Did you know it's actually easy to make your own boba at home with only 3 ingredients and a few simple steps? Follow the this recipe and you can make your own bubble tea any time you want!
Boba tea (or bubble tea) is probably the most well known and popular item that has come out of Taiwan's food culture, along with other items like beef noodle soup and gua bao. I remember it started to get popular when I was about 10 years old. When the first boba place opened around my elementary school, the entire school was talking about it.
I know I can buy dry black tapioca pearls in many Chinese grocery stores, but there were concerning reports about toxic ingredients being used in certain tapioca pearls (including some used in boba shops).
Because of this, I much prefer making my own boba, especially if it's for my family. It's actually very simple to do this, and the flavor is better than the store bought ones, as I use real Taiwanese brown sugar instead of using cheaper sugar and relying on food coloring.
Why You Should Try This Recipe
- You'd be learning from someone who grew up in the very birthplace of boba -Taiwan!
- You can enjoy your homemade boba without worrying about any toxic additives.
- It's easy to make, and can be a fun activity with friends and family.
- Homemade boba cooks faster than store bought ones.
Ingredients You'll Need
Apart from water, you only need two other ingredients - Taiwanese brown sugar and tapioca flour.
note
- Taiwanese brown sugar - It's important to use Taiwanese brown sugar (黑糖) as it provides the color and aroma. Taiwanese brown sugar is not as sweet as regular brown sugar, so the boba pearl will be too sweet if you replace it with regular dark brown sugar. The best alternative is probably coconut sugar. Dark muscovado sugar may also work well.
- Tapioca flour - Also called tapioca starch. Make sure you use pure tapioca flour/starch. You can't substitute this with corn starch or potato starch as the texture won't be the same.
Step by Step Instruction
Step 1 - Combine water and Taiwanese brown sugar in a small sauce pan and bring it to a boil over medium heat.
Step 2 - While the liquid is boiling, add about ⅓ to half of the tapioca flour in, cook and stir constantly until it forms a very sticky dough/paste.
Step 3 - Remove the pan from the heat and add the rest of the tapioca flour, stir until all the dough comes off of the bottom of the pan (about 10 times), and pour the mixture onto a working surface.
Step 4 - Knead the dough until smooth. Add some cold water if the dough is too dry.
Step 5 - Take a portion of dough and roll it into a thin (roughly ⅓ inch thick) and uniform log before cutting it into small pieces (slightly smaller than the size of the boba you're aiming for) and then roll into balls. Repeat this step for the rest of the dough.
While doing this step, wrap the rest of the dough with plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out.
Toss your tapioca balls with a bit of tapioca flour to prevent the boba pearls from sticking together.
Step 6 - Bring 6 cups of water to a rapid boil over medium heat. Add boba pearl and cook for 15-20 minutes while stirring occasionally. Turn off the heat, cover with a lid, and let it sit for another 15 minutes.
Step 7 - Drain the boba and give them a quick rinse with cold water. Place them in a bowl and mix in 2 tablespoon of Taiwanese brown sugar.
Now it's ready to use! Check out my milk tea recipe for the best tasting milk tea to go with boba. You can also just serve it with brown sugar milk or any of your favorite drinks.
Tips and Tricks
- When boiling the water with sugar, it's best to use a small sauce pan with a lid in order to minimize evaporation, which will affect the texture of the dough.
- It's important that you bring the water to a boil and add in the first ⅓ of the flour/starch while the sauce pan remains on the heat, otherwise the mixture will become a thick liquid instead of a sticky dough/paste.
- When shaping the boba, you can also just cut them into small squares instead of rolling into balls to make the shaping process faster. Try to make them no bigger than half an inch in diameter or it will be hard to cook through.
- It's very important to cook the boba in enough water (at least 6 cups for this recipe) and bring it to a rapid boil before adding boba, otherwise they will dissolve in the water.
- The boba will get chewier after they cool down.
No, tapioca flour/starch is the key ingredient for making this recipe.
It should be a bit moist but not sticking on your hand, kind of like playdough. Adjust your dough to the right texture by adding tapioca flour/starch or cold water.
The boba dough dries easily, so make sure you wrap, with plastic wrap, the dough that you're not working on at the moment. If your dough becomes too dry and hard to work with, wet your hands with some water before you work with the boba dough.
This helps infuse the brown sugar taste and aroma into the boba pearls as the store bought ones are usually made with artificial coloring and aren't sweet. Since we made ours with real Taiwanese brown sugar, we don't need this extra step. Simply mix some more brown sugar with drained and rinsed boba pearls to prevent sticking and you're good to go!
Yes, but only the uncooked boba pearls. You can store them in a Ziploc bag in the freezer for two months.
Yes, you will need to cook frozen boba dough balls 5 minutes longer.
I hope you all have fun making boba at home! Feel free to leave a comment or send me a message if you have any questions.
Enjoy!!
Other Taiwanese Recipes
I would like to hear from you! If you make this recipe, please consider leaving a star rating and comment in the section further down the page. Stay in touch by following my Instagram and Pinterest!
3 Ingredient Easy Homemade Boba Pearl
Ingredients
Boba Dough
- 60 g water, ¼ cup (make sure you use a full ¼ cup)
- 45 g Taiwanese style brown sugar , about 5 tablespoon loosely measured
- 120 g tapioca Flour, about ¾ cup, plus more for dusting
To serve
- 15 g Taiwanese style brown sugar, 2 tbsp
- brown sugar milk, milk tea or other boba-compatible drinks of your choice
Instructions
Making the dough
- Combine water and Taiwanese brown sugar in a sauce pan, cover and bring it to a boil (not just a simmer) over medium heat.
- Keep the sauce pan on the heat while adding about ⅓ to half of the tapioca flour in. Cook and stir constantly until it forms a very sticky dough/paste (don't worry if it's a bit lumpy).
- Remove the pan from the heat and quickly add in the rest of the tapioca flour, stirring until all the dough comes off of the bottom of the pan (about 10 times). Pour the mixture onto a working surface.
- Let the mixture cool a little so that it won't burn your hand, but don't let it sit out for too long (work with the dough while it's still warm).
- Knead the dough until all the flour is incorporated and form it into a ball. If it's too dry (hard to knead), add a little bit of cold water. If it's too wet, add a little more tapioca flour.
Shaping
- Take a portion of dough and wrap the rest with plastic wrap to prevent it from drying.
- Roll the portion of dough it into a thin log (about ⅓ inch thick) before cutting into small pieces. Roll each piece into a ball that's about ⅓ inch in diameter. Repeat this step for the rest of the dough. If it's too dry and difficult to form into a ball, wet your hands a bit before trying again. After the balls are formed, coat them with a thin layer of tapioca flour to prevent them from sticking together.
- If you choose to cut them into cubes, flatten the dough out to about ⅓ inch thick, dust the dough with tapioca flour and then cut it into ⅓ inch strips. Make sure the cut sides are coated with tapioca flour before cutting it into cubes. After cutting the boba into little cubes, toss them with tapioca flour to coat each cube with a thin layer of tapioca flour.
Cooking
- Boil a big pot of water (at least 6 cups). When the water is boiling rapidly, put the uncooked boba in a sift to shake off excess tapioca flour before putting them into the boiling water. Stir to prevent sticking.
- Turn the heat down to medium low and maintain a gentle boil, cooking for 15-20 minutes until it's 90% cooked through. Turn off the heat, cover with a lid, and let it sit for another 15 minutes.
- Drain the boba and give it a quick rinse with cold water. Place them in a bowl, mix in 2 tablespoon of Taiwanese brown sugar and let them cool down to room temperature before serving. It will be chewier once it cools down.
Serving
- Add boba pearls into the drink of your choice and enjoy!
Storing
- Freeze any uncooked boba that you didn't cook. When you are ready to cook your boba, just follow the same instructions as before (no need to thaw beforehand) except that you'd need to cook your boba for 5 minutes longer.
Video
Notes
- Taiwanese brown sugar is not as sweet as regular brown sugar, so the boba pearl will be too sweet if you replace it with regular dark brown sugar. The best alternative is probably coconut sugar. Dark muscovado sugar may also work well.
- When boiling the water with sugar, it's best to use a small sauce pan with a lid in order to minimize evaporation, which will affect the texture of the dough.
- It's important that you bring the water to a boil and add in the first ⅓ of the flour/starch while the sauce pan remains on the heat, otherwise the mixture will become a thick liquid instead of a sticky dough/paste.
- When shaping the boba, you can also just cut them into small squares instead of rolling into balls to make the shaping process faster. Try to make them no bigger than half an inch in diameter or it will be hard to cook through.
- The boba pearls will become about 1.5 times bigger after cooking, if you plan to enjoy it with straw, make sure you make it small enough.
- It's very important to cook the boba in enough water (at least 6 cups for this recipe) and bring it to a rapid boil before adding boba, otherwise they will dissolve in the water.
- The boba will get chewier after they cool down.
- If you want to make authentic bubble tea at home , make sure you make the milk tea according to my instruction of How to Make Taiwanese Style Milk Tea (For Boba, Bubble Tea)
What can I substitute the tapioca flour with? Exact measurements would be awesome 👍
Hi Noora, tapioca flour(starch) works the best for making boba pearl, if you use other kinds of starch like corn starch, the boba pearl will be softer and less chewy. You can easily find tapioca flour at grocery store's health food section or online. I personally like the one from "Bob's Red Mill", but any other brand will work. Hope this answer your question 🙂
I don't understand step 10, if you drain the boba what are you adding the extra sugar to? Just the drained boba? Or are you soaking in sugar water to cool? Thanks!
Hi Mandie,
Yes, just add to the drained boba to prevent sticking.
Hello! Does tapioca flour have to be used or can you use tapioca starch? Thanks!
Hi Candice, actually those two are the same thing so yes! 🙂
Hi, on step 2 when i add half of the tapioca starch, my mixture just stays liquid and doesn’t thicken, do you have any tips?
Hi R, thank you so much for trying the recipe! That usually happens when your water is not hot enough or you didn't add in the starch fast enough. I just edited the recipe to clarify this, so hopefully you'll be able to get it on the next try. Please let me know if that work or not:)
what i did was added a little bit til it became a dough
It didn’t work out at all. The mixture wouldn’t turn into a dough.
Hi Blair, sorry to hear that, this usually happens when the liquid is not hot enough. Did you bring the water into a boil (not just simmering) before adding in the tapioca flour/starch? Also, make sure that you don't remove the mixture from the heat when you incorporate the first part of the tapioca flour/starch. If you get a chance to try it again, please let me know if that fixes it for you 🙂
The boba flatten out like little pancakes when boiled... why??? 😕
Hi Carina,
Hi ling, after you add the first half portion of the flour/starch, did you get a very sticky dough/paste before adding the second half? Or did you have to keep cooking for a while until it’s thickened? Also, it’s very important to cook it with 10 times the amount of the water and bring it to a boil before you add the boba. If you did all these and still fail, it might be a problem with the starch.
Hi there! I LOVE boba but can not currently eat sugar for health reasons. Is there anyway to make it without boiling in Taiwanese brown sugar?
Thanks so much!
Hi Athena,
Yes, you can simply make it without sugar. Just pour the boiling water into the tapioca flour directly, stir and form a dough ball. Add more tapioca flour if needed.
Adding 60 g of boiling water to 120 g tapioca flour produced a dough that would not come together. I slowly added more water until I got something somewhat workable. It cooked up nice and chewy at the end, but I'm looking for different techniques.
Mine came out good just a little lumpy any thing I can do
You meant the dough was lumpy? There are two things you can try: 1) stir faster when incorporating the first 1/3 part of starch, 2) Knead a bit longer and add some cold water if the dough is too dry.
I'm surprised at how easy it was to make these! It'd be quick too, but I'm kind of slow with forming the balls...
Hi Cyrus, yeah, it does take a while to form the balls, but it actually cooks faster than the dried ones from store, and it taste better, too!
Hi Edwina, I made tried this recipe and the texture of the boba was delicious. However, I was able to roll out the first half of the dough and cut them into cubes just fine (and as quickly as I could), but once I got to the second half, it became really hard to roll out and instead started to break apart. I did wrap the second half in saran wrap as I was working with the first. Is there a tip to this?
I tried adding water to my hands but that just turned into a gooey mess and didnt seem to incorporate into the dough itself...
I love the tip for freezing the pre-formed balls. Now I am able to just boil a single-serving whenever I want.
Thanks!
Hi Mandy, thank you so much for trying this recipe and I'm glad you succeeded! For the problem with cracked dough, you can try to wet the dough a little bit (maybe spray a little bit of water), wrap it with plastic wrap, wait for few minutes and allow the dough to absorb the water. When you wet your hand before rolling, just use very little water to moisten your hand. I usually put a plate of water nearby, as I will need to wet my hand constantly. Another way is to add a bit more cold water when you form the dough and wrap the second part with 2 layers of plastic wrap. Hope that helps 🙂
I used light brown sugar and I am sure this makes a difference in the consistency because the balls did not stay round and flattened out when I dropped them into the boiling water. Any tips on how to keep the round ball shape?
Hi Jen, thank you for trying the recipe! Actually using different kind of sugar shouldn't affect the consistency (but I will try it when i get chance). Were you able to form a ball or the dough is always hard to shape? Did you get a very sticky paste/dough at step two? Let me know and we can figure it out from there 🙂
I tried the recipe and the dough seemed fine and making the balls was easy but when I boiled them they didn't hold their shape and they started to look like raisins. After boiling they were also not chewy at all.
Hi ling, after you add the first half portion of the flour/starch, did you get a very sticky dough/paste before adding the second half? Or did you have to keep cooking for a while until it's thickened? Also, it's very important to cook it with 10 times the amount of the water and bring it to a boil before you add the boba. If you did all these and still fail, it might be a problem with the starch.
Hi Edwina,
Thank you for the reply!
I added the first half portion and I had to cook for a little until it turned into a sticky dough/paste. Then I added the second half and started kneading.
The first time I tried I used Okinawa brown sugar but the dough was super dry so the second batch was with regular brown sugar and that dough turned into raisins.
Hi Ling, I think I know what's causing your issues now. It sounds like your water is not at a rolling boil before you added the first portion, so it's not hot enough to make it into a sticky paste/dough right away. Did your Okinawa brown sugar come in solid chunks? If so, you may want to pulverize it into something resembling a powder before using it for this recipe. I suggest this because if you try to cook down larger chunks of sugar, it may take so long that some of the water is evaporating off and affecting the ratio of the ingredients.
Hi Edwina,
Thank you! Your advice worked well and the pearls were tasty.
I have one more question on the cooking, when do you know if they are fully cooked or overcooked?
My pearls were chewy but not as much as tapioca pearls usually are and they felt like they break apart fast when chewing. I don't know if that is because I undercooked them or overcooked them .. or maybe it is an issue with the amount of water in the dough?
Thank you for your replies!
No problem! If it's an issue with cook time, I'd suggest sampling a boba without cooking it as much as you did this last time and seeing if the chewiness is right. Otherwise, you could try cooking it in more water. I don't think it's an issue with the amount of water in the dough, though.
My dough seems a little lumpy with pockets of flour. Does it make a difference or is that okay?
It's ok for your dough to be a little lumpy, but if there's pockets of flour you can try to knead a bit more or add a bit of cold water. If it's just a little bit of lumpiness then that shouldn't be a problem. Please let me know how it turns out!
We finished the batch that was lumpy and it turned out pretty good! Some of them have a little bit of flour taste but not too bad. We tried again and this time the dough didn’t have any lumps! 🙂
That's awesome!! My first time trying to make these was iffy as well, but after you get the hang of it, it's really pretty easy. I'm glad to hear this recipe worked out for you!
Hi! I guess we can use sweet potato flour too? I and this at home and think of trying it out.
Honestly, I've never tried it before. It might work, but I'm not sure if the texture will be the same.
This is a lifesaver, I am stuck at home for who knows how long and there are no boba places in town. Thank you! I prefer to make my boba milk with a kind of brown sugar syrup but your boba pearl recipe is amazing.
You're so welcome, I'm glad you find this recipe helpful! Just practice a few more times and you could open up the only boba place in your town!
Hi Edwina,
Thank you for your great instructions!
I made this following your exact recipe. Used Bob's Redmill tapioca flour and C&H Dark brown sugar. The dough turned out great. I boiled the little balls for 15 minutes, let them sit for 10 minutes as directed. My daughter says they are chewy and taste just right!
So thank you so much! This is really great! I will definitely make again - Actually, my daughter will make them, now that we know they work. 🙂
I am curious though. They turned out lighter than the ones that I've seen from boba places, and even the ones in your photo at the top. Are yours so dark because of the sugar you used? Also mine aren't very transparent looking. Does this mean I need to cook them longer?
Thanks again
Hi Sheila, I'm so happy to hear that! My daughter also enjoys making boba, we've done it several times during the quarantine, Lol. The store bought boba pearls typically use food coloring to get that dark color. I don't like using food coloring, so I use Taiwanese style brown sugar (which they call black sugar) to help achieve that color (this is what higher end boba places in Taiwan use). This kind of sugar is darker than the brown sugar used in the states, and that's why mine look darker. You can usually find this kind of sugar from Chinese grocery stores if you want to try to do what I did. Alternatively, you can use Muscovado sugar, which will result in something similar to my pictures. In terms of the translucency, I think if it's chewy and not hard in the middle then it's fine, but you can always try cooking a bit longer see how it turns out 🙂
I used 1/4 cup water, 5 tbsp brown sugar and 3/4 cup tapioca flour and mine turned out soupy. Help!
Hi LB,
Did you bring the water into a boil (not just simmering) before adding in the tapioca flour/starch? Also, make sure that you don’t remove the mixture from the heat when you incorporate the first part of the tapioca flour/starch.
Thank you. Def leaving it on the stove longer helped. Thank you so much. We def didn’t have the darker brown sugar and made do with the ingredients available to us. Still turned out really yummy. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
That's great!! I'm so glad to hear that 🙂
I've tried about 4 other tapioca pearl recipes before this one and they all ended up weird and tasteless, but these are great and I'm really enjoying the batch I just made. It's my little cousin's birthday today and I think I'm going to bring her some 'fancy tea' (she's turned 6 and LOVES tea!). Thank so much for your recipe! Definitely going to use again!
That's awesome! I hope your little cousin enjoyed it. My daughter is 3 and a half years old and also loves to drink tea and play tea party 😀
Wasted my time with this recipe. The dough didn’t hold the shape and somehow kept melting. Then when i shaped the balls then dropped them in boiling water, it turned flat. I don’t recommend this recipe at all.
Hi Trina,I'm sorry to hear that but I believe I know what caused the problem. Make sure you bring the water into a boil (not just simmering) before adding in the tapioca flour/starch, and the key is to cook the first batch of Tapioca flour/starch into a very sticky paste/dough before removing from the heat and incorporate the second part of the tapioca flour/starch. If you try it again following the instruction, I'm sure it will turn out great 🙂
I'm not sure where I went wrong, but the tapioca flour/water mixture turned into a weird non-Newtonian fluid instead of a dough...meaning it was liquidy if I stir it but if I stop stirring it hardens like plastic. A droplet hit the floor and spread out like water but then 3 seconds later I could pick up the flattened droplet like it was a piece plastic. So strange! I did add half the flour when the water was boiling like you said so not sure if too much water evaporated or what....
Still edible though really time consuming and strange fluid to work with. Any advice on where I went wrong?
Hi Ivy, I think I know your problem. Did you continue to stir and cook after you added in the first half of the flour/starch and get a very sticky paste/dough? Make sure you reach that stage before adding the rest of the flour/starch. Also, maybe try cover your sauce pan with a lid when you boil the water and don't boil for too long.
Hi Edwina,
The tapioca turned out hard on the inside, kept its shape, but I'm wondering if I just made the pearls too big? or if it could have something to do with the sugar. I used raw cane sugar, but not fine, they are crystalized. Could that be the reason too?
Thank you!
Hi Vanessa,
Yeah, maybe try making it smaller so it will be easier to cook through (I know that's more work...). You can also try cooking it for 2~3 minutes longer and let it sit in the pan for 5 minutes longer to see if that will help. If the sugar melts in the water then that shouldn't be a problem 🙂
Hi! Thank you so much for sharing! Quick couple of questions, after you cook the boba, rinse and drain, then sprinkle brown sugar and stir and let cool, how long can you store it at that stage?
Lots of boba shops have a bucket of boba ready to scoop, what kind of liquid are the pearls sitting in?
After it’s cooked and rinsed, can you sprinkle honey instead of brown sugar?
Hi Kyle,
You can store that in the room temperature for about 4 hours, and yeah, you can add honey or any other kind of sweetener instead of brown sugar. The boba shop usually just store their boba in the syrup made with regular sugar and water 🙂
Hi. These actually taste great! And chewy too. But they look kind of weird - half translucent with a more solid center (we used light brown sugar so the boba were really light colored). Is that what yours look like when they are done? Thnks!
Hi Lulu,
Yeah, mine also look like that, but I found that your results may differ depending on the brand of tapioca flour you use. I would say that if it's chewy after it's cool then it's fine. Sometimes the center became hard after it cools down. In that case, you'll need to cook it for few more minutes.
my dough turned into a play do constancy juts wondering if that's right ????
Hi Alicia,
That sounds about right, but the only way to be sure is to cook a few to test out before making the rest.
Thank you so much for the detailed directions and the troubleshooting tips! On another website, people said Bob's Red Mill tapioca flour doesn't work for boba tapioca pearls, but I'm glad to know it does, since that's the most widely available brand. It's important to cook the mixture in the pan like you say, instead of just adding boiling water to a mixing bowl like some other recipes.
Exactly. That's funny though that others have said Bob's Red Mill's doesn't work -- I found that it worked the best out of three different types of Tapioca flours I've tried. All the flours that we tested did work out, though.
This was super easy and excellent. I looked at a lot of boba recipes before picking this one, and it turned out perfect!
Word to the wise, prep everything and measure out before hand. You have to move so fast once the water starts to boil! I ended up with a tiny bit of sugar crystallization because I didn't have my tapioca flour ready. Boba was still delicious, but we learned for next time. Trust me, there WILL be a next time.
Thanks for the great recipe!
Thank you so much J.E. Bennett for trying the recipe! Very soon you will become an expert of making boba 😀
I tried this and the balls fell apart as soon as they hit the water 😂😂😂 maybe I’ll try again tomorrow
Hi Shannon,
I would suggest checking other comments for trouble shooting 🙂
Just did these with my 25 years old daughter. Turned out perfect! We used 1/2 brown sugar and 1/2 coconut sugar. It gave a bit of a darker brown color. We had fun rolling the dough like kindergarten kids making snakes and cutting into small pieces. We did find that, at that stage, they were harder to turn into little balls. They were wanting to keep their shape. In the end, I think we made them a bit bigger then we’d like. We didn’t know if they would get bigger in the cooking stage.
We made a double batch and froze what we didn’t use today.
Thank you for this fun recipe!!
Cheers from Ottawa, Canada
Hi Dominique, I love the idea of using coconut sugar! I am going to try that next time. And yup, I agree it's not easy to roll each of them to perfect little balls, fortunately they will still taste good no matter what shapes they are 😀
Hi! It's possible that I'm completely missing something in the recipe, but do these need to be left to dry for some period of time before I cook them after they're formed? Or can they be cooked right after being made?
Hi CK, you can cook it right after it's formed. Make sure you bring the water to boil (not just simmer) before cooking.
Help please! I'm sure I followed the same measurements and directions, but it didn't turn out right. My previous steps were going good, but at step 3 for the dough, it ended up being like penny-sized, dusted clumps...
Hi Jackie, actually that sounds right, just add some cold water and knead until it forms a ball, it will take few minutes. Let me know if it still didn't work.
I did as you said and it mixed well, but it ended up really sticky. I just used a bunch of flour to keep my hands from sticking to the dough and they turned out not too bad, probably will try again later. I also realized that my dough/boba are a light brownish color and not the regular black/brown tone..
The dough won't be as dark as the store bought ones since they use food coloring. If you are aiming for a better color, I'd suggest using Taiwanese brown sugar or coconut sugar, perhaps adding even more than what the recipe called for. I have also heard of people adding a bit of cocoa powder for the color, too.
Hi Edwina,
The recipe was really easy to follow and your notes/comments really helped out a lot! I used demerara sugar and the pearls turned out really well (more of a light brown colour, but still really delicious)! I've tried cooking store-bought pearls in the past but was never happy with how they turned out. I will definitely be making this again in the future!
Thanks again for the recipe!
Vic
Hi Vic,
I'm so happy to hear that! Thank you so much 🙂
Hi Edwina! So glad that I found your blog. I read the comments, and while many of them cited a problem with the dough being too liquidy, I had the opposite problem. It seems like 1/4 cup water is not enough for 3/4 cup tapioca flour? When I add half of the flour after the water/sugar has turned into a nice, goopy paste, even half the flour turns into a VERY sticky dough. I use a tapioca flour from Thailand. After adding in the rest of the dough, I then have to compensate by adding maybe another 1/4 cup water. Also, how long do I knead? Until dough is smooth? Thank you!
Hi Jolie! I'm glad you found my blog as well! Regarding your issue with the dough being too dry, I've found that the brand of tapioca flour that's used could very well affect the amount of water that's needed. It sounds like you're doing exactly the right thing -- I'd adjust and add more water if it gets too dry. Another possibility is that if too much water is evaporating off in the process, you might need to keep an eye on that and compensate with a bit more water. Regarding kneading the dough, I'd typically knead until smooth, which takes me roughly 2-3 minutes. Hope that helps!
I don’t leave reviews on recipes, but this was so good I had to review— I love it!!! In quarantine and don’t wanna go out (and delivery is soooo expensive for just one cup of boba), and this recipe is a lifesaver! Made my own oolong milk tea (pairs soooo well) AND just ordered reusable metal straws.
Reason I had to review is cuz I think this’ll continue after quarantine— it’s so much more cost effective (and environmentally friendly) than going out and getting cups on cups of boba.
Hi Christina, thank you so much for trying the recipe! And I LOVE oolong milk tea, that's what I usually ordered when I was back in Taiwan. But now I just make my own because, like what you said, it is so much cheaper and environmental friendly! (I studied environmental policy so I love how you brought up this point :D)
Trust the recipe and follow the given instructions! Just made this today and what a great payoff.
If possible, the following would help the recipe:
- provide weight measurements for the sugar and the tapioca flour
- provide picture of what "90%" and "100%" looks like
Thank you for the great suggestions! I will update it when I get a chance. The reason I didn't put the weight measurement is because it doesn't require very accurate measurements, but I understand some people may not have measuring cup or prefer to weigh ingredients with a scale. Regarding the picture of 90% vs 100% it's hard to see the difference from pictures, but if you want, you can see it in the video 🙂
can you point me to the video? I've re-read this post a few times and don't see a link to a video.
Of course! It's located before the paragraph of "use Taiwanese brown sugar". It will first play the ad before the video starts.
I don't see any video and my boba isn't turning out right. Please help!
Hi Avery, sorry to hear that, could you tell me which part went wrong? Also, I removed the video because it was causing some problem of the page, but you can see it here https://www.jumprope.com/g/ingredient-easy-homemade-boba-tapioca-pearl/WyySmlhf
Hi,
The first time I tried this recipe it turned out great! However the next 3 times I ran into the same problem over and over. The tapioca starch would not dissolve into the sugar water. A little would dissolve but mostly I got a bunch of powerdry lumps in sugar water. So the sugar ended up cooking into a sort of jelly. I still managed to make some pearls by adding more and more starch but then when I cooked them they all dissolved.
Any idea what might be wrong? It went so well the first time that I'm kind of mystified. I tried adding a bit more water in case too much was boiling off when dissolving the sugar. I also tried adding in the tapioca faster one time (nope!), then really slowly the second time to see if I could get it to dissolve (also nope!).
The tapioca flour looks fine, nice and dry and powdery. So I don't think it's gone bad but it certainly won't dissolve and thus I'm getting lumpy jelly instead of dough. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!
Hi TM,just to clarify, do you mean that the first batch of tapioca starch you added in won't dissolve? Or are you having problems with incorporating the second batch? How much did you add in the first batch? I'd recommend adding only 1/3 of the total tapioca flour in the first batch. Perhaps try stirring with a whisk? After adding the first batch, you don't have to stir out all the lumps, since the subsequent steps will allow the flour to fully incorporate. Let me know if this help.
I’m sure I followed the same measurements and directions, but it didn’t turn out right. My previous steps were going good, but at step 3 for the dough, it ended up being like penny-sized, dusted clumps…
Hi Margie, that's normal, all you need to do is knead the mixture for few minutes until the dough is formed. If it's too dry, add a bit of cold water; if it's too wet, then add more tapioca starch.
I made this recipe last week! It is delicious and chewy! Thank you for this recipe!
Awesome!
Great video and directions. I could make it look smooth like yours in the first time! Thank you much. Keep sharing!
I find your recipe so far is my most successful one I have made. My family really like the pearl.
Hi Beryl, that's awesome! I so happy to hear that your family enjoy it 🙂
My husband and I were supposed to go to Taiwan in a few weeks and had to cancel because of Covid. This recipe is great! A little taste of Taiwan right in my own kitchen and a fun activity too. Looking forward to trying more of your Taiwanese recipes!
Thank you Kim! I'm so happy to hear that you enjoy making the boba! Taiwan is such a fun place to visit, can't wait for the time that we can travel again! 🙂
I absolutely love boba tea! I like getting it in a smoothie so the pearls freeze up a little bit when you drink them. My favourite flavours are mango, strawberry-banana, and taro.
Hi, just tried this out- ended up delicious! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Awesome! Thanks for trying 🙂
Just tried it last weekend with my friend! Great milktea with our first tried boba!
Awesome!
Hi! Do you need to use Taiwanese brown sugar or can you just use regular? Thanks!
Taiwanese brown sugar or coconut sugar works the best, but regular brown sugar will work as well, just it won't give it the dark brown color.
I just made these, and they turned out delightful! I used coconut sugar but reduced it to 4tbsp instead of 5tbsp. Much better than store bought boba, especially without all the dyes and preservatives. Easy recipe to follow! Thank you so much! 😀
Hey, can one use cassava flour instead? I read on Google that they aren't exactly the same, though they are both made from cassava. And if so do any variations need to be made?
Hi Mutinta, sorry I've never try using cassava flour so I'm not sure.
hello I would recommend tapioca starch but fine if u don't have it I would recommend cornstarch for the pearls if tapioca starch is not available
regards to cassava flour you may use it but it will have your pearls worst and will Tate lumpy please take my advices
Hi, I have finished cooking the boba like it said but my boba is the same colour and texture it went in, what do I do?
Hi, Jack, sorry to here that. Do you mean the boba wasn't cooked through? Can you send me a picture to [email protected]? It will probably be easier for me to tell once I see the picture.
Just finished making this recipe but our tapioca pearls turned out too big to go through the straw. Originally, the tapioca pearls were okay in size but during the boiling stage they unexpectedly got bigger. You should've warned us in the recipe that this was going to happen or we would have made the balls smaller.
Hi Anood, good point! I will add that in the note.
😔 I failed miserably at this recipe. I didn't add the starch fast enough, I didn't get the water hot enough before adding it, I made the balls much too big cause I was hurrying too fast I think, and they went flat, didn't cook all the way, and are just horrid. Lol. I'm gonna keep trying though. At least they taste good. Lol
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Hi Alina, thanks for sharing your experience! If you didn't add the starch while the water is boiling, you can try to cook the starch mixture until it becomes sticky before adding the rest of the starch. I believe you will success next time! 🙂
Hello, this recipe turned out amazing and I want to try it again, but I was wondering: if I used juice instead of water, would the brown sugar affect the flavor and color too much?
I've never tried using juice, but I think you can do that can just use regular sugar instead of brown sugar. I would probably try adding 20g of white sugar and adjust from there.
Can you keep the cooked boba in the fridge? I want to be able to take some to work and not have to cook it in the morning. Thanks
Hi Miss F, unfortunately boba pearls will lose its chewiness and become hard after storing in the fridge, it's better to enjoy within few hours once they're cooked.
used this in combo with the milk tea recipe- it worked wonderfully when i used light brown sugar. the first time i tried with coconut sugar as a recommended substitute, but it didnt incorporate well and threw off the texture, and turned into a non-newtonian liquid:( as long as you dont use coconut sugar to substitute, this is a great recipe! thanks
HI! ur recipe was amazing, quick ‘n’ easy, really tasty too! They came out nice and chewy, excellent for what I had in mind. The only problem with my ones were that it had clumps in it, but although, they didn’t really affect the finished result. thx!
Hello I have 2 questions. First, why did my dough come out extremely tough? Also slightly translucent? Also, is there a way to make this without using a stove? Thank you!!
Hi A, I'm sorry to hear that, but I think I know what's going on. You probably add too much tapioca flour for making the sticky paste. Make sure you only add 1/3 of the tapioca flour to make a sticky paste, and remove the sauce pan from the heat before adding the rest. If you want to make it without stove, you can try boiling water in a kettle, and pour the boiling water to the tapioca flour mix. However, I found this method works better for making white tapioca ball (aka, tapioca ball without brown sugar)
Thank you so much Edwina!!
I haven't tried this recipe but i'm super exited for it 😆
Can I use flour instead of tapioca starch/flour, If so will there be any side affects??
Thank you
Hi Jordyn, you have to use tapioca starch, you can't replace it with any other types of flour.
Hello, is it ok if I just use normal brown sugar? Is there a difference between the Taiwan brown sugar or the normal brown sugar?
Is normal brown sugar the same as you mentioned or do you need a specific type?
Hi, for the best result, you need to use Taiwanese brown sugar, which you can find in your local grocery store. If you can't find it, use coconut sugar. The regular brown sugar is too sweet and not enough flavor, which I don't recommend using it for this recipe.
Hi tysm for the reply, I generally like boba pearls on the sweeter side, i just wanted to make sure that they won’t cook differently or something like that. Also i want to dye them black, at what point in time do you think I should do that? Thanks!
I see! If that's the case, using regular brown sugar shouldn't be a problem. I've never tried adding food coloring so I'm not sure what's the best way to do it. But I think you can probably just add it to the sugar water before adding tapioca flour.
Ok tysm!
I was wondering if you have any recommendations for making a large batch of Boba pearls. I’m going to be doing a Coconut Boba stand at a fair this weekend and need to prepare and freeze a lot of Pearls. Thanks
Hi Danny, if you are doing a large batch I would recommend you to buy the dried boba pearl from the store 🙂
It was great overall, but the dough kept coming out very dry. Is there any way to fix that?
Hi! Try adding more water next time 🙂
5 stars! pale color but tasted exactly like my favorite boba shop's pearls. I used regular brown sugar, just not as much as suggested and it tastes fine. This recipe was super helpful as it was for a school project and was easy to do last minute.
Can I leave these in the fridge overnight, and then microwave them the next day, or will they not be soft/chewy anymore?
Hi Aven, just like all the boba pearls, it tastes the best when it's fresh. Reheating from cold might result a softer and less chewy texture.