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Make this Tanghulu recipe, which is a Chinese candied treat where fresh fruit is coated in melted sugar. You’ll only need three simple ingredients! Tanghulu has a crunchy and delicious texture that everyone will enjoy.
I love making candy. My favorite one to date is definitely this Honeycomb Candy. Candy making definitely has its challenges. And I had a bit of a headache making this tanghulu. I’m including ALL of the tips and tricks that (finally) helped me be successful.
What is Tanghulu
Tanghulu is a traditional Chinese snack. While it has origins in China, it’s also very popular in South Korea and Japan.
It has a crunchy, sugar exterior. And when you bite down on it you’re met with the soft and sweet flavor from the fruit. Most traditionally, hawthorne berries are used but what you’ll most often see is it made with strawberries, grapes and mandarin slices.
Fruits to use for Tanghulu
- Strawberries
- Grapes
- Kiwi
- Mandarin Slices
- Crab Apples
Ingredients You’ll Need to Make Tanghulu
- Granulated sugar. You really want to use white granulated sugar for this. While I love cane sugar for drinks (like my Strawberry Margaritas), for this we really need the processed sugar.
- Fruit. I love using fresh strawberries, mandarins and grapes.
- Water.
For the rest of the ingredients with directions, please see the recipe index card below!
How to Make this Tanghulu Recipe
- Start with getting all of your ingredients together. I like to dry all of my fruit very thoroughly. And then place is on skewers.
- Pour the sugar and water into a pot. And bring it to a simmer. We are cooking this sugar and water mixture for about 15-20 minutes and until it reads 300F on a candy or digital thermometer.
3. Carefully dip the fruit into the hot sugar and immediately dunk it in ice water. This will help harden the candy immediately.
4. Repeat the process until you’ve worked through all your fruit.
5. They exterior will harden as it sits in the cold water. Transfer to a plate or baking sheet and serve immediately. This truly is the best eaten right away.
Recipe Tip
- Prepare everything before you begin. This recipe goes quickly and can become
- Dry off your fruit thoroughly. You want the fruit to be VERY dry because this helps with the melted sugar sticking to the fruit.
- Use a stainless steel pan. I tried this with an enamel-coated pan and it holds onto to too much heat and it makes it difficult.
- Cleaning the pot with the hardened cooked sugar. Add water on top of the hardened sugar. I like to add quite a bit. And place it on the stove. Turn it on medium-low and warm it up. This will soften the hardened sugar and dilute it. Pour it down the drain and if there’s any little bits, repeat the process until the pan is clean.
Recipe FAQs
The melted sugar may not have reached 300F. That is what the hard stage of candy-making is and it needs to reach 300F in order to harden around the fruit.
Phew, I made this a few times and it crystalized one time and I did EVERYTHING right. I did use an emamel-coated pan when this happened, hence why I don’t recommend it. It holds onto way too much heat.
I had an excess of strawberries for this recipe. You can use any extra oranges for my creamsicle cake. And for extra strawberries, definitely use them for the Hailey Bieber Strawberry Glaze Smoothie or my Strawberry Lemonade Sangria.
More Asian-Inspired Recipes
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Tanghulu Recipe
Video
Equipment
- 1 medium stainless-steel pot
- 1 candy or digital thermometer
- 8-10 wooden skewers
- 1 large glass bowl
Ingredients
- 1 pound fruit, (I used a combination of strawberries, mandarin slices and grapes)
- 3 cups granulated white sugar
- 1 1/2 cups water
Instructions
To Prep the Fruit:
- I like to wash all of the fruit by letting it sit in cold water for a few minutes. Drain it and thoroughly pat it dry with paper towels or a clean kitchen towel.
- Add the fruit to skewers. I like to add one to three pieces of fruit per skewer. Anymore and it get tough to dunk it in the melted sugar.
To Make the Melted Sugar:
- In a stainless steel pot, add in the sugar and water. Do not stir it at all. Place it over medium heat and cook for about 15-20 minutes, until it reaches exactly 300F (this is known as the hard ball stage for candy making).
- Immediately dunk the fruit on skewers into the melted sugar and then immediately transfer it into a bowl with ice. Place it on a baking sheet. And repeat with the remaining fruit.
- Eat immediately. As it sits the outer candy tends to soften.
Notes
- Prepare everything before you begin. This recipe goes quickly and can become
- Dry off your fruit thoroughly. You want the fruit to be VERY dry because this helps with the melted sugar sticking to the fruit.
- Use a stainless steel pan. I tried this with an enamel-coated pan and it holds onto to too much heat and it makes it difficult.
- Cleaning the pot with the hardened cooked sugar. Add water on top of the hardened sugar. I like to add quite a bit. And place it on the stove. Turn it on medium-low and warm it up. This will soften the hardened sugar and dilute it. Pour it down the drain and if there’s any little bits, repeat the process until the pan is clean.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
very crunchy, sweet and overall amazing! hope you post more like this!
Very crunchy and sweet. Goes best with sour fruit because it already has a sweet outer coating. My kids love it. *5 stars*
Hi Jing, So glad you it worked out 🙂
This recipe was perfect! I will say that it did take us a few tries. But we got it right after two tries. Cooking sugar is pretty tricky but once we got it right, it was divine. My kids loved it.
We made this for a Girl Scout activity about Taiwan bc the scouts we learned about ate it at their jamboree! Super, super sugary but just what she wanted. Thank you!
Aww that’s so cute. I love to hear this! 🙂
hi i haven’t done it yet but im soo excited and i think it’ll be really good✨✨✨
let me know how it goes!
I’ve always wanted to make tanghulu and now I know how! This recipe was so useful and I definitely will recommend it to friends and family!
AHH I’m so glad it worked for you. No lie, it took me like five times to get it right. 🙂
It took me one try because I have tried to make it before, but the sugar was like too stiff and ik I said it was my first time but I js remembered! (lol). this recipe was so good and it was so delicious I’m so obsessed with it now! (my personal fave is strawberries or grapes!)
also I did js search you up on Google and I’m lowk scared bc ur on Google and like famous!!
hahahaha don’t be scared! i’m friendly 🙂
My favourite tanghulu recipe. The texture is like that of a rock.
My daughter and her friend used this recipe (and a lot of my help) to make TanghHulu. I used one of my BBQ thermometers to get to right temp. They tried before it hit 300 and the mixture just didn’t stick or harden right. Once it hit temp, it coated beautifully. The directions just say to place in ice, but they insisted that ice water was the way to go. Once we had a bowl of ice water, the Tanghulu came out great. They ate a bunch of it, then made some more and put it all in the freezer for a frozen treat later. Grapes were a fan fave, with strawberries coming in second. Clean up was as to be expected with melted sugar.
Haven’t made it just yet, but I look forward to it! Thanks for the tips! 🙂
please report back! 🙂
IT WAS AMAZING! I did have a little trouble getting the hard tang Hulu off the bottom of the pot but either way my sister and I had a blast! also sorry it took so long to reply, I’m very good at procrastination!
i tried this and it came out but took two tries. i re-read your tips and they helped a lot! i was a little frustrated but it really takes the full 15 minutes. tasted great!
great to hear they worked out! definitely a little finnicky!