Badam Halwa (Almond Flour Pudding) Instant Pot Recipe

You can now make badam halwa, a rich almond pudding, in minutes! Use store-bought almond flour and an Instant Pot to easily and quickly make this delicious dessert.

What is Badam Halwa?

Badam halwa is a rich halwa made with blanched almond flour, ghee, sugar, and spices. I’m sure you’ve figured it out by now, but if not, the word badam means almond.

This is a dessert that traditionally takes a loooong time to make – it’s mostly reserved for special occasions. But with this shortcut recipe, you can enjoy almond halwa any time you want.

Back in the day, in order to make an Indian dessert with almonds, my mom would first soak the nuts in a bowl of water overnight and then in the morning, painstakingly peel the skin off of them – one by one.

Sometimes I’d join her, but I’d end up eating all of the almonds I’d peel as well as some of the one’s mom peeled. I wasn’t very helpful, lol.

Thankfully these days, you can find blanched almond flour at nearly every grocery store. I buy it in bulk from Costco. Most of the time I don’t even go to the store anymore. I get groceries delivered right to my door. To go from peeling almonds one at a time to this… in my lifetime, well, that feels pretty incredible.

Almond flour alone is a huge shortcut when it comes to making badam halwa, but when you combine that with the capabilities of an instant pot, well, I’m not sure this dessert can get any easier to make.

“This came out Excellent! I have been making it the ‘long’ traditional way for years and am amazed how close this comes to the taste of the original with a fraction of the effort. Kudos Ashley for doing all the legwork and providing a fail safe awesome recipe! Thank you!”

Suguna V.

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“Made this today. Such an easy recipe and so delicious. I had never made sugar syrup in instant pot before. This recipe takes away all the guesswork. I roasted almond flour on stovetop to add to the tasks that could be done in parallel because I was short on time. I was able to make it within 20 mins during my short lunch break.”

Komal

Turmeric in Halwa?

I’m using turmeric in my recipe for badam halwa.

You know what I find crazy? That so many stores/people still use yellow food coloring in badam halwa. WHY? We have turmeric!

It’s natural and stains everything yellow, mainly the things we don’t want to stain, at least in my house haha – clothes, carpets, countertops, fingernails.

The minimal amount of turmeric here is not going to make a difference in flavor, but it will make the halwa look more yellow. Like a little bowl of sunshine.

“Thank you for this recipe, Ashley! Absolutely foolproof! The halwa was super delicious! I’m making Diwali sweets and this was one of the easiest ones to check off the list 🙂 Love the addition of turmeric! I cut down a bit on the sugar (personal preference). Still delicious!”

Dalia

Here’s How to Make Badam Halwa:

Figuring out this recipe was humbling. You’d think that if I could figure out how to make Kaju Katli, Kalakand, and Besan Burfi in an Instant Pot, this halwa would be a piece of cake? But no. It took me so long to get the ratio of almond flour to sugar to ghee just right. While this recipe will work even if you adjust the ingredients a bit, the ratios I have listed in the recipe card below make for the best badam halwa.

Okay, here’s how we’re going to make it!

First, toast the almond flour. Then set it aside and make sugar syrup by combining sugar, water, turmeric, and saffron. Pressure cook.

Remove the lid and add ghee, cardamom, and the toasted almond flour you had set aside earlier. Mix it all up!

Enjoy it as is – or, let it cool, then pour the halwa into a small steel bowl, then flip it out onto a small plate. Garnish with sliced almonds, chopped green pistachios, and saffron.

Want More Almond Flour Recipes?

Instant Pot Badam Halwa (Almond Flour Pudding)

Instant Pot Badam Halwa (Almond Flour Pudding)

5 from 20 reviews

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Ingredients

 

• ▢ 2 cups almond flour approx. 185 grams
• ▢ ½ cup water 4 ounces
• ▢ ½ cup sugar approx. 100 g
• ▢ Big pinch of saffron plus extra for garnish
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoon turmeric helps with color

Add later:

• ▢ ½ cup ghee 4 ounces, room temp
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon cardamom powder
• ▢ sliced almonds, raw green pistachios, and saffron garnish

Instructions

 

• Press sauté and adjust the heat to the highest setting. Once the pot is hot (takes about 2 minutes – make sure to wait!), add the almond flour and dry roast for about 5-6 minutes or until the flour looks light gold (don't let it get brown) and no longer smells raw. Stir occasionally at first and more frequently as time goes on, making sure to break apart any lumps as you stir.
• Turn off the pot, remove the flour, and put it onto a plate. Set this aside for now.
• Wipe down the pot (with a paper towel) then in a clean and dry pot, add water, sugar, saffron, and turmeric to the pot and mix well.
• Secure the lid, close the pressure valve, and cook for 5 minutes at high pressure.
• Quick-release and remove the lid (making sure not to drop the condensation on the lid back inside).
• Press the sauté button, add the ghee, toasted almond flour, and cardamom and stir continuously for about 2 minutes to thicken and remove any remaining moisture (the halwa will bubble a bit as you stir).
• Remove the steel liner from the Instant Pot so that the halwa doesn’t burn. Let the halwa cool down for 15 minutes.
• Grease a small steel bowl with ghee, place the cooled halwa in the bowl, then flip it out onto a small plate. Garnish with sliced almonds, chopped green pistachios and saffron.

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