Sabudana Kheer | How to make Tapioca Pudding

Sabudana Kheer, or Tapioca Pudding, is a popular, creamy, and classic Indian sweet pudding dessert prepared with tapioca pearls, milk, and sugar as the main ingredients.

Check out more sabudana recipes and Navratri fasting, vrat recipes.

What is kheer?

Kheer, also known as payasa, kheeri, payasam, phirni, payesh, ksheeram, goddi, etc., in different Indian languages, is one of the most popular sweet dishes or wet pudding. Kheer is prepared mainly using milk, a sweetener like sugar or jaggery, and rice or sabudana (sago or tapioca pearls) as the main ingredient. You can check out my recipe for rice kheer or doodhpak.

You can also substitute rice with vermicelli, dals (lentils), bulgar wheat, millet, etc. Kheer is flavored with coconut milk, cardamom (elaichi), saffron (kesar), or rose. Dry fruits and nuts are added to make it rich.

Homemade Tapioca Pudding

This homemade tapioca pudding is an eggless Indian-style pudding made using sago, milk, sugar, and dry fruits. For vegan sago pudding, use dairy-free milk. Homemade tapioca pudding is also called sabudana kheer, sago kheer, saggubiyyam payasam, javvarisi payasam, sabbakki payasa in different languages. The method of preparation is the same.

This Indian sweet is prepared for vrat, fasting, and upvas during festivals like Navratri, Ganesh Chaturthi, Janmashtami, and Karwa Chauth. You can use rose petals to make it special for Valentine's Day, Eid, etc. You can also prepare Sabudana kheer for special occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries, Raksha Bandhan, etc.

While you are here, also check out classic and traditional Indian sweets, Diwali sweets, fasting, upvas, and vrat recipes.

Ingredients

To make sabudana kheer or Indian tapioca pudding you will need,
Sabudana: Also known as tapioca pearls or Sago. For thick kheer, add more.
Milk: Full-fat milk will make your kheer rich. For vegan sago pudding, use dairy-free milk.
Sugar: Preferred sweetener.
Other ingredients: Cashews, almonds, pistachios and raisins.
Optional: Rose petals, Cardamom powder, or saffron.

Check out the recipe card for the full list of the ingredients.

Step-by-step instructions

• Wash sabudna and soak them in water for 2 hours (This step is optional but mainly done to reduce cooking time.)
• Meanwhile, in a nonstick pan on medium to low flame, dry roast almonds, pistachios, and cashews until aromatic. Keep this aside. For rich flavor, add ghee or butter while roasting.

• In a pan or pot on medium flame, add sabudana and 1.5 cups water and cook until the sabudana becomes semi-transparent and is 90% cooked through. Keep stirring to prevent the sabudana from burning at the bottom. You can take a few sabudana pearls and check if they have started becoming soft. Sabudana pearls should not be dense or hard.
• Once the sabudana has almost cooked through, add milk, bring it to a boil, and cook until the sabudana becomes soft and transparent. Keep stirring during the process, as the starch from the sago and milk fats can settle at the bottom and burn.

• Now add sugar. Start with ¼ cup and adjust accordingly. I added ½ cup, which gave the kheer the right amount of sweetness.
• Finally, add the roasted nuts, raisins, and rose petals (cardamom powder) and simmer for another 2 to 3 minutes. Switch off the flame.
• Serve hot or cold, and enjoy!

Pro Tips

• Keep stirring while preparing sweets like this to avoid burning at the bottom, and always cook on medium to medium-low flame.
• I have cooked sabudana in water first and then in milk because sabudana cooks faster in water.
• You can even soak sabudana in hot water for 30 minutes.
• Adjust the amount of sugar to taste.
• Cooking time varies depending on the pan you use and the flame's intensity.
• Kheer thickens as it cools down. You may add water or milk and adjust the consistency accordingly.
• Vary the amount of nuts to taste.
• Instead of dried rose petals, add flavorings like cardamom (elaichi) or saffron (kesar).
• I use whole milk to make a rich kheer, but for a light version, you can use low-fat, skim, half-and-half, etc.
• You can even make kheer using condensed milk. In this case, entirely skip the sugar or adjust its amount accordingly.
• If the sabudana breaks, don't worry. You may have overcooked it, but it will only make your kheer more creamy and thick and taste equally good.

Sabudana kheer with jaggery

If you want to add jaggery, ensure you add it at the end once you switch off the flame. Otherwise, the mixture may curdle. Here are the steps: First, prepare jaggery syrup by melting jaggery with a bit of water in a pan and cooking until it thickens. Once the jaggery syrup cools down completely, add it to the cooked sabudana mixture and stir well.

Sabudana Kheer with dates

To make it even healthier and festive, you can add finely chopped dates to the kheer instead of sugar to give that sweetness. But see that you add dates after sabudana is completely cooked in water-milk mixture and the flame has been switched off. Cooking dates for long will alter the taste of traditional kheer.

Instant tapioca pudding

• Wash sabudana and soak them for 30 minutes in 1 ½ cups of water in your Instant Pot (IP). Make sure your instant pot is switched off.
• Switch on the instant pot and simmer in saute mode for 4 to 6 minutes until the sabudana or tapioca pearls become semi-translucent. They should not be hard or dense to touch.
• Now add 1 ½ cups of milk and another ¼ to ½ cup water, stir well, and close your IP with the lid.
• Press the pressure cook button and set the pressure to low. Cook for 10 minutes with the pressure valve in the sealing position.
• Let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes, then do a quick pressure release.
• Open the lid, set IP to saute mode, add sugar starting with ¼ cup, and adjust to taste.
• Add roasted dry fruits, nuts, and rose petals, and simmer for another 2 to 3 minutes. Serve and enjoy.

Recipe FAQs

Recipe card

More Tapioca or Sabudana Recipes

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Note: We originally posted this sabudana kheer recipe or tapioca pudding dessert in July 2021. It has now been modified in Aug 2024 with Expert Chef Tips, FAQs, Storage Instructions, etc.