Easy Tanghulu Fruit Recipe

This is the best tanghulu recipe! It's so easy to make and this candied fruit is made with just a three simple ingredients including strawberries, water and sugar. This recipe is a fun twist on the classic Chinese street food!

What is Tanghulu?

Tanghulu is a popular candied fruit snack from Northern China. This Chinese street food is different from traditional candied fruit because the sugar syrup creates a hard crunchy shell around the fresh fruit rather than the soft candied fruit that you may be used to.

Traditional Tanghulu is served on bamboo skewers which make it easy to eat anywhere. Classically it is made with Crataegus pinnatifida fruit, also known as mountain hawthorn, but it can also be made with any type of fruit that you like. 

In this post I will teach you how to make Tanghulu fruit at home with just a few simple ingredients! 

Why you will love this recipe: 

• The taste! The crunchy sugar coating around the fresh fruit is so sweet and refreshing. 
• It's easy to make and only requires 3 ingredients - fruit, sugar and water. 
• It's fun to make! Watching the sugar harden around the fruit is so satisfying and kids love it. 
• You can use any type of fruit that you like for making this candied fruit snack including grapes, raspberries, blueberries or strawberries. 
• You may have seen this trend on TikTok. This recipe is also known as TikTok candied strawberries. 
• This would be a great recipe to serve at brunch, Easter, a baby shower, bridal shower or your next party or gathering. You could even make it for Mother's Day or Father's Day!
• It's dairy free, gluten free and vegan. 

Taste and texture:

This fruit dessert has a delicious sweet hard candy shell and then a melt in your mouth soft fruit inner layer. You can use any type of fruit that you like to give this treat the taste and flavour you prefer.

Ingredients and substitutions: 

• Fresh fruit - I personally love using strawberries but you can use any fruit you like including oranges, grapes, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries or even apples. 
• Granulated sugar - I use organic cane sugar but you can also use white sugar too. 
• Water - this is used to make the hard sugar coating that will coat the fruit. 

How to make this recipe:

Step one:

First, wash and dry the fruit and place it on a skewer.

Step two:

Then put the water and sugar in a medium sized pot and bring it to a boil over medium-high heat. Using a candy thermometer, boil the sugar water until the temperature reaches between 250 and 300 degrees Fahrenheit. This will take ~10-20 minutes.

Step three:

Once the sugar water mixture has come to temperature, quickly dip the fruit skewers into the sugar mixture to coat the fruit and then place each fruit skewer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Step four:

The sugar coating on the fruit should harden very quickly, once it does serve and enjoy! If you aren't eating it right away, move it to the fridge so that the sugar coating stays hard.

Chef's tips: 

• Make sure you let the sugar water mixture get to 250-300 degrees Fahrenheit before you dip the fruit in it - If you try dipping the fruit at lower temperatures the sugar coating won't harden (trust me I tried it). 
• I highly recommend using a candy thermometer to make Tanghulu. You need the sugar water to get to the perfect temperature to ensure it will harden around the fruit. This is hard to do without a candy thermometer. 
• Make sure you dry the fruit completely before putting it on the bamboo skewer. If it is still wet the sugar coating may not harden. 
• I recommend using fresh fruit, and not frozen fruit to make this recipe. 
• You can easily double or triple this recipe if you are serving a crowd - just be sure to keep the 2:1 ratio of sugar to water. 

Variations and add ins: 

• You can use any type of fresh fruit that you like to make this recipe including strawberries, grapes, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, oranges, grapefruit, watermelon, etc. 
• You can use either cane sugar or white granulated sugar to make this recipe. Just note that white sugar tends to boil faster so it will be quicker to make. 

How to make without a thermometer:

To make Tanghulu without a candy thermometer, you can test the temperature of the boiling sugar water by dipping a spoon into cold ice water and then dipping the spoon into the syrup. If the sugar syrup hardens immediately, then you have reached the proper temperature. You can then start dipping the fresh fruit into the boiling sugar water. 

How to serve:

This dessert is best served right away after it's prepared. If you let it sit for too long at room temperature the sugar coating will start to soften and melt. However, you can also keep it in the fridge until you are ready to eat it as the sugar shell will stay hard in the fridge.

How to store: 

Store any leftovers in the fridge in an air tight container for up to 7 days. 

Frequently asked questions: 

Other recipes you will love: 

• Turtle Cookie Bars
• The Best Healthy Blondies
• Cranberry Lemon Bars
• Lemon Macaroons
• Double Chocolate Avocado Brownies

Since you made it this far we are basically best friends so be sure to follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok and Facebook where I share even more recipes and healthy living tips! And don’t forget to leave this recipe a star review before you go!