DIY Dragon's Beard Candy Recipe

If you're not up on the latest TikTok trends, you might imagine that something called dragon's beard candy would be a TV-show-inspired recipe; perhaps it's somehow related to "Game of Thrones." After all, "Ted Lasso" has its famous shortbread and "Squid Game" popularized dalgona candy worldwide. Dragon's beard candy is not a TV tie-in, but rather a popular Asian street food that's been made viral by social media.

Dragon's beard candy is Chinese in origin, and the recipe may date back 2,000 years or more. It's often associated with Lunar New Year celebrations and, appropriately enough, surged in popularity during the Year of the Dragon (2024) when people started sharing recipes on TikTok. What makes dragon's beard candy a bit of a challenge (albeit a satisfying one) is that it combines the element of an old-fashioned taffy pull with the opportunity to do some mental math. If you pull the candy enough times, you'll get over million sugary threads.

In appearance, dragon's beard candy looks kind of like a cross between cotton candy and a hunk of embroidery thread. Recipe developer Katie Rosenhouse's version has more depth of flavor than the former (and the latter, for that matter), though, because she flavors hers with a filling of chopped nuts. This, she says, "adds a crunchy, salty, earthy depth to the candy." She encourages experimenting with other fillings as well, so feel free to get creative.

The dragon's beard candy itself is very simple, consisting of nothing more than light corn syrup, white vinegar, sugar, and cornstarch. Rosenhouse flavors her candy by filling it with chopped roasted peanuts. However, you could also use a different type of nut (such as walnuts or pistachios), or swap the nuts out entirely for such fillings as shaved chocolate, toasted sesame seeds, shredded coconut, or finely chopped dried fruits. This recipe will produce white strands of candy, but if you want, you can easily incorporate a bit of food coloring for some extra flair.

In a medium pot, stir to combine water, corn syrup, vinegar, and sugar.

Stir in food coloring, if desired.

Cook over medium heat, without stirring, until the mixture reaches "hard ball" stage, 260-265 F.

While the sugar syrup is cooking, line a rimmed baking sheet with a nonstick baking mat.

If you have metal ring cutters, place two lightly greased 4-inch cutters on the mat, and place a 1-inch ring in the center of each. (If you don't have ring cutters, lightly grease two pint containers or silicone doughnut molds.)

When the sugar syrup has reached the right temperature, pour evenly into the ring molds, leaving the centers empty. (If using plastic molds, cool the syrup to 212 F before pouring into containers.)

Set aside until the sugar is set but pliable, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Place cornstarch into a large bowl.

Remove one of the sugar rings from its mold.

Dust your hands and the sugar ring with cornstarch and begin to gently and evenly pull to create a large loop (about 12 to 15 inches in diameter).

Create a figure eight shape and stack the loops. You'll now have two strands. Repeat, dipping the loop into cornstarch occasionally, pulling, and stacking the loops. Each time the amount will double.

Stop once you've completed 20 pulls, at which point you will have 1,048,576 strands.

Use kitchen shears to cut a 4-inch section of candy, lightly stretching with your fingers to thin the strands even more.

Place onto a cutting board and place about ½ tablespoon peanuts in the center.

Fold the candy to wrap around the peanuts.

Repeat with remaining candy.

Serve immediately or store in an airtight container at room temperature.

As Rosenhouse points out, since the main ingredients in dragon's beard candy are sugar and corn syrup, the taste is "sweet and similar in flavor to cotton candy." She notes that due to the pulling, there is some difference in texture, as she calls the multi-threaded mass "more string-like than feathery." 

Also affecting the flavor of the candy are any extra ingredients you choose to use. While many dragon's beard candy recipes omit mix-ins or flavoring, Rosenhouse, as we noted above, favors adding chopped peanuts to her candy, something she says provides "a salty, nutty flavor for extra depth and crunch." Other fillings will, of course, affect the candy differently. Alternatively, you can alter the flavor but not the texture by omitting the nuts and adding a few drops of mint, vanilla, almond, or lemon extract to the sugar mixture before pouring into the ring molds.

One reason why dragon's beard candy videos have become so popular is that viewers seem to enjoy counting along with the candy maker to see how many layers they are willing and able to achieve. Sure, you don't need to go all the way to a million, but it really is an achievable goal instead of mere hyperbole (century eggs, for instance, are only aged for a few months).

So how do you get to a million threads? As Rosenhouse explains the process, "The candy gets pulled and stacked, each loop doubling the quantity of strands. The loops double each time, going from 2 to 4, 8, 16, 32... 262,144, 524,288, and finally, 1,048,576 strands." So, technically, a million and change, but who's counting? Oh, that's right, everybody. If you're really enjoying the pull, though, there's no reason to stop there as some ambitious candy-makers have even reported achieving the billion-thread mark.

We'll settle for a modest million.