Instant Pot Flan

Step 1: Gather the Flan Ingredients

Flan is made from just a few simple ingredients: eggs, evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, cream cheese and sugar for the caramel. That’s it!

The cream cheese in this flan is the special ingredient that makes it extra creamy and much denser than a traditional flan. I would describe the texture of this flan as falling somewhere between that of a traditional flan and a cheesecake.

Doubling This Recipe

If you’d like to make two flans, this recipe doubles perfectly. In fact, the original recipe I make in the oven is a doubled recipe. I had to half the recipe for the Instant Pot since the pans that fit in the pot are smaller.

So if you have a party and want to make two, just double the ingredients, and follow the rest of the recipe exactly. For the cooking portion, I would personally make them one at a time instead of cooking both in the pot at the same time.

See the recipe below for exact measurements.

Step 2: Gather the Essential Equipment

This recipe requires some specific equipment:

• Instant Pot: We, of course, will need an Instant Pot. I use my 8-quart pot, but a 6-quart will work for this recipe also.
• Trivet: To keep the flan pan off the bottom of the liner and sitting above the water, you’ll want to set it on a trivet.
• Blender: The eggs, evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and cream cheese will need to be thoroughly blended. Any blender should work for this, but I love my Ninja blender.
• Non-Stick Fry Pan: When making the caramel, I use a non-stick frypan. I’ve tried other pans in the past, but a non-stick frypan makes it easier to transfer the hot caramel to the flan mold. Plus, clean up afterward is much easier as well. Now, I always use my 10-inch GreenPan when making the caramel.
• Flan Pan: You can make flan in just about any pan in the Instant Pot as long as it fits in the pot and is covered tightly with foil. I have used bundt pans for making flans. The only exception would be a push pan. Definitely, do not use a push pan when making flan because the flan will leak out of the pan into the Instant Pot liner.
• Flan Mold: Flan molds are specially made for making flan in the Instant Pot. The mold below is the flan mold that I mentioned previously. It’s perfect for making flan and among everything I’ve tried, it was the best performing mold. I particularly like the fact that it has latches that keep the lid tightly secured to the mold.

Step 3: Making the Caramel

This is probably the hardest part of making flan – making the caramel. I must admit, I leave this task to my hubby Ryan since I have burnt one too many caramels on the stove! It really isn’t hard, you just can’t be distracted, and you have to focus on the caramel and the caramel ONLY.

Add the Sugar to the Pan

All you need is ½ cup of sugar. Pour the sugar into your pan on the stove and cook it on medium-high heat. You’ll want to mix it continuously while it is cooking.

The Sugar Will Begin to Clump and Then Dissolve

You will see clumps of sugar start to form. Keep mixing until all the clumps have dissolved and the sugar looks like caramel (as seen in the pictures below).

Once all the sugar has dissolved into a caramel, it will get darker and darker the longer you leave it on the burner – eventually burning. You don’t want to leave it on the heat long at this point because it will burn very quickly.

Remove the Caramel from the Heat

Once the caramel has turned a beautiful amber color, remove it from the stove immediately, so it doesn’t burn. Trust me, it happens quickly!

Step 4: Coat the Flan Pan With the Caramel

For this next step, please be very careful. The caramel is EXTREMELY HOT and can cause bad burns if it comes in contact with your skin, so don’t try to taste it by sticking your finger in it!

If you don’t believe me, ask Ryan!

Carefully pour the caramel into your flan pan.

Swirl the caramel around the pan, allowing the caramel to cover the bottom as well as the sides of the pan. Keep swirling the pan around until the caramel no longer moves, and there’s a thin layer of caramel on the bottom and sides.

The pan will get very hot, so I usually use a kitchen towel or some oven mitts when doing this step.

Set the pan aside and let the caramel cool. That was the hard part! From this point on, it’s a breeze.

Step 5: Mix the Flan Ingredients in a Blender

All your ingredients will go into a blender, it couldn’t be easier than that! I usually put my ingredients into the blender in a particular order, but surely you can just throw them all in there and be OK. This is how I do it:

Add the Evaporated Milk

I add the evaporated milk first.

Add the Cream Cheese

The cubed cream cheese is next. I cube the cream cheese, so it ensures everything mixes entirely and there are no huge chunks of cream cheese left over.

Add the Sweetened Condensed Milk

Next, I pour the sweetened condensed milk in. Since the recipe calls for half a can, I usually just estimate how much I pour in.

Add the Eggs

Finally, I add the eggs.

Blend All the Ingredients

I then blend everything on high speed until all the ingredients are mixed well.

Step 6: Pour the Flan Mixture Into the Flan Pan

Next, you’ll pour the flan mixture into the caramel-coated pan. You may hear cracking from the caramel as you pour, that is OK.

Step 7: Cover the Flan Pan

My flan pan comes with a nifty cover. If you don’t have one, then cover your flan tightly with aluminum foil. The pan also has three latches to keep the lid tightly sealed. I can’t vouch for how long the latches will last since I’ve only had the pan for about a month. But they do look and feel sturdy. If they do break though, I don’t see why I wouldn’t be able to keep using the lid without them. Just a random thought.

I’ve had this flan pan for over a year and have made countless flans in it. I have had no issues with the latches whatsoever. They are sturdy and have held up well to all my flan-making.

Step 8: Place the Pan in the Instant Pot

First, pour the 3 cups of water in the Instant Pot and, using your trivet, carefully lower your flan into the pot. My new flan pan fits perfectly into my 8-quart pot. It’s a 7-inch pan.

Step 9: Close the Instant Pot and Set the Cook Time

Place the lid on your pot and set it on sealing. Cook the flan on Manual High Pressure for 14 minutes. (On some models the “Manual” button is labeled “Pressure Cook”)

Once the flan has finished cooking, allow for a full Natural Pressure Release (NPR), which means you do nothing until the pin drops.

Step 10: Remove the Flan From the Instant Pot

After allowing for a full NPR and your pin has dropped, open your pot and carefully take the flan out. Allow it to cool on the counter for about 20 minutes before placing it in the refrigerator.

The flan pan will be very hot, so I usually set it on a kitchen towel or trivet to cool.

Step 11: Place in the Refrigerator

This step is super important and cannot be skipped. As much as you’ll want to eat the flan now, just don’t!

Once the flan pan has finished cooling on the countertop, place it in the refrigerator for 3 hours or more. My absolute best result was when I made the flan at night and refrigerated it overnight.

Step 12: Time to Open the Pan

Finally, it’s time to enjoy your flan! Uncover it and run a knife around the edge of the pan to separate it.

Step 13: Unmold the Flan

Time to flip it! Placing a plate on top, quickly but carefully turn the pan over to unmold your flan.

Tada!!! Instant Pot Flan perfection!

Don’t Waste Any Caramel

I try to scrape as much caramel as I can from the pan, but you should know you will always have some hard caramel left in the pan.

Step 14: Cleaning the Mold

After scraping out as much caramel as possible, you will notice that there is still quite a lot of hard caramel stuck in the pan. This is normal.

The easiest way to clean the pan is to leave it soaking in water for a few hours. The hard caramel will dissolve and then wash right off.

Another good thing to keep in mind, is that the longer you leave the flan in the refrigerator, the more the caramel will liquefy and you’ll have less hard caramel left in the pan when unmolding.

Step 15: Smooth & Creamy Instant Pot Flan

This Instant Pot Flan is so smooth, creamy and delicious! In my opinion, it’s so much easier than making it in the oven.

Step 16: Cut & Serve

Make sure to use a good, sharp knife when cutting the flan, so your pieces come out smooth. Of course, this is if you’re serving it for guests. Or you can do like my kids and husband, and just stick a spoon right in and start eating it! Your choice!

Look at that deliciously delightful slice of flan. Yum!

I always like to scoop out some extra caramel from the bottom and top my piece with it.