These matcha mochi bites are delightfully chewy, mildly sweet, and incredibly easy to make. Enjoy them with a hot cuppa tea of coffee for a simple breakfast, afternoon pick-me-up, or dessert! A dusting of powdered sugar or a drizzle of melted chocolate adds a delicious layer of flavor and fanciness!
This recipe sees the marriage of chewy mochi and matcha tea in a delicious baked treat. It's the texture and taste combination you never realized could be so good!
For a bit of background, mochi (pronounced MOE-chee) is a type of rice cake, usually found in Japanese culture. It is made using glutinous rice flour, also known as sweet rice flour. Despite the names, this rice flour is neither sweet nor does it contain gluten. "Glutinous" simply means that the rice flour was made from short-grain rice and it refers to its sticky, chewy quality upon being cooked or baked with liquid.
Ingredients to Make Matcha Mochi Bites
Dry ingredients:
- Glutinous rice flour (aka sweet rice flour or Mochiko brand)
- Matcha powder
- Baking powder
- Salt
Wet Ingredients:
- Milk
- Melted butter
- An egg
- Vanilla extract
- Honey
- Chocolate squares (optional, for drizzling melted chocolate on top)
How To Make Matcha Mochi Bites
Combine the dry ingredients (glutinous rice flour, matcha powder, baking powder, and salt) in a bowl and whisk them together. In a 1-quart measuring cup or medium-sized bowl, add all the wet ingredients (milk, an egg, melted butter, honey, and vanilla extract) and whisk it until well-combined.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet and whisk really well until the mixture is nice and smooth. The consistency should be thick, but runny, almost like a syrup.
Divide the matcha mixture evenly into the greased of a muffin tin.
Expert Tip: Using a 1-quart measuring glass or a medium/large bowl with a spout to mix all the batter ingredients makes pouring the batter into the muffin cups incredibly easy. If you do not have a large enough measuring glass to make the batter, you can still pour from you mixing bowl or use a ladle or large spoon.
Place the muffin tin into a 325F/165C preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes.
Let the baked mochi bites cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before removing them to a rack to cool completely.
The Mochi Will Deflate
The mochi bites will bake up rounded and puffy, just like regular muffins. When you remove them from the oven, they are going to slowly deflate...but don't panic! This is completely normal and while you're first instinct is to think you've failed, you haven't!
The flattening or sinking is characteristic of mochi cakes and it is what makes them different from a muffin. Muffins or cupcakes are light airy, crumbly, and filled with air holes, whereas mochi are dense and chewy.
Dress Up Your Matcha Mochi Bites
Matcha mochi bites are perfectly delicious on their own, but adding a dusting of icing sugar or drizzling some melted chocolate on top is a nice touch! Also, the chocolate adds a delightful layer of flavor that tastes so good with the matcha...a lovely balance of sweet and bitter!
I melt a couple squares of dark 65% chocolate and simply drizzle it over the cooled matcha mochi bites, but use whatever grade of chocolate you prefer. Check out how easy it is to melt chocolate!
How To Serve Matcha Mochi Bites
Enjoy a matcha mochi bite with a hot cuppa coffee or tea. I particularly like having one with Soothing Ginger Honey Tea or Ginger Milk Tea Latte. They also go well with cold refreshing drinks like Cold-Brewed Coffee or Iced English Tea Latte.
They're great to include in a packed lunch, to enjoy as an afternoon snack, or a quick breakfast! They'd even make a great dessert, especially with chocolate drizzled on top!
Commonly Asked Questions
No. Regular rice flour is not the same as glutinous rice flour and will not produce the correct results.
The whole milk can be replaced by coconut milk, evaporated milk, or even water. The butter can be replaced by a neutral-flavored oil.
The honey can be replaced by maple syrup or another syrup sweetener, or regular granulated sugar. Using granulated sugar creates a slightly thicker, drier crust compared to ones made with honey and extra milk will need to be added to create the right pouring consistency.
Store them in a sealed container on the counter for no more than 2-3 days for the best results. They will become more dense after the first day and are still delicious, but if you would like them softer, simply warm them in the microwave for less than 10 seconds.
Do not the matcha mochi bites in the fridge because they harden. Room temperature is best, keeping in mind to eat them within 2-3 days.
Yes! I would double the recipe and use a 9x9 square pan, lined with parchment paper, and bake it for 45-50 minutes. If drizzling melted chocolate over the cake, remove the cake from the pan and let it cool to room temperature before adding the chocolate. Cut into squares and serve.
Other Mochi and Matcha Recipes You Might Like
If you like mochi, check out these other mochi recipes:
If you like matcha, you might also like:
If you love matcha and chewy mochi, I think you're going to love this recipe. It is one of my favorite treats to make, especially with the chocolate drizzle and is so easy to whip up a small batch. It's bound to become a favorite for you, too!
~ Lisa.
Watch How To Make It!
Chewy Matcha Mochi Bites
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients:
- 125 grams glutinous rice flour (see Recipe Notes 1 below)
- 1 tablespoon matcha powder
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Unsalted butter for greasing muffin tin
Wet Ingredients:
- ½ cup whole milk (see Recipe Notes 3 below)
- ¼ cup honey (see Recipe Notes 4 below)
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate (optional):
- 2 squares dark chocolate
Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven 325F/165C.
- Grease 6 cups in a muffin tin with room temperature unsalted butter. Set aside.
- Combine glutinous rice flour, matcha powder, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and whisk together.
- In a medium mixing bowl or 1-quart measuring cup, whisk together milk, egg, honey, melted butter, and vanilla extract.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and whisk well until smooth. The consistency should be thick, but runny, like a syrup. Add more milk, a tablespoon a time, to achieve the proper consistency, if needed.
- Divide the matcha mixture equally among the 6 muffin cups.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes.
- Let cool 10 minutes in the pan before carefully removing the bites to a cooling rack to cool completely. Mochi bites come out of the oven puffy, but will sink as they cool.
- Dust with icing sugar or drizzle with melted chocolate, if desired.
- Store in a sealed container at room temperature for 2-3 days max for best results.
Notes
- 125 grams glutinous rice flour = just over ¼ lb. Using weight measurement for the glutinous rice flour yields the best and most accurate results.
- Glutinous rice flour can also be sold as sweet rice flour; they are the same thing. Mochiko is also a well-known brand of glutinous rice flour, but brand does not matter for this recipe. Do not use regular rice flour.
- Whole milk can be substituted with coconut milk or evaporated milk. Water also works perfectly.
- Using water reduces the calories by 150 calories per piece.
- Using coconut milk in place of whole milk reduces the calories by 80 calories per piece.
- Honey can be substituted with maple syrup or other liquid sweetener.
- Granulated sugar can also be used, but more milk will need to be added to achieve the consistency. Granulated sugar will also lead to a crisper crust.
- After mixing the dry ingredients into the wet, the matcha mixture should be a thick, but runny liquid, like a syrup. If necessary, add more milk, a tablespoon at a time, to reach the proper consistency.
- Stirring chocolate chips or pieces into the batter before baking will result in them sinking to the bottom, so I would not suggest it.
- Omit the chocolate completely, if desired.
- Store in a food container at room temperature. Best eaten within 2-3 days.
- Mochi bites will become more firm/dense after the first day, but will still be soft and chewy. You can always warm them in the microwave for a few seconds to soften them more.
Nutrition
This post was originally published on December 6th, 2020, and was republished August 28th, 2023 with an updated recipe, new photos and writing.
Averie
Thanks for the recipe!
I tried this today, and it ended up being more like muffins rather than mochi, it was fluffy. I still enjoy them, though. 🙂
Hi Averie! I'm wondering if you used glutinous rice flour and not regular rice flour? Glutinous rice flour should definitely give the mochi/dense/chewy texture, whereas regular rice flour would be the opposite. Anyway, I just wanted to ask. Thanks so much for making the recipe!
Averie
HI Lisa, thanks for replying
I used glutinous rice flour, I found out that if you knead the mochi (after you take it out of the oven) it becomes stick and mochi like. Again, I still enjoyed them either way^^
Queeny
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for the mochi bites recipe! I just made them... It was all fabulous except it was barely sweet. I followed your recipe to the T- for 12 pieces- 6 tbsp honey. Just want to verify if it's only requires 6 tbsp honey? Would I be able to sub 1/2cup brown sugar instead? Please advise. Thank you.
Hi Queeny! Yes, these matcha mochi bites are not meant to be overly sweet. If you prefer them to be sweeter, I would not substitute the honey completely with brown sugar because you are losing some of liquid needed for the batter. What you could try doing is, if doubling the recipe, to go with the 6 tablespoons of honey and add 2 tablespoons of white granulated sugar. The white sugar will not affect the color, will add sweetness, but it will also add a bit of crispness to the outer crust which might be nice. Using 2 tablespoons of packed brown sugar may affect the matcha color, but if that is not an issue for you, you could try that instead. I hope that helps...please report back if you give these suggestions a try. Thanks so much for making the recipe!
Margaret
I’m following the recipe precisely and can’t figure out why mine are coming out with a more cake like consistency, maintaining the puffy muffin shape rather than collapsing and a bit brown in color throughout. Any idea what I could try to fix them?
(They’re still delightful treats though!)
Hi Margaret! It's very difficult for me to know what caused the different result without me having been there, but my first question would be to ask if you made sure you were using glutinous rice flour and not regular rice flour. If you used regular rice flour, then the cake-like consistency makes a lot of sense (I'm glad you still found them delightful!). Glutinous rice flour (or sweet rice flour) is required to get the chewy mochi texture, and there isn't really any way you can fix them after they've already been made. I hope that helps and thanks for your comment.
Margaret
Thanks for your reply! Hm I am using Mochiko sweet rice flour, so it must be something else. I’m going to experiment and I’ll update here if I figure it out.
If you're using Mochiko sweet rice flour, that would be the right type. Now I'm very curious as to what could have made the difference in texture. Yes, please, do give an update if you figure it out! Thanks, Margaret!
Mrs. G
Hi, have you ever tested this recipe with flax egg?
Hi Mrs. G! No, sorry, I haven't. You could give it a try and see how it turns out, though, keeping in mind that the flax egg might affect the color of the matcha bites. They might still be good, though!
Britt
This recipe was so easy to follow! For some reason my new oven seems to be extra hot (I always burn the bottoms of pastries!) so I reduced the temperature to 300 and cooked for 30 minutes and they came out perfectly.
Thanks, Britt! I'm glad you were able to get them to work by adjusting the oven temperature!
Lily
Hi, I've tried this recipe twice, and for some reason i struggle to get a pouring consistency without adding a lot more liquid than the recipe specifies. Has anybody else had this issue?
Hi Lily! I actually ran into this very issue while helping my niece make mochi bites at her house. I can't exactly explain why it happened, but I just added more liquid, a bit at a time, until it reached the right consistency and they baked up, no problem. Every kitchen is different and even ingredients can vary slightly, even if they're all called the same thing on the package. Thanks for the question!
KC
Hi, can I use Mochiko (sweet rice flour) for this recipe?
Hey KC! Yes, Mochiko flour is the same as glutinous rice flour, so feel free to use it.
Helen
Love the recipe!
If i want to replace the honey with brown sugar, fo i need to add more liquid as well?
How much brown sugar & how much liquid?
Thanks!
Thanks, Helen! I would try substituting the same amount of brown sugar for honey, and adding more milk, 1 tablespoon at a time and mixing well after each addition, until you get the same sort of thick pourable consistency as the original recipe. See how that works, and let me know!
Jo Dee
If use mini muffin pan, how long should I bake for?
Hey Jo Dee. This is a guess, but I would try maybe 20 minutes. What you want to look for is the mochi bites puffing up (and they will sink once out of the oven) and cracks in the surface, and slight browning along the edges. Let me know if that works. Thanks for the question!
J Wong
I absolutely loved this recipe! I was searching the internet for a healthier mochi recipe and this was perfect. It's fairly low in sugar and you can use non-refined sugar - I used maple syrup. I'm definitely going to try more of your recipes. If you ever get a chance, I would love to see a Hawaiian butter mochi recipe from you, I'd like to see your healthier take on it!!
I'm so glad you found my recipe and liked it! And thanks for the suggestion about a healthier Hawaiian butter mochi recipe...I'm working on it! 🙂