This One Pot Red Bean Soup is a classic Chinese dessert that’s easy to make and customizable to toppings like tang yuan or black sesame paste. All you have to do is add all the ingredients (red beans, sago and water) in the rice cooker (or stovetop pot) and wait for the magic to happen!
🔍 Quick Look:
- What is it? This is a popular dessert known in Cantonese as Hóng Dòu Shā (紅豆沙), which is a Chinese-Style Red Bean Paste made from simmering adzuki beans. Mango Pudding is also one of my favorite Cantonese desserts that rivals this one!
- Why you’ll love this recipe: Chinese Red bean soup seems complicated and intimidating, but with this rice cooker method, it’s easy and approachable! All you have to do is add red beans, water and sago and let the rice cooker do the work.
- 🕒 Total Cook Time: 1 hour
- 🔥 Cook Method: Soak the red beans in water overnight, then combine all your ingredients in a rice cooker and press the magic button to cook. Stir in brown sugar, add your favorite toppings, and serve warm. Stovetop pot instructions also available below.
- 👩🍳 Flavor Profile: A ‘not too sweet’ dessert with a creamy consistency from the red beans.
- ⭐ Difficulty: This recipe is easy and perfect for beginners. Just prep the ingredients, then cook everything in a rice cooker or pot until the beans are soft.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
This classic Chinese sweet soup has been enjoyed for generations across China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and other parts of East Asia. This sweet red bean soup is a type of ‘tang sui'(sweet soup water) that is served at the end of the Chinese banquets or a common dessert eaten after a savory dinner.
Known as a healthy dessert, red bean soup is usually served with various toppings such as tang yuan, jellies (grass jelly), boba. Our recipe is the red bean paste soup only and can be customized with your desired toppings. This dessert is great for pregnant women or women on their period according to traditional Chinese medicine to help ease cramps and back pain.
If you love sweet Chinese desserts, my Mango Mochi and Strawberries & Cream Mochi are a must try. For savory rice cake options, don’t miss my Shanghai Rice Cakes or Rose Tteokbokki with Mala Sauce recipes.
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Key Ingredients
Here’s a look at what you need to make this One Pot Red Bean Soup in the Rice Cooker. The highlights are here but the full ingredient list and quantities of each are in the recipe card.
- Red beans (soak the beans overnight) – Adzuki beans are used to make this recipe. Don’t confuse this with red kidney beans because that doesn’t work! I highly recommend soaking the beans to ensure they are soft and creamy when cooked the next day.
- Sago – is a type of tapioca ball that is small and when cooked has a slight chew and softness. You can find this uncooked at most asian grocery stores like 99 ranch.
- Ginger – peeled ginger doesn’t make this red bean paste spicy, yet provides a fragrant flavor and balances the sweetness of the soup.
- Date & apple – added for natural sweetness and fruitiness. You can take these out before you serve the red bean soup, but they are perfectly edible and healthy.
- Brown sugar or white sugar – helps gently sweeten your red bean paste soup. I prefer to add sugar at the end so you can cater to your sweetness.
The more toppings you add to your red bean soup, the more flavorful and tasty the tang sui (sweet soup) is! Here are some topping ideas that are usually served with red bean paste:
- Tapioca balls known as tang yuan in Chinese such as sesame balls and red bean balls are great to add to the red bean soup base! These tapioca balls are very similar to my Strawberry Mochi!
- Goji berries
- Cooked mung beans
- Condensed milk, almond milk, or creamer
- Grass jelly
- Cooked taro
Substitutions and Variations
- Add various toppings to customize to your taste. I recommend getting the frozen rice balls filled with peanut, red bean, or sesame paste to enhance the texture and sweetness of your red bean soup.
- If you don’t like sago, feel free to omit the ingredient. You can add in boba or jellies at the end of cooking of your red bean soup if you like. I don’t recommend to add boba or jellies during the cooking process because the texture will be too soft and melt.
- Fully customizable recipe: you can replace apple with pear, pumpkin, or sweet potato for a seasonal flavor. The more starch you add to your red bean soup, the thicker the soup will be!
How to Make Red Bean Soup with Tang Yuen
Step 1: Soak red beans overnight.
Step 2: Strain and rinse red beans before putting in the rice cooker.
Step 3: Wash and rinse sago.
Step 4: Peel apple and ginger. Take the seed out of the date.
Step 5: Add all ingredients: soaked red bean, sago, ginger, apple, date and water in the rice cooker. Press the ‘white rice’ button and wait for the magic to happen. (See pot instructions if you don’t want to use rice cooker).
Step 6: Once you hear that the rice cooker is done, the red bean sago is cooked! Stir the soup around (the sago can be stuck to the bottom) and add your brown sugar to taste. I like to add 1 to 2 tablespoons of brown sugar. Add your optional toppings in your bowl and enjoy while hot.
Stove Top Instructions
- Place all ingredients: soaked red bean, sago, ginger, apple, date and water in the pot. Boil on medium heat for 5 minutes covered. When boiling, take off the lid. Stir around at the 7 minute mark.
- Keep stirring every few minutes until 15 minutes (uncovered). After 15 minutes, turn heat to low and cook for 10 minutes. Give the soup a good stir as the sago has stuck to the bottom of the pot.
- Place a lid on the pot. Continue cooking on low for 10 more minutes covered.
- Turn off heat and let the pot sit for 15 more minutes covered. We want the red beans to be extra soft!
Expert Tips
- Rinse well: Rinse both beans and sago before cooking to remove excess starch and prevent clumping.
- Soak the beans: Always soak red beans overnight. If not soaked, the center of the bean might be hard when you cook them in the rice cooker. The texture of the red bean soup will not be as creamy.
- If you decided to add toppings like boba, sesame balls or any type of tang yuan, make sure you cook them separately. They have different cooking times than the red bean soup, and you cannot add them in the rice cooker to cook (they will turn into mush).
One Pot Red Bean Soup FAQs
Make sure you soak them overnight in water. Then, cooking them in low heat for at least an hour, will make the red adzuki beans creamy. The rice cooker does a perfect job in making sure the red beans are cooked and soft. If you have extra red beans, you can add them in your Chinese Porridge (congee) in the morning.
Red bean soup with tang yuan is best enjoyed after a meal as a dessert. It pairs well with light Chinese dishes like stir-fried vegetables, dumplings, or rice-based meals such as Chinese Cabbage Stir-Fry, Har Gow – Shrimp Dumplings and Taiwanese Braised Pork Belly Rice.
Red Bean Soup with Tang Yuen
Ingredients
Rice cooker
- ½ cup red beans (soak the beans overnight)
- ½ cup sago rinsed and strained
- 3.5 cup water
- slice of ginger
- 1 date
- ½ apple peeled (optional)
- brown sugar or sugar (start with 1 tablespoon) to taste
Optional Toppings
- goji berries
- frozen sesame balls
- condensed milk or almond milk
- boba
- cooked mung beans
- grass jelly
- cooked taro
- black sesame paste
Instructions
- Soak red beans overnight.
- Strain and rinse red beans before putting in the rice cooker.
- Wash and rinse sago.
- Peel apple and ginger. Take the seed out of the date.
- Add all ingredients: red bean, sago, ginger, apple, date and water in the rice cooker. Press the white rice button and wait for the magic to happen. (See pot instructions if you don’t want to use rice cooker).
- Once you hear that the rice cooker is done, the red bean sago is cooked! Stir the soup around (the sago can be stuck to the bottom) and add your brown sugar to taste. I like to add 1 to 2 tablespoons of brown sugar. Add your optional toppings in your bowl and enjoy while hot.
Pot instructions If you don’t have a rice cooker:
- Place all ingredients: soaked red bean, sago, ginger, apple, date and water in the pot. Boil on medium heat for 5 minutes covered. When boiling, take off the lid. Stir around at the 7 minute mark.
- Keep stirring every few minutes until 15 minutes (uncovered). After 15 minutes, turn heat to low and cook for 10 minutes. Give the soup a good stir as the sago has stuck to the bottom of the pot.Place a lid on the pot.
- Continue cooking on low for 10 more minutes covered.
- Turn off heat and let the pot sit for 15 more minutes covered. We want the red beans to be extra soft!
Notes
- Rinse well: Rinse both beans and sago before cooking to remove excess starch and prevent clumping.
- Soak the beans: Always soak red beans overnight. If not soaked, the center of the bean might be hard when you cook them in the rice cooker. The texture of the red bean soup will not be as creamy.
- If you decided to add toppings like boba, sesame balls or any type of tang yuan, make sure you cook them separately. They have different cooking times than the red bean soup, and you cannot add them in the rice cooker to cook (they will turn into mush).
Sam says
Cooked this in my rice cooker, and it really is easy and comforting! Not too sweet, and I love it with sago. It’s now my new go-to cozy treat.