Flan de Leche Recipe (2024)

Hi Curtis, The caramel in a traditional flan is supposed to be syrupy not milky as you describe. Just sayin...

We love this recipes so much we made it every single week:
1. I mix up the eggs by hands and strain the custard mixture to eliminate bubbles. The texture is silky & very pretty.
2. Using a glass bakeware is helpful for a perfectly cooked flan. You'll want to double check around 35-min point to make sure the flan is not overcooked.
3. I tried both with & without lemon zest strip; found that I prefer the hint of citrus.
4. A warm towel is a must to get all the caramel out.

I have made many flan in the past and believe this is the best. I had no problem with the caramel, however, the cook time for me was about 2 hours versus the recipes 1 hr! I used a 9x5 loaf pan in a hot water bath in a 325 oven so not sure where I could have gone wrong. Perhaps the cook time was intended for a flan baked in a lower dish?

300 is gentler on the flan. Cover it with foil for a more even bake and to prevent a skin on the top. I’m convinced this also helps minimize air bubbles (overcooking/an overly aggressive water bath will also cause more air bubbles). Don’t be afraid to pull it while it still has some serious jiggle. If you have a stick thermometer, temp. it very gently in the center. Pull it at 175 and it will be beautifully creamy and set.

I make this like we do in India, in the pressure cooker. Its called Caramel Custard Pudding. No need for a blender. Just whisk everything together and pour into a caramel-lined steel container with a tight-fitting lid. Steam in the pressure cooker (without the weight) for 28 minutes. You'll get a lovely, firm custard with a slight wobble. Since the flan is in a tin, it's easy to take to a party where you can flip it into a serving dish when it's time for dessert.

After caramelizing the sugar I poured it into the loaf pan and then stirred the milk and sugar mixture into the still-hot pan used to make the caramel. This infused the milk with the caramel flavor. The end result was perfect!

This flan is delicious and tastes even better on Day #2, if it can last that long in your house! A few tips:
--I was able to caramelize the sugar perfectly, but you have to watch it very carefully. The minute it turns amber, take it off the heat as the progress from amber to dark amber is very fast.
--I needed to bake it for 2 hours (not 1 hour).
--Definitely recommend using the hot wet kitchen towel trick to get all the flan out of the pan with the caramel.

I made this and only used 2/3 cup of sugar in the custard. I also heated the milk in the caramel pan to utilize all the hardened sugar that stuck to the pan. I baked it in 4oz Ball canning jars (I portioned the caramel into the individual jars) for about 35 min in the water bath. Delicious! And you can keep individual portions fresh in the fridge by screwing on canning lids after the flan is cool. Run a knife around and invert the jar into a saucer when you want to serve.

Made the custard with half the sugar (1/3 the sugar the second time), to bring it more in line with European tastes; was still plenty sweet, tasted great.

The milk egg mixture will not fit into 9x5 loaf pan, esp if mixed in blender which increases volume, I wasted cup and half of milk and wound up with very eggy custard. Next time I will skip the blender, use a whisk and pour into 9 inch square pan.

Many years ago I was told by my boss, the son of a Cuban-American restraunteur, to infuse the milk with two anise stars. It does not leave an overly agressive licorice taste, just a subtle little extra.

I agree with Chef George no blender and no warming the milks. Pouring through a strainer is a must. I also do not use water in the caramel. Leave the sugar alone on med hi heat. Every once in a while swirl the pan. Resist the urge to scrap the sugar down or worse try to stir it. Just give it a few swirls around the pan every minute or so. This is very good and better 2nd or 3rd day.

For some reason, it always takes longer cooking time for me. But it always comes out perfect. I use two cups whole milk and a cup of half and half. Very easy but elegant dessert.

Not happy that this took longer than the recipe stated. It clocked out at 85 min with the last 10 min at 350. I also don't get why it states to use a blender. The blender made it foamy- it's hard to make a blender go slowly enough to make it just smooth. Far easier to whisk it all up by hand. All in all, a tasty flan but serious thumbs down on the technique.

I don’t put water when I make caramel, only sugar, let it dissolve slowly, no stirring, just swirling the pan occasionally. What Curtis is talking about is caramel like dulce de leche, not this kind of caramel. Two completely different things!

Easy take the sugar off as soon as it turns light amber, the residual heat in the pan will quickly get it to mid color before you pour.

I only use 1/2c sugar in the flan itself -- makes for more of a breakfast treat.

I used some of the suggestions with my own variations: I added 3 cloves and used orange zest, I cut the sugar to 1 cup (barely sweet), I mixed the eggs by hand (I dont know why they want you to dirty another device) then put the mixture thru a sieve before pouring into a 9 by 5 bread pan. I did cover it with foil and took it out of the oven after an hour. I trusted that "jiggly in the middle" was ok as it sat in the fridge overnight. Perfection!

Instead of "baño maria" in the oven that is going to take 2 hours to cook, use an instant pot and do it in 5 minutes, as follows:Pour the flan mixture in a mold with a tight lid properly setPut the mold inside an instant potPour one cup of water in the instant potSet the instant pot to pressure cook for 5 minutesAfter is done turn off the instant pot and let it cool by itself without opening the steam valve.When the pot is cold the flan is ready.

I struggled with getting the sugar to caramelize. I found it needed to be on medium high heat rather than medium. It was a hit with the family

I remember when I was a child it was my duty to swirl the melted sugar in whatever we were using to serve the flan in. I often used individual bowls or cups.I don't remember my mom using a bain marie... just a pot on top of the stove. I'll have to look for her recipe.BTW... she did scrub the pots to remove the sugar, until I told her to just soak them in water, the sugar is soluble and melts away.

I made these in individual ramekins and then plated them with some garnish. Really beautiful and so tasty. I had trouble with the sugar crystallizing. Discovered you can prevent this by adding a few drops of lemon juice.

This part about the cloth is confusing.

Substituted evaporated milk for the heavy cream.

Mom used to make the best custard flan. But she disliked making the caramel syrup and switched to using maple syrup. Still tasted wonderful to me.

can this be made with commercial dulce de lece?

This was the hit of the party and so simple to make. I used an aluminum loaf pan and was worried that it would work less well - it worked fine and heightened the surprise of turning it over!

Needs 1/3 cup water with sugar to make caramel. 2T just made hard candy.

This is a note to the NYT - this recipe could really benefit from a video.For those of us who can't cook, making a caramel is practically impossible. Can you please add a video or link to an article or something? Also, re the flan itself, I didn't understand "set but jiggly"Finally, if "chilling" is going to require 8 hours or more, that should be indicated. Usually, I approach anything as a learning experience but this was a massive waste of ingredients and time

Please don't add water to the sugar when caramelizing it. I made it twice. When I used water it was a disaster. Without water, it was perfect.