Boba pearls (also known as bubble pearls, or tapioca balls ) are those super lovely chewy black balls of tapioca that you see in boba milk tea. Making boba pearls is easier than it looks – all you need are tapioca flour, water, and a few other simple ingredients. Follow this step-by-step guide to make your own boba pearls!
Caution firstly, this is a time-consuming recipe due to the long time rounding process. Make this in your leisure time for example during watching TV. To make these chewy small balls, we only need three ingredients, brown sugar or dark brown sugar, tapioca starch, and water. Sound quite easy and healthy. We are making brown sugar boba this time, once tried, you can use other color ingredients like fruit juice or mocha powder to make the boba balls colorful and appealing. But among all of the newly popular types, this one with brown sugar syrup is the most common and popular one.
How to Make Tapioca Pearls (Boba) | Bubble Tea
Learn how to make tapioca pearls (boba) at home for bubble tea with this easy 3 ingredient recipe. The best part about making tapioca pearls from scratch is that you get to customise the size, texture, flavour and colouring. For our boba pearl recipe, no food colouring is used. Therefore the pearls will come out white. Let’s get boba making! Serves 2 people.
Total: 30min
Serving Size: 1 serving
Nutrition Facts: calories 262 kcal, Carbohydrate 68 g, Sodium 9 mg, Sugar 24 g, servingSize 1 serving
Ingredients:
- 100 g tapioca starch
- 50 g brown sugar
- 80 ml water
Instruction:
- Roll these in your hand into small ball shapes. Cover in some dry tapioca starch to avoid the balls from sticking to each other.
- Put the tapioca pearls into the prepared brown sugar syrup on low heat. Allow this to steep for at least 6-8 minutes or until the syrup thickens to a desired consistency. Stir occasionally. This can be immediately added to hot drinks. For cold drinks, allow the mixture to rest for 10-15 minutes before assembling.
How to Make Boba Pearls at Home
Homemade boba pearls
Prep: 1480min
Total: 70min
Serving Size: 1 serving
Nutrition Facts: calories 393 kcal, Carbohydrate 75 g, Protein 8 g, Fat 8 g, Saturated Fat 5 g, Cholesterol 24 mg, Sodium 120 mg, Sugar 58 g, servingSize 1 serving
Ingredients:
- 1 cup around 135g tapioca starch (, + 2 tbsp. more for adjusting and coating)
- 6 tbsp. water (90ml )
- 60 g brown sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 brown sugar slab (, around 70g (can be replaced by brown sugar too))
- 100 ml water (1/3 cup + 1.5 tbsp. )
Instruction:
- In a large plate, spread some flour and coat each ball with enough flour to avoid sticking to each other. After finish all of the pearls, shift the extra flour off. You can now package in air-tight bags and freeze for later use.
- In a small pot, melt 2 slices of brown sugar slab and 1cup brown sugar with 100ml water in a small pot. Heat until there are large bubbles. Or you can simply use brown sugar syrup.
- Now, make your creations and make lovely boba drinks!
Homemade Brown Sugar Boba
If you love the boba tea shops popping up and want to try making them at home, these tapioca bubbles will taste better that anything you can buy. They’re a labor of love, so when it comes time to roll the little boba, hop on a stool or grab a friend to help you out. You’ll have enough to make 8 glasses of your very own homemade bubble tea.
Total: 0 1h25min0
Yield: 8 servings (about 4 cups)
Serving Size: 1 of 8 servings
Nutrition Facts: servingSize 1 of 8 servings, calories 237, Fat 0g, Saturated Fat 0g, Carbohydrate 61g, Fiber 0g, Sugar 27g, Protein 0g, Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 8mg
Ingredients:
- 2 cups tapioca starch, plus about 3/4 cup more for dusting (see Cook’s Note)
- 1 cup lightly packed dark brown sugar
Instruction:
- Whisk 1/3 cup water with 1 cup of the tapioca starch in a small bowl. The slurry may look separated but will come together in the next step.
- Add the brown sugar and 2/3 cup water to a small saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce the heat to medium high and whisk in the tapioca slurry until the mixture begins to just tighten and the water fully incorporates, about 30 seconds.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining 1 cup tapioca starch using a heatproof spatula until it forms a ball of shaggy dough, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Dust a work surface with tapioca flour. Gather the dough together from the saucepan, transfer it to the surface and let cool, 3 to 4 minutes. Knead the dough until it is smooth, springy to the touch and no longer sticky, adding tapioca starch as needed, about 7 minutes. If the dough feels too dry, wet your hands and knead in water from your hands.
- Divide the dough into 6 pieces and cover with a damp kitchen towel. Roll out 1 piece of dough to a thickness of about 1/4 inch with a rolling pin. Use a 1/2-inch-wide bubble tea straw with the tip dusted in tapioca starch to cut pieces from the dough, making sure to dust the straw occasionally to prevent sticking. Gather the dough scraps into a ball and repeat the process. Discard any leftover dough after this step as it will be too dry to use again. Repeat with the remaining 5 pieces of dough.
- Lightly dust a baking sheet with tapioca starch. Roll the boba pieces into pea-sized balls and place on the prepared baking sheet. If the dough feels too dry or is cracking, dampen your fingers with a little water and knead it. Use immediately or freeze the boba in a single layer until hard, about 2 hours. Transfer to a resealable freezer bag and freeze until ready to use.
Perfect Boba Tea Completely from Scratch (2 Ways)
FAQ
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