Mexican Flan Recipe (Flan Mexicano) + Video

Flan is a silky vanilla custard topped with a yummy caramel sauce. It's a very popular dessert that's creamy, rich, and decadent.

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A cake knife removing a slice of Mexican flan from the dessert.

This Mexican Flan Recipe is rich, creamy, and covered in a silky caramel sauce that melts in your mouth.

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Made with simple ingredients, this traditional dessert is popular at family gatherings, holidays, and special occasions throughout Mexico.

If you’ve never made homemade flan before, this easy recipe is a good place to start.

Table of Contents

1 🍮 Instructions
2 Variations
3 What Baking Pan To Use
4 👩🏼‍🍳 Pro Tip
5 🙋🏻‍♀️ FAQs – Frequently Asked Questions
6 🫙 Storing Instructions
7 📕 Origins
8 🇪🇸 🇲🇽 More Spanish-Mexican Recipes
9 🍰 More Mexican Desserts
10 😋 Hungry for More?
11 Mexican Flan

🍮 Instructions

A collage of four images shows hands making Mexican flan: stirring caramel in a skillet, pouring it into a baking dish, whisking batter in a bowl, and pouring the batter over the caramel in the same baking dish.

Make the Caramel:
Add sugar to a medium saucepan over medium heat.
Stir constantly as the sugar melts and turns into a dark golden caramel.
Remove from the heat immediately to avoid burning.
Carefully pour the hot caramel into a round baking pan or pie pan.
Swirl the caramel around the bottom of the pan to coat evenly.
Prepare the Custard
In a large bowl, beat whole eggs until smooth.
Add the milk, sugar, vanilla, and grated orange rind.
Mix until everything is fully combined.

What makes this a Mexican flan recipe (and not Spanish) is the use of whole eggs. Some Mexican flan recipes also include sweetened condensed milk or evaporated milk, making the texture studier.

An original authentic flan recipe from Spain has been passed down from generation to generation in my family, and it only uses yolks. It comes out very yellow.

Milks to use: Either whole milk, heavy cream, or half and half.

A hand pours hot water from a teapot into a baking pan to create a water bath around a round cake pan filled with Mexican flan batter, sitting on a wooden kitchen counter as steam rises from the water.

Prepare the Water Bath:
Place a large roasting pan on the oven rack.
Set the caramel-coated pan inside the roasting pan.
Pour the milk mixture into the hardened caramel-lined pan.
Carefully pour hot water into the roasting pan or rectangular baking dish until it reaches about 1 inch up the sides of the flan pan.

Variations

In Mexico, we use whole milk. Countries such as Cuba and Puerto Rico will often use sweetened condensed milk or evaporated milk. Many people take a classic flan recipe and create extreme variations like coconut flan, pumpkin flan, chocolate flan, key lime flan, or flan de queso with its silky texture is also hugely popular.

Four-step collage showing a yellow flan in a blue pan: in a water bath with a thermometer, cooling on a rack, chilling in a fridge, and being released upside down onto a plate.

Bake the Flan:
Bake at 325 degrees F for about 1 hour covered with foil.
The flan is ready when a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack on the counter.
Then refrigerate covered with plastic wrap for at least 3½ hours before serving.
Unmold the Flan:
Take the pan out of the fridge.
Run a spatula or sharp knife gently around the edges of the pan.
Place a serving platter over the top of the pan.
Carefully flip the pan upside down onto the platter.
Spoon any remaining caramel sauce over the flan before slicing.

What Baking Pan To Use

In the video, I’m using a regular pie pan. If you are using this recipe, you will need to use TWO pie pans. Yes, two flans!
I recommend using a deep 8-inch cake pan or a ramekin.
Or use a flan mold or a flan double broiler set that make it easier to unmold this staple dessert.

👩🏼‍🍳 Pro Tip

The DEEPER the pan, the THICKER your flan will be.

Use a serving plate that is LARGER than the pan. OR, the syrup will spill all over the place, and the flan will fall apart. No bueno.

There might be a section or so that did not completely come loose on the bottom of the pan. That’s ok. No dessert is perfect. It’ll still be yummy and creamy.

Flan sitting on a cake standing next to a serving knife.

🙋🏻‍♀️ FAQs – Frequently Asked Questions

Why do you bake flan in a water bath?

Most custard bakes will ask for water baths. The water bath helps the flan cook gently and evenly, creating its smooth and creamy texture. It will also help prevent air bubbles.

How do I know when flan is done baking?

Insert a knife into the center. If it comes out clean, the flan is ready.

Why didn’t my caramel stay liquid?

Some caramel naturally hardens as it cools in the pan, but it melts again while baking.

🫙 Storing Instructions

Store Mexican flan covered in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Keep it chilled until ready to serve for the best texture and flavor. Avoid freezing, as the custard texture may change once thawed.

Do you see the picture below, and how the caramel is pouring down the flan? Makes you just want to lick the plate clean! Are you drooling? Because I sure am!!

A slice of Mexican flan on a white plate drizzled with caramel sauce.

📕 Origins

Flan dates back to the Ancient Roman times. You know, Cesar and the Colosseum? Yeah, that!

From there, it spread. In Spain, there’s Spanish flan. In France, there’s crème caramel.

The Spanish, though, were the first (or so it seems) to add a caramelized sugar top. They brought flan to Latin America, and that’s how we got it in Mexico.

🇪🇸 🇲🇽 More Spanish-Mexican Recipes

Churros
Arroz con Leche
Rosca de Reyes (Roscon de Reyes, in Spain)
Bacalao Navideno
Torrejas

A slice of flan sitting on a white plate next to a cake stand with the entire dessert.

🍰 More Mexican Desserts

This Mexican Flan recipe is one of those timeless desserts that never goes out of style. The creamy custard and rich caramel topping create a dessert that feels elegant while still being easy to make at home. Serve it chilled after dinner and watch everyone ask for seconds.

😋 Hungry for More?

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Did you make this recipe? Please rate the recipe below!

Mexican Flan

Flan is a silky vanilla custard topped with a yummy caramel sauce. It's a very popular dessert that's creamy, rich, and decadent.

4.82 from 118 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Recipes

Cuisine: Mexican

Prep Time: 3 45

Cook Time: 1 5

Total Time: 4 50

Servings:

Calories: 202kcal

Author: Maggie Unzueta

Ingredients

Instructions

Heat ½ cup sugar in a skillet, stirring constantly until it melts.
It will turn a dark golden color.
Remove from heat.
Immediately pour the melted sugar into a round tart pan or round pie pan.
Swirl it around the pan to evenly coat the bottom.
In a large bowl, beat the eggs.
To the bowl, add milk (or half and half), ½ cup sugar, vanilla, and orange peel.
For the water bath:
Place a large roasting pan on an oven rack.
Inside the roasting pan, add the caramel coated pan to the center.
Pour egg mixture into the caramel coated pan.
Run the tap water until it gets hot.
Carefully add the hot tap water in the roasting pan and around the uncooked flan pan to a depth of 1 inch.
Bake at 325 F for close to l hour, or until a knife comes out clean.
Cool the flan on a wire rack.
Then chill for at least 3½ hours.
To unmold the flan:
Use a spatula and gently go around the sides of the pan.
Place the serving platter over the pan.
Flip the pan and the platter and allow the flan to come down.
Spoon any of the caramel that may remain in the pan on top of the flan.
Slice and Enjoy!