How to Make Boba, aka. Tapioca Pearls, From Scratch
Store bought tapioca pearls can be tricky to cook. That’s why I’ll show you how to make boba from scratch at home for homemade bubble tea. It doesn’t take long to prepare them, and they’re so much better than dried tapioca pearls found in stores.
In the middle of the summer heat, you may have noticed that I haven’t been posting as often lately. In part it’s due to my new philosophy of blogging. In part it’s due to having my son home for the summer, and him wanting to play with me most of the day. (I can’t be complaining about having to play in the pool and cuddle up with a sweet, adorable little 5 year old, can I?)
Mostly, though, it’s due to me not being completely caught up from my trip to the US a few weeks back. Amidst the fiestas here in my town, lots of birthday parties and being a full time mommy, it’s taking me longer than I expected to get back into the swing of things.
The first week of our adventures in the US, we stayed at my dad’s house in Connecticut, not too far away from good old New York, New York.
Most of that week was pretty relaxed, but we did manage to throw in a fun day of exploring NYC which included a delicious meal in Chinatown. I had been to NYC as a kid, but don’t remember ever visiting Chinatown, so it was a new, fun adventure for me. I loved marveling at the Asian style architecture of normally American styled places like Starbucks, and if I hadn’t been trying to travel lightly while walking the city, I probably would have bought a few kilos of Asian fruits like lychees, mangosteen, dragon fruits… all of the fun fruits that I can rarely (if ever) find here in Spain.
Another delicacy that I wasn’t able to try was boba bubble tea.
After our meal, I eyed the bubble tea for sale at the shop across the street, and hinted at perhaps going over to get some dessert. Normally I don’t go for buying specialty teas and coffees outside the house because I know they’ll be sugar-laden and definitely not paleo. 😉 How often am I going to get the chance to try bubble tea made in Chinatown Manhattan, though, right?
Unfortunately, everybody else was full, except for my boring practical husband who had no interest in trying something as absurd as bubble tea, so in the interest of not drinking alone, I decided to pass and never got to try bubble tea before heading on towards Times Square and Central Park.
Fast forward a few weeks, and I was hanging out at the Asian store here in Spain, browsing all the fun, unusual treats the shop had to offer, and I saw tapioca pearls for sale. I couldn’t help but buy some to make boba at home so that I could try to make homemade bubble tea.
The problem with store bought tapioca pearls
Unfortunately, despite having watched numerous videos and reading numerous blogs about how to cook the darn things, I couldn’t get the store bought boba to cook right!
After some research, I’ve found that it’s probably because the people who have the most success with store bought boba use tapioca pearls that have been sealed in shrink wrap and that need to be stored in the fridge and used up within a week once opened. I’m guessing those are packaged without being completely dehydrated, making their reconstitution easier later on. I have only been able to find the fully dried tapioca pearls here, though.
I tried everything from…
pre-soaking the pearls… which ended in a tapioca starch water and powdery mess…
bringing the water to a boil with the boba tapioca pearls already in the pan… which ended up with a gluey mess and no pearls to be seen…
boiling the water and then adding the boba…which, despite boiling for over an hour ended up with rubbery, transparent balls with an opaque, raw, hard, tapioca flour center. Yuck!
The only thing that sort of worked was to boil for very long periods, followed by very long periods of cooling, usually followed by boiling and cooling again at least once more. Even the boba that almost cooked all the way through (see the picture below) weren’t very appealing, and I decided to give up on making homemade bubble tea!
Or did I?
The tapioca pearls that I bought showed only 2 ingredients: tapioca starch and water.
Making tapioca pearls/boba from scratch
Making boba from scratch can’t be that difficult, right?
I thought about how I used to always make pasta from scratch. People used to think I was crazy when they heard that I always made my own pasta from scratch.
Doesn’t that take forever?
Well, actually, no!
Apart from the clean up, it took me about the same amount of time to make homemade pasta as it did for me to boil the store bought stuff. Plus, mine was just so much better and fully customizable!
Why is homemade pasta and boba so quick to make?
Faster cooking time
Because store bought pasta has been dehydrated so that it will keep for longer. Boiling it to cook it takes much longer than cooking the pasta that you have freshly made.
I no longer make homemade pasta very often; not because it takes too long, or because it’s not great, but because most of the time I have completely eliminated gluten from my diet. I have tried coming up with gluten free and grain free pasta recipes, but so far the closest I’ve come to a paleo pasta is the dough I used in my paleo dim sum recipe. (It actually tastes very similar to pasta, and has a similar texture once cooked, it’s just a lot more delicate to work with so it’s not as practical for making something like spaghetti.)
My logic, though, was that homemade boba tapioca pearls would cook similarly. Because they are fresh and haven’t been dehydrated, they would cook up almost immediately.
And I was right!
It took me less time to make boba tapioca pearls from scratch than it did for me to try to cook the store bought boba!
Seriously!
It’s super quick and easy to make, and it’s actually even kind of fun.
Plus it uses only 2 ingredients, tapioca starch and water, so it’s gluten free, grain free, and, thus, arguably paleo. 🙂
After me having thrown out some of his dried up, unusable playdough, my son was only too happy to help make little tapioca pearls too. Win-win!
(I may or may not have actually used his.) 😉
Wow, I’m chatty today…
Let’s get to it!
Video
Boba, aka. Tapioca Pearls, From Scratch
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!
Can you store homemade boba tapioca pearls for later?
I’ve been experimenting with different ways to store them.
Can you let them dry out and then use them later?
Yes, but you end up with the same sort of problem that can be had with store bought dehydrated tapioca pearls. It takes a lot longer to cook them, and you may end up with opaque, raw tapioca flour centers.
Can you freeze the cooked boba?
You can, but they will get opaque and hard. I found that out the hard way when I thought it was a good idea to make popsicles with boba! Some people swear that boba popsicles are great, but I can’t imagine how! I found the frozen boba to be unpalatable and hard. No more boba tea popsicles for me! (I did find one blog post that said that you had to use mini pearls in popsicles for them to stay chewy, but I found the frozen boba to be so gross that I probably won’t be giving it a try!)
If you boil them again, they will warm up and turn translucent again. The texture will come closer to the original chewy texture, but I didn’t find them to be as pleasant as the ones made from scratch and served immediately.
Can you freeze the tapioca pearl dough and form the boba later?
Freezing the dough works pretty well, but the dough can get a bit crumblier and harder to work with once it thaws than when it was freshly made. The cooked boba made from frozen dough seemed pretty much identical to the boba made fresh, so if you get sick of making boba in the middle of the process, freezing the excess dough is definitely an option. I wouldn’t personally make a big batch just to freeze it, though, as it is easy enough to make when needed, and the fresh dough is easier to work with.
Can you freeze the formed, uncooked tapioca pearls?
Yes, and I’ve found that to be the best way to make boba ahead of time and store them for later. They may not turn out exactly like the ones made from scratch, but they are pretty close.
I boil them right from frozen, and boil them a little bit longer than I normally do with freshly made tapioca pearls.
Can you color and flavor homemade boba?
So far, I’ve only tried adding in a pinch of salt and some honey to my homemade boba. They turned out well, and may have been slightly sweeter than the ones that are only soaked in honey, but I didn’t really notice much of a difference in the final outcome. The flavor didn’t really change too much.
A lot of people have asked me about how to make black boba.
So, I began to research the topic. At first, I was pretty sure that the black boba just added food coloring to the boba. That’s probably still the case with most inexpensive black boba for sale. (As you probably know by now, I’m not big about adding colorants to my homemade food, so I haven’t tried using food coloring yet.)
That said, other commenters have brought other theories…
Black sugar
Some people have told me that the difference is that the black boba use dark sugar. There is even a type of Asian sugar called “black sugar” that many have claimed is used in black boba. That said, I’m still of the belief that no matter how much dark sugar was added to the boba, it wouldn’t be enough to make them black!
They may use black sugar in the boba, but it it likely supplemented with some other colorant to make them the deep shade of black that you’re used to seeing in shops.
What does seem more plausible, is another theory offered by readers…
Activated Charcoal
It has been brought to my attention that sometimes activated charcoal is used. One reader saw a video on Facebook showing how activated charcoal was used to make black boba from scratch at a café.
Other colors…
I’ll probably try adding things like matcha or substituting the water with fruit juices in some of my next batches, and I’ll try to keep you updated on the outcome.
I’d love to hear what combinations you come up with!
Can I keep the boba dough in the fridge for a couple days? I just tried this recipe in a matcha latte with almond milk and it was divine!
Hi Sydney,
I can’t remember if I tried that or not. It should be fine. I’d probably make the balls first, though, because the texture might change in the fridge with time. I’m not really sure. I know I experimented with trying to conserve them a lot of different ways. Some worked OK, but the best ones were the ones made fresh. I wish I could be of more help.
I always thought black boba was made with strong black tea
Hi Charlene,
I’m sure they probably do add strong black tea to them to change the flavor, but they would also have to add a pretty strong colorant to make the boba black. The tapioca flour is very white and I can’t imagine any concentration of any tea being enough to color them the dark black boba I’ve seen in pictures.
Very true! Most store bought tapioca are artificially colored to look brownish black. The reason they are colored is because back in the days, when tapioca first became popular, they are soaked in brown sugar syrup which gave them a caramel color. But now to mass produce, food coloring is a much easier solution. Making your own is the best!
Hello,
I had someone tell me the other day that they made the matcha with cocoa powder, and that turned them a dark flavor and added great flavor. I haven’t tried it yet, but now I’m excited to try!
Yay! I currently buy store bought boba from the asian market and it boils in about 3 minutes, perfect every time with no gooey mess. Not sure what brand you were buying. However they have so much crap in them I really don’t like eating them even though I love boba tea (artificial flavor, food coloring, caramel color, preservatives, yum!) Thanks for the recipe! Excited to try it!
Hi Erin,
Interesting. I’ve tried several varieties here from the local Asian markets. None of them have worked out for me. At least it’s super easy, and kind of fun, to make at home. 😉
thank you for this post! living in a village in the cz. republic, i haven’t been able to find the large pearls and my daughter loved them on our last trip to the states. it’ll be a great christmas holidays project… however, i’m enamored with the thai tea and haven’t been able to figure out what makes it different from regular tea — do you have any tips? thanks!!!!
Hi Maggie,
I’m so happy to help. It’s a lot of fun to make boba!
Honestly, I don’t know about the thai tea, but I’ve also tried to make it at home and wasn’t very successful. I think you need to make a very strong tea blend, and then add a lot of sugar to it- which is probably why mine doesn’t turn out like the ones in the restaurants in the US. I tend to stay away from adding much sugar. hahaha
Then, I’ve seen it recommended to use coconut milk for the cream part, but I feel like it needs something thicker and more consistent. My guess is that it uses a mixture of coconut cream and regular cream. The tea is probably mixed with a sugar syrup, and my guess is that the color comes from an artificial red coloring. This is me just guessing, though.
I should try again- it’s been years since I’ve tried, mostly because I do try to avoid too much sugar in my diet. I think we could probably make a slightly healthier version that could be pretty good, though.
My thoughts are- use a strongly brewed tea, lots of sugar and lots of cream… definitely NOT paleo. 😉
If I get around to it, I’ll let you know my findings- I’d also love to hear yours if you experiment with it.
Hi there! I’ve actually made Thai tea at home, so I wanted to share. I bought a bag of Thai tea when in Thailand and brought it back. This is the exact kind I imported from a friend’s coffee shop: https://www.amazon.com/Number-One-Original-Thai-Iced/dp/B00712N6II/ref=sr_1_4_s_it?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1517175741&sr=1-4&keywords=thai+tea
You brew it like black tea, about 5 minutes and then add sugar and sweetener. Lastly, any creamer you want (they use canned sweetened condensed milk in Thailand). The light color of the creamer show that the tea is truly a deep orange already and it lightens with creamer.
The flavor is unique-I don’t know what they make it from. If you have the right tea to start, it can be easy to make!
Hi Leah,
Thanks so much for your insight into the process!
Yeah- I guess I’m trying to figure out the how to make your own Thai tea. 😉
That said, it is so much easier to find what you need these days online, so sometimes it isn’t worth it.
Thai tea is a specific tea leaf (flavor), sometimes with lemongrass and pandan leaves, and with yellow food coloring for the color. You can buy it at asian markets. To have it like the restaurants, you have to make it super strong, I mean SUPER strong, and then yes, add a lot of sugar. The restaurant I go to uses pure half n half (no fat free crap), and no coconut. I make it at home with less sugar, and I still like it, but it’s not quite like at the restaurants. Sometimes sugar does bring out flavor, but it’s easy to overdue in my opinion.
I have never tried store bought or at home made bubble tea so this was my first. I did find that by Making butterfly pea tea (naturally colored blue water) and use that to make pearls, my pearls end up a pretty translucent blue and turn purple in acidic drinks and stay blue in bases. Thank you!
Hi Tarah,
Thanks for the great idea! That sounds very cool.
I’ve heard about that tea, and have wanted to buy some to test it out for using as a natural food coloring. I may just have to finally get around to buying it to try that myself.
Did you see my post about the color changing homemade food coloring? I really love that sort of thing. 😉
I’m having a hard time making a “dough”. Mine is simultaneously liquid/solid/crumbles like the cornstarch and water phemonenon we used to do as kids… i got the bob’s red mill tapioca starch and it’s totally not working
Actually I figured out what I did wrong; I am having a very hard time keeping the water hot enough! I microwaved it briefly and it improved!
Hi Catey,
I’m so glad you were able to figure out the problem! Especially during cooler months of the year, this is definitely the most common problem!
The heat is what gets the tapioca to become more elastic, which makes it a nice dough to work with and gives the boba their fun texture. 🙂
Thanks for the recipe. Most recipes call for brown sugar and syrup and mess up the whole dough and makes it hard. Yours is wayy too easy and I made it as soon as I found it. Turned out great. Had a midnight chai boba tea with my hubs.
Definitely a keeper. I soaked it in a cup of black tea with brown sugar after cooking them and they themselves are great to enjoy!
Xoxo
Wow, really?
That’s interesting. I definitely don’t like to complicate things when there’s no need to. 😉
I’m so glad it worked out for you, and that you liked the way it turned out! 🙂
I am from Iran, and live in the capital (Tehran) . Just calling to say this recipe was WOW! I fell in love with it! We have just a few boba bars in whole Iran. And they even don’t know what boba really is. There was no where to buy even dried tapioca pearls, let alone the tapioca starch! But I finally got my hands on the tapioca starch and made my own. I added black food coloring and cocoa flavour and it was fantastic! Super easy! really time consuming though! It’s a shame people here don’t even know what tapioca is!
Wow, Nafas,
I’m so happy that you were able to find the tapioca starch and that I was able to help! 🙂
Hi Tracy,
I was excited to find your site for homemade boba.
I tried it today, but wasn’t successful . I need your help please.
I followed your instructions using hot boiling water and I used Bob’s Red Hill Tapioca flour. First try my mixture became watery maybe because I put the all the water at the same time. Second try, I add water a little at a time, with little water left the dough still crumbled, I can’t roll into a snake shape, I added the rest of the water, it became watery again. I can’t make a dough out of it!!
Hi Tess,
Hmmm. I’m sorry to hear it isn’t working out well for you.
Normally the issue people have is that people aren’t using water that is hot enough. You need the water to be at almost boiling temperature at the time of adding it. If you are working in a cold environment, even that can affect things. It’s the heat that makes tapioca starch/flour become almost rubbery in texture, allowing you to form a nice, workable dough.
I haven’t used Bob’s Red Mill in this particular recipe. (I live in Spain, and it isn’t available here.) So, I don’t know if your issues are environmental, or due to that particular tapioca flour.
If it were me, I’d probably actually try mixing the flour with the water over a heat source. (Carefully- don’t burn yourself. I do a similar process when making my flaxseed tortilla chips. There’s a video that shows what I mean there.)
I wouldn’t leave it there for long- you don’t want to turn it into a completely rubbery mess that is difficult to work with. You just want to gelatinize it enough to hold its shape.
If even that doesn’t work, I’d probably try a different tapioca starch.
Has anybody else tried this particular recipe with Bob’s Red Mill?
You Have to make sure that water is very hot and you pour water into starch and then stir fast until it make dough then knead in you hand
Yes, definitely!
Having the water at boiling point- or just below- is the key point to getting the right dough consistency! 🙂
Thank you so much for this post!
I had exact same problem you described about tapioca pearls from store.
So, when I read this, I said I must trt it, and I’m coming back here to say it worked! ☺thank you!
… and I tried to add a raisin at the center of each pearl, this was great and my family loved it, it gives natural sweetness and also the pearl is soft even with cold drink. But only problem some pearls came off the raisins when boiling. I think maybe the layer of dough around raisin needs to be thick and tight so it doesn’t open up when boiling
thank you for the recipe again!
Hi Bliss,
Thanks so much for your comment!
What a fun idea!
I’m glad it worked out for you. Maybe I’ll have to try adding something to the center, too, to see how it goes. 🙂