There’s nothing quite like the satisfaction of making your own tapioca pearls from scratch without preservatives and made from ingredients of your choice. You don’t need to go to a bubble tea shop to have tapioca pearls since you can easily make them yourself with just three simple ingredients.
All you need are brown sugar, water, and tapioca starch to have unlimited tapioca pearls at home.
Add it to your bubble tea, milk tea, or mango sago dessert!
- What Are Tapioca Pearls?
- What Are The Colors Of Tapioca Pearls?
- Are Tapioca Pearls The Same As Real Sago?
- Are Tapioca Pearls Healthy?
- How To Store Tapioca Pearls
- How To Use Tapioca Pearls
- Tips And Tricks To Make Tapioca Pearls
- Items You Need To Make Homemade Tapioca Pearls
- Steps To Make Homemade Tapioca Pearls
What Are Tapioca Pearls?
Tapioca pearls are made from the refined tapioca starch of cassava root. Cassava root is a common tropical tuberous root plant in South America and a native plant in Brazil. The pearls are typically white since they take the starch’s natural color.
You may see some tapioca pearls with different colors because there is an added colored ingredient to them. Like in this recipe, we use brown sugar mixed with tapioca, giving it its deep brown color. Some tapioca pearls are big or small, ranging from 1mm to 8mm in diameter.
You can buy tapioca pearls raw and hard or already cooked and soft. Generally, tapioca pearls are soft and chewy when cooked. It is a bit rubbery to bite and has a neutral taste.
However, since we are using brown sugar for this recipe, you can expect a sweet and caramel-like flavor. In this recipe, the brown sugar is cooked with water and stirred with tapioca starch. Then, the mixture becomes a dough that is kneaded and rolled into tapioca pearls, making it ready for cooking.
What Are The Colors Of Tapioca Pearls?
Some recipes or store-bought tapioca pearls use food coloring for a decorative touch. However, artificial food coloring harms your health and can cause allergic reactions. So, I suggest using natural food coloring as an alternative.
Here are some ways to color tapioca pearls naturally:
- White: You can create white tapioca pearls just from the starch itself or add white sugar for a bit of sweetness.
- Brown: Use brown sugar to achieve brown tapioca pearls. The sugar is boiled in hot water and mixed with tapioca starch.
- Deep Brown: Use molasses made from sugarcane. It is a thick dark brown syrup with more nutrients than refined sugar. It creates a deeper brown color, almost similar to black.
- Green: Adding green matcha powder is the best way to have green tapioca pearls. You can also add white sugar to the mix for a sweeter taste while maintaining its green color.
Are Tapioca Pearls The Same As Real Sago?
There is a lot of misconception that tapioca pearls are the same as sago. However, they are both completely different in terms of origin.
Tapioca pearls are derived from the refined starch of cassava root, while sago is from the unrefined starch of a sago palm tree.
cassava root
Generally, tapioca pearls are more affordable and considered the imitation version of “real” sago. It is more accessible than sago since making sago is limited because a sago palm tree takes about 10 years to mature. You can learn more about the differences between the two with my guide Sago Vs. Tapioca Pearls.
Are Tapioca Pearls Healthy?
Let’s dig deep into its nutritional benefits. Since tapioca pearls are made of starch, it is mostly carbohydrates. Tapioca starch has 88.7g of carbohydrates for every 100g. Moreover, tapioca starch contains less than 1 gram of protein, fat, and fiber.
It can provide energy with 332kcal for every 100g of tapioca starch. With the brown sugar in this recipe, you also get energy, carbohydrates, calcium, and potassium. For every 100g of brown sugar, it contains 380kcal of energy, 98.1g of carbohydrates, 83mg of calcium, and 133mg of potassium.
However, remember you are still consuming 100g of sugar in your body. Consuming too much sugar is also a health concern, so make sure to limit your intake. Other than that, tapioca pearls are grain-free and gluten-free, perfect for those who are gluten-sensitive.
How To Store Tapioca Pearls
I recommend consuming tapioca pearls within the day for better quality. If you make big batches of pearls, you can store the tapioca pearls in the freezer or fridge.
For uncooked dry tapioca pearls, it is ideal that they are made into balls already for storing rather than the whole dough since cutting and rolling will be more difficult when taken out of the fridge or freezer.
Keep the uncooked dry pearls in a single layer in a container lined with parchment paper. For cooked pearls, store them in the fridge in a sealed container for up to three days. You can store them longer than three days in the freezer as long as it is in an airtight container.
To reheat cooked pearls, bring water to a boil and add the cooked pearls into the boiling water for five minutes. It should soften the same way you would cook uncooked pearls.
How To Use Tapioca Pearls
There are many different ways to use tapioca pearls, from drink add-ons to dessert toppings. You can make a delicious Mango Tapioca Pudding combined with mangoes and coconut milk. For more fruits, you can also use tapioca pearls with Mango Pomelo Sago Dessert 楊枝甘露 made with pomelo, mangoes, and coconut milk.
Aside from mangoes and pomelo, tapioca pearls are also used for other fruit puddings and desserts, such as purple sweet potato tapioca and tapioca pudding with strawberries, and Chinese Coconut Pudding.
If you want a refreshing drink for summer, make a simple Winter Melon Tea and add milk and tapioca pearls or try making chocolate bubble milk tea. Tapioca pearls are also popularly used for blueberry cherry pie.
Tips And Tricks To Make Tapioca Pearls
A change in ingredient and measurement can affect the overall quality of the tapioca pearls. Moreover, following each step carefully is important, from kneading the dough to boiling the pearls. Not doing the correct cooking process can affect the success of your tapioca pearls. Here are some tips and tricks to remember when making homemade tapioca pearls.
- Adding the tapioca starch to hot boiled sugar and water is key to making the dough. You cannot mix the starch with room-temperature water. Thus, make sure to add the tapioca starch right away after the brown sugar and water boils, and the heat is off.
- The temperature can affect the texture of the pearls. If you want the pearls to be soft on the outside but rubbery on the inside, you can cook at medium-high heat to cook the exterior and then low heat for the center. Moreover, you can make it super soft and chewy on high heat.
- Aside from the temperature, the cooking time will also affect the texture. The longer the cooking time, the softer the pearls are. On the other hand, the shorter the cooking time, the more firm it is. You can have different textures depending on the cooking time, including firm, chewy with resistance, soft, and extremely soft.
- I recommend using tapioca starch for the sticky chewy consistency. You can also use tapioca flour or cassava starch, but the measurements will change. Do not use cassava flour, cornstarch, or any other regular flour. If you want to change the texture a bit, you can substitute a part of the tapioca starch with corn flour or potato flour without replacing the entire tapioca ingredient. Is it possible to make pearls without using tapioca entirely? Well, yes it is possible! There is still a way to make pearls without tapioca starch or flour. You can read more about it in my recipe – How To Make Boba Without Tapioca Flour Or Starch.
- You will eventually form a dough when you mix tapioca starch with the boiled brown sugar water mixture. If the dough is too dry, it means you need to add more water. Make sure to gradually add the water until you get the right consistency. On the other hand, if the dough is too soft, then you need to add more tapioca starch. The consistency you want should be similar to clay or play-dough.
- The size of the pearls you make will also change the cooking time. The larger the size, the longer it needs to cook. I recommend making equal sizes to ensure they are cooked consistently. If you plan to make small and big pearls, you can cook small pearls separately from the big pearls. If you combine both sizes in one pot, some pearls might not cook properly and result in different consistencies.
- Using a dough knife will make it easier for you to cut the dough. You can use a stainless steel dough cutter or a simple plastic dough scraper. Alternatively, an ordinary knife can cut it as well as long as it is sharp and not sticky. You want to be able to make perfect even sizes, and a dough that sticks to the knife will make that harder to achieve.
Items You Need To Make Homemade Tapioca Pearls
Now that you know more about tapioca pearls and cooking recommendations, let’s start making them! The items you need are basic kitchen equipment and common grocery ingredients.
Kitchen Items
- Cooking pot for boiling
- Dough knife
- Bowl
Ingredients
Making Dry Tapioca Pearls
- 20g brown sugar
- 50g water
- 100g tapioca starch
Cooking Dry Tapioca Pearls
- 500ml water
- 10g brown sugar
Steps To Make Homemade Tapioca Pearls
The recipe has two main steps: Making Dry Tapioca Pearls and Cooking Dry Tapioca Pearls. After making dry tapioca pearls, you can decide to store them or cook them for later.
However, I do recommend cooking it within the day and consume right away to experience the best chewy consistency., Here’s a step-by-step guide to making dry tapioca pearls and how to cook them.
Making Dry Tapioca Pearls
In a cooking pot, cook on low heat the 20g brown sugar and 50g water and bring to a boil.
Once it boils, turn off the heat and add the 100g tapioca starch.
Mix the tapioca starch well and keep stirring while the mixture is hot.
When the tapioca starch mixture becomes a dough, knead and pull it by hand. It should eventually become smooth and elastic without clumps after 5 minutes.
Then, cut the dough into long strips. Next, cut the strips into small cubes, about 1.5cm by 1.5cm.
Roll the cubes in your hand to make small balls.
Place the balls in a bowl or container.
Afterward, dust the balls with tapioca starch to prevent them from sticking together. You can shake the bowl or container to mix the tapioca starch evenly into the balls.
From this point, you can store it in the freezer or fridge or proceed to cook the pearls.
Cooking Dry Tapioca Pearls
To cook the pearls, bring 500ml water to a boil in a cooking pot.
Once it boils, put the dry tapioca pearls into the pot and cook on high heat for 5 minutes or until they float to the surface.
Take your soft and chewy pearls and put them in a container.
Add 10g brown sugar to the pearls and stir well.
Enjoy these moist and soft tapioca pearls in a milk tea drink or mango pudding!
Homemade Tapioca Pearls With 3 Ingredients
Equipment
- Cooking pot for boiling
- Dough knife
- Bowl
Ingredients
Making Dry Tapioca Pearls
- 20 g brown sugar
- 50 g water
- 100 g tapioca starch
Cooking Dry Tapioca Pearls
- 500 ml water
- 10 g brown sugar
Instructions
Making Dry Tapioca Pearls
- In a cooking pot, cook on low heat the 20g brown sugar and 50g water and bring to a boil.
- Once it boils, turn off the heat and add the 100g tapioca starch.
- Mix the tapioca starch well and keep stirring while the mixture is hot.
- When the tapioca starch mixture becomes a dough, knead and pull it by hand. It should eventually become smooth and elastic without clumps after 5 minutes.
- Then, cut the dough into long strips.
- Next, cut the strips into small cubes, about 1.5cm by 1.5cm.
- Roll the cubes in your hand to make small balls.
- Place the balls in a bowl or container.
- Afterward, dust the balls with tapioca starch to prevent them from sticking together. You can shake the bowl or container to mix the tapioca starch evenly into the balls.
- From this point, you can store it in the freezer or fridge or proceed to cook the pearls.
Cooking Dry Tapioca Pearls
- To cook the pearls, bring 500ml water to a boil in a cooking pot.
- Once it boils, put the dry tapioca pearls into the pot and cook on high heat for 5 minutes or until they float to the surface.
- Take your soft and chewy pearls and put them in a container.
- Add 10g brown sugar to the pearls and stir well.
- Enjoy these moist and soft tapioca pearls in a milk tea drink or mango pudding!
