Easy Coconut Flan with Coconut Crust

This smooth and creamy coconut flan recipe is an elevated twist on classic Flan de Coco. Bite through layers of caramel, velvety custard, and a bottom toasted coconut crust finish. Just simple ingredients and a quick, easy prep stands in your way of this naturally gluten-free dessert idea!

Prep Time 25

Cook Time 1 15

chilling 4

Total Time 5 40

Servings slices

Author Melissa Erdelac

Ingredients

¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
4 large eggs
2 egg yolks
13 ounce can coconut milk full fat, not coconut cream
11 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
⅛ teaspoon salt
1½ cups (95 g) shredded coconut sweetened or unsweetened
additional toasted coconut optional garnish

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350℉. Place a 8-inch UNGREASED cake pan or flan mold nearby. Start boiling the water for water bath in a medium saucepan. For toasted coconut, spread it out on a baking sheet, adding an extra tablespoon for garnish, if desired. Bake for 7-10 minutes, stir every 3-5 minutes, until lightly golden. Set aside.
1½ cups shredded coconut
Meanwhile, make the caramel. Place the sugar in a medium, heavy-bottom saucepan (a pan with about a 7-8-inch bottom works better) over medium heat. After it begins to melt, about 2 minutes, lower the heat and continue cooking without stirring, until it starts to brown, about 5 minutes. Intermittently tilt and swirl the pan to work any unmelted sugar. Continue to cook gently, without stirring, until the sugar is fully melted and dark brown, about 5 minutes more. Turn off the heat.
¾ cup granulated sugar
Quickly pour the hot caramel into the flan pan. Tilt the flan pan to cover the bottom completely with caramel. Set aside to cool. The caramel will harden.
In a large bowl whisk together eggs, coconut milk, sweetened condensed milk, and salt until as smooth as possible. Whisk in the toasted coconut, reserving a tablespoon for the optional garnish. Pour the mixture over the hardened caramel.
4 large eggs, 13 ounce can coconut milk , 11 ounce can sweetened condensed milk, ⅛ teaspoon salt, 2 egg yolks
Place the flan pan in a larger pan, like a roasting pan. Fill the larger pan with boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the flan pan. Bake 1 hour to 1 hour 20 minutes, or until the edges are fully set and the middle jiggles like jello, but doesn't slosh around. You can place a knife blade in the center and it should come out without wet liquid.
Set aside at room temperature for a few hours to cool. Transfer to the refrigerator to chill completely, about 4 hours to overnight.
When ready to serve (the caramel will eventually soak into the flan, so I suggest doing this close to serving time) place the chilled flan pan in about 2 inches of warm water. This softens the caramel at the bottom of the pan so the flan can release. Run a knife around the edges of the pan. Invert a plate over the pan, hold tightly and quickly turn over.
additional toasted coconut

Notes

Storing

Refrigerate leftovers, loosely covered, up to 2 days. As it is stored the top caramel layer will soak into the custard. I don't recommend freezing.

Nutrition