Sweet Red Bean Paste (Anko) is a versatile ingredient that is used to make many Japanese sweets. It is made from just azuki beans, sugar and a pinch of salt. The process of making it is very simple.
You can not only make traditional Japanese sweets with Anko, but also spread Anko on a piece of bread just like you spread peanut butter. It also goes well with ice cream and cream.
About Anko (餡子 or あんこ)
When people say ‘anko’ (餡子 or あんこ), they often refer to Sweet Red Bean Paste. But strictly speaking, it is not correct. According to the Japan Anko Association (yes, such an organisation exists in Japan!) Anko is a paste made by cooking and boiling down ingredients. It does not have to be sweet and the ingredients do not have to be beans.
Bean paste without sugar is called ‘nama-an’ (生餡), which means raw Anko, and even hummus can be considered to be Anko.
However, the most popular sweet Anko is made with beans and you can make not only red bean paste but also white bean paste from white beans, and green bean paste from peas, etc.
Among those bean pastes, Sweet Red Bean Paste made with azuki beans is by far the most commonly known Anko. When people say ‘anko’, it usually means Sweet Red Bean paste.
Azuki beans are small red beans with a colour similar to red kidney beans. Azuki is sometimes spelt ‘adzuki’. You can buy them at Japanese/Asian grocery stores. Please visit my post Rice with Azuki Beans (Osekihan) for more details about azuki.
Two Types of Sweet Red Bean Pastes
If you’ve had different kinds of Japanese sweets with Anko in them, you’ve probably noticed that there are smooth Anko and Anko with whole azuki beans mixed in the paste, like the photo above.
The smooth paste is called ‘koshi-an’ (こし餡) and the paste with whole beans in it is ‘tsubu-an’ (粒餡). Depending on the sweets, different types of Anko is used. Interestingly, some people like just koshi-an or tsubu-an only.
Left: Tsubu-an (today’s recipe), Right: Koshi-an
For example, my sister in Japan likes tsubu-an much more than koshi-an because she loves beans in general and she can enjoy the texture of the beans in tsubu-an. People who love koshi-an might not like the texture of having the skin of the beans in it.
The method of making the two types of bean paste is almost the same. But in the case of koshi-an, after boiling azuki beans, you need to take extra steps to make the paste smooth without the bean skins. Today’s recipe is a tsubu-an recipe, which is easier and faster to make.
What’s in Red Bean Paste (Anko)
You just need minimum of three ingredients to make Red Bean Paste since glucose syrup is optional.
- Azuki beans
- Sugar
- Glucose syrup (optional)
- A pinch of salt
The weight of sugar used to make Anko (tsubu-an) is the same as the weight of azuki beans in general. But you can reduce or increase the sugar ratio against the azuki to suit to your palate. It can range from 80% to 125%. Professionals tend to make Anko sweeter but I prefer it less sweet.
Glucose makes the paste shinier and keeps the paste moist. It also prevents the sugar in the paste from crystallising.
A pinch of salt is added to enhance the sweetness of the paste.
How to Make Sweet Red Bean Paste (Anko)
Unlike other dried beans, there is no need to soak azuki beans before you start cooking them. This is because the skin of azuki beans is so hard that it will not absorb water to soften the bean.
The main steps below make tsubu-an, which is today’s recipe.
- Wash azuki beans, then boil them for 15 minutes in a sauce pan.
- Tun the heat off and leave it for 30 minutes with a lid on. Drain.
- Put azuki beans in enough water to just cover the beans. Bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat to simmer.
- Cook for 15-20 minutes until beans are cooked through.
- Turn the heat off and leave it for 30 minutes with the lid on.
Drain.
- Return the beans to the pot, add sugar and cook for about 10 minutes, mixing gently, until the paste becomes the right consistency.
- Add glucose if using, and salt, mix and turn the heat off.
- Transfer the paste to a tray, cover and let it cool.
The reason for leaving the boiled beans in the hot water for 30 minutes is to let the beans absorb water so that the cooked beans are plump with no wrinkles.
In step 5, you may save the liquid in a bowl when draining. After transferring the azuki beans to the pot, gently tilt the bowl of liquid and drain most of the liquid slowly. You will see a thick layer of azuki powder diluted in the liquid (see the photo below). You can add it to the beans.
When mixing the beans in steps 6 and 7, try not to break the beans. The tsubu-an made by professionals hardly has any broken beans in it. But mine were broken a lot.
The last step of transferring the paste to a tray is important as the bean paste dries out very quickly, particularly if left on a hot surface. If it became too dry and hard, add some water to the paste and heat it up to loosen it.
Japanese Sweets made with Anko
There are so many traditional Japanese sweets/desserts that use Sweet Red Bean Paste. The sweets below came to my mind immediately, and you can buy them anywhere in Japan, including supermarkets. You may also find some of them at your local Japanese/Asian grocery stores.
- Monaka – Anko encased in thin wafers
- Dorayaki – Anko sandwiched in round pancakes
- Yōkan – Anko in the form of firm jelly
- Taiyaki – a fish-shaped thin pancake with Anko inside
- Kintsuba – a block of Anko coated in a thin layer of wheat flour dough
- Ohagi – sticky rice ball coated with Anko
- Dango – Japanese dumpling balls on skewers topped with Anko
- Manjū – steamed round cake with Anko inside
- Daifuku – Anko wrapped in sticky rice skin
- Anmitsu – cubed agar jellies topped with fruits, boiled beans and Anko, drizzled with sweet black syrup
- Oshiruko/Zenzai – sweet porridge of Anko served with small pieces of cooked mochi (rice cake)
- Sakuramochi – pink-coloured thin rice cake with Anko inside, wrapped in a pickled cherry blossom leaf.
Today’s recipe is just to make Sweet Red Bean Paste (Anko), tsubu-an style. But I will introduce you to some of the above sweets in future. For now, why don’t you have Anko on your toast, or add Anko to your ice cream? See the section MEAL IDEAS at the end of this post for different ways of having Anko.
Unfortunately, Anko does not keep long in the fridge – only few days. If you reheat it every day you can extend the the time for few more days. Today’s recipe makes about 2 cups of Anko which might be too much for you to consume at once.
The best way to keep Anko for longer period is to freeze it (up to 2 months). To defrost, either microwave or leave it in the fridge or on the workbench. Alternatively, you can put the frozen Anko in a sauce pan with a small amount of water and heat it up.
Yumiko
Sweet Red Bean Paste (Anko) is a versatile ingredient that is used to make many Japanese sweets. It is made from just azuki beans, sugar and a pinch of salt. The process of making it is very simple.
You can make many traditional Japanese sweets with Anko but for now you can have it on your toast or with ice cream. See the section 'MEAL IDEAS' below the recipe card!
Recipe Type: Dessert
Cuisine: Japanese
Keyword: adzuki beans, azuki beans, Japanese snacks, Japanese sweets
Serves: 2 cups (approx. 600g / 1.3lb, lightly packed)
Author: Yumiko
- 200g / 7oz azuki beans (note 1)
- 180-200g / 6.3-7oz sugar (note 2)
- 20g / 0.7oz glucose syrup (optional)
- A pinch of salt
Wash azuki beans gently a couple of times.
Put azuki beans into a saucepan, fill it with water to 3-4cm / 1¼-1½" above the azuki beans and bring it to a boil.
Cook for 15 minutes, turn the heat off and leave for 30 minutes with a lid on. Drain using a sieve.
Return the azuki beans to the saucepan, fill the pan with water to just cover the beans. Bring it to a boil.
Reduce the heat to medium low so that the beans are gently simmering.
Cook for 15-20 minutes until the beans are cooked through (note 3). If the beans surface above the water level, add some water to keep the beans just below the water level (note 4). Remove the scum as it surfaces.
Turn the heat off and leave for 30 minutes with the lid on. Drain using a sieve with a bowl beneath it so that the liquid can be collected in the bowl.
Return the beans to the pan.
Gently tilt the bowl of liquid and drain the liquid slowly. At the bottom of the bowl, you will see a thick layer of the azuki bean powder diluted in the liquid. Transfer this to the pan.
Add sugar and gently mix the sugar into the azuki beans using a soft spatula.
Heat the pan with azuki beans over medium heat. The beans should become watery as it starts boiling.
Cook for about 10 minutes. During this time gently mix the beans occasionally by moving the spatula from one edge to the other edge and draw a wide straight line.
Check the consistency of the paste: Draw a line at the bottom of the pan with the spatula. If you can see the bottom of the pan and the beans start closing the line after hesitating momentarily, it is the right consistency (note 5).
Add glucose if using and a pinch of salt, then gently mix. Remove from the heat.
Transfer the bean paste to a tray. Cover it with cling wrap removing air pockets as much as possible (note 6). When cooled down, store in the fridge up to 4 days or freeze it in a zip lock bag up to 2 months.
1. Azuki beans are small red beans with a colour similar to red kidney beans. Azuki is sometimes spelt ‘adzuki’. You can buy them at Japanese/Asian grocery stores. Please visit my post Rice with Azuki Beans (Osekihan) for more details about azuki.
2. The amount of sugar can be anywhere between 160g / 5.6oz and 250g / 8.8oz for 200g / 7oz of azuki beans, i.e. 80-125% of the weight of azuki, depending on how sweet you want it to be.
I have never used 250g / 8.8oz sugar as I felt it was excessive, but if you have a very sweet tooth it might work best for you. My azuki bean paste is already very sweet in my view, but as you probably know by now I don’t have a sweet tooth.
3. Check if the beans are cooked by picking up a dark-coloured bean and squashing it with your thumb and index finger. If you can squash it easily and the centre of the bean is not tough, it is done.
4. You may need to do this several times. There is a reason why you need to keep the water level just above the beans instead of cooking them in deep boiling water. If the water level is high, the beans will be jumping a lot while cooking and they will make the beans break into pieces. You want to keep the shape of the beans as much as possible.
5. You might think that it is too watery but you will be surprised how quickly it hardens when removed from the heat.
6. For the same reason as note 5, the bean paste needs to be covered with cling wrap straight away.
7. Anko keeps only few days in the fridge. If you reheat it every day you can extend the the time for few more days.
The best way to keep Anko for longer period is to freeze it (up to 2 months). To defrost, either microwave or leave it in the fridge or on the workbench. Alternatively, you can put the frozen Anko in a sauce pan with a small amount of water and heat it up.
8. The total calorie of the Anko made in this recipe is 938. But the nutrition tables below is for 30g / 1.1oz of Anko, which is the average amount of Anko used in each Japanese sweet.
serving: 30g calories: 47kcal fat: 0g (0%) saturated fat: 0g (0%) trans fat: 0.0g polyunsaturated fat: 0g monounsaturated fat: 0g cholesterol: 0mg (0%) sodium: 42mg (2%) potassium: 23mg (1%) carbohydrates: 12g (4%) dietary fibre: 0.4g (2%) sugar: 10g protein: 0.5g vitamin a: 0% vitamin c: 0% calcium: 0.3% iron: 0.7%
Meal Ideas
A typical Japanese meal consists of a main dish, a couple of side dishes, a soup and rice. I try to come up with a combination of dishes with a variety of flavours, colours, textures and make-ahead dishes.
Instead of giving you a dinner idea, I will show you what you can do with the Sweet Red Bean Paste (Anko) you made. This way you can enjoy Anko on its own until I post recipes of Japanese sweets using it.
- With ice cream – I would pick either vanilla ice cream or matcha ice cream but of course, experiment with any flavours.
- On toast – simply spread the paste just like you spread peanut butter.
- On pancakes – warm the anko with a bit of water to loosen it so that the anko dribbles on the side of the pancakes.
- Filling for hot sandwiches/waffles – hot anko is as good as cold anko
- Anko spring rolls – roll anko in spring roll skins and deep-fry.