dango recipe.
I followed the recipe but once i got to the step about mixing the sugar i could’nt get the right thickness in the dough. It was too liquid. Any tips
Ernedt,
did you use Mochiko? There are too many people having trouble substituting with other kind of flour.
Is glutinous flour = mochiko flour? Because i bought one and seller said that glutinous flour = sweet rice flour mochiko. It did not work 🙁 ….
Ann,
a lot of people seem to have trouble using glutinous flour. Some kind may work, but please use Mochiko (sweet rice flour) if you don’t want to experiment.
This was an absolutely amazing recipe! I had a little trouble get the right consistency for the for the dough before I steamed it, but just adding a little more mochiko fixed it easily. I plan to make daifuku mochi again for my family when I visit them later this summer. My uncle has an allergy to dairy and eggs, so this is perfect! Also, your idea about putting bits of the dough on frozen yogurt? Genius! Thanks so much for the great recipe!
Catherine,
glad you liked our Sweet Mochi recipe! Hope your uncle likes it too!
How many servings does this make? I want to make only a small amount, like around 3 or 5 sized balls. I wouldn’t be able to finish if it was a huge serving!
leslie,
you could cut the recipe in half amount, but I would not recommend to cut smaller than that. Give your friends and family!
Just a quick comment – a lot of people have tried with glutinous rice flour. I tried it just for kicks and it most definitely does not work, at least with this recipe.
George,
some people said glutinous rice flour work, but we didn’t use it in our recipe. Our recipe called for Mochiko (sweet rice flour). So if you don’t want to experiment, please use Mochiko!
hi
2 questions
1: can i use glutinous rice flour instead of mochiko?
2: is this recipe using australian measurement?
plz reply thank you!!
Alisa,
it is safer to use mochiko for a good result. We use US measurement, such as 1 cup = 240 ml.
Omg!!! Thanks so much for sharing your recipe!
So i tried it and took the risk at using glutinous rice flour and had the same results!
Hahaha… Thanks again.
Aica,
Glad you liked our Sweet Mochi recipe!
Hello. I would like to reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe. What do you think is the minimum I can put in?
May be 1/2 or even less if you are eating right away.
Hey Noriko,
I really enjoyed watching your video. It is detailed and very easy to follow. I’m having trouble wrapping the ice cream in the mochi. When wrapping the ice cream, it melts and starts to come out when I’m trying to close the pouch. Do you have any tips to help me? Thanks!
Liz,
scoop ice cream on a sheet pan and freeze it until hard before use.
I have tried with the other brand of glutinous rice flour (rose brand from Indonesia). The mochi texture became lumpy.. I do not recommend using other brand than mochiko, unless you use the microwave….
alfie,
thanks for the comment! A lot of people have trouble with glutinous rice flour they use. Stick with original recipe (using Mochiko) may be safer.
Raechel,
If you don’t have a steamer, here’s one technique. Put a bowl upside down in a pot. Put a flat plate on top of the bowl (the bottom of the bowl). Be careful to use a heat-proof plate and bowl so they won’t crack or shatter. Add water to the pot, but don’t go up to the plate. When you turn on the heat and the pot is covered, the water will steam whatever food is on the plate. There aren’t holes in the plate so it may not work quite as well as a real steamer, and your results will vary depending on the size and shape of the plate, bowl, and pot, but it can get the job done.
Will the mochi still be pliable after being refrigerated for a day?
Katlyn,
if it’s one day you don’t have to refrigerate, and yes it would be pliable.
Hey.
I can only find rice flour, not sweet rice flour. Will it make much difference?
Thank you x
Ellen,
some people said it work, but we recommend to use sweet rice flour. You may be able to find at online stores.
THIS IS AMAZING!!!! Thank you so much! I love mochi and I always thought about making it myself. Now that I saw this recipe/video I will definitely try it! I can’t believe I haven’t been on this site yet! Its absolutely wonderful! Thanks for sharing and keep up the great work!
Jah,
glad you liked our Sweet Mochi recipe. You may like our Dango recipe too, check it out!
This recipe is great!! Super easy to make, thank you so much for posting!!
If I half all the ingredients, will it still be as amazing?
Becca,
glad you liked our Sweet Mochi recipe! Half should be ok, but no less than that.
Hi, I found Shiratamako at Nijiya. Is it same as Mochiko or rice flour? Can I add the mochi into red been soup for dessert? Thanks.
Queen,
shiratamako should work the same as Mochiko since it is sweet rice flour. However, we never tested before and cannot guarantee the result. Let us know how it worked!
I don’t have mochiko in my city, can I grind rice to make my home-made mochiko?
Here we have western rice is it ok? I could also buy japanese rice but they only sell in 5kg(11 pounds) packs and it would go bad before we could eat.
Egon,
Mochiko is made from sweet rice flour, not from regular rice. You may be able to find it online.
hello! i ended up using glutenous rice flower instead of mochiko, but it keeps turning out lumpy! Do I just have to keep it on the heat longer?
Kuma,
I have to say that you should use Mochiko to avoid uncertain outcome.
Can mochi be frozen after making? If so how long will they last in the freezer?
Sarah,
never tried to freeze, but it should work.
I used glutinous rice flour iand it went all gummy and won’t blend with the sugar. I was hoping it would would work, but I followed all the steps as they said, only I had to add more flour because the mixture was runny before I could steam it.
Where did I go wrong?
Hi Amanda,
Replacing mochiko with another type of flour is tricky and often will not work. You can experiment to find a good ratio for you, but it’s really best to use mochiko.
When I try to make it after steaming it. It always turns out to hard.
is it possible to steam everything at once with the sugar combined?
Coco,
no not really.
Would you be able to make a recipe for mango mochi???
at last i found this recipe..i love mochi ice cream.since i was in hongkong.one day i will try to do this.tnx
Hi My Name is Jason and I am from Singapore. I like your Japanese cooking 101. I watched 2 of your shows,,, Mochi and Strawberry cake making. All are fantastic. Thank you for sharing
I tried to make it and failed. 2 cups of sugar was too much for the dough. Was watery and super sweet. I had to throw everything away.
hi! greet from Thailand!!
I like moji and your video was clear instructions… can i use “rice flour” in stead of “sweet rice flour”? will the result be the same?
lee,
you need to use Mochiko (sweet rice flour) to get the sticky texture.
Thank you so much for this recipe! I love your website and can’t wait to try all the other recipes! The Mochi and Anko turned out so delicious! 🙂
Could you put strawberry jam inside? And what could I use to make the kochi chocolate or green tea flavoured? Also thank you for sharing, I can’t wait to make my mom mochi for her birthday. 😀
You could flavor with cocoa or Matcha powder. Mix in with other ingredients and cook.
Strawberry jam may be too soft to wrap, but you could try. Good luck!
Hi Noriko,
It is so difficult to find our Mochiko powder in Turkey and I could find Glutinous Rice Flour. I already read your answers for previous messages but if there is a possibility to add some corn starch into Glutinous Rice flour,I want to know the ration of corn starch in the rice flour.
Thnx
Fahri,
we never tried with cornstarch. Let us know how it turns out if you experiment it.
I have tried to make mochi using this recipe numerous times now, initially I used glutinous rice flour, which… Didn’t work.
The next time I went to the local Chinese wholesale market and asked them for flour I could use to make mochi, this ended up being a different brand of glutinous rice flour, which while providing better results, still didn’t work. Both batches ended up having large lumps when I reached the stage where I add sugar.
Today I have made…. Something, which. Is progress, however it is far from what could be identified as mochi. I used “Ueman White Rice Flour” from: https://www.japancentre.com/en/products/7019-ueman-white-rice-flour which describes itself as being a flour suitable for mochi amongst other things. (Getting ANY sort of flour suitable for mochi seems to be a challenge in the UK”
However, after following your recipe, I ended up with something that wasn’t quite right. It seemed like it was still far too fluid. So, while I ended up with something, it still isn’t mochi.
Help, please?
I did it! We ate some and left it for the next day. BUT..any idea why all of them melt the next day? For info, i keep then in closed container and leave it on the table..
Okay, so just a little advice for people… Do not use anything labeled ‘Glutinous Rice Flour.’ After steaming, the dough will be more firm than if you had used Mochiko. And if you decide to move onto the sugar step, clumps will begin to form in the mixture – regardless of how long you cook it, they won’t blend in.
The first time I made this recipe, I used the Koda Farms brand of Mochiko – which you can purchase on Amazon.com. Everything turned out just like the example shown in the video. The dough wasn’t quite as firm, and no clumps formed at all.
Hope this helps anyone who’s been having issues..!
I learned to make Anglo from your website, and I’m going to try making mochi with a couple different fillings. Here’s my question. A couple years ago I attended a demonstration where a Japanese confectionary showed us how to make wagashi. That’s all they called it, but it was the tea ceremony type where you wrap anko with the soft white (or flavored) covering and shape into leaves, flowers, etc. Is mochi or dango the covering used? I tried making a white bean paste but failed royally; it was too sticky. I would love to make this type of wagashi again. I suspect the specific wagashi from the demonstration was Jō namagashi
P.S. I am trying boiling my Suzuki in a crockpot this time. I love anpan, but it reminded me that I want to try the mochi, too.
Silly autocorrect. I’m making azuki beans (and the crockpot was great) not Suzuki, and anko, not Anglo.
Can you use regular flour instead of cornstarch?
Hi Noriko,
Thank you for your recipe.
After failing 3 times I finally got it right this time. However, the mochi is soft but not chewy and smooth at all, like Mikawaya mochi ice cream. Instead the texture is floury and very easy to tear.
How to you make your mochi chewy?
FYI I use the right flour and the right portions.
Having accidentally bought glutinous rice flour, we also failed miserably; everything was OKish until the addition of sugar in the pot, which made the dough clumpy and watery, totally unusable. Instead of giving up, we tried another round as follows:
1) Mix sugar to water first (we used much less than this recipe calls for, 70 grams to 100 grams of water)
2) Then mix in the glutinous rice flour – it took more than expected, about 150 grams.
3) Them steam, and voilá, skip the pot step completely,
After steaming, the texture is just ok, we managed to get decent mochis out of this! The taste is not as good as it should be, however, but definitely a huge success after the first failure.
HI, I don’t have a cloth to put over the steamer basket, should I use a paper towel instead?
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Hi there! How do I make peanut mochi with this recipe?