25 Easy Japanese Dessert Recipes You Can Make At Home (2024)

FAQs

What is Japan's most popular dessert? ›

Taiyaki. A must-try on any visit to Japan, these popular fish-shaped pastries are typically stuffed with all sorts of fillings, but most commonly you'll find sweet red bean paste.

Japanese zenzai is an unusual dessert which combines thick red bean soup with mochi, the famous sticky rice cake. It can be made by boiling dried red beans or diluting anko (sweetened red bean paste) in water. The soup can either have a coarse or a completely smooth texture.

In Japanese cuisine, traditional sweets are known as wagashi, and are made using ingredients such as red bean paste and mochi.

The history of Japanese sweets begins with mochi, a sticky rice cake, known as the oldest processed food in Japan. After the year 630, the sweets were influenced by karagashi (Chinese pastries) which kentoshi (Japanese envoys to China) brought back to Japan during the period when they were sent to China 19 times.

These delectable Japanese Purple Sweet Potato tarts are made with 100% Okinawan purple sweet potatoes and have a crunchy tart that is made using a secret recipe. This exclusive Okinawan snack uses real purple sweet potatoes, and does not contain any preservatives or unnatural food colors.

Kanten is a popular traditional Japanese jelly that people enjoy most as a summer dessert. It's made of Kanten powder which is also called Vegan Gelatin and is similar to Agar powder. Usually, a mixture of kanten and fruit juice is used to create Fruit Kanten.

Kakigōri (かき氷) is a Japanese shaved ice dessert flavored with syrup and a sweetener, often condensed milk.

Mochi (pronounced MOE-chee) is a Japanese dessert made of sweet glutinous rice flour or mochigome. Mochi dough is often tinted with green tea powder (matcha) or other food colorings and wrapped around a sweet center to form a small, bite-sized confection with a chewy, smooth, elastic texture.

The English word “cake” spelled in katakana is ケーキ (which is pronounced something like “keh-kee” in Japanese).

Pocky (ポッキー, Pokkī, Japanese pronunciation: [poꜜkkiː]) /ˈpɒki/ is a Japanese sweet snack food produced by the Ezaki Glico food company. Pocky was first sold in 1966, and was invented by Yoshiaki Koma. It consists of coated biscuit sticks.

What is Japanese cheesecake called? ›

Japanese cheesecake (Japanese: スフレチーズケーキ), also known as soufflé-style cheesecake, cotton cheesecake, or light cheesecake, is a variety of cheesecake that is usually lighter in texture and less sweet than North American-style cheesecakes.

One of Japan's oldest forms of sweets is known as wagashi (和菓子), a traditional confectionary that has been enjoyed for centuries. The history of wagashi can be dated back to around the time of the Edo Period in Japan, in the 1600s up to the mid 1860s.

Ashure (Noah's Pudding) is thought to be the oldest dessert in the world, first made by Noah after his fabled landfall at Mt Ararat. It is a delightful mix of dried fruit, nuts, grains and beans (yes, beans!) made in Turkey and all over the Middle East. Give it a try - you'll be glad you did!

There are various kinds of sushi dishes, such as nigirizushi (hand formed sushi), makizushi (rolled sushi) and chirashi (sushi rice topped with raw fish). Sushi is the most famous Japanese dish outside of Japan, and one of the most popular dishes inside Japan, as well.

Japan's number one cookie option is the Shiroi Koibito, which translates to "white lover." This delightful cookie features crispy langue de chat biscuits, which are filled with a white or dark chocolate filling. The cookies are buttery, while the filling is rich and melts in your mouth.

In Japan, people often enjoy eating sweet things like fruit or confectionery in between meals. Many different sweets and snacks have been created using uniquely Japanese ideas.

The flavour is delicate, providing a gentle sweetness and subtle taste of rice. The green and pink dumplings are either coloured or flavoured and coloured to add variety. I used matcha to create the green colour, which also added that nice subtle green tea flavour to the green dango.