This pumpkin flan recipe is the silkiest, creamiest, most elegantly pumpkin-spiced dessert you could serve at your fanciest Autumn dinner parties or decadent Thanksgiving dinners! It’s a perfect make-a-day-ahead dessert that your guests will love to watch you flip and serve!
I’ve made a number of pumpkin flan recipes with textures that were a bit too eggy or pumpkin-pie-like for my taste, so I set out to create the most heavenly, smooth version of this classic Autumn custard, and boy oh boy, this is it!
I also have a bunch of other tasty pumpkin spice recipes to keep you busy from September to December! You’ve gotta try my rich pumpkin risotto and my shockingly delicious pumpkin spice carrot cupcakes with rum raisins and salted caramel-cream cheese frosting! (I went a little overboard with those). And if you want a gorgeous cocktail to serve at your elegant Halloween party, you must try my “White Pumpkin” Cocktail.
How to Make Pumpkin Flan – Step by Step
Warning: You’ll be making a “ban marie,” which is adding water to a pan and placing it in the oven. When you remove it, it will be scolding hot so remove with caution. The caramel will also be very hot, so be sure there are no small children or pets in the kitchen while you make this dessert.
1. Lay a tea towel into a deep baking sheet and place 6 ramekins on top. Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 325 F. (165. C) In a small sauce pan over MEDIUM heat, add 1 cup white granulated sugar and 3½ tablespoons water. Give it a little mix with a wooden spoon to make sure the water is evenly distributed. The caramel process should take about 10-11 minutes from when you turn on the heat to when you pour the caramel.
3. Note: do not mix sugar while it boils and bubbles. After 5-7 minutes you’ll start to notice the color changing and a smell of caramel. Let it continue to bubble without mixing for at least 2-4 more minutes.
4. When the sugar is starting to look like the color of warm caramel, pick up your pan and give it a swirl. It will keep cooking once you remove the pan, so watch the color carefully. See #4 for the correct color.
Note: If you don’t have a white pan to help you easily see the color, use a spoon to drip a few drops onto a white plate and check that the color is a warm caramel color.
5. Pour caramel evenly into the bottom of ramekins.
6. In a medium mixing bowl, add 3 large eggs, 6 tablespoons brown sugar, 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice, ½ cup pumpkin puree and 1 tablespoon whisky (optional). Use a standing blender or immersion blender to combine. Blend for 1-2 full minutes. Set aside.
7. In a medium pot, add 1½ cups whole milk and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract. Turn your heat to MEDIUM. Heat for 3-5 minutes, or until a small amount of steam begins to rise, stirring occasionally.
8. Very slowly and steadily, pour egg mixture into heating vanilla milk, stirring/whisking the whole time you pour. If you don’t stir, the eggs may cook unevenly and get chunky. Once added, slowly stir for another 30 seconds. Remove from heat.
9. Evenly pour pumpkin custard into ramekins, over the caramel.
10. Place pan in oven, and use a tea kettle to fill the pan half-way up the glasses with water (or you can fill the pan with water first and carefully place in the oven, but I find this to be a little tricky to do without spilling).
11.Bake for 45 minutes to an hour until the edges of your flan are slightly brown.
12. Very carefully remove the pan and remove the ramekins with a towel or oven mitt. (Be careful not to spill hot water!) When they’re cool enough to touch, cover them with cellophane and place them in the fridge to set for a minimum of 5 hours. Ideally, 24 hours.
To Make Chai Whipped Cream
1. Add a ½ cup heavy whipping cream and 1 teaspoon white granulated sugar to a clean sauce pan. Empty 2 chai tea bags into the cream.
2. Simmer on LOW (don’t boil) for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, stir and let it steep for an extra minute.
3. Strain the tea out of the cream and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. The cream won’t whip if it’s warm.
4. Pour cream into a food processor or blender and blend for about 10-20 seconds until whipped.
When you’re ready to serve, simply use a pairing knife to cut around the top edges of the flan, and insert the knife down one side. You should be able to simply flip the ramekin onto a plate and it will fall down on its own, with all the luscious caramel dripping down the sides. Top with chai whipped cream.
A Few Tips
1. Again, be careful! That sugar and water gets hot!
Although this pumpkin flan appears simple enough, you’re creating some very hot melted sugar caramel, and a single drop on the skin can be quite painful.
You’re also creating a “bain-marie;” filling your baking pan with water up to the middle of the ramekins. This will make your pan quite heavy and full of scolding hot water when removed from the oven, so make sure the kids and pups are nowhere near the kitchen when you make this recipe.
2. How to tell when you’re caramel is just right:
It can be tricky to see the exact color of your caramel if you have a dark pan. Your caramel can go from perfect to burned in just a few moments, so your ability to see color is key.
If you don’t have one, no worries. Just make sure to have a white plate or bowl handy so you can drip a little from time to time to check the color while it cooks.
3. The color of your caramel determines a lot about your flan’s flavor.
If you want your flan to taste lighter and more delicate, you’ll want to stop cooking your sugar when it’s a light caramel color (about 8-10 minutes), and if you want it to be more rich and “bourbon” tasting, let your sugar cook until is a warm mahogany color (about 10-12 minutes).
I like to see my color looking like the sugar dot above the lighter one in this picture.
Common Questions
Yes! simply pour your caramel and custard into a pyrex pie plate or tin, and refrigerate. When you’re ready to serve, you’ll simply run a pairing knife around the side, place a plate below the flan and flip.
Make sure your plate is not flat, however, because the caramel will run (deliciously) down the sides of the flan.
You want to let it set for at least 5 hours after it’s placed in the fridge, but you really want to serve it 1 to 2 days later. That caramel infuses the custard with the most wonderful flavor, so the longer you let it sit, the tastier it gets.
You don’t want to wait more than 3 days, though. A thick skin can begin to form on the top, even if you’ve covered it with cellophane at that point.
Use a pairing knife to slice just around the top of the flan where it may have baked to the glass ramekins. Then, insert the knife down the side and separate a bit of custard from the glass.
You don’t need to cut all the way around. It should come loose with just a little bit of separating on the side. You can then take a plate and place it on top of the flan and flip, or you can just quickly flip your ramekin onto a plate and the flan should gently fall down.
Pumpkin Flan with Chai Whipped Cream
Equipment
- small sauce pan
- medium pot
- medium mixing bowl
- large, deep baking dish
- 6 6oz. ramekins
- tea towel (kitchen towel)
- measuring cup
- mixing spoon
- whisk
- cellophane
- standing or immersion blender
- strainer to strain tea from cream
Ingredients
For the Caramel
- 1 cup white granulated sugar
- 3½ tbsp. water
For the Custard
- 1½ cups whole milk
- 3 large eggs
- ½ cup pumpkin puree
- 6 tbsp. dark brown sugar
- 1 tbsp. real vanilla extract – I use Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. pumpkin spice
- 1 tbsp. whisky – optional
For the Chai Cream
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 chai tea bags
- 1 tsp. white granulated sugar
Instructions
For the Flan
- Lay a tea towel into a deep baking sheet and place 6 ramekins on top. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 325 F. (165. C) In a small sauce pan over MEDIUM heat, add 1 cup white granulated sugar and 3½ tablespoons water. Give it a little mix with a wooden spoon (only once) to make sure the water is evenly distributed. The caramel process should take about 10-11 minutes from when you turn on the heat to when you pour your caramel.
- Again, do not mix sugar while it boils and bubbles. After 5-7 minutes you’ll start to notice the color changing and a smell of caramel. Let it continue to bubble without mixing for at least 2-4 more minutes.
- When the sugar is starting to look like the color of warm mahogany, pick up your pan and give it a swirl. It will keep cooking once you remove the pan. Once color is right, pour evenly into the bottom of ramekins. (See detailed instructions in post to see exactly the correct color.)Note: If you don’t have a white pan to help you easily see the color, use a spoon to drip a few drops onto a white plate.
- In a medium mixing bowl, add 3 large eggs, 6 tablespoons brown sugar, 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice, ½ cup pumpkin puree and 1 tablespoon whisky (optional). Use a standing blender or immersion blender to combine. Blend for 1-2 full minutes. Set aside.
- In a medium pot, add 1½ cups whole milk and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract. Turn your heat to MEDIUM. Heat for 3-5 minutes, or until a small amount of steam begins to rise, stirring occasionally.
- Very slowly and steadily, pour egg mixture into heating vanilla milk, stirring/whisking the whole time you pour. If you don’t stir, the eggs may cook unevenly and get chunky. Once added, slowly stir for another 30 seconds. Remove from heat. Evenly pour pumpkin custard into ramekins, over the caramel.
- Place pan in oven, and use a tea kettle to fill the pan half-way up the glasses with water (or you can fill the pan with water first and carefully place in the oven, but I find this to be a little tricky to do without spilling). Bake for 45 minutes to an hour until the edges of your flan are slightly brown.
- Very carefully remove the pan and remove the ramekins with a towel or oven mitt. (Be careful not to spill hot water!) When they’re cool enough to touch, cover them with cellophane and place them in the fridge to set for a minimum of 5 hours. Ideally, 24 hours.
For the Chai Cream
- Add a ½ cup heavy whipping cream and 1 teaspoon white granulated sugar to a clean sauce pan. Empty 2 chai tea bags into the cream. Simmer on LOW (don't boil) for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, stir and let it steep for an extra minute. Strain the tea out of the cream and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. The cream won't whip if it's warm.
- Pour cream into a food processor or blender and blend for about 10-20 seconds until whipped.
Denise
Is there any way to make 1 “large” flan? I want to take this to Thanksgiving.
Genevieve Morrison
Absolutely! I’ve done it myself. You’ll simply use a glass pie Pyrex instead of ramekins. Pour the caramel directly in the bottom evenly, then pour the custard on top. Bake time is exactly the same.
Alexa Janell
Is there a way that any of these recipes can be dairy free
Genevieve Morrison
I have a few dairy-free desserts, but if you’re wanting to make this particular recipe dairy-free, I believe you can substitute whole milk with full-fat (canned) coconut milk, and use a coconut cream recipe in place of heavy whipping cream. I also believe that Silk makes a heavy whipping cream that may work nicely too. I just haven’t personally tried to make this recipe dairy-free, so I can’t say 100% how well they would work, but I don’t see why they wouldn’t.
Maria
How many ounces in each ramekin? The yield says 6 ramekins, but it doesn’t say how big they are. Ramekins come in a few sizes. This sounds delicious!
Genevieve Morrison
6 ounce ramekins. I’ll fix the post to make it clear 😉