Many of you asked me to make something pink, something with strawberry, or mochi on TikTok – why not combine all of them together in one recipe into a pinky strawberry mochi!
Strawberry Mochi
Mochi (餅, もち), a chewy, sweet Japanese dessert, is made with glutinous rice flour.
The Japanese refer to it as ‘ichigo daifuku’ or as confectionery, ‘wagashi’ in Japanese. You can make an edible cute gift for your loved ones with this lovely pink dessert.
Today, we’ll learn a bit more about this amazingly delicious yet simple dish, dive into the origins of mochi, explore a bit about the usual ingredients used, and of course, prepare a batch together with our easy recipe.
What Does Strawberry Mochi Taste Like?
The combination of sweet fruit and chewy rice cake makes strawberry mochi tastes strawberry gummy candy with a creamy filling.
Daifuku’s earthy rice flavor balances the sweetness of the fruit and the cream filling.
Imagine biting into a strawberry, then tasting the chewy, soft marshmallow-like rice cake instead of the strawberry flesh 😋.
Can Mochi Be Vegan?
According to Choosing Nutrition, mochi is mainly vegan since it is made up of glutinous rice and red bean paste (Yes, traditionally mochi has a red bean paste filling.
But I prefer substituting it with whipped cream. You can also use your favorite ice cream as the mochi filling.)
Some people use dairy in their mochi skins, but this can be substituted with your preferred dairy free milk – I have been using soymilk and oat milk to make mochi skins all the time~
Some tips for making strawberry mochi:
1. Glutinous Rice flour is a must-have
SO many of you have asked me if you use substitute glutinous rice flour with all purpose flour or regular rice flour.
I’m sorry, but the answer is no. It’s just like you can’t use a pear to substitute an avocado when you try to make guacamole.🍐🥑
Glutinous rice flour, also known as sticky rice flour, brings mochi skin a special stretchy taffy-like texture.
If we substitute glutinous rice flour with wheat flour or regular rice flour, we will end up with a thick doughy flour paste.
You should be able to find glutinous rice flour in most Asian markets. It’s also sold on Amazon:
2. Butter makes the mochi skin stay soft even after refrigerated
30g of butter definitely makes our mochi much higher in calories. And the kneading butter step could be frustrating, especially when you don’t have non-stick food handling gloves.
Therefore, you may see some easier mochi recipes skipping the butter.
However, butter does make a big difference in this recipe.
– Mochi skin without butter can be super sticky.
People using a butter-free mochi recipe would have to pour the steamed dough directly to a thick layer of corn starch to avoid stickiness.
What’s more, if you store these butter-free mochi in the fridge overnight, they will turn hard and dry, which will never happen to my mochi.😎
3. Why is my chocolate mochi so sticky?
It’s more than normal for a mochi dough to be sticky. Mochi is made from glutinous rice flour, which was famous for its stickiness.
But it wouldn’t be fun to have mochi dough sticking to your fingers when you eat it.
That’s why we always coat the mochi with cooked glutinous rice flour.
Raw glutinous rice flour taste earthy, which could ruin the taste of the mochi skin.
To get glutinous rice flour, you simply pan fry about 5 tbsps of glutinous rice flour over medium low heat without oil, until they turn slightly yellow and smell like popcorn, transfer out to cool down.
In Chinese, we call these cooked glutinous rice flour 手粉 (hand powder).
Apply some hand powder on your hands, on the surface of the mochi dough, on the working surface, and on the ladle to prevent from stickiness.
Some recipes would tell you to use raw glutinous rice flour/corn starch as the hand powder.
However, according to livestrong.com, “eating raw cornstarch may cause stomach upset such as gas and bloating”.
It’s the same for glutinous rice flour. So it’s highly recommended to cook it before using it as hand powder.
4. Rich filling, thin skin.
Tasty mochi skin should be chewy but won’t stick to your teeth; should be thin but won’t break easily when you pick up the mochi.
Here is an extra tip for you: wrap your pin roller with food wrap. In this way, you can roll your mochi skin into as thin as possible without it sticking to your pin roller.
Without the rich filling, a mochi has no difference from a piece of plain rice cake.
In this strawberry mochi recipe, I used my favorite filling: whipped cream plus strawberry fruit and strawberry jam.
If you like chocolate or boba pearls, you must also like my chocolate mochi filled with dark chocolate ganache and boba!
It’s also common for people to wrap an ice cream ball as the mochi filling.
You can wrap 2 scoops of ice cream with a plastic food wrap, shape it into a ball, freeze it overnight so that it won’t melt too fast when you try to wrap it into the mochi skin.
The easiest mochi filling is actually strawberry covered with red bean paste, because this filling won’t melt like ice cream and it’s very easy to be shaped (compared with whipped cream).
EQUIPMENT you will need:
- Kitchen scale or measuring cups
- Blender (Skippable if you are going to make white-skin mochi)
- Microwave (Or a steamer)
- Hand mixer (Or a stand mixer)
- Non-stick food handling gloves (Optional)
- Non stick silicone mat (Optional)
- Rolling Pin (Optional)
INGREDIENTS List:
For the mochi skin
- 90 g strawberries (rinsed, stems removed; About ½ cup of diced strawberries.)
- 90 g milk (or plant milk, I used oat milk; About ⅓ cup + ⅔ tbsp)
- 40 g sugar (About 3 tbsps)
- 100 g glutinous rice flour (About 14 tbsps)
- 30 g cornstarch (4 tbsps)
- 20 g unsalted butter (About 1½ tbsp)
For the filling
- 150 g heavy whipping cream (About ½ cup + 2 tbsps)
- 15 g sugar (About 1⅕ tbsp)
- 4 tbsp strawberry jam (or you can use fresh fruit that’s cut into small pieces instead)
Extra
- 50 g glutinous rice flour (About ½ cup; to prevent from getting sticky)
Step by step INSTRUCTIONS:
– Preparation
1. Cook 60g glutinous rice flour over medium heat for about 5 minutes, whisking constantly, until it smells like popcorn. Set aside to cool down. (We will use this cooked flour to prevent from getting sticky later.)
2. Add 15g sugar to 150g heavy whipping cream, beat until stiff peaks form. Keep in the freezer.
*Update on December 3rd 2022: you can check out my newest gelatin whipped cream recipe for a more stabilized cream filling. Since the mochi skin is so soft, we will need the cream filling to be stronger to support the mochi’s round shape.
– Make mochi
1. In a microwave-safe container, weigh 100g glutinous rice flour and 30g cornstarch. Set aside.
2. Add 90g strawberries, 90g milk (or plant milk, I used oat milk), and 40g sugar into a blender. Blend until thoroughly smooth.
3. Pour the strawberry milk to the microwave-safe container with glutinous rice flour and cornstarch, stir until the mixture has reached a yogurt thick texture.
4. Cover the container with a microwave-safe food wrap. Use a toothpick to poke about 16 holes on the wrap.
5. Microwave for 3 minutes. Take out to check the texture. Poke a toothpick into the mochi, if the toothpick tip is dry, the mochi is fully cooked. If the toothpick tip is wet, cover the food wrap back, and microwave for 30 more seconds. (Or you can steam it over high heat for 30 minutes. )
6. Take the mochi out from the microwave, put 20g butter* (see note1) on the top. The mochi is very hot now, the butter will be melted quickly.
7. Put on non-stick food handling gloves, or rub some melted butter on your hands to prevent from getting sticky. When the mochi dough is not too hot to touch, knead the dough until all the butter has been absorbed.
8. Once there’s no butter left in the container, keep kneading the dough for about 5 minutes, until you can pull it as long as your forearm (about 10 inches). * (see note2)
9. Transfer the mochi dough on a nonstick silicone mat, or a working surface floured with cooked glutinous rice flour. Apply some cooked glutinous rice flour on the surface of the mochi dough to prevent from getting sticky.
10. Cut the mochi dough into 8 equal portions (about 32g per portion).
11. With your hands or a rolling pin (covered with food wrap to prevent from sticky), flatten the mochi doughs into 4-inch diameter circles.
12. Put a mochi skin on a soup ladle, or on a small round-shape bowl.
13. Take out the whipped cream from the freezer. Put about 2 tbsps. of whipped cream and about 1 tbsp. of strawberry jam in the middle of the mochi wrap. For the filling, you can also use ice cream balls, fresh fruits cut into small pieces, or red bean paste.
14. Pull the edges of the wrap together to cover the filling, press together the edges to seal well.
15. Keep in the freezer for 20 minutes for the best texture and taste, serve.
To store
- Keep the leftovers in the freezer for up to 7 days. Thaw at room temperate for 20 minutes before serving.
Notes:
- Many recipes do not have this butter step. However, by adding butter to the mochi skin, the skin will stay soft and chewy after keeping in the fridge for 2 days. You can also use coconut oil to substitute butter.
- If the mochi dough is too sticky to be kneaded, keep the dough in the fridge for about 15 minutes until it cools down.
My other dessert recipes you will also like:
Strawberry mochi
Equipment
- blender (Skippable if you are going to make white-skin mochi)
- Microwave (Or a steamer)
- Microwave safe food wrap
- Handmixer (Or a stand mixer)
- Non-stick food handling gloves (Optional)
- Non stick silicone mat (Optional)
- Rolling Pin (Optional)
Ingredients
For the mochi skin
- 90 g strawberries (rinsed, stems removed; About ½ cup of diced strawberries.)
- 90 g milk (or plant milk, I used oat milk; About ⅓ cup + ⅔ tbsp)
- 40 g sugar (About 3 tbsps)
- 100 g glutinous rice flour (About 14 tbsps)
- 30 g cornstarch (4 tbsps)
- 20 g unsalted butter (About 1½ tbsp)
For the filling
- 150 g heavy whipping cream (About ½ cup + 2 tbsps)
- 15 g sugar (About 1⅕ tbsp)
- 4 tbsp strawberry jam (or you can use fresh fruit that's cut into small pieces instead)
Extra
- 50 g glutinous rice flour (About ½ cup; to prevent from getting sticky)
Instructions
Preparation
- Cook 50g glutinous rice flour over medium heat for about 5 minutes, whisking constantly, until it smells like popcorn. Set aside to cool down. (We will use this cooked flour to prevent from getting sticky later.)
- Add 15g sugar to 150g heavy whipping cream, beat until stiff peaks form. Keep in the freezer. (Ideally follow this recipe to make gelatin stabilized whipped cream that won't melt.)
Make mochi
- In a microwave-safe container, weigh 100g glutinous rice flour and 30g cornstarch. Set aside.
- Add 90g strawberries, 90g milk (or plant milk, I used oat milk), and 40g sugar into a blender. Blend until thoroughly smooth.
- Pour the strawberry milk to the microwave-safe container with glutinous rice flour and cornstarch, stir until the mixture has reached a yogurt thick texture.
- Cover the container with a microwave-safe food wrap. Use a toothpick to poke about 16 holes on the wrap.
- Microwave for 3 minutes. Take out to check the texture. Poke a toothpick into the mochi, if the toothpick tip is dry, the mochi is fully cooked. If the toothpick tip is wet, cover the food wrap back, and microwave for 30 more seconds. (Or you can steam it over high heat for 30 minutes. )
- Take the mochi out from the microwave, put 20g butter* (see note1) on the top. The mochi is very hot now, the butter will be melted quickly.
- Put on non-stick food handling gloves, or rub some melted butter on your hands to prevent from getting sticky. When the mochi dough is not too hot to touch, knead the dough until all the butter has been absorbed.
- Once there's no butter left in the container, keep kneading the dough for about 5 minutes, until you can pull it as long as your forearm (about 10 inches). * (see note2)
- Transfer the mochi dough on a nonstick silicone mat, or a working surface floured with cooked glutinous rice flour. Apply some cooked glutinous rice flour on the surface of the mochi dough to prevent from getting sticky.
- Cut the mochi dough into 8 equal portions (about 32g per portion).
- With your hands or a rolling pin (covered with food wrap to prevent from sticky), flatten the mochi doughs into 4-inch diameter circles.
- Put a mochi skin on a soup ladle, or on a small round-shape bowl.
- Take out the whipped cream from the freezer. Put about 2 tbsps. of whipped cream and about 1 tbsp. of strawberry jam in the middle of the mochi wrap. For the filling, you can also use ice cream balls, fresh fruits cut into small pieces, or red bean paste.
- Pull the edges of the wrap together to cover the filling, press together the edges to seal well.
- Keep in the freezer for 20 minutes for the best texture and taste, serve.
To store
- Keep the leftovers in the freezer for up to 7 days. Thaw at room temperate for 20 minutes before serving.
Video
Notes
- Many recipes do not have this butter step. However, by adding butter to the mochi skin, the skin will stay soft and chewy after keeping in the fridge for 2 days. You can also use coconut oil to substitute butter.
- If the mochi dough is too sticky to be kneaded, keep the dough in the fridge for about 15 minutes until it cools down.
- *Update on December 3rd 2022: you can check out my newest gelatin whipped cream recipe for a more stabilized cream filling. Since the mochi skin is so soft, we will need the cream filling to be stronger to support the mochi’s round shape.
- If you want to make original flavor mochi skin, you can use 170g milk to substitute the strawberry milk mixture. Then you will just get some white mochi skin.
Okay, but I made this today and it’s very good! I will definitely use your recipe again<3 :))
Awww this recipe requires so much skill and patience. So glad you successfully made it liked it!! ♡♡ And thanks for leaving a comment haha! You have a wonderful weekend!
Hello I’m confused how to cook the flour at the beginning (only 60g) and where is it used again. Half way through recipe now! So far it’s good! I also doubled the recipe because there are too many in my family!!! 😁
Hi Meghan, this 60g flour is for preventing your hands and the working surface form sticking. Put the flour/glutinous rice flour in a pan, cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stir to make sure it’s evenly heated, cook until it looks lightly yellow, or smells like popcorn. Let it cools down a bit before you use it.
Some recipes will tell you to use raw flour for preventing from sticking. I did some research and found it could be unsafe to eat raw flour. So I suggest cooking the flour before using.
Hope it’s helpful! Let me know if you have more questions! Hope you make them successfully!
it works! its just that i replaced the filling with ice cream but the ice cream melts too fast and the skin dries up quickly
Hi Meow~ I am so glad that it works for you! Yes it’s a great idea to use ice cream as the filling! Try using a plastic food wrap to shape the ice cream into a ball, and freeze it overnight before you wrapping it with the skin, so that it won’t melt that fast. 🥰
fantastic submit, very informative. I wonder why the opposite specialists of this sector don’t notice this. You must proceed your writing. I am confident, you have a huge readers’ base already!
Can we use tapioca flour instead of Glutinous rice flour? Thank you!
Hi Niki, sorry we couldn’t substitute the glutinous rice flour with tapioca flour in this recipe.
Hello 🙂 I’m not sure why but my dough was very crumbly after I added the butter do you know why?
Crumbly? Usually the problem is that the dough is too sticky. Does the dough look too dry? Is there a white dry layer on the surface of the dough after it’s cooked? Maybe the dough is over cooked, or the strawberry didn’t contain enough water, I’d try adding an extra 10g of water to the strawberry juice.
I had the same problem. I tried giving it a hot water bath but it was just crumbly and did not stretch at all. I had to throw the dough away afterwards.
like it
Enjoyed all bit of your blog article.Really thank you! in fact Great.
Hi I was wondering what to do because my dough is now spongey?
What to do when the the mochi still sticks with the toothpick?It is already over an hour since I steamed it.
I would loveee to make one but I just can’t find the glutinous rice flour
Is cornstarch flour the same as cornstarch? Can I use it for this recipe?
Hi, if it says “cornstarch flour” it should be the same as cornstarch. So yes you can use it for this recipe. Just make sure it is not “corn flour”.
Hi! I just did this with my boyfriend today and followed every step. The thing is that the texture at the end is too dry and almost like a “fruit roll up”, it did stretch though… But it was very dry for some reason. During the buttering it was great, it was super sticky actually, it stretched almost 20 inches so I’m not sure what could have happened?
Also, during the microwave part, it darkened. Before, it was super pink and pigmented but after the microwaving it became dark pink and by the time I took it out of the freezer at the end it was the color of sand.
The dough was SUPER sticky so I had to knead more than 5 min to get it out of my hands and I had to use all 60g during the kneading process so that I could take it off my hands, it was way stronger than anything I have kneaded before, low-key I almost panicked haha. But for some reason I didn’t read the part were you recommended refrigeration for 15min. 🙁
Do you think me kneading for 30min could be the reason why they ended up so weird and stale?
Oh, I also used lactose-free cow’s milk 2%, not oat.
Thank you ❤️❤️❤️
Did anyone convert the measurements to oz and cups? If they did and could share that would be great!!!! Thank you for the yummy recipe!
I just started with one cup of glutinous rice flour and use that as a relativity for everything else. It wasn’t exact but it turned out just fine. So 1/3 cup cornstarch, almost 1 cup of Fruit and milk, 1/3 cup of coconut oil instead of butter, 1/3 cup of honey plus a few tablespoons. I just make sure that the dough was the consistency of thick yogurt before I steamed it, just as she described
Just one question, can i replace the flour with mochiko? gonna make this today 😀
Yes mochiko is the same as sweet rice flour.
Hai, I want to try your recipe, if I want to make white mochi, then I will skip the strawberry and how much milk do I need?thank you
170 g milk (¾ cups)
30 g cornstarch (3 tbsps)
45 g sugar (3½ tbsps)
100 g glutinous rice flour (15 tbsps)
Could we possibly get all the conversions for this recipe, I don’t have a scale and it would help a lot
Hi Mandy! Thanks for the advice. I just added the conversions. Let me know if you have any other questions!
I tried but my dough isnt strechy
What do I do
I want to make this recipe, however I don’t have a steamer or microwave… so what should I do?
Hi, you can use the pan frying method that I introduced in my peach mochi recipe. The link is here: https://msshiandmrhe.com/peach-mochi/
I’m planning to make this, but is it possible to have this recipe with cups, tbsp, tsp, etc. I am unable to acquire a scale which is why I’m asking.
Just did! Hope it’s helpful.
use google converter grams to cups! it will work just the same 🥰
Was successful with this recipe the first time! It came out so tasty. Don’t feel discouraged, guys. You can do it!
Can I use the mochi/rice cake recipe from the tteokbokki recipe for ice-cream mochi?? Thanks! ~Cady
[…] out my strawberry mochi recipe for detailed instructions for the microwave […]
Hi! I’m wondering, in step 10 , can we use glutinous rice flour instead of food wrap? I’m in school and planning on making this with a few of my friends and sister during summer breaks.
♡~
Eek! I meant step 11! Sorry, heh 🙂
[…] up to the ceiling. (We often use stiff peak whipped cream as a strong filling for desserts. Mochi, for example, needs a strong filling to hold its soft skin, otherwise it will collapse or turn […]
I am planning to take it to work in the morning. Will it be good if I will prepare them in the evening? I am talking about 12 hours after making. Or should I wake up earlier to prepare it? What is better in your opinion?
Also, have you tried using a frying pan instead of microwave for making the mochi? I think it is easier to control the process and stir it.
Howdy, I’m attempting this recipe, and as eager as I am, I’m also equally terrified, haha Anyways, on the step to mix everything into a “yogurt” like state… mine looks way thicker than that consistency, Help what do I do???
Does blueberry work with it?
Making this was soul crushing. I think I cried like four times, once for a whole 20 minutes. I had to eat two of them because of how badly I messed up, and the other six were barely salvageable. I’m gonna KMS
how can I do this without the cup and measuments?
Hi I am going to make this recipe and I have all of the ingredients but I don’t have any glutinous rice flour only regular rice flour. Will the recipe still work?
Teach us how to make food coloring please 🩷❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🤎
how many mochis does this make?
[…] recently, I tried this recipe. If I ever try again, I'm curious to try this […]
can we not use cornstarch
I don’t have any fruit puree or powder 😞
I don’t have any fruit puree or powder 😞
Hi! I was wondering how many watts you have on your microwave? I am from Japan so out microwaves must be difficult 🥺🙏🏼
*I am from Japan so our microwave must be different* Im sorry for the typo.
Hi I made this but would like to use strawberry flavor drips instead of blended strawberries for the mochi skin. Do I need more milk then instead? Or more sugar? Or both? Thank yoy. It’s so good.
I literally have no words! My mom and I really wanted to do mochis for a while now, but every recipe ended up too hard or/and dry, or simply bad. But we’ve decided to try this one as a last try and, oh god… it’s delicious! Thank you so much for this recipe🫶🏼
I tried this, but the dough ended up like slime. I’m pretty sure I followed all the instructions correctly, what’d I do wrong?
Hello Ms. Shi, this recipe looks very delicious but I’m worried about my mochi because my microwave is very strong (1200 watts) and I think it may be overcooked by 3 minutes. Any tips?
Literally the best mochi I’ve ever had
11/10
a couple things were unclear on the recipe, but stil was amazing
This was AMAZING! So rich and reminded me of a scone! Best mochi I have made
You have the worst website! All the ads make this page so hard to look at!