Japanese Pudding

The best Most spectacular Japanese custard pudding you will ever have.

How to make Japanese Custard Pudding aka Japanese Purin

So, I am a custard and flan lover! They are seriously two of my most favorite foods. I thought I have had the best custard back in the United States but boy was I wrong!

We are stationed in Iwakuni, Japan and have been for a little over a year and a half. We have a little over a year to go and up until the other day I have not experienced Japanese Custard at it’s finest. I’ve had Japanese custard at a couple of restaurants, but it wasn’t anything fancy or spectacular. Here in Japan it’s called Purin, it’s more like a flan. 

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The other day my friend and I wanted sushi so I took her to this sushi-go-round that I had tried a few times before and loved. So, we went there and they updated their menus to include wayyyyy more sushi and more desserts.

Now, I usually don’t even get dessert at lunch time or even at a sushi place. Sometimes my kids get the shaved ice because it’s awesome, but I usually skip the dessert.

Well, my friend was getting dessert so I didn’t want her to eat alone! What kind of friend would I be if I did that…. so, I thought a small Japanese custard pudding would be appropriate and I saw a dessert labeled Purin. Here’s a picture of the beloved Japanese custard pudding dessert!

Y’all the first bite I took, I swear all of my senses went into hyper-mode. Have you ever tasted something so amazing you close your eyes and the whole world disappears? That’s what eating this custard was like. That’s the only description that will fit this Japanese custard pudding! LOL

You may be asking yourself What is Purin? Purin is simply Put as a Japanese dessert made of custard (eggs, milk, sugar) sort of like flan but not as heavy. Another question I’ve gotten is does flan have gelatin? Yes, some flan/purin recipes do call for gelatin mix but this one does not. As you can see below I have tried a few different recipes, some called for it, some did not.

Now, me being the cook/blogger that I am, I had to get this recipe! So, from that day forward I was looking up Japanese custard recipes and trying different ones, tweaking here and there of course until I got it 100% right. I went back to the restaurant and begged for the recipe. Of course they didn’t give me the whole thing but they did fill me in on a little secret.

Most recipes call for sugar and water to build a caramel like base for their purin or flan or custard…whichever you prefer. Their recipe actually called for caramel with creme. So, instead of using just sugar and water they actually make their Japanese custard pudding (or Purin) with an actual caramel sauce afterwards. They don’t cook the Purin in it like all the other custard recipes I saw.

When I discovered that I knew it wasn’t just one recipe I was looking for, I was looking for many to put together to try and recreate this masterpiece. That’s not to say I failed miserable a few times before I got it right. Here is a photo of my most epic fail… LOL yes you can laugh, I sure did.

All of the epic fails just showed me what I didn’t want so I could get it right. That being said, I took a few things from each of my recipes that I liked and tweaked a few things to make it almost exactly like the one I had in that sushi restaurant. Low and behold, the only custard or dessert you will ever want again!

OOOOO I can’t wait So, the first thing I needed to get right for this Japanese custard pudding recipe was the caramel sauce. The ones I tried before were Ok..but wasn’t like the one I had. I found a recipe on Pinterest and tweaked it a bit to get that velvety creamy sauce I longed for.

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5 from 2 votes

Japanese Purin (custard)

The best custard you will ever have

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine Asian, Japanese

Keyword asian, custard, japanese, japanese custard, japanese custard pudding, japanese pudding, japanese purin, purin

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes minutes

Cooling time 2 hours hours

Total Time 1 hour hour

Servings 4 people

Author Fosheela

Equipment

• ramekins

Ingredients

• 1.5 C whole milk
• 3 ounces heavy cream
• 3 ounces sugar
• 2 whole large eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

• In a medium bowl whisk eggs until foam begins to form (you may want to use a stand mixer, my arms started to hurt lol)
• In a saucepan over medium heat combine milk, heavy cream, and sugar and stir until mixture is well combined with sugar all melted.
• Gradually add milk mixture to egg mixture, whisking continuously
• Pour the mixture through a sieve into a small bowl or large measuring cup.
• Divide the mixture into your ramekins filling up about 2/3 up and prepare your water bath by placing your ramekins into a large roasting pan and pouring boiling water around them until the water reaches half way up.
• Bake for about 45 minutes or until the tops are puffy but the middle is slightly jiggly.
• Cool in the fridge for at least 2-3 hours
• You can serve with caramel sauce over top or you can take purin out and place caramel sauce on the bottom of a small dessert plate, then place the purin on top.
• Enjoy!

Notes

If your custard isn’t set place in oven do not allow to cool before cooking all the way through.

If you have a lot of bubbles on your purin before cooking you can spoon them off of the top or place a piece of parchment paper on top and wipe away the bubbles.

 

Caramel sauce Ingredients for the Japanese custard pudding recipe:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter 
• 1 cup brown sugar packed
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt or sea salt or to taste (if you want salted caramel) It’s great with or without depending on what mood you’re in.

Instructions:

• Put the butter in a pan and melt over low heat.
• Add the brown sugar and heavy cream and turn heat to medium. Stir constantly until the mixture boils then continue to boil for 2 minutes.
• Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and salt. (Once it cools a bit, you can add more salt to taste.) you can omit salt if you want as well.
• Pour into a jar and let cool a little so you don’t burn your mouth. You can add this to the bottom of your custard or drizzle a little on top.

Please let me know in the comments below if you have tried this Japanese custard pudding recipe and if it stands up to the custards you have tried in the past.

If you like this Japanese custard pudding please check out my other recipes HERE

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