Panna cotta is a simple chilled sweet custard, popular throughout Italy. Though it looks fancy in glasses or inverted onto a dessert plate served with a fruit sauce, I love that it’s incredibly easy to make at home with only a few ingredients.

Easy Panna Cotta

Panna cotta is a popular dessert I’ve seen served in fancy restaurants. And while it might sound intimidating and labor-intensive, I promise it’s so incredibly easy and simple to make!

Panna cotta is a classic Italian dessert and literally means “cooked cream.” It’s a chilled custard that’s made from sweetened cream thickened with unflavored gelatin. Traditionally, it’s set in ramekins, unmolded onto a plate, then drizzled with some type of sweet fruit or chocolate sauce. A bite of panna cotta is melt-in-your-mouth creamy and luxurious. I can never get enough!

I developed this recipe with vanilla flavoring, similar to crème brûlée and flan, except there are no eggs. The texture is slightly more delicate, and it is less sweet.

Tips for Beginners

• Speed up the chilling process: Instead of waiting for the mixture to reach room temperature before chilling, you can use an ice bath to cool it before pouring it into dessert cups, then chill in the fridge.
• Troubleshooting the setting: If your custard is still liquid, there could be a few reasons why—the gelatin didn’t dissolve fully, you accidentally boiled the liquid mixture (which wrecks the gelatin’s thickening ability), or it didn’t chill long enough.
• Alternate presentation: If the thought of unmolding is too intimidating, serve the panna cotta in glasses, eliminating the need to unmold it.

How to Make Panna Cotta Step by Step

Bloom the gelatin: Pour 2 tbsp water into a small bowl. Sprinkle 1 tbsp powdered gelatin over the water and mix well. Set aside so the gelatin can bloom.

Make the cream: In a large saucepan over medium heat, whisk together 2 cups heavy cream, 1 cup half and half, and 1/3 cup sugar. Stir frequently until hot and steaming (about 140°F. Do not let it boil).

Combine gelatin and cream: Remove pan from heat and stir in hydrated gelatin and vanilla, whisking until fully dissolved.

Divide mixture: Divide cream mixture among 8 4-oz. ramekins (not all the way to the top—about ½ cup of the mixture per ramekin). Cool to room temperature. Chill ramekins in the refrigerator, covered, overnight.

Unmold: If you choose to unmold them, run a thin dull knife around the top edge of each ramekin. Dip ramekins, 1 at a time, into a shallow bowl of hot water for about 3 seconds. Invert ramekin onto the center of a small plate. Shake very gently and it should come right out.

Garnish and serve: Drizzle with 1-2 tbsp of the raspberry sauce and garnish with a small fresh mint leaf. Enjoy!

How to Store

Preparing this well in advance makes this a fantastic dessert for both casual and formal entertaining. It chills in the fridge overnight to solidify and will keep chilled and covered for up to 3 days. Spoon the fruit sauce on top just before serving.

Serving Suggestions

Traditionally, panna cotta is chilled in ramekins and then unmolded onto plates. But most of the time, I just pour it into wine glasses or tumblers, it skips the extra step and looks just as nice.

I usually serve the panna cotta with a fresh raspberry sauce, though sometimes I’ll go all out and make a rich caramel sauce. When the craving for chocolate hits, this simple chocolate sauce does the trick. Or, to keep it super simple, I’ll just dust with cocoa powder and garnish with shaved chocolate curls.

Other Dreamy Desserts

• Tapioca Pudding
• No Bake Chocolate Pudding Pie
• Easy Lemon Truffle
• White Chocolate Raspberry Parfaits