Easy Vegan Flan Recipe with Caramel Sauce (2024)

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4.80 from 5 votes

2 hours hours 10 minutes minutes

by Marly

15

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This easy vegan flan recipe creates a creamy, smooth flan that’s easier to make than a classic flan. If you’re looking for a smooth dessert with a creamy caramel topping, this will be your go-to favorite!

Easy Vegan Flan Recipe with Caramel Sauce (1)

Grab your forks (or spoons) and take a bite (or several) of this eggless Flan recipe. It’s made with dairy-free eggnog and made even creamier with cashews.

This vegan flan is a real show stopper!

Table of Contents show

What is Flan?

The classic flan recipe is not vegan because it’s usually made with both cream and eggs. However, it’s surprisingly easy to make flan vegan. In fact, I venture to say it’s actually EASIER to make vegan flan recipes than regular flan!

This simple flan recipe sets quickly and can be ready to serve within an hour. All you have to do is prepare the ingredients on the stove-top, pour them into your flan pans and refrigerate.

Why This Recipe is a Winner

  • Using soaked cashews creates a creamy base with a perfectly smooth mouthfeel
  • Coconut sugar adds a caramel flavor to the flan
  • Agar flakes make the perfect consistency without any added carbs.

Key Ingredients

You can find the full printable recipe, including ingredient quantities, below. But first, here are some explanations of ingredients and steps to help you make this recipe perfect every time.

Here are the ingredients you’ll need for this recipe, including substitution ideas:

  • Raw cashew — You can find raw cashews at health food stores or online.
  • Plant-based milk — Use your favorite plant-based milk, like soy milk, almond milk, or cashew milk. Use vegan eggnog to make it a seasonal holiday flan.
  • Coconut Sugar – Use coconut sugar or substitute brown sugar.
  • Agar flakes — You can find agar flakes at health food stores or online.
  • Nutritional yeast flakes — We’ll add a bit of flavor with these yeast flakes.
  • Ground nutmeg
  • Rum

How to Make Vegan Flan

  1. Place soaked cashews in a food processor or high-speed blender. Pulse for a few seconds. Add the plant-based milk and pulse until smooth.
  2. Add the brown sugar, agar flakes, nutritional yeast flakes, and ground nutmeg. Pulse for a second or two to combine.
  3. Pour this into a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer for 5 minutes.
  4. Remove from the heat. Stir in the rum. Set aside for 5 to 10 minutes, to allow it to cool slightly.
  5. Make the caramel topping by combining the ingredients in a separate saucepan and bringing it to a boil and reducing to a simmer. Cook until the sugar caramelizes and the sauce thickens, 5 to 7 minutes. Pour this evenly in the bottom of two flan dishes.
  6. Pour the cooled flan mixture over the caramel.
  7. Place in the fridge for at least one hour, preferably two.
  8. To serve, use a butter knife to cut along the sides of the pan. Invert it over a serving dish. It may take a minute or so, but the flan will drop onto the plate. Sprinkle with additional nutmeg (freshly grated is a nice touch).

How To Soak Cashews

Slow Soak Cashews

  1. Place cashews in a glass bowl and cover with water.
  2. Refrigerate and soak them for a minimum of four hours or up to overnight.
  3. Drain the soaking liquid.

Fast Soak Cashews

  1. Fast soak cashews by placing them in a saucepan.
  2. Cover them with water and then place it over medium heat.
  3. Bring it to a simmer (low boil) and cook for around 10 minutes. The cashews will become plump.
  4. Remove from heat and allow them to cool.
  5. Drain the soaking liquid.

Frequently-Asked Questions

Is Flan Vegan?

The classic flan recipe is not vegan because it’s usually made with both cream and eggs. However, it’s surprisingly easy to make flan vegan. In fact, I venture to say it’s actually EASIER to make vegan flan recipes than regular flan!

What is Flan?

A flan is basically a creamy custard dish with a caramel topping. It is usually a bit firmer than a standard pudding and is served on a plate where it stands firm with the caramel sauce dripping over the edge.

Does Vegan Flan Taste Like Flan?

Of course, the big question is does the non-dairy flan taste like, you know, a regular flan dessert? Well, if flan is creamy, rich, with hints of nutmeg and caramel, then this vegan flan is spot on!

Marly’s Tips

Use these expert tips to make this homemade flan recipe perfect every time:

  • Experiment by adding a little more dried ginger to the mix. I love that stuff!
  • Serve with vegan coconut whipped cream
  • Sprinkle some crushed gingersnap cookies over the top
  • You don’t need traditional flan dishes for this recipe, but they look nice.

More Vegan Desserts

If you’re into delicious vegan desserts,you’ll love these:

Vegan Strawberry Chocolate Cake

50 mins total

Vegan Pecan Pie

95 mins total

Vegan Oreo Cheesecake

380 mins total

Easy Vegan Coconut Cake

55 mins total

Easy Vegan Flan Recipe with Caramel Sauce (6)

Have some fun! As long as you follow the basics of this easy flan recipe, you can adjust the spices and events sweetness level to meet your own tastes. That’s the best thing about making things from home — you know exactly what’s in your food and you get to adapt the flavors to meet your needs.

Because it’s made without dairy milk, this healthy flan recipe is delicious for people with allergies too.

Easy Vegan Flan Recipe with Caramel Sauce (7)

That’s it for this vegan flan.

Easy Vegan Flan Recipe with Caramel Sauce (8)

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Easy Vegan Flan Recipe with Caramel Sauce (9)

Easy Vegan Flan Recipe with Caramel Sauce (10)

Vegan Flan

Grab your forks for this simple but elegant easy vegan flan recipe. It's made with only a few ingredients but lots of show-stopping flavor!

4.80 from 5 votes

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Spanish

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 2 hours hours

Total Time: 2 hours hours 10 minutes minutes

Servings: 2

Calories: 380kcal

Author: Marly McMillen

Ingredients

Eggnog Flan

  • ½ cup raw cashew pieces soaked or quick soak*
  • 1 ½ cups plant-based milk
  • 1 tablespoon coconut or brown sugar
  • 1 ½ tablespoons agar flakes ** not powder
  • 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes
  • ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 tablespoon rum

Caramel Topping

  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • ½ cup plant-based milk

Instructions

  • Drain the soaked cashews from their soaking liquid. Discard liquid. Place soaked cashews in a food processor or high-speed blender. Pulse for a few seconds. Add the plant-based milk and pulse until smooth.

  • Add the brown sugar, agar flakes, nutritional yeast flakes, and ground nutmeg. Pulse for a second or two to combine.

  • Pour this into a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer for 5 minutes.

  • Remove from the heat. Stir in the rum. Set aside for 5 to 10 minutes, to allow it to cool slightly.

  • In a separate saucepan add the caramel topping ingredients. Bring to a boil and reduce to a rapid simmer. Cook until the sugar caramelizes and the sauce thickens, 5 to 7 minutes. Pour this evenly in the bottom of two flan dishes.***

  • Pour equal amounts of the slightly cooled flan mixture over the caramel.

  • Place in the fridge for at least one hour, preferably two.

  • To serve, use a butter knife to cut along the sides of the pan. Invert it over a serving dish. It may take a minute or so, but the flan will drop onto the plate. Sprinkle with additional nutmeg (freshly grated is a nice touch).

Recommended Equipment

Food Processor

(The products above contain sponsored links to products we use and recommend)

Notes

* Long soak: Place raw cashew pieces in 1 cup water and soak overnight in the fridge.

Quick soak: Place raw cashew pieces in 1 cup water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer and cook until the cashews are tender about 5 minutes. Drain excess water.

I buy agar flakes at our local health food store or online.

You can use muffin tins for this, mini pie pans, or even any small bowls that have a gently outward slope.

For regular flan, I recommend using creamy plant-based milk, such as cashew milk or soy milk. SoDelicious Cashew Milk would be perfect.

Use all the ingredients above but substitute vanilla plant-based milk (see notes for suggestions on the best brands/varieties). Also, increase sugar to 1/3 cup in the flan.

Calories: 380kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 14g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Sodium: 128mg | Potassium: 587mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 25g | Vitamin A: 505IU | Calcium: 322mg | Iron: 3.5mg

The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Did you make this recipe?

Leave a rating below then tag @namelymarly on Instagram and hashtag it #namelymarly. I love seeing your creations!

This was a sponsored post. All opinions are my own. See our full disclosure for more information.

This post was originally published in 2016 and was updated to include new photos, new text, and an updated recipe in 2020.

Easy Vegan Flan Recipe with Caramel Sauce (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between crème caramel and caramel flan? ›

Flavor: Flan recipes usually call for multiple types of dairy products, such as cream cheese, evaporated milk, and sweetened condensed milk. This gives a flan a tangier and sweeter flavor than that of a crème caramel, which uses only whole milk or cream, eggs, and sugar.

Why did the caramel in my flan stay hard? ›

It's normal. Caramel hardens when you pour it into a ramekin but gradually melts into syrup during cooking. If the layer of caramel poured into a ramekin is too thick, it will not have time to completely melt during cooking. This is why caramel will stick to the bottom.

What is vegan flan made of? ›

🥣 How To Make Flan Vegan

Step 3: Blend vegan cream cheese, evaporated milk, condensed milk, milk, vanilla, cornstarch, agar, and salt until smooth. Step 4: Cook the custard over medium heat for around 5 minutes until it thickens and coats the back of a spoon.

Why is my flan not creamy? ›

Perhaps the biggest issue flan-makers face is getting their dessert perfectly smooth in its texture, and this may be due to overmixing it before cooking. Overmixing may cause your flan to become clumpy as rapid motions suffuse your mixture with air bubbles.

Can you use condensed milk instead of cream for caramel? ›

However, you can also make caramel out of sweetened condensed milk, creating the same great sauce with a unique, extra-sweet kick.

Is caramel just heated condensed milk? ›

What you make out of condensed milk is dulce de leche. It's often called caramel or toffee, but it's not really either. The recipe is trivial: pour the condensed milk in a pan. Heat it over low heat, stirring continuously, until it turns into dulce de leche.

Do you flip flan hot or cold? ›

Once baked, allow the dish to cool for an hour before refrigerating overnight. The next day, run a knife around the entire edge of the baking dish to free the flan. Carefully flip the baking dish upside down onto a platter. Slice into wedges and serve.

Does flan need to be covered when baking? ›

Covering the custard not only prevents it from forming a skin, but also helps it cook faster. When testing flans baked covered versus uncovered, the covered flans baked in one-third less the time.

Should you stir caramel sauce? ›

Like dry caramel, you want to gently move the sugar mixture in that same side-to-side paintbrush-like fashion until the sugar dissolves. Then, as soon as the mixture comes to a boil, it should not be stirred, as the agitation can cause crystallization.

Why is egg used in flan? ›

It takes the protein from one whole egg or two egg yolks to gel a cup of milk, although the resulting custard is quite soft. Usually, flan recipes call for a greater proportion of eggs to milk. The milk contributes salts that are also needed for gelation to occur, along with a small amount of protein.

What is the brown stuff on flan? ›

Flan has a unique twist, though. It has a layer of caramelized sugar on the bottom of the ramekin that then becomes the top when you invert it onto the plate, which then blankets the incredibly smooth and silky custard in a delicious caramel sauce.

Can you overcook flan? ›

The center should be almost set, but will still be a little bit jiggly. (Do not overcook – otherwise your flan will have “bubbles” on the side and will have a curdled texture to it.)

How to tell when flan is done? ›

Your flan should be done when it's lightly colored and firm to the touch but not solid. To double check, stick the blade of your knife in the center of the flan and halfway down; the blade should come out clean. Carefully remove the baking pan from the oven, then remove the flan from the water bath.

What is the difference between creme caramel and flan? ›

Though crème caramel and flan are similar recipes, flan can be richer in taste and is an older recipe than crème caramel. Flan's beginnings can be traced back to Roman culture, and the dish has been served as both a main course and a dessert.

What's the difference between flan and crema? ›

Though crème caramel and flan are similar recipes, flan can be richer in taste and is an older recipe than crème caramel. Flan's beginnings can be traced back to Roman culture, and the dish has been served as both a main course and a dessert.

What are the three types of caramel? ›

Caramel can be produced in so many forms such as, sauce, a chewy candy, or a hard candy because of how much of an ingredient is added and the temperature it is being prepared at.

What's the difference between crème brûlée and flan? ›

Crème brûlée is a baked custard made with cream, sugar and egg yolks with a thin layer of sugar on top that is caramelized with a kitchen torch to create a hard caramel crust. Flan is also a custard made with cream, milk, sugar and egg yolks, but it's baked in a caramel-lined ramekin until soft and jiggly.

What does caramel flan taste like? ›

What Does Flan Taste Like? The end result of flan is a delightful and creamy dessert flavored with vanilla and caramel. The taste is unique & you can't find it in any other dessert. While eggs are an essential part of the dessert, some flan fans believe the flavor becomes eggy if there is too much egg.

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