Just 3 ingredients and 5 minutes are required to make this applesauce mochi! Unlike my previous applesauce mochi no sugar is needed to keep this mochi soft and sweet.
How Can Mochi be Made with Just 3 Ingredients?
Sweet rice flour, water and sugar — that’s all you need to make mochi at home using the microwave. The “water and sugar” is replaced with applesauce in this recipe, with corn starch used to dust the mochi so that it doesn’t stick to your hands when you eat them. Unlike my previous applesauce mochi recipe, I left out the sugar because applesauce provides enough sweetness to the mochi.
Ingredients Used to Make Applesauce Mochi
**I’ve linked some of these ingredients to amazon.com to give you an idea of what they are, but you should also be able to find them in your local grocery store (usually, the natural & organic food section). They are also affiliate links, which means that I earn a commission as an Amazon Associate if you decide to purchase the items. The price will be the same for you, link or no link 🙂
Applesauce – unsweetened applesauce is one of my all time favorite pantry staple. Applesauce can be used to replace some of the oils in the recipe to cut calories and fat, but even for mochi recipes like this one, the large amount of pectin naturally in apples help seal in more moisture and keeps the mochi nice and soft.
- Glutinous Rice Flour – this goes by many names. You’ll see Glutinous Rice Flour and Mochiko Flour (my favorite brand) in Asian grocery stores, and Sweet White Rice Flour in most other stores. ***Please note that regular white rice flour or brown rice flour is NOT the same thing as glutinous rice flour!!!
Cornstarch – for dusting the mochi and to keep the mochi from sticking to your hands. You can also use a neutral oil, like olive oil, instead.
More Applesauce Recipes (HERE)
How to Make Applesauce Mochi
How to Make Applesauce Mochi in the Microwave
STEP 1
In a microwave-safe bowl (preferably glass, like pyrex), mix the sweet rice flour with the unsweetened applesauce
STEP 2
Microwave the combined dough in the microwave for 2 minutes. Use a solid metal spoon to stir the cooked mochi mixture. Return to microwave and heat for additional 1 minute.
STEP 3
Drop the hot mochi dough onto a surface floured with corn starch. Handle with care, or use vinyl gloves, as the mochi dough will be HOT. Unfortunately, you have to work quickly to shape the mochi before they cool.
Use kitchen shears/ scissors to cut the mochi into 5 pieces, and fill with prepared filling such as sweetened adzuki paste.
STEP 4
Wrap the mochi dough around the prepared filling and dust the finished mochi with more corn starch
Recipe Variations and Optional Add Ins:
- You can add different flavorings to the applesauce mochi dough before cooking. For example, you can add either a teaspoon of coffee extract or espresso powder, cocoa, cinnamon or Cardamom Powder. They’re not typically added in a traditional recipe, but you’re welcome to experiment!
Different Mochi Filling Options
If you don’t have sweetened red bean paste available, or if you just want to enjoy mochi with a variety of fillings, there are many other filling options to choose from. Here are some ideas!
- Shiro-an (sweetened white bean paste) – on Amazon, here, or here’s a Shortcut White Bean Paste Recipe I make when I’ve run out of Shiro An
- Mung Bean paste – sweet and delightfully yellow, homemade mung bean paste is a perfect mochi filling for those who are looking for a healthier bean paste alternative. Here’s my 2-Ingredient mung bean paste recipe here
How to Store Applesauce Mochi
- The mochi can be kept covered at room temperature for up to 24 hours. For longer storage, I would freeze the mochi in a plastic freezer bag or an airtight container, then defrost at room temperature when ready to eat.
- The reason I don’t recommend storing them in the fridge is that mochi usually tend to develop a weird waxy, hard texture when stored in the fridge. So eat within a day or freeze for best results.
Final Tips
- Use a solid metal spoon (wooden spoons might break!) to stir the cooked applesauce mochi mixture so that the cooked and uncooked parts are evenly mixed
- Use a microwave-safe bowl, preferably glass like pyrex
More Easy Microwave Mochi Recipes You’ll Love (HERE)
Applesauce Mochi made in the Microwave
Ingredients
Mochi Ingredients
- 8 oz unsweetened applesauce about 1 cup
- 1 cup mochiko flour, sweet rice or glutinous rice flour about 140 g
Other Ingredients
- 1/4 cup corn, potato or tapioca starch
- 1/2 package sweetened red bean paste (koshi an)
Instructions
Prepare the filling (optional)
- Prepare mochi filling by rolling about 1-2 Tablespoons of sweetened red bean paste into balls. Set aside. If you would like to eat the mochi plain, you can skip this step.
- Sprinkle the starch onto a clean dish or baking pan. Set aside.
Make the Mochi
- In a microwaveable glass bowl (like Pyrex), mix the applesauce with mochiko flour until a smooth dough forms
- Microwave the applesauce-mochi mixture for 2 minutes
- Use a SOLID METAL spoon (wooden spoons might break!) to stir the cooked mochi so that the cooked and uncooked parts are evenly mixed
- Microwave the mochi mixture again, this time for 1 minute
- Pour the cooked mochi onto the baking pan sprinkled with starch
- Cut the mochi into 6 pieces using scissors
- Eat as is, or fill with prepared bean paste filling. Enjoy!
I made this recipe with sweetened applesauce which provided just the right amount of sweetness in my opinion. I want to try using the cinnamon applesauce next and see what happens
That cinnamon applesauce sounds like a delicious idea!
Thanks! I’ve been searching for a mochi recipe that doesn’t use a lot of sugar and this was perfect.
I’m so glad you liked it. Thank you!
I tried baking this in the oven in a mini silicone cupcake pan, to have bite sized mochi to eat by itself (without any filling, since I’m not doing sugar – would like to make my own bean paste some time). It turned out great! Slightly crispy on the outside and chewy on the outside.
Wow, I never thought of cooking these mochi recipes in the oven, but that sounds really amazing, especially the crispy edges! I learn so much from your fun experiments, Annie 🙂