Peanut Ladoo Recipe (Shengdana Ladoo)

Make delicious and protein rich Peanut Ladoo with just 4 ingredients. Peanut Ladoo are a traditional sweet snack made with roasted peanuts, jaggery and cardamoms. Ladoo is a traditional sweet ball from the Indian sub-continent and tons of variations exist. This post shows you how to make ladoos with peanuts.

It is a common practice in India to make everything from scratch so raw peanuts are used here rather than store bought roasted peanuts. But to cut down the roasting and deskinning time, you may use store bought unsalted roasted peanuts.

About Peanut Ladoo

These Peanut Ladoo are protein-packed and makes for a delicious and healthy snack for all age-groups. They go well in the school and office snack boxes too and makes for a great mid-morning or evening snack when you want a boost of energy.

Raw peanuts are roasted first until aromatic and golden. They are left to cool down and then deskinned. Later they are crushed in a dry grinder with jaggery and cardamoms until the peanuts begin to release some oil.

No ghee or additional fats are required since the moisture from the jaggery and the natural oil from the peanuts are sufficient to bind the ingredients.

While these can be made with just 3 ingredients, I love to add an extra ingredient in these for various reasons. I often add rolled oats or poha to these ladoos for a texture. In the past I would also add some cornflakes for a crunch.

Oats are a great addition to these peanut ladoo and no one will ever know there is oats in them because you can’t taste or smell them in these ladoos. A lot of times, these peanut ladoo stick to the mouth while eating. Adding oats, poha or cornflakes will prevent that.

However if you don’t prefer to use them, you may leave out and reduce the cardamom and jaggery.

In this post I also share how to roast peanuts in oven for these ladoos. Often I feel it takes too long to dry roast a large batch of peanuts on the stovetop. So I roast them in the oven which is much easier.

Pro Tips

There is no rocket science in getting these ladoos right but here are some tips I learnt over the years.

• Slow roast the peanuts on a medium heat and avoid high heat. This brings out more nutty flavors and the ladoos turn out delicious.
• You don’t need to follow the quantities exactly. You can simply eye-ball the jaggery and use. A little more or less is just fine.
• Also note that traditional jaggery is different from the store bought powdered jaggery. Traditional jaggery has some moisture in it so the mixture binds well. Store bought powdered jaggery has no moisture and is less sweet than the traditional one. So you may need to add more.
• If using the store bought jaggery powder, the ladoos sometimes don’t bind. If so simply try adding some hot ghee.
• Using good quality raw peanuts is very important. Pick and discard any peanuts that don’t look good. Make sure they don’t smell rancid.

More Ladoo Recipes
Dry Fruit Laddu
Ragi Laddu
Sesame Ladoo
Badam Ladoo

Photo Guide

How to make Peanut Ladoo (Stepwise Photos)

Roast Peanuts

You can roast the peanuts in a pan on the stovetop or in the oven. You can also use store bought unsalted peanuts.

1. Roast on Stovetop: On a medium flame, dry roast 1 cup peanuts in a heavy bottom steel pan, until golden and aromatic.

Roast in Oven: Preheat your oven to 175 C. Spread 1 cup raw peanuts in a baking tray and place it in the center rack. Roast for 8 minutes and give a stir with a wooden spatula. (wear mittens). Continue to roast for another 8 to 10 minutes, stirring every 3 minutes until golden. Remove the rack and place over a cooling rack.

2. Optional – Dry roast 1 cup oats or poha in a pan for a few minutes until slightly crisp. Or Spread oats/ poha in another tray and place it the middle rack in the oven. Bake for 2 minutes and turn off the oven. Leave the door ajar so the oats don’t sweat inside.

3. Meanwhile, rub the warm or cooled peanuts with the base of a bowl or with your hands to remove the skin.

4. A few peanuts with the skin is okay.

5. Later separate the skin and nuts.

Make the Ladoos

6. You may leave out if you do not want to use oats or poha. Add 1 cup rolled oats or half cup poha to the grinder jar.

7. Grind to a slightly coarse powder.

8. Add the peanuts and pulse to a coarse mixture.

9. Add ⅓ teaspoon cardamom powder.

10. Add 1 cup (125 grams) grated or crushed jaggery. If you are not using oats or poha, use only ⅔ cup (85 grams).

11. Grind until the mixture becomes warm and comes together. Taste test and add more jaggery if required. If you overgrind, the nuts begin to release too much oil and turn sticky.

12. If your mixture is dry, you just need to add more jaggery or grind a little longer. This helps the oils to release and bind together.

Take portions of this mixture and roll to ladoos. Store peanut ladoos in a air tight jar. They keep good for 2 weeks at room temperature. If you want to store longer, refrigerate them.

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Recipe Card

Peanut Ladoo Recipe first published in June 2012. Updated with new images in June 2023.