Flan

This Easy Flan Recipe is so simple yet impressive! A sweet caramel sauce coats a delicate, creamy custard made with just 5 ingredients. It's a great recipe for those looking to make a show-stopping dessert, without spending all day in the kitchen.

Prep Time25

Cook Time1

Cool Time4

Total Time5 25

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Mexican

Keyword: flan dessert, mexican flan, Mexican recipes

Servings: servings

Equipment

9” pie dish (deep dish is best)
Pastry brush
Large shallow roasting pan

Ingredients

1 & 1/2 cups granulated sugar , divided
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar (or 1 tablespoon of corn syrup)
4 large eggs
2 cups whole milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 vanilla bean , split and seeds scraped (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare a large roasting pan that will fit your pie dish or flanera pan. Fill a small bowl with water, set next to stove top with a pastry brush. Boil a tea kettle or small pot of water, keep hot.
In a medium, heavy bottomed saucepan, combine 1 cup sugar and 1/4 cup of water. Gently heat on low, stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved, about 3 minutes. Add in cream of tartar (or corn syrup) and turn the heat up to medium to start boiling the sugar syrup. Once boiling, dip pastry brush in water and quickly brush the crystalized sugar off the sides of your pan, washing it down into the syrup. Boil until the mixture becomes thickened and starts to brown and caramelize. DO NOT stir the caramel as it cooks, as this could cause it to recrystallize. Instead, very gently swirl the pan. Remove the caramel from the heat when it reaches a golden honey color. Pour this into the bottom of the pie dish, quickly swirling to get an even coating of caramel. Set this dish inside of the roasting pan.
In a medium size bowl, add the remaining 1/2 cup sugar, eggs, whole milk, salt, and vanilla bean seeds. Combine well. Strain this mixture through a strainer into the pie dish, on top of the caramel. Tightly wrap the pie dish with foil.
Pull out the bottom rack of your oven just enough to place the roasting pan on the oven rack safely. Pour the hot water into the roasting pan until it comes up to about halfway up the sides of the pie plate, and gently push the oven rack and roasting pan into the oven, being extremely careful not to splash water onto the pie dish with the custard.
Bake, covered with the foil, for 55 minutes. Check the flan for doneness. You should be able to insert a knife into the middle and it comes out clean, but the custard should still be jiggly. The custard will set up as it cools. Remove the pie dish from the oven and cool to room temperature. Wrap in plastic wrap, then chill in the fridge ideally overnight (or for at least 5 hours.)
To serve: Run a thin dull knife around the edge of the flan, then place an inverted large plate or serving platter on top of the flan and holding tightly together, quickly flip the flan onto the plate. It should slide right out and the caramel that was on the bottom will run over the top. Some hardened caramel will remain in the pan. If the flan sticks give it a few taps or get a kitchen towel and run it under HOT water, ring out and put the hot towel on top of the bottom of the pie dish, then try to lift the pan again. It should slide right out.
NOTE: Don't miss all the helpful tips for success, FAQs, and storage information included in the full article above.

Nutrition