My mother-in-law, who is from Durango, Mexico, gave me the recipe for this Mexican flan. I had to nag her for years before she eventually gave up and handed me the custard recipe one Christmas. Although the original dessert recipe only called for pure vanilla, I added orange zest. Almond extract is an additional option.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 55 mins |
| Additional Time: | 5 hrs |
| Total Time: | 6 hrs 5 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
Ingredients
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup whole milk
- 3 large eggs
- 3 large egg yolks
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- 1 tablespoon grated orange peel
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Place sugar into a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until sugar melts and turns a golden amber color, about 10 minutes. Watch carefully once syrup begins to change color because it burns quickly. Carefully pour caramel syrup into a flan mold. Set aside to cool.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place an oven rack in the middle position.
- Place sweetened condensed milk, whole milk, eggs, egg yolks, orange juice, orange peel, vanilla, and cornstarch into a blender; blend until smooth, about 1 minute. Pour in cream and pulse several times to incorporate. Pour mixture over cooled caramel syrup in the flan mold.
- Line a roasting pan with a damp kitchen towel. Place the filled flan mold carefully on the towel in the roasting pan, then place the roasting pan on the oven rack. Fill the roasting pan with enough boiling water to reach halfway up the sides of the flan mold.
- Bake in the preheated oven until the center of flan is set but still slightly jiggles when nudged, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Let cool, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
- To serve, run a sharp paring knife around the inside of the mold to release flan. Place a serving plate on the mold, then flip the mold over. Gently lift the mold to release flan and allow caramel syrup to cascade over custard. Remove the mold.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 434 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 56 g |
| Cholesterol | 207 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 g |
| Protein | 9 g |
| Saturated Fat | 11 g |
| Sodium | 115 mg |
| Sugars | 54 g |
| Fat | 20 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
We really enjoyed the orange flavor in this flan recipe. I had a very large orange and used all the orange rind. It was not too strong. I may have cooked the caramel a tiny bit too long. A little of the caramel was still hard on the pan when I inverted the flan. My husband loved the caramel, so I just let the hard caramel sit with a little water. Once the caramel was soft enough, I stirred it and it was just fine.
While the recipe may have terrific flavor, I think there were critical techniques that were left out. Ex: Cooking the sugar alone w/o water resulted in rock hard candy two times. Cooking time was all wrong. I cooked it at 350 degrees and at 1 hour, it was completely uncooked. 2 hours, just a little bit better. Reduced heat to 250, cooked another hour, with no water bath. center still pretty jiggly.
Did Exactly like the recipe and it came out great! my cuban mother loves it. Made it a second time with just vanilla and I also did my caramel better.
I’ve been making this recipe for years… it’s the best! Anyone who has ever tasted it, loved it. (I omit the orange)
This flan is amazing! I had a lot of fun making it, the texture was just what I was hoping for! this is a really good recipe and i’ll use it again In the future!
I listening to the comments and adapted this recipe slightly, using a full can of evaporated milk in place of the whole milk & orange juice, omitted the cornstarch, and adding a swig of orange blossom water, and finally, cooked it for around 1.5 hours since it was no where near ready after 40 mins, and holy schmoly, it was insanely delicious. My Mexican boyfriend said it was the best flan he’s ever had. Cannot reccomend this recipe enough, I’ll definitely be making it again.
Perfect! Thanks for the recipe! Made as is
Amazing and easy!!
I have made this many times now for friends and family and it never fails to receive rave reviews! Excellent just as it is written!
Delicious Flan because of the orange zest. In the future I will make in muffin tins to have serval even sizes.
This recipe is perfect. My husband is a huge fan of Mexican Flan and said this was the best he has ever eaten, bar none. I did make my own condensed milk using Kerry Gold butter (which has a high fat content). I’m not sure that made any difference.
Every time is a success! I didn’t change a thing and I have been doing this recipe for years! Thank you for sharing it!
I loved the idea of adding orange to this recipe. I made the recipe as it was written and found it was good, the consistency was perfect, but you really need to like the orange flavor to enjoy it. My review was based on the original recipe. I did make it a second time using just the zest and NOT the OJ (added more milk instead) and it had the perfect balance. Creamy, vanilla with a hint of orange that had people guessing what my “secret ingredient” was. My family liked both, but preferred the flan with just the zest. Great recipe, thank you for sharing!
Didn’t have oranges so made without. Almost a crepe brûlée texture. Very rich, much more than most flan I’m used too. A delicious surprise.
I loved it. The texture and taste was delicious. My only complaint is the caramel hardened and wouldn’t come out of the pan.
This recipe is wonderful! The first time i made it , i made it twice. Both turned out awesome! Since this was such a hit, i started thinking about other flavors. The next flan i made i followed this recipe, but replaced the orange flavors with coconut and lime! I was nervous, because this would be my 3rd flan. I decided to get coconut milk and coconut extract. Used a half can of coconut milk and mixed with half a can of the sweetened condensed milk. I added a half teaspoon of coconut extract. Juiced a lime and zested it. This turned out so good! This recipe is amazing!
I made this as dessert for a chili dinner for 8. I used ramekins for individual servings. I made it a day in advance and covered each ramekin in plastic wrap. The recipe is the perfect size for the 8 servings. (Must use a knife to loosen the flan.) Perhaps I cooked the sugar too long. Even though I took the flans out of the fridge about 2 hours before serving, some of the caramel was solid, yet I had enough liquid caramel in each ramekin to sweeten the dessert. I served it with three raspberries and a sprig of mint at the base for color. A thin slice of clementine would be attractive, too. Perhaps even a whole or sliced kumquat.
This was my very first time making flan and I loved it! I’m one that always messes up recipes and whatever I’m making almost always comes out as a flop but I followed this recipe to the tee and it came out fine! Maybe I screwed something up though because the center came out a little pudding like but I left it in the oven for 56 minutes and made sure the center was set before I took out? I also didn’t really enjoy the orange taste. I was going to make it without the orange juice and zest but decided to follow the recipe completely since it was my first time but I decided to use this recipe without the orange next time. Overall, as a Mexican and Flan lover, I really enjoyed eating this!
I have eaten a lot of flan in my life having lived in Chile and Colombia, but I must say this flan was the best I’ve ever had. The orange was so fragrantly delicious. It was a wonderful surprise! I recommend everyone to make the recipe as written before deciding to make any changes. You won’t be disappointed!
This tasted amazing! I omitted the orange peel only because I didn’t actually have any oranges on hand, and for the baking it took 1 hour 20 minutes for some reason (after an hour it was still super jiggly all over). Other than that, followed the recipe as written and my whole family thoroughly enjoyed it. Will definitely make it again.
I’ve always wanted to make flan, but thought it would be too hard. The hardest part was the sugar and it wasn’t bad. I left out the orange juice and zest. I did everything else just like the recipe. It was delicious. I will definitely make this again.