Perfectly creamy leche flan made the old-school way: using an empty egg shell as a measuring cup.
This recipe traces back to Ivonne’s great-grandmother, who measured the milks for leche flan using empty egg shells. Tap the top of an egg with a spoon or dinner knife, then peel away just enough shell to make a small opening. Let the egg slip out. This empty egg shell is now your measuring cup.
Separate as many egg yolks as you want (or have). For each yolk, fill the shell once with condensed milk, and once with evaporated milk. That’s the whole ratio! It scales easily, so you’ll get creamy, silky leche flan every time, with whatever you have—whether you use one yolk or three yolks or twenty.
For add-ins, a bit of dayap (lime) zest cuts through the richness and gives each spoonful of flan a bright lift. A splash of vanilla extract makes everything taste creamier. You’ll be surprised by how much you can eat in one sitting.
For that ultra-smooth, pore-free, baby-butt leche flan texture, you need to be mindful of air bubbles. They can sneak in unexpectedly while making the custard. Here's our tips:
Beat yolks slowly. Like slooooowly. Whisking too fast folds in air, which turns into bubbles later. Don’t rush and go slow until your yolks are well-beaten.
Add milk from a low height. Even pouring can create bubbles! When you add your condensed milk and evaporated milk, go low and pour from just above the surface. Too high and the impact creates froth you’ll see later in the flan.
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Stir the mixture gently. Now that you have more liquid, it’s easier to splash, foam, and trap air. Stir with the same slow, steady motion you used for the yolks.
Strain the custard two to three times. Running the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve pops any stubborn bubbles hiding inside. Pour slowly each time to keep the surface smooth. 3 times is fine, 5 times is a little OA but better!
Like the one in our recipe photo? If your flan comes out with tiny holes, it’s almost always a heat issue. Custards like leche flan are delicate—push them too hard and the proteins tighten up fast, trapping air and creating that sponge-like texture instead of the smooth, silky finish you want.
There are two ways to cook leche flan: steaming (the classic way), and baking in water bath. Both rely on boiling water, but they behave—and heat up—very differently.
Steaming is where bubbles are more likely to happen. Even if the boiling water underneath is at 100°C, steam hits the llanera more intensely. And most llaneras are made from thin aluminum, so they heat up fast—sometimes too fast. In a tightly covered steamer, the heat can even creep a little above boiling, with trapped steam hitting the flan from all sides. The custard cooks too quickly, firms up unevenly, and forms bubbles around the edges.
A water bath, or bain-marie, cooks the leche flan more gently. The llanera sits in hot water that stays right around 100°C, keeping the heat gentle and steady. It’s harder to accidentally overcook the custard.
To avoid a spongy flan in the steamer, keep the steaming heat low. Let the water simmer, not boil. Crack the lid slightly to let some steam escape. Slow, gentle heat gives you that creamy, silky set—with just a soft jiggle in the center.
But if you still end up with bubbles on the outside, it's OK. The exterior might look a little spongy, but the inside is often still dense and creamy if you followed our bubble-free tips above. It might drive the perfectionist in you a little nuts, but good news is you won't have to see it once it's in your mouth.
Caramelize sugar (gas stove): Sprinkle 1 ½ tbsp sugar in a llanera in an even layer. Use tongs to hold the llanera over a gas stove set to low heat. Melt sugar until caramelized and amber. Set aside to cool and harden. Repeat with remaining 2 llaneras.
Caramelize sugar (induction): Add sugar to a small saucepan with about ½ tbsp water over medium heat. Use a spatula to distribute the water into the sugar in a paintbrush-like motion. Just as it starts to bubble, stop stirring and simmer until sugar is completely dissolved. Continue cooking until amber in color. Remove from heat, add 1 tbsp hot water, and stir until thick but fluid. Pour caramel into llaneras. Set aside to cool and harden.
Prep egg shells: Take 1 egg and gently crack just the top so the shell doesn’t break all the way. Use your fingers to peel away the shell, making a hole at the top just big enough for the yolk to pass through. Separate yolk from the white and place the yolk in a bowl. Rinse and keep the egg shell. Repeat with 2 more eggs.
Separate remaining eggs: Crack the rest of your eggs normally, separating the yolks from whites. (Save whites for another recipe.) You should have 8 yolks total.
Whisk yolks: Slowly and gently whisk yolks, being careful not to form air bubbles, until smooth.
Measure and mix milks: Use clean egg shells to measure condensed milk 8 times and evaporated milk 8 times—one shellfull of each per yolk. Add both to yolks, along with dayap zest and vanilla extract. Whisk gently to combine, going slow to avoid air bubbles from forming.
Strain mixture: Strain mixture through a fine-mesh sieve 3–5 times to remove air bubbles and stray bits of egg white.
Fill llaneras: Pour mixture between your caramel-lined llaneras. Tap gently on counter to release bubbles. Cover the top of each llanera tightly with aluminum foil.
Cook flan (steam): In a medium pot fitted with a steamer basket, bring about 1 cup water to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to to medium-low and steam flan for 45–50 minutes, or until the centers jiggle slightly but are no longer liquid.
Cook flan (water bath): Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare an oven-safe pan large enough to hold the llaneras. Place llaneras inside and fill the pan halfway with hot water. Add pan to the oven and bake for about 1 hour, or until the centers jiggle slightly but are no longer liquid.
Remove from heat and let cool completely before chilling in the fridge for several hours to overnight.
Unmold and serve: Uncover llaneras and run thin knife around the edges. Invert leche flan onto a plate—flan should release easily with caramel syrup flowing over the top. Serve.
