Dharwad peda recipe, an easy way using milk powder. This quick version gives you soft, slightly chewy peda texture with grainy coating. Step by step pictures and quick video to understand easily for beginners.
You can prepare this under 30 minutes, so it’s perfect for last minute festival sweets or for gifting someone. Do try upcoming Diwali 2026.
Check out my Chocolate peda and my Milk powder gulab Jamun recipe in this website.
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About Dharwad peda
Dharwad peda is an Indian sweet delicacy from Karnataka. It gets its name from Dharwad,a city in North Karnataka,where it is popular. Dharwad peda is traditionally made by reducing full-fat milk for hours until it’s thick,then cooking it furthermore with sugar until it turns that characteristic deep brown from caramelization.
My version uses milk powder which is already milk solid,so you still get that soft texture and brown color,when cooked with ghee,milk.
Why you will love this?
- Quick to prepare
- Milk powder is shortcut for khoya
- Beginner friendly
- Delicious with slight chewy texture and grainy sugar coating.
Dharwad peda Ingredients
Here are the simple ingredients needed to make this sweet
- Milk powder–I used Everyday milk powder we get here in Singapore
- Sugar –I used fine grain
- Milk –For binding,soft texture
- Ghee –Gives flavor,golden brown color while roasting
Refer my recipe card for quantities.
Step by step Images
1. Place sugar in a blender. I took little more than ¼ cup including coating.
2. Grind it it slightly coarse.
3. Heat a pan in low heat and start roasting 1 cup milk powder. Keep stirring as the milk powder gets burnt so easily. Make sure to stir every part if the pan,as if you miss a spot,it will be burnt. After a minute,add a teaspoon ghee. Add up to 3 teaspoon ghee while roasting in regular intervals.
4. Smash and roast so that it gets mixed well evenly. All the time,make sure to roast in low heat. Keep stirring thoroughly,as it gets burnt if left without stirring.
5. It takes 10-15 minutes to get golden brown colour. Once it reach this stage,switch OFF the flame.
6. Add 2 tablespoon milk and mix well. The mixture will change from a dry,sandy texture into a soft mass.
7. As you mix in the pan’s residual heat,it comes together as a dough.
8. Transfer to bowl. Once warm,add ¼ cup powdered sugar.
9. Mix well with a spoon.
10. Let all the sugar gets evenly mixed.
11. Divide equally,shape into pedas. You can shape as round balls with a dent in middle or into oblong shape pedas like I did.
12. Roll each peda in the powdered sugar to coat it. The ghee in the pedas helps the sugar stick and the pedas are fry to handle,with the signature look.
Once cooled completely,store in an airtight container &enjoy!
Top tips
Sugar:You can make bura (bhoora) sugar and use it in the recipe.
- Do not heat ghee in the pan and then add milk powder. This will make the milk powder lumpy. Add only after you heat in low flame.
- Add ghee gradually so that it mixes evenly.
- While adding milk,carefully add after switching off the flame. As we roast for long time,the pan may be hot and it can splutter.
- Use a wide pan for this preparation.
- Keep stirring continuously,scraping the bottom and corners of the pan. This prevents some portions from browning faster than others.
My Notes
I used regular sugar instead of the traditional method where they use bhoora. Wanted to keep it simple and easy.
It takes a lot of time to roast the milk powder in low heat to get evenly browned perfect color,caramelized result. For me since I did the shoot,it took around 20 mins. But I guess anywhere around 10-15 minutes.
You can also roast it in oven as I have seen in an Instagram reel.
Ask AI for temperature and instructions to roast the milk powder in an Oven:
FAQs
Adding ghee first before adding the milk powder to pan or adding all the ghee at one time is the reason. Add gradually and keep mixing to incorporate.
In case the mixture has lumps,you can give it a run in the mixer after it cools.
Shelf life
- You can keep it up to 5 days at room temperature.
Recipe card
Dharwad Peda Recipe | Dharwad Pedha
Dharwad peda recipe,an easy way using milk powder. This quick version gives you soft,slightly chewy peda texture with grainy coating. Step by step pictures and quick video to understand easily for beginners.
Cup measurements
Ingredients
- 1cupMilk powder
- ¼cupSugarPowdered slightly coarse
- 3-4teaspoonGhee
- 2tablespoonMilk
- Sugar powder for coating
Instructions
Place sugar in a blender. I took little more than ¼ cup including coating.
Grind it it slightly coarse.
Heat a pan in low heat and start roasting 1 cup Milk powder.
Keep stirring as the milk powder gets burnt so easily.
Make sure to cover all the parts of the pan as if you miss a spot,it will be burnt.
After a minute,add a teaspoon ghee. Add 3-4 tsp Gheewhile roasting in regular intervals.
Smash and roast so that it gets mixed well evenly.
All the time,make sure to roast in low heat. Keep stirring thoroughly,as it gets burnt if left without stirring.
It takes 10-15 minutes to get golden brown colour. Once it reach this stage,switch OFF the flame.
Add 2 tbsp Milkand mix well. The mixture will change from a dry,sandy texture into a soft mass.
As you mix in the pan’s heat,it comes together as a dough.
Transfer to bowl. Once warm,add ¼ cup Sugar(powdered).
Mix well with a spoon.
Let all the sugar gets evenly mixed.
Divide equally,shape into pedas. You can shape as round balls with a dent in middle or into oblong shape pedas like I did.
Roll each peda in the Sugar powder for coatingit. The ghee in it will help sugar powder to stick to peda and peda is dry to handle,give its signature look.
Video
Notes
- I used regular sugar instead of the traditional method where they use bhoora. Wanted to keep it simple and easy.
- It takes a lot of time to roast the milk powder in low heat to get evenly browned perfect color,caramelized result. For me since I did the shoot,it took around 20 mins. But I guess anywhere around 10-15 minutes.