Instant Pot Besan Burfi (Chickpea Fudge)

Get ready to amaze your family, friends, everyone you know (including yourself!) with some homemade besan burfi using this surprisingly simple recipe. This is the easiest and fastest way to make besan burfi – this chickpea fudge sets in minutes!

What is Besan Burfi?

Besan burfi is a sweet and dense dessert made using besan, sugar, water, cardamom, and ghee.

I think this might be the easiest dessert recipe on my blog? And that’s crazy because I’m sharing a burfi recipe. Burfi is something I used to dismiss as being too complicated to make myself. Much easier to ask a family member to make it for me (lol).

But having an instant pot makes making besan burfi so simple!

“Turned out absolutely great. I have tried this recipe from various sites and hands down this was the simplest. Of course your arm gets a workout but the outcome!!!!! YUMMY! Thank you. This is one of my favorite Indian sweets and so glad I don’t have to buy it off the shelves anymore.”

Flavia

What is Besan?

Besan, also known as gram flour or chickpea flour, is made from small brown chickpeas (not garbanzo beans). If you remove the brown skin from brown chickpeas, you’re left with yellow chana dal – grind that, and you’ve got besan. Thankfully it’s easy to find besan at your local Indian grocery store or online.

If you’ve never tried besan before, it has a pleasant, nutty, and somewhat earthy flavor. If you’ve never had besan burfi before, you should know that it’s dense, unlike Kaju Katli, which is more delicate.

Why use besan to make burfi? Because it’s delicious! Besan is an Indian pantry staple. It’s more economical than using nuts or nut flour, making besan burfi an inexpensive dessert.

How to Make Besan Burfi:

This type of fudge is traditionally made on the stovetop by boiling sugar to the right temperature/consistency while simultaneously cooking besan in bubbling hot ghee. Once both are ready – you’re supposed to combine them into one pot. I find it difficult to use two stovetop burners at the same time without burning myself (#clumsy), so I’ve managed to come up with an easier and safer, and more reliable method. We’re going to make our sugar syrup (also known as chashni) in the instant pot and then mix in the rest of the ingredients.

This method is similar to my Kaju/Badam Katli (cashew/almond fudge) recipe – only much easier because there’s no need to roll out any dough.

The first step: roast the besan.

Set the besan aside for now. It’s time to make sugar syrup!

Then we stir roasted besan, ghee, and cardamom together and pour it all into a glass dish.

Top with crushed nuts (if you want), then slice and serve. It sets within minutes! It really is as easy as it sounds.

Why Roast Besan?

Why do we have to roast besan before making burfi? Because raw chana dal flour is bitter. Roasting besan gets rid of bitterness and is what gives the flour its nutty, toasty flavor.

Unfortunately, there’s no shortcut to roasting the flour. It takes 20 minutes of occasional stirring. I won’t lie, those 20 minutes can feel like an eternity… unless you’re listening to music! Play your favorite tunes, and after 5-6 songs, the besan will be ready 🙂

What do I do if I see the Burn sign?!

Ignore it. It’ll go away on its own after a few minutes. I’ve made sugar syrup in the instant pot many times, and every now and then, the IP will go rogue and give me a “burn” sign – it has always gone away on its own after several minutes – be patient.

Here’s what to expect if the burn sign comes up: after a few minutes, the burn sign will disappear, and the pressure cooker will continue to count down. As long as the valve is closed and the silicone ring is on properly, it’ll be fine. The sugar won’t burn. The temperature of the syrup will still be within the correct range to make this fudge.

Besan burfi lasts a while. You can store this burfi on the counter for a week, in the fridge for a couple of weeks, or in the freezer for months. Enjoy!

More Burfi Recipes to Try:

Instant Pot Besan Burfi (Chickpea Fudge)

Instant Pot Besan Burfi (Chickpea Fudge)

4.61 from 23 reviews

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Cuisine Indian

Ingredients

 

• ▢ 2 cups besan approx 230 – 245 grams
• ▢ 1 cup sugar approx 200 – 210 grams
• ▢ ⅓ cup water approx 2.55 – 2.75 ounces
• ▢ ¾ cup ghee approx. 5.5 – 6 ounces
• ▢ ½ teaspoon freshly ground cardamom*
• ▢ 2-3 tablespoons chopped nuts optional, to taste

Instructions

 

• Roast the Besan:

  Set a 6 quart Instant Pot to sauté (default medium setting) and allow the pot to heat up for a couple of minutes. Add the besan to the instant pot and dry roast the besan, stirring occasionally, for 20-25 minutes or until it smells toasty and the color slightly darkens by a shade or two. Remove the besan from the pot and set it aside for now (if you’re unsure whether it’s toasted properly, you can taste a pinch of it – if it’s bitter, that means it’s still raw). 
• Wipe down the pot with a dry paper towel, then add sugar and water to the pot and mix well.
• Secure the lid and cook for 11 minutes at high pressure.
• Quick-release pressure.
• Add the roasted besan, ghee, cardamom, and quickly stir until well combined. You’ll need to be quick as this mixture thickens fast, making it tough to stir well.
• Spoon the mixture into a greased 8×8 or similar sized pan/dish and spread it out with a spatula. If using nuts, press them into the fudge while it’s still warm (you can use parchment paper to press them in). The fudge sets in minutes – make sure to slice it right away and then let it cool before removing the slices. If you wait too long to make the slices, it’ll crumble as you try to slice the hardened burfi.

Video

Notes

Important: All of the recipes on my blog are tested using a 6 quart instant pot – I have not tested this recipe in a different sized pot. I don’t know if this recipe will work in a 3 quart or 8 quart as the surface area is different and will affect the temperature of the sugar syrup. I suggest only using a 6 quart for this recipe.

I suggest using freshly ground cardamom over store-bought ground cardamom – I’ve tried both and freshly ground makes a big difference in this burfi given that it calls for such few ingredients. Remember – when you freshly grind cardamom, save the green shells and use them when making chai 🙂

Store this burfi in an airtight container on the counter for a week, in the fridge for a couple of weeks or in the freezer for months.

If you see the burn sign: please ignore it – it’ll go away on its own after a few minutes. I’ve made sugar syrup in the instant pot many times and every now and then the IP will go rogue and give me a “burn” sign – it has always gone away on its own after several minutes – just be patient. Here’s what to expect if the burn sign comes up: after a few minutes the burn sign will disappear and the pressure cooker will continue to count down. As long as the valve is closed and the silicone ring is on properly, it’ll be fine. The sugar won’t burn. The temperature of the syrup will still be within the correct range to make this fudge.

Update 7/8: you may have noticed that I changed the cook time to 11 minutes (it was 12 minutes when I first shared the recipe). I did this after hearing that some of you had trouble with the burfi becoming too hard too quickly. After more testing, I think 11 minutes is the way to go.

Did you make this recipe?Tag @myheartbeets on Instagram and hashtag it #myheartbeets!

My two little “helpers” say hello 🙂 Hope you enjoy the burfi!