Indian sweets are almost synonymous to Indian festivals, and one sweet dish which makes the most rounds is Kesar Peda. It is saffron flavour infused, mildly sweet milk fudges. Sitting proudly besides some of the other popular Indian mithai like Gulab Jamun, these are very popular among kids.
Here, in this post, we will learn about how to make kesar peda at home, with milk powder. With a handful of pantry staples, I will tell you how to nail this kesar peda recipe easily at your end through the recipe video.
Kesar peda recipe with milk powder
Most of the kesar peda recipes call for khoya or mawa. It is milk solid which is very popular in Indian sweet making. But you can easily make some kesar peda with milk powder, fresh cream, a touch of ghee or clarified butter and sugar.
Usually, during the festive season, we need to make these Indian sweets at home. And we all know how busy we are during that time of the year. Arranging the perfect dresses, getting the house in order, ordering the flowers, putting up the fanciest dinner table menu for the guests, and if you have kids, then multiply the stress by 10X. As chances are there that they want a particular dress for the day or they aren’t in the mood for this.
So, making sweets while sweating bullets isn’t on your priority list, right? I think it is during this time when a recipe like this comes so handy.
All in all, 20 minutes of elbow-grease and an hour of cooling will give you a neat bunch of Kesar flavoured Pedas for your folks! And the best part, you can make these ahead as they stay well for a week in your refrigerator.

How to make Kesar Peda – Ingredients list
- Milk Powder
- Full-fat Milk or Cow’s Milk
- Ghee or Clarified Butter
- Fresh Cream
- Saffron
- Sugar
These are also known as Kesar Malai Pedas as we are using full fat cream or malai, as we call in Hindi.
Basically with milk powder, ghee, milk & cream, we will be making ourselves some instant khoya or mawa, which would get further transformed into kesar mawa pedas.
In case you are looking for kesar peda recipe with condensed milk, simply substitute milk and sugar with half of the amount of condensed milk in this recipe
Making Indian sweets or mithais can be daunting, to begin with, but with the right recipe and perfect ingredient, you can pretty much nail it on your own. And the satisfaction of a successful mithai making tryout is simply unbounding!
Here’s a quick list of some of the most popular Indian sweets recipes from my blog
- Instant Gulab Jamun recipe using Milk Powder
- Instant Kalakand recipe using Condensed Milk
- Instant Malpoa recipe
- Gajar ka Halwa recipe without using Khoya
- Instant Gajar ka Halwa recipe
- Atta ka Halwa recipe
- Kesar Peda
- Sweet Boondi
- Rasbhari
- Khaja or Chiroti
- Chanar Jilipi or Paneer Jalebi
- Pranhara Sandesh
- Kesar Peda
- Kesar Motichoor Ladoo
- Balushahi
- Besan Ladoo
- Narkel Naru or Coconut Jaggery Ladoo
Have you tried this recipe? I would love to hear about it.
Tag me on Instagram @priyankabhattacharya.sa or Facebook @hashdiaries and I will share it further.
Indian sweets are almost synonymous to Indian festivals, and one sweet dish which makes the most rounds is Kesar Peda. It is saffron flavour infused, mildly sweet milk fudges. Sitting proudly besides some of the other popular Indian mithai like Gulab Jamun, these are very popular among kids.
- 1 cup Milk Powder
- ½ cup Fresh Cream Full Fat
- ¼ cup Milk Full Fat
- 2 tbsp Ghee or Clarified Butter
- 2 tsp Sugar Add extra of you prefer it sweeter.
- pinch Saffron threads
-
Sak the saffron in a teaspoon of lukewarm milk.
-
Take a non-stick heavy bottom pan and keep it on medium-low flame.
-
Add the ghee, milk and fresh cream. Stir
-
Add the sugar and mix.
-
Now, add the milk powder and whisk so that it doesn't form lumps. If it does, just try to mash them with the back of your spoon.
-
Keep stirring for next 10-15 minutes while mashing the lumps (if any) with the back of your spatula/spoon. Soon you will see that it is has reduced in the quantity.
-
Add the saffron-infused milk into this and give it a mix. Keep the saffron threads aside for garnishing on the top.
-
Keep stirring till it leaves the sides of the pan and makes a smooth dough ball.
-
Turn off the heat and take it out on a plate.
-
Allow it to cool down a bit before dividing it into pedas.
-
Take some ghee in your palms and grease well. Now, pinch off a ball from the dough and roll between your palms. When it becomes smooth, slightly flatten them. Keep it on a plate lined with butter paper.
Similarly, roll each of the pedas and keep it on the plate. Garnish with saffron threads kept aside earlier.
-
Chill for an hour before serving.
📌Pin this Kesar Peda recipe for later!
