carrot halwa

Carrot halwa in instant pot | Gajar Ka Halwa | Carrot pudding with detailed photo and video recipe – It is a popular Indian dessert with grated carrots cooked in ghee, milk, aromatic cardamom and saffron. Enjoyed warm during the cold wintery nights or chilled with a scoop of ice cream on summer evenings, this dessert makes a perfect treat for the entire family. Best part is that it only takes 30 minutes for this make ahead recipe using the Instant Pot pressure cooker.

This year we celebrated New year with Gajar Halwa, a delicious Indian dessert cooked in the Instant Pot! You will often find this popular dessert at Indian restaurant buffets that is usually made with milk, condensed milk, khoya or mawa(thickened whole milk) and is loaded with ghee.

Traditionally Carrot Halwa is made with cooking grated carrots with lots of milk, and cooking down the milk on the stovetop. This involved lots of stirring and monitoring. With our busy lives, it is hard to get the motivation to firstly grate the carrots and then actively monitor them for an hour or more on the stovetop. But this is such a delicious dessert! So let’s see how we can harness the features of the Instant Pot to make Carrot Halwa.

Tips For Making Good Gajar Halwa

  1. Grate the carrots with your hands: I know it’s not fun but it’s important. Don’t use your food processor and turn carrots into a mush, the halwa will never taste that good. I have done that so many times!
    I understand we all have those lazy days where we just want to put the carrots in the food processor and be done with it. But you hand grate it and see the difference in texture. We don’t make desserts like this everyday so the extra effort may be worth it, right?
  2. Add mawa/milk powder/almond meal/condensed milk for added taste and richness: You can add either of these three after adding the sugar. Mawa is dried milk solids and is often added to gajar halwa.

Carrot Halwa detailed video recipe :

Carrot Halwa recipe card :

Carrot Halwa | Gajar Halwa

Carrot halwa is a popular Indian dessert with grated carrots cooked in ghee, milk, aromatic cardamom and saffron. Enjoyed warm during the cold wintery nights or chilled with a scoop of ice cream on summer evenings, this dessert makes a perfect treat for the entire family. Best part is that it only takes 30 minutes for this make ahead recipe using the Instant Pot pressure cooker.
Course Sweets & Desserts
Cuisine Indian
Keyword carrot halwa, dessert, gajar halwa, indian sweet, sweets
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Author Sowji’sKitchen

Equipment

  • Pressure cooker
  • Instant pot

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp Ghee
  • 5 Carrots peeled and grated (About 2 cups packed)
  • 1/2 cup Milk
  • 1/2 cup Sugar
  • 2 tbsp Condensed milk
  • 1 tsp cardamom powder
  • 2 tbsp cashews
  • 2 tbsp sliced almonds or pistachios for garnish

Instructions 

  • Turn the Instant Pot to Sauté(Hi) mode. Add ghee (or vegan butter)
  • Now add cashews and sliced almonds. Fry until golden and keep aside.
  • Now add grated carrots. Saute for 2-3 minutes .
  • Add milk, condensed milk and sugar. Mix well.
  • close the lid with the pressure value set to sealing. Set Instant Pot to Pressure Cook/Manual(Hi) for 4 minutes. Open the lid after natural release.
  • Turn the Instant Pot to Sauté(Hi) and cook for 5-7 mins until most of the liquids are evaporated.
  • Now add cardamom powder .Stir frequently, making sure that the halwa does not stick to the bottom of the pot.
  • Garnish with fried nuts.
  • Serve warm or chilled.

Notes

  • To make dairy free carrot halwa, substitute ghee with any neutral oil, coconut oil or vegan butter.
  • Use almond milk instead of regular milk.
  • You can also use almonds meal instead of condensed milk or milk maid. Since condensed milk is sweetened, make sure to reduce the sugar substantially.

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How to make Carrot halwa with step by step :

1.Turn the Instant Pot to Sauté(Hi) mode. Add ghee (or vegan butter)

saute mode

2. Now add cashews and sliced almonds. Fry until golden and keep aside.

Fry nuts

3. Now add grated carrots. Saute for 2-3 minutes

Fry carrots

4. Add milk, condesnsed milk and sugar. Mix well.

milk

5. close the lid with the pressure value set to sealing. Set Instant Pot to Pressure Cook/Manual(Hi) for 4 minutess. Open the lid after natural release.

cook

6. Turn the Instant Pot to Sauté(Hi) and cook for 5-7 mins until most of the liquids are evaporated.

saute

7. Now add cardamom powder .Stir frequently, making sure that the halwa does not stick to the bottom of the pot.

8. Garnish with fried nuts.

9. Serve warm or chilled.

serve