A Beloved Japanese Treat with a Modern Twist
Daifuku mochi is more than just a sweet—it’s a symbol of joy, good fortune, and Japanese craftsmanship.
Traditionally filled with anko (sweet red bean paste, 餡子, あんこ) and wrapped in soft, stretchy mochi made from glutinous rice, Daifuku has been a cherished part of seasonal festivals and tea ceremonies for centuries. Its delicate exterior and comforting fillings have made it a staple among wagashi (和菓子, わがし), or traditional Japanese confections, designed not just to satisfy the palate but to evoke beauty and mindfulness.
Today, Daifuku has taken on countless variations—strawberry daifuku (ichigo daifuku), mochi ice cream, and modern twists like chocolate, custard cream fillings. Yet for those of us following a low-carb lifestyle, the classic chewy felt out of reach.
The Inspiration Behind Our Low Carb Daifuku Mochi Mix
As lifelong lovers of Japanese mochi, we couldn’t accept a world without it.
That’s why we set out to recreate it from the ground up—developing a unique Daifuku Mochi Baking Mix—the first of its kind that captures the essence of mochi using only clean, gluten-free, sugar-free, and vegan-friendly ingredients, with just 1g net carb per serving.
Whether you’re craving a nostalgic red bean filling (anko), dango or mochi ice cream, this mix is made to deliver classic texture and joyful bites without the extra baggage.
Finally, a feel-good indulgence that tastes like the real deal.
What You Need to Make Low Carb Daifuku Mochi
Making this low-carb Daifuku at home is easier than you might think. Here’s everything you’ll need to recreate this beloved Japanese treat in your own kitchen.
- Ingredients (makes 6 mochi rounds)
- 135g (½ bag) of our Daifuku Mochi Baking Mix
- 90g room temperature water (use filtered or purified water)
- 10g clear-colored, neutral-flavored oil (MCT oil or liquid coconut oil such as Nutiva Organic Liquid Fractionated Coconut Oil)
👉🏻 Use only oils that stay liquid at room temperature so the mochi stays soft. - 1 tablespoon Glutinous Rice Flour for dusting. You may also substitute with cornstarch or potato starch.
👉🏻 Carb impact is negligible (1 tablespoon contains about 8g carbs and you’ll be using less than that in this recipe). Want zero-carb dusting? Use bamboo flour. - Your favorite filling – classic red bean paste (anko)—either store-bought or make your own sugar-free Azuki Red Bean Paste—keto-friendly custard cream or ice cream.
💡 Tip: It’s much easier to wrap frozen or partially frozen fillings. Pre-portion and freeze your filling ahead of time whenever possible!
- Tools
- 1.5-quart microwave-safe bowl
- Spatula
- Small whisk (or fork)
- Kitchen scale (essential for true mochi texture!)
- Food-safe gloves
- Silicone mat
- Plastic wrap
- Small cookie scoop (≈ 4-teaspoon size)
- 3.5″ cookie cutter (optional)
- Muffin cups (standard-size)
- Rolling pin (optional)
👉🏻 No rolling pin or cookie cutter? Check out the Hand-Pressed Method below.
How to Make Low Carb Daifuku Mochi
1. Preparing the dough
- In a microwave-safe bowl, combine 135g (½ bag) of our Daifuku Mochi Baking Mix with 90g room-temperature, filtered water. Mix with a whisk (or fork) until the batter is smooth and no dry lumps remain.
💡 Important: Use a kitchen scale to get accurate measurements.
👉🏻 Even a small difference in water will change the result. Measuring by grams is the only way to guarantee that signature mochi texture. - Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula and mix again until fully combined.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and poke a few small holes for steam to escape.
- Microwave on high (1000W) for 90 seconds.
👉🏻 When you remove the bowl, you should notice the dough has turned opaque (milky white) and smell a faint, sweet glutinous-rice aroma. - Stir with a spatula to expose any wet spots.
👉🏻 Seeing a few slightly wet patches is normal. This is why we heat it again. - Microwave for another 15 seconds, bringing total heat time to 1 minute 45 seconds.
👉🏻 This final 15-second burst is what fully sets the dough and eliminates remaining wet areas.
Check out this short video from our Mochi Ice Cream recipe blog to see how to microwave the dough!
2. Add Oil & Let It Rest
- Carefully remove the plastic wrap — hot steam will escape.
- Add 10g oil to the hot dough. Using a spatula, mix firmly for 1–2 minutes to begin working the oil into the dough.
👉🏻 You may notice that the dough cannot absorb all the oil immediately. This is normal. The remaining oil will absorb during resting and kneading. - Cover the bowl with plastic wrap again and let it rest for 30 minutes.
👉🏻 Letting the dough rest is essential:—it cools the dough to a safe, workable temperature and gives the natural gelling agents time to fully hydrate. The result is a smoother, more chewy dough.
Check out this tutorial video from our Mochi Ice Cream recipe blog to see how to mix and work the oil into the dough!
3. Knead until Smooth
- Once the mochi dough has rested for 30 minutes, transfer it to a clean silicone mat.
💡 Tip: Place a sheet of plastic wrap over the mat for extra nonstick protection.
👉🏻 Wear food-safe gloves — it prevent the dough from sticking to your hands. - Before kneading, squeeze and compress the dough for 30–45 seconds.
👉🏻 This pre-compression helps drive the oil deeper into the dough so kneading becomes faster. - Knead by hand for 2–3 minutes using a firm push-and-fold motion.
👉🏻 At first, the dough may slide because of surface oil. Hold it steady with your other hand — the slipping will stop once the oil fully incorporates. - Toward the end of kneading, you’ll notice the dough gently lifts off the mat instead of sticking — that’s when you know it’s been kneaded enough.
- After kneading, your dough should look smooth, soft, and silky. It should feel supple and slightly bouncy when you press it.
Check out this tutorial video from our Mochi Ice Cream recipe blog to see the kneading in action!
4. Roll and Shape (See Alternative Hand-Pressed Method below)
- Shape the dough into a ball.
- Lightly dust the dough (top and bottom) with cooked glutinous rice flour to prevent sticking.
💡 Tip: Microwave a tablespoon of glutinous rice flour for 1 minute (or pan-toast 3–5 minutes) to sterilize and cook it. - On a silicone mat, gently press the dough down and roll it out to about ⅛” thickness, adding dusting flour as needed.
- Use a 3.5″ cookie cutter to cut out as many circles as you can.
- Repeat these steps until you have 6 total rounds.
- Finally, gently dust each mochi round (top and bottom) with cooked glutinous rice flour and spread it evenly with your hands to coat the surface. This will not only prevent stickiness, but also add a subtle toasted-rice aroma—just like real mochi.
Check out this tutorial video from our Mochi Ice Cream recipe blog to see it in action!
5. Assemble
- Retrieve your pre-portioned filling (about 25g each).
- Gently pick up one mochi round and place into your palm.
- Place the filling in the center, fold the sides toward the middle, pinching the seams to seal. Gently shape the daifuku with your hands until it looks nicely rounded.
- Place the daifuku, seam side down, into a muffin cup.
- Lightly dust with cooked glutinous rice flour to give your daifuku that authentic finish.
- Repeat these steps with the remaining filling and mochi rounds.
6. Enjoy!
- Just like real mochi, our Daifuku mochi is best eaten the same day at room temperature.
👉🏻 If kept overnight, wrap each mochi individually and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Microwave for 10-15 seconds to restore softness.
Hand-Pressed Method
Don’t have a rolling pin or cookie cutter? No problem.
- After kneading (see “How to” section – Step 3: Knead Until Smooth), divide the mochi dough into equal 35g portions and shape each portion into a smooth ball with your hands.
- Place a piece of plastic wrap on top of the silicone mat and dust your working surface with some cooked glutinous rice flour.
- Press each ball flat by hand into a round that’s roughly 3.5″ across (and about ⅛″ thick).
👉🏻 If the dough feels sticky, dust with cooked glutinous rice flour until it’s workable. - Lightly dust each mochi round on both sides before wrapping your filling.
Fun Ways to Enjoy Your Mochi
This mochi dough is versatile and incredibly fun to experiment with. Here are a few delicious ways to enjoy it beyond the classic Daifuku.
1. Ice Cream Mochi
Check out our Mochi Ice Cream recipe blog for step-by-step!
2. Dango-Style Mochi Balls（Mitarashi Dango 団子, だんご）
If you don’t feel like wrapping fillings, you can turn this dough into the coziest Japanese-style dango.
- Roll the dough into small bite-sized balls (about 18–20g each)
- Heat a non-stick pan over low–medium heat
- Add the mochi balls and cook for about 3 minutes per side
- Flip every 3 minutes using a skewer or chopsticks
- Cook until each side has a light golden caramelization
- Enjoy warm, soft, chewy, and slightly crisped on the outside
👉🏻 These are incredible eaten just as-is, straight from the pan.
👉🏻 Or drizzle with your favorite sugar-free soy glaze for a classic sweet-savory mitarashi finish.
3. Snowball Mochi
For custard cream fillings like the one in this video, you can pipe soft cream or custard directly into the mochi base. We recommend using a small domed mold like the Fat Daddio’s Hemisphere Pan (2.75” x 1.4”) to hold the shape and allow easy sealing.
4. Ganache or Chocolate-Filled Mochi
Chill small chocolate truffles or spoons of ganache until firm, then wrap them with mochi for a rich, melty center.
5. Fresh Fruit Mochi (Japanese-Style Fruit Daifuku)
Make Ichigo Daifuku by pairing with strawberries or other fresh fruit.
- Pat the fruit completely dry.
- Wrap each piece of fruit with a thin layer of white bean paste (shiro-an) or light red bean paste (anko). 👉🏻 This creates a moisture barrier so the mochi skin can seal properly.
- Then wrap the bean-paste-covered fruit with the mochi round as you would a normal daifuku.
6. Enjoy It Plain
Simply roll into balls and enjoy them warm — soft and chewy and oh-so-satisfying! Or try dusting your mochi pieces with:
- Kinako (roasted soybean flour) lightly sweetened with monkfruit
- Matcha powder mixed with a touch of monkfruit or allulose
Tips for Success
- Use filtered or purified water – Because mochi is such a clean-tasting dessert, even subtle flavors from tap water (like chlorine or minerals) can interfere with its purity. If you want to truly replicate the authentic mochi experience, we strongly recommend using filtered or purified water.
- Use only oils that stay liquid at room temperature – Solid oils (like regular coconut oil or butter) will harden when cooled.
- Work in small batches – We recommend using only ½ pack of the baking mix per batch. Smaller portions are easier to knead and also help ensure the dough heats evenly in the microwave.
- Let the dough fully rest before kneading – Resting the dough for 30 minutes after microwaving is essential. This gives the mochi dough time to cool and allows the natural gelling agents to fully hydrate and activate—resulting in a smooth, and elastic dough.
- Pre-freeze your fillings – It’s much easier to work with frozen or partially frozen fillings.
👉🏻 For best results, we recommend keeping a 10g difference between skin and filling weight. - Don’t skip the kneading – Like traditional mochitsuki, kneading is what transforms the dough from rough to silky.
👉🏻 If you’ve seen YouTube videos, you’ll know that mochi dough doesn’t turn silky and smooth on its own. In Japan, this process is called mochitsuki (餅つき)—an age-old tradition where steamed glutinous rice is rhythmically pounded to achieve its signature mochi texture. Our low-carb version behaves the same way—it will gradually becoming smooth, elastic, and non-sticky as you knead.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1: How many servings does one bag make?
One full bag weighs 270g and makes 12 mochi rounds. We recommend working with ½ bag at a time for easier handling (see Tips for Success). For daifuku-style mochi, we recommend pairing 25g of filling with 35g mochi dough—this gives you the perfect balance of chewy skin and flavorful center.
Q2: What’s the best way to handle the dough?
Like traditional mochi, this dough is a little sticky! We recommend wearing food safe gloves and lightly dusting your work surface and the dough to keep things mess-free.
Q3: Can I use other fillings besides red bean paste?
Absolutely! You can fill them with ice cream, custard cream, ganache, fresh fruit, or whatever your heart desires. 👉🏻 Check out our Mochi Ice Cream recipe blog.
Q4: How do I store leftover mochi rounds?
Separate each with parchment rounds (4-inch parchment rounds work best) and store at room temp for 1–2 days (or refrigerate up to 4). Assemble just before eating.
Q5: How do I store leftover Daifuku?
If kept overnight, wrap each mochi individually and store in a seal container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Microwave for 10–15 seconds before serving to restore that soft, chewy texture.
👉🏻 For ice cream versions, return uneaten pieces to the freezer immediately after serving – check out our Mochi Ice Cream recipe blog.
Bringing It Full Circle—where mindful eating and mochi lovers unite!
Mochi is more than just a dessert to us — it’s the reason Mochi Cloud Sweets exists.
Our Daifuku Mochi Baking Mix is where it all began. It started with a craving for something that didn’t exist: traditional mochi — but without carbs overload. So we created it ourselves.
Today, this mix stands as the foundation of our mission: to bring authentic, low-carb, gluten-free Japanese-inspired desserts to every mochi lover.
Whether you’re celebrating a season, a moment, or simply your sweet tooth — this is your invitation to rediscover mochi in a way that’s joyful, mindful, and truly satisfying.
From our kitchen to yours,
Mochi Cloud Sweets ♡
👉🏻 Order Now: Shop Here
✨ Watch It Come to Life: Daiifuku Mochi
📷 Share Your Creations: Tag us @MochiCloudSweets on Instagram—we would love to feature your masterpieces!
