Boba, aka. Tapioca Pearls, From Scratch

Making boba from scratch for homemade bubble tea is quick and easy. Fresh boba are so much better than dried tapioca pearls found in stores.

Course Beverages, DIY Pantry Foods

Cuisine Asian

Special Diet DF, GF, Paleo, Vegan

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 6 servings (around 1/4 cup)

Calories 66kcal

Ingredients

• 1 cup tapioca starch
• 1/2 cup boiling water

Instructions

• Boil the water.
• Add the tapioca starch to a bowl, followed by the boiling water. I work the water in little by little in case it isn't all needed. Kneading with your hands is the best way to incorporate the water and make a non-sticky dough. Be careful not to burn yourself, though.
• Once you have a workable dough, the easiest way to make tapioca pearls is to roll the dough into long snakes of dough, cut them into small pieces and roll them into tiny balls.
• To cook your homemade boba, boil at least twice as much water as the volume of tapioca pearls that you are going to cook.
• Add your homemade boba to the boiling water. The boba should float to the top. When that happens, turn the heat down to medium
• You'll notice that the boba begin to cook and get their chewy texture almost immediately. At any point after a couple of minutes, you can use the boba and they will be better than the dehydrated store bought pearls. I later found, though, that if you keep simmering until they fall back to the bottom of the pan, and then remove them, they will be more transparent once removed and allowed to steep in honey for a few minutes. (They will still be pretty opaque when you remove them from the water, but they start to become translucent once removed from the boiling water and stored in honey.)
• Remove the boba from hot water with a slotted spoon, and transfer them to a bowl with some honey. The honey will help preserve them until you are ready to use them, slightly sweeten them, and keep them from sticking to each other.
• Add them to your tea! I've found that they have the best texture when warm, so if you want cold bubble tea, it's best to add them first to your glass while they are warm, and pour the cold tea over top, serving immediately!
• Enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 66kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Iron: 0.2mg

Recipe printed from Oh, The Things We'll Make! Blog. https://thethingswellmake.com/how-to-make-boba-tapioca-pearls-from-scratch/