Adzuki Bean Paste (Red Bean Paste)

Glass bowl full of adzuki bean paste on a white table.

Adzuki Bean Paste (Red Bean Paste)

5 from 1 vote

Course: Dessert, Spread

Cuisine: Asian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean

Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 1

Total Time: 1 5

Servings: 3 cups

Calories: 509kcal

Author: Kelly

Cost: $0.49 per cup

Make adzuki bean paste in the Instant Pot or stove with only sugar and beans. Red bean paste is called anko in Japanese, dousha in Chinese, or danpat in Korean.

Print Recipe

US Imperial (Cups) - Metric (Grams)

Equipment

Dutch oven, stockpot, or pressure cooker (I use a 6-qt Instant Pot)
Potato masher or blender (use a potato masher for tsubuan or a blender for koshian)
Fine-mesh (like this one; only needed if making very smooth and fine koshian)

Ingredients

8 oz dry adzuki beans (see Note 1)
2 to 4 cups water (2 cups if using Instant Pot Method, or 4 cups if using Stovetop Method)
1 cup sugar
¼ tsp salt

Instructions

Stovetop Method

Add soaked adzuki beans to a pot, along with 4 cups of cold water. Cover with a heavy lid and turn the heat to medium high.
Once the water starts to simmer, turn heat down to medium low. Cook until beans are soft and falling apart, around one hour (longer if beans are old or if you did not soak them overnight).
Drain the beans in a colander. Return the drained beans to the pot and mash (for coarse bean paste, tsubuan) or blend (for fine bean paste, koshian).

Instant Pot Method

Add unsoaked beans to an Instant Pot along with 2 cups of cold water.
Secure the lid on the Instant Pot and select the Beans/Chili setting. Press the button to turn it to Less mode (25 minutes on high pressure). Once the Instant Pot beeps and turns off, let the pressure naturally release.
Open the lid. No need to drain the beans. Most of the water has been absorbed by the beans. Mash the remaining liquid right into the beans. This is called tsubuan (coarse bean paste).
Use a blender to blend it into a super smooth paste. This is called koshian (fine bean paste). For a super smooth paste, rub the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer like this one.

Notes

Adzuki Beans: If using the Stovetop Method, I recommend soaking the beans overnight to cut down cooking time; or else you will need double the cooking time with dried, unsoaked beans. No need to soak if using Instant Pot Method! To save even more time, you can also use canned adzuki beans (found in Asian grocery stores or online), which are pre-cooked and ready to eat. Use my Beans Conversion Calculator to convert your canned beans to the dried quantity used in this recipe.

Nutrition