Fried Chinese Sesame Balls

Fried sesame balls are a classic dim sum dish that is a fan favorite in the Chinese community. It is characterized by a crispy, chewy dough coated in sesame seeds and filled with some sort of paste. My personal favorite filling is red bean paste! In this blog post, learn all the tips and tricks to make these delicious treats at home including how to get the perfect spherical shape and how to prevent your sesame seeds from falling off in the frying process.

This week I made one of my favorite dim sum desserts of all time – fried sesame balls. Every time I go to dim sum, I always make sure to order these things even if I’m stuffed. I even get sesame balls when I’m not at dim sum if they’re available. They’re definitely not healthy, but there’s just something about that crispy exterior and the yummy fillings that make me so happy!

What are fried sesame balls?

Sesame balls are a classic dim sum dish and one I never fail to order when I am at dim sum. Outside of dim sum restaurants, you can also find them sold at Chinese bakeries or Asian supermarkets. It is a crispy, chewy snack that is filled with some sort of paste and coated with sesame seeds. Traditional fillings include lotus paste and red bean paste. Lotus paste used to be the standard, but nowadays, red bean paste has become way more popular. I’ve also had sesame balls with black sesame paste and even peanut butter as a filling.

How I developed my sesame ball recipe

I have tested multiple variations of this recipe with different ingredients, temperatures, and methods. In all, I think I’ve tested this 6-10 times. My main goal with this recipe was to create the easiest recipe with the best results because this recipe can be tedious and labor intensive to make!

I first tested variations in ingredients like glutinous rice flour vs sweet rice flour and boiling water vs warm water. I found that this recipe must have glutinous rice flour because sweet rice flour makes the outside extremely thick and hard instead of light and airy. Sweet rice flour (or mochi flour) was also harder to work with because it was so sticky. Unfortunately, I did 2-3 tests with sweet rice flour before I realized that I was not using the right flour. Boiling water is crucial to this recipe because it cooks the flour a little bit which helps create that chewy texture.

In my tests, I also found oil temperature and frying method are super important. Frying at a lower temperature first allows the entire sesame ball to evenly fry all the way through without burning the outside. In addition to temperature, keeping the balls rolling throughout the frying time also helps the balls fry evenly. This may sound labor intensive (because it is), but rolling the sesame balls frequently so they are fried evenly on all sides helps it maintain its circular shape and prevents one side from puffing up too much.

Ingredients, Substitutions & Adjustments

• Boiling water – It is essential to use boiling water because it cooks the rice flour a little bit which helps give the sesame ball its chewy texture.
• Glutinous rice flour – Make sure to use glutinous rice flour, NOT sweet rice flour or mochi flour. They are not the same thing. Glutinous rice flour comes from Southeast Asia (the one I used comes from Thailand) and is made from long grain sticky rice while Mochiko sweet rice flour comes from Japan and is made from short grain sticky rice.
• Granulated sugar – Adds sweetness to the sesame balls. I would not recommend using less sugar because it will change the texture of the sesame ball as well.
• Baking powder – Makes the outside light and airy.
• Salt – Brings out the flavor of every ingredient.
• Red bean paste – Red bean paste is used as a filling, but you can use other fillings such as black sesame paste and lotus paste. You can either buy it pre-made or make it at home.
• Sesame seeds – You can use any of sesame seeds you want. I chose to use a mixture of black and white sesame seeds.
• Vegetable oil (for frying) – I highly recommend using some sort of oil with a high smoke point like vegetable oil.

How to make fried sesame balls

Prepping the sesame ball components

In a large bowl, combine 1 1/4 cup of glutinous rice flour, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1/4 tsp of baking powder, and 1/4 tsp of salt. Mix and set aside. Boil 1/2 cup of water and pour it into the bowl. Mix until a dough ball forms. Cover and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.

While the dough is resting, divide 144 grams of red bean paste into 9 dough balls weighing 16 grams each. Pour 1/4 cup of sesame seeds into a fine mesh sieve and run it under some water to soak the seeds. Empty the seeds onto paper towels to dry them off a bit. The sesame seeds should be damp, not soaking wet.

Once the dough has rested, divide the dough into dough balls weighing 32 grams each. Take a dough ball and flatten it into a ~3 inch disc with the center thicker than the edges. Place a red bean paste ball in the center and wrap the dough around the red bean paste. Roll it between your palms so it’s in the shape of a ball and then coat it in the damp sesame seeds. Repeat this process for the rest of the dough and red bean paste.

Frying the sesame balls

Heat 6 cups of vegetable oil to 300 degrees F (149 degrees C). Drop 3-4 sesame balls in the oil and fry for 10 minutes. Keep the balls rolling in the oil to ensure even frying across the entire surface. If one side starts to puff up too much, press it down to keep it in a circular shape. Repeat this process for all the sesame balls.

Once each batch is done frying, place them onto a paper towel to soak up excess oil. Increase the temperature to 340 degrees F (171 degrees C). Fry the sesame balls for an additional 5 minutes to get that brown color. Make sure to work in batches. Once done frying, let them cool on paper towels for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Tips on how to make the perfect Chinese sesame balls

Wet sesame seeds stick better

I tested this with dry and wet sesame seeds and found wet sesame seeds stick so much better. They shouldn’t be too wet though since water and oil don’t go well together. You’ll get splattered with oil if they’re too wet.

Experiment with different fillings

Like I mentioned, I’ve had these with so many different fillings from traditional ones like lotus paste and red bean paste to more modern ones like black sesame paste and peanut butter. Make them your own by experimenting with different fillings!

Use a candy thermometer for consistency

Temperature is really important to the frying process. That’s why I would recommend getting a candy thermometer to ensure you have a consistent temperature throughout frying.

Make sure sesame ball is fully submerged in the oil

This is a huge huge tip. When I was testing this recipe, I didn’t fully submerge one batch and the side that wasn’t submerge started to puff up which made it look more like an egg as opposed to a ball.

How do you store and reheat sesame balls?

Store sesame balls in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. To reheat, use an oven or air fryer to get that crispy skin.

Did you make this dish?

If you made this dish, I would love to see!

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