Okonomi Kitchen

Hanami Dango | 花見団子

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This Hanami Dango recipe is amazingly chewy and tender with the perfect amount of sweetness. Easy to make & requires just 3-ingredients to make this popular Japanese dessert!

Dango is one of those desserts that bring me right back to my childhood in grandmas small apartment. I was fortunate enough to travel to Japan every summer to visit my grandparents and eat so much good food. Every night, we would end the day with something sweet. My choice of dessert was always homemade dango and mochi over ice cream and cake. Something about chewy, tender, sticky morsels of subtly sweet rice cakes was so satisfying to eat. There are many different varieties of dango, but I wanted to first share a recipe for Hanami Dango because it’s beautiful and the most simplest to make.

What is Hanami Dango?

Hanami Dango, also called Sanshoku Dango (3 coloured dango) is another variant of the dango family. It is the iconic pink, white and green dango on a stick, there is even an emoji for it on iPhones! This special tri-coloured dango is sold year around, but is especially popular during the spring during the cherry blossom viewing. This is where the name Hanami Dango stems from where Hanami literally translates to “flower looking”.

What Does Hanami Dango Taste like?

Plain dango balls tastes like sweet rice. It sounds boring, but what makes this Japanese dessert so special is the texture. Chewy, tender, soft but still firm and toothsome. Some dangos comes with a topping such as sweetened black sesame paste, sweet soy sauce or anko (sweet red bean paste). However, Hanami Dango is served as is. The green dango typically is slightly earth because it is subtly flavoured with mugfort (yomogi), but matcha can also be used. The pink dango is also sometimes flavoured with sakura or strawberry powder but usually tastes the same as the white dango.

Dango Ingredients

Dango traditionally is made with only rice or rice flour. However, my grandma always incorporated tofu to achieve a more tender, soft and chewy texture. I’ve always made it with the addition of the tofu but was curious how it would turn out if I only used Japanese rice flour. I attempted to make dango with just rice flour and found it to be much more tough and not as springy in texture.

So to achieve soft and chewy dango with the right amount of firmness, these are the 3 main ingredients needed:

To make green dango, I used matcha powder and for the pink dango, I used strawberry powder. The colouring really is for presentation purposes only, so you can still enjoy dango without the powders.

How to Make Hanami Dango Step by Step

3 colours of dango dough prep

Step 1: The first step is to make the dough by combining the tofu, flour and sugar in a large bowl. Use your hands to squeeze the mixture together, almost in a kneading motion until everything is well incorporated. Then divide the dough into 3 equal portions.

Step 2: Add the matcha powder into one portion of dough and mix until the colour is uniform. Add the strawberry powder or pink food colouring into another portion of dough and mix until the colour is uniform.

Step 3: Divide the dough into 5-6 equal sized pieces. For 5 pieces, each piece should weigh 14-15 grams. If 6 pieces, 11-12 grams each.

rolling out dango dough
dango dough balls

Step 4: Roll each piece into a ball using your palms.

TIP: To achieve perfect round balls, dust your hands with a little bit of rice flour so the don’t stick to your hands.

boiling dango balls

Step 5: Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the dango balls in. Let them cook until they start floating to the top. Then use a strainer ladle to scoop them out.

dango balls in cold water & dango balls on a bamboo stick

Step 6: Place the dango into a bowl of ice water to stop them from cooking. Step 7: Once cooled, place the dango balls in a bamboo skewer in this order: green, white pink. Repeat for the remaining balls.

And… thats it! Easy right? I hope this recipe leaves you inspired to make Hanami Dango right in your own kitchen! Stay tuned for more dango recipes coming in the near future!

If you recreate this Hanami Dango recipe let me know how you liked it by leaving a comment and rating below or by tagging me on Instagram @Okonomikitchen, I love seeing all of your tasty recreations!

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Print

Hanami Dango

★★★★★

4.9 from 37 reviews
  • Author: Lisa Kitahara
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 10 minutes
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 5 skewers 1x
Print Recipe

Description

This Hanami Dango recipe is amazingly chewy and tender with the perfect amount of sweetness. Easy to make & requires just 3-ingredients to make this popular Japanese dessert!

Scale

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Weigh the rice flour, silken tofu and sugar and then add Into a large bowl. Mix well using your hands. Using a kneading motion until a dough forms. 
  2. Divide the dough into three equal parts. 
  3. Sift in the strawberry powder into one portion of the dough and knead until it forms a uniform pink colour.
  4. Sift in the matcha powder into another portion of the dough and knead well until it turns green.
  5. Divide each ball of dough into 5-6 balls. I weigh each ball to be around 14-15 grams each, this yields 5 skewers. For smaller balls, make them into 10-12 grams each. 
  6. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add in the dango balls. Leave the dango balls to cook. Remove the dango balls when they rise to the top of the water. Scoop them out using a strainer ladle and place into a bowl of ice cold water to stop them from cooking further. 
  7. Add one green dango ball onto a skewer. Follow with one white and one pink dango ball. Repeat for all 5-6 skewers then enjoy!

Notes

  • Strawberry powder and matcha is added just for natural colour and a tiny bit of flavour, however is not essential or traditional. You can either leave out the colour entirely or food colour can be used instead.
  • Nutritional Information Disclaimer: Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated on an online tool (Cronometer) for 1 out of 5 skewers.
  • Category: Desserts
  • Method: Stove top
  • Cuisine: Japanese

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 skewer
  • Calories: 108
  • Sugar: 8.2g
  • Sodium: 4.8mg
  • Fat: 0.6g
  • Saturated Fat: 0
  • Unsaturated Fat: 0
  • Trans Fat: 0
  • Carbohydrates: 22.7g
  • Fiber: 0
  • Protein: 2.2g
  • Cholesterol: 0

Keywords: hanami dango, sanshoku dango

SAVE IT FOR LATER! ↓

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Reader Interactions

Comments

      • I added an extra few cups of glutinous rice flour haha, the dough was way too sticky. Otherwise great recipe, I added some vanilla flavouring to the white ones too. Took a very long time to make though.

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    • Clear, detailed and easy to follow instructions. I just made them this morning and they turned out great! Thank you for sharing your recipes with us ❤️

      I did notice that my dango balls became misshapen and a little flat after boiling, however—could this be due to too much water in the dough? I’m thinking maybe the water content of the silken tofu I used was higher, which resulted in a moister dough that couldn’t hold its shape after boiling?

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  3. Hi, can you use other types of sugar?
    Oh and by the way, I love your blog and I love that you also share japanese recipes and is even talking a bit about them them and such. Japan has such a fascinating food history and I love that there is meaning in every dish.

    Reply

    • Hi Emily!

      I would use white sugar if you want them to look nice. However, I’m sure you can use another dry sugar (not artificial sweeteners though). & thank you so much! I really appreciate it 🙂

      Reply

    • Hi Joanna!

      They actually tend to get a little hard if placed in the fridge- it’s probably best to eat them fresh. BUT they will be okay for at least a day if you wrap it and place it in a container at room temp 🙂

      Reply

    • Hi Rajat!

      I actually haven’t tried that! I’m thinking the dough might get a little dry, but you could try wrapping it securely to retain moisture. If you do try it out, let me know how it goes!

      Reply

    • Hi Kayla!

      They do tend to get a bit hard when places in the refrigerator. I recommend storing them at room temp in a cool-ish place 🙂

      Reply

  7. Delicious and well-written instructions. i followed everything except replaced sugar with monk fruit sugar. also love that your website doesn’t freeze up my browser with ads. Thank you for everything!

    Reply

    • Hi Emma! To achieve the really soft texture you have to use silken tofu! If you can’t, you can also try fresh SOFT tofu nothing firmer than that. Goodluck!

      Reply

  10. This recipe is so easy and fun to make! Amazing that it has tofu 🤗 it came out perfectly chewy and colourful.
    Thank you for the recipe !!

    ★★★★★

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  11. Hi there. I have made these a few times and I’m having trouble shaping the dough. It doesn’t seem to matter how much flour I have on my hands the dough is still super sticky. I love the results though.

    Reply

  12. I used a slightly different recipe that only used glutinous and regular rice four. When I boiled it the dango balls just turned to goo. Did I get the wrong kind of rice flour?

    Reply

    • Did you follow this recipe? There is no regular rice flour listed– I don’t recommend rice flour because that is not meant to make dango/mochi!

      Reply

  13. Um, I followed the directions, but I had to use ALot of strawberry powder… Also, they were hard to get cleanly on the skewer and the colors didn’t look anything like the pictures. Very disappointed

    Reply

    • The strawberry powder is for colour, not flavour! The matcha you used might have been old which results in a darker green. Were the dangos fully cooked? What was the texture like before boiling?

      Reply

  14. Hi Lisa! Would like to ask is there gonna be any different in texture when using glutinous rice flour and mochiko? Cause it’s hard to get mochiko in my country, Malaysia. :/

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  15. This recipe was so useful and easy to follow! I used it for an insta post on our Instagram @the.hangrygals was fun!! Would definitely come back and check out some other recipes.

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  16. The best dango recipe I have ever used! I’ve made this about 6 times since I discovered your website in the summer. I combine these dango with the mitarashi sauce from Just One Cookbook’s website – DELICIOUS !

    ★★★★★

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  17. Hi there, I’ve tried making these a few times and I feel like in the end my dango have a bit of a grainy texture. What am I doing wrong? I’ve kneaded the heck out of them each time and blended everything really well.

    Reply

  18. I’m so excited to try this recipe as a surprise for my 24 year old daughter. She had a childhood friend that always shared her dango with her. They lost contact after they started middle school. It’s a fond memory I have of her always asking me to buy her dango but could never find it. It comes up in conversation from time to time. If I had known it was that simple a recipe I would have made it years ago. However I will get that chance as she will be coming to meet me in Hawaii as her college graduation gift. Dango will definitely be on the special dinner I’m planning for her. Thank you for the great recipe and the smile you’ll help me out on her face. It doesn’t matter how old our kids get. Seeing their child like smile of joy is food for our souls.

    Reply

  20. This recipe was amazing!! It was the first time I ever made dango and I love it! My 7 year old daughter is a huge fan too!

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  21. first time making dango, so easy and delicious using this recipe! found it while searching to find one that didn’t require specialty rice flours (I only had mochiko), and happened to have silken tofu in the fridge. i used matcha powder and freeze dried strawberry powder + a little beet juice for color. thanks for the beginner-friendly recipe and helpful photos!

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  22. Amazing recipe! The dango are chewy and sweet and so easy to make. I was excited to make these as I often had them when I was in Japan during spring. Yum! 🌸

    ★★★★★

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  24. This is such a fun dessert recipe! The ingredients are simple but tasty and I like how the pink and green colors add a nice aesthetic touch. My dough was too soft at first (maybe I added too much silken tofu?) so I added 1/4 cup more rice flour and I used more matcha and strawberry powder for a stronger color. Thank you for the recipe, Lisa!

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  26. Lovely! Made this plainly coloured to place on top of cheese tea and it was so good! If you haven’t had dango before don’t fret, it’s really satisfying to eat and was a hit with my family🤤. Though I had trouble with shaping as they were quite sticky, I added a bit more rice flour but didn’t want to add too much in case I change the end consistency so when I placed them onto a surface to roll others the bottoms were flat. Overall the recipe is amazing and super simple but I think you should specify whether the dough is meant to be sticky or not sticky at all. Will definitely be making this again!

    ★★★★★

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  28. yummy! mine arent as smooth and perfectly round as yours, but still very good with an excellent protein boost. my bf said these look like little gnocchis lol. thank u for this easy recipe!

    ★★★★★

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  30. I used strawberry pink aroma pasta dye(?) that my grandma had hidden away because i didnt have strawberry dye, just as delicious!!

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  31. This recipe was easy to follow and delicious! I’m allergic to matcha so I used a little green food coloring instead.

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  32. I’m gonna try to make this for my friend! I’m rating it 5 right now but when it turns out I’ll check in again! Sounds great!

    ★★★★★

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  33. The recipe was super easy to follow and they turned out amazing 🥰 I’ve used glutinous rice flour by the way 🙂

    ★★★★★

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  34. Easy and so delicious ! So satisfying to make. All the family loved it !
    I don’t like tofu in savoury recipes but decided to try these sweet dango and although I taste the silken tofu, the sugar kicks it and make those dango the perfect treat !

    ★★★★★

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  36. I’m not sure the strawberry powder linked on Amazon is a good baking powder. The Matcha and White dango balls went well, but the dough disagreed with the strawberry powder. The strawberry portion quickly started wanted sticking to everything but itself even with additional rice flour, never getting enough strawberry to get a good pink color before I gave up and managed to get them into the water in a relative ball shape.
    I’d recommend a different powder or just food dye.

    They were also a bit hard to get on skewers (without making them a little misshapen), but I used different skewers than the ones in the image and used just ‘soft’ tofu because literally nowhere sells any softer tofu where I am. Had to go to a specialty market to get even get plain soft.

    Tastes a lot like mochi. Never had dango before and the only way for me try it so to make it myself. I’d say it’s pretty light in flavor but that’s pretty consistent with Japanese confectionaries overall in my experience. Not that it’s a bad thing. Good recipe overall.

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  37. It was so easy to follow this recipe and they turned out perfectly, I actually used the dango as decoration on a cake and it looked so cute!

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  38. I’ve made them twice and I loved them! Great recipe from simple ingredients, thanks! 🙂

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  39. VERRRYYY DETAILED RECIPE and delicious dango!! I tried it and lemme just say, if you’re scared of tofu being in your sweets, IT DOESN’T EVEN TASTE LIKE TOFU!! It’s a great snack especially for my diabetic grandparents 😊 i substituted the sugar for natural sweeteners for them too! for example, for the pink i put homemade strawberry syrup! THANKSSS LISA!!

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  41. This was my first time trying and making dango! The recipe was super easy and everything was ready in under an hour. The dango was so chewy and perfectly sweet. I used glutinous rice flour for the recipe–the inside texture was a little bit grainy but I think I should have cooked it a bit longer.

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  42. I really enjoyed making this, I get stressed with making desserts, but the dough was nice and smooth and easy to work with. The recipe was easy to follow, I made it without the powders or food colouring as I didn’t have any, but still really tasty. 🙂 x

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  43. The recipe is perfectly written out, but our mixture did not turn out right. It must have been the tofu. The only kind we could find at the grocery store today was gluten free silken. I think it ruined the consistency. We’ll try again! Just a warning to others out there (we used all the other ingredients exactly as listed).

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  44. Any chance I could use tapioca flour? I just have a lot of it on hand 🙂 Or would it turn out more like mochi? Maybe I’ll give it a try

    Reply

    • No I recommend shiratamako or mochiko. If you really cannot find it glutinous rice flour in the clear package with green text (thai brand) will work too 🙂

      Reply

      • So delicious! Had some difficulty, but I think it was my fault. It didn’t specify if you were supposed to press the tofu or not? I’m thinking maybe I was supposed to? I at least drained the silken tofu and pressed one side. But took a lot of (I searched to see if it was the same, internet said glutinous rice flour=sweet rice flour) and it took a lot to fork into a dough texture, was it the tofu or the flour? Either way delicious! I’ll just try pressing more since how much flour I added overtook the flavour.

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  45. This was my first time trying and making hanami dango. It was pretty good and the flavor was very simple (I used pandan extract and red food coloring). I would probably use this recipe again if I want to make it again in the future. When I made it, I used soft tofu rather than silken (because that’s what I had in the fridge) and the texture was kind of grainy because it was hard to mash the tofu evenly. I think that if I used silken instead, it would have been better. I’ll use silken for the next time. Thank you for the recipe!

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    • Update: I made this recipe again with silken tofu – it was *perfect* in consistency and texture. Confirmed, the type of tofu is important. USE SILKEN TOFU!

      Reply

  47. The recipe was super easy to do especially when you measure out the ingredients and following the recommendations! My little sister and I will definitely be making much more of this for our friends! Thank you, Lisa!! ❤️❤️❤️

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  48. These dango ended up being super pretty and tasted pretty good too. I had just ran out of matcha powder but I wanted the aesthetic still so I ended up using food colouring gel for the color. I also felt like it needed a tad bit more sugar, but that’s probably because I’ve been having too many sweets recently haha. Overall super easy recipe and the only thing I’m really missing is the actual hanami season.

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  49. So grateful for this recipe, it turned out beautifully! Thank you for putting in the work and sharing!!

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  50. I used a mixture of non glutinous rice flour and glutinous rice flour. It turned out well however the rice flour I used was grainy and it was shown in the dango. I also used mitirashi sauce.

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  51. Hi Lisa! I’m a little confused about the recipe. Isn’t 3/4 a cup equal to 150 grams? I’m unsure what measurements to use because in your recipe you put 3/4 a cup or 90 g. I’ll be using 100 g of the tofu so I just wanted to clear this up. thank you!

    Reply

  52. Hi Lisa, I just wanted to ask if I could use almond flour as a substitute for rice flour? The store had no rice flour when I went there and I do still want to try this recipe. Thank you 🙂

    ★★★★★

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