Puerto Rican Flan Recipe
Today we’re making my mom’s Puerto Rican Flan recipe. This classic dessert consists of a lusciously creamy custard filling topped with homemade caramel. It’s both impressive to share and surprisingly easy to make!
A Puerto Rican Classic
Flan is a classic Puerto Rican dessert (also known as an egg custard to many) and is made with a milk and egg base.
Traditionally, this custard is poured over a caramelized sugar base, baked and flipped upside down to reveal a beautiful caramel topping.
It’s the perfect combination of light creamy custard and rich sweet caramel.
Make sure to also try my flancocho, flan de calabaza (pumpkin flan), and budin (bread pudding) if you enjoy this sweet treat!
Featured Review
My wife made this for me and it is the best flan I’ve ever had.
Tony
Grocery List
Here at Salima’s Kitchen, we love an easy recipe and my mom’s Puerto Rican flan recipe is about as simple as it gets.
For the caramel layer :
- white granulated sugar
- water
For the filling:
- evaporated milk
- milk
- vanilla extract
- salt
- eggs
- white granulated sugar
Making the caramel (you’ve got this!)
Important: Be very careful when making and pouring the caramel as it gets extremely hot and can cause serious burns.
Making the Flan Filling & Baking
I like cracking the eggs in a separate container. This makes removing any shells easy before combining everything.
At this point you can preheat your oven to 350 degrees F / 177 degrees C and prep your water bath.
Create a water bath by placing your baking dish or dishes inside another, larger oven safe dish. Pour in warm water until it is nearly as tall as the flan, but not tall enough to overflow into it.
The water bath technique helps the custard to cook evenly.
Your flan may take a require a bit of encouragement to leave the baking dish.
Some helpful tips if your flan isn’t budging: shake the flan dish gently, tap on the bottom, let the dish sit in warm water, patience is key!
What Not to Do
A few tips on things to watch out for:
- Don’t overcook the caramel – it can develop a burnt flavor easily so it’s important to cook over low heat and be patient so that it reaches a liquid form before burning.
- Be careful to not burn yourself with the hot caramel, it is extremely hot and can cause serious burns.
- Don’t forget to let your flan cool and set, and loosen the edges with a knife before flipping.
Creme Brulee vs. Flan
For many Americans, flan is just the Spanish version of Creme Brulee.
While the two dishes have many similarities, flan does not have the hard brulee crust or require any special tools (like a torch) to make.
Additionally, flan involves the process of baking the custard on top of the caramel, then flipping it after it’s cooked and cooled. Creme brulee involves baking the custard alone, then sprinkling with sugar and using a torch to caramelize as mentioned above.
Baking Vessels
Growing up my mom always used a round glass pyrex dish for her Puerto Rican flan recipe, but I like using this 9 inch steel dish. That said, you could also use smaller ramekins or whatever you have on hand that’s oven safe.
The result is essentially the same, with the only difference being single servings of flan or one larger flan that can be cut into slices.
Just make sure whatever baking dish/es you use are oven safe up to 350° Fahrenheit.
Different variations to try
This version of flan is the most traditional in Puerto Rico and can be found at most panaderias (Puerto Rican or Spanish bakeries).
Many Latin cultures have their own versions of the traditional flan that will vary between countries. That said, there are also variations between flavors of flan.
And if you’re interested in trying more Puerto Rican food & desserts, check out this collection of my favorite Puerto Rican recipes.
More Puerto Rican Desserts
Buen provecho,
Classic Puerto Rican Flan Recipe
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Puerto Rican, Dessert, Custard, Flan
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Puerto Rican, Latin
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Today we’re making my mom’s Puerto Rican Flan recipe. This classic dessert consists of a lusciously creamy custard filling topped with homemade caramel. It’s both impressive to share and surprisingly easy to make!
Ingredients
For the caramel:
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup water
For the custard filling:
- 1 (12oz) can evaporated milk
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
- a pinch of salt
- 5 eggs
- 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
Instructions
- Make the caramel. Pour sugar and water into a pan and melt over medium heat. Watch closely and mix occasionally to ensure the sugar melts evenly (can take up to 20 minutes).
- Pour the caramel into baking dish/es. Once sugar has melted and turns a light golden color, carefully pour the caramel into an oven safe baking dish or dishes. Tilt the dish/es around to evenly distribute the caramel before setting aside.
- Make the custard filling. Add all remaining ingredients to a blender and blend until velvety smooth. Pour mixture into baking dish/es over caramel.
- Bake in a water bath. Place the baking dish/es inside another, larger oven safe dish with a layer of hot water to create a water bath. Bake at 350° F for 60-80 minutes, or until the center looks jiggly (think jello) but no longer liquid. Remove the flan from the oven and allow time to cool.
- Loosen & flip the flan. Using a knife, loosen the edges around the flan and baking dish/es. Grab a platter to serve on and place it over the baking dish. Carefully flip the flan onto the platter, allowing the caramel to drizzle over the top. Slice, serve and enjoy!
Where is the coconut flan recipe? Do you have a cream cheese flan, or coconut cream cheese flan recipe?
Hi Charlotte! You can find the coconut flan recipe here: https://salimaskitchen.com/puerto-rican-salted-coconut-flan/
Unfortunately, we don’t have any cream cheese flan recipes. Thanks for stopping by the blog!
Cream cheese flan it’s made adding to this same recipe a block of cream cheese and that’s it; (known as Philadelphia cheese) At least, that’s how we’ve always make it. Delicious every time as well.
I love that version! Thanks Vanessa.
Outstanding! Super easy! I boiled the water for the bath prior to putting it in the oven. The whole thing was just perfect. I also used a cast iron skillet to melt the sugar it took a.long time to melt, at least a 1/2 hr. Will make this again and again thank you for a fantastic recipe! I can’t wait to try out the coconut flan.
I’m so happy to hear you had success making flan Jen! Thank you for leaving a comment and I can’t wait to hear how it goes with the coconut flan 🙂
Flancocho instead of flancho 😉
it’s a delicious recipe, thanks for sharing.
Awesome recipe and super easy to make! Best of all, IT TASTES AMAZING!! 😋 I love flan, and your recipe is the first one I’ve tried! No need to find another because this is fantastic! I’m even sharing your recipe with a great friend of mine who is from Puerto Rico and loves making flan! Thanks so much! Now all I have to do is watch my waist line! 😂
Thank you for your comment Wayne! I am so glad to hear it was both easy to make, and (most importantly) tasted great ☺️
I made this the first time for a friend who is from Puerto Rico. It turned out beautiful. So proud and thankful..
Thank you so much for your comment and review Jennifer. I know how much pride comes from cooking and sharing a meal with loved ones and I’m honored you chose my recipe. Thank you and I am so happy you enjoyed it!
My wife made this for me and it is the best flan I’ve ever had
So happy to hear that Tony!
In the recipe you wrote 1/2 cup of sugar but in the video you said 1 cup of sugar. Can you clarify? I want to make this for father’s day 🙂
Hi Mary Ann and thanks for your comment. You will need 1 cup of sugar for the caramel base and ½ cup of sugar for the custard filling mix. Let me know if you have any other questions!
How many does this serve? What size pan if not using individual ramekins?
This serves 8 and I recommend using a 12 inch circular baking dish.
Hi! I wanted to try making this but i’m a little bit confused on what type of milk i’m supposed to use… Is any type of milk okay or should it be a specific percentage?
Hi Jenny! I recommend using whole milk.
Hello!!! Is it possible to make it as if it was a cake instead of separate ones? To combine all the ingredients just in a bigger bowl, would it work? Do I leave it in the oven for the same amount?.
Hi Ambar, yes you can make it in one pan! I recommend using a 10 inch baking dish (something like this: https://amzn.to/44ewFHm) and baking for 60-80 minutes or until the center looks jiggly but no longer liquid. Buen Provecho!
Hi! I love flan so much and want to try this. Do you chill the flan before serving, or serve room temp? If I were to serve it chilled, would I chill while it’s still in the dish, or after flipping onto the plate? Thank you!
Hi Jessica, I like serving at room temperature if it’s not going to be sitting out for too long. It’s delicious chilled too, though! I recommend using a knife to loosen the sides as soon as it cools, then waiting to flip until just before you’re planning to serve. Hope this helps!
i never made fan before but i have been promising my boyfriend i would make him some. i found your recipe and it seemed like the best one when i searched for recipes.
OMG was this easy and delicious. My boyfriend loved this! thank you for sharing this delicious recipe. will definitely be doing it again.
Everyone I’ve cooked this flan for is obsessed!!!
He said he feels like he’s in PR and he loved the fluffiness in the center. He didn’t believe it.
Hi, Can this recipe be doubled or tripled and how long would you cook? Need for a potluck. Thanks, Karen
Thank you!
Hi Karen, I would not recommend doubling or tripling this recipe. Instead, I would make 2-3 separate flans.
Hi!
Tried this recipe and it came out very good except my caramel came out very hard and sat on top when I flipped it. Where did I go wrong?
Hi Jasmine, it’s normal for some of the caramel to sit in the pan and not drip down, but you should still have a good amount of the caramel on the flan. There are some tips on how to remedy this in the blog post if you’re interested in troubleshooting in the future. I also recently updated the caramel recipe to include ⅓ cup of water, a change that helps the caramel to stay liquid in the end result.