Leche Flan
A dense, silky egg custard baked over a layer of caramel in a tin, steamed gently and turned out to serve.
Photograph credit: Leche flan (Philippines) 02 by Obsidian Soul · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
Where This Goes Wrong
Strain the custard.
Whisk gently.
Cover the tin tightly.
If your oven runs hot, check at 45 minutes.
How to Make Leche Flan
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Heat the oven to 160°C / 320°F. Melt the sugar in a pan over a medium heat until amber, pour into a 20 cm round tin and tilt to coat.
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Whisk the egg yolks gently with the condensed milk, evaporated milk, vanilla and lemon zest. Strain into the tin.
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Cover tightly with foil and set the tin in a roasting dish of hot water that comes halfway up the sides.
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Bake for 50 minutes until set with a slight wobble in the centre.
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Cool completely, run a knife round the edge and turn out onto a plate.
Related guides: Prep, cook and total time · Pan and tin size.
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Why It Works
Strain the custard. That is the short instruction that makes the texture silky, and the one most often skipped. A sieve catches the tiny bits of egg white that would otherwise leave small holes in the finished flan.
Melt the sugar in a pan until it turns amber and pour it into the base of the tin, tilting it to coat. Do not leave the caramel unattended, because it goes from gold to burnt in seconds. Whisk the egg yolks gently with the condensed milk, evaporated milk and vanilla, taking care not to whip in air. Whisk gently. Bubbles make a pitted surface.
Strain the mixture into the tin and cover it tightly with foil. Set the tin in a roasting dish of hot water and bake at 160°C / 320°F for 50 minutes. If your oven runs hot, check at 45 minutes. It is set when the centre has only a slight wobble.
Cool, then run a knife round the edge and turn out onto a plate.
Storage and Reheating
Keeps in the fridge for 4 days.
Good With
- Fresh mango
- Coffee
- Tea
- Whipped cream
Common Questions About Leche Flan
How long does Leche Flan take to make?
20 minutes of preparation and 50 minutes of cooking, so at least 1 hour 10 minutes. The method also needs time for cooling completely, which it does not time, so treat that as a minimum. The recipe serves 8.
Leche Flan Nutrition
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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