Skip the oven and steam the custard pudding on the stovetop! In 10 minutes, you have a soft, rich, creamy Japanese Custard Pudding that will impress your dinner guests or wow your family.
The Japanese love Custard Pudding! We call it “Purin” (プリン) and you will find this custard pudding throughout Japan in bakeries, pastry shops, supermarkets, and convenience stores. There are many flavors of custard pudding in Japan, ranging from chocolate to pumpkin to green tea.
I want to share with you an easy way to make custard pudding at home. I previously posted a no-bake/no-steam Crème Caramel, but that recipe is more tedious, and I know many of you are looking for a quick custard pudding recipe that is just as delicious. Today’s custard pudding recipe is SUPER easy, and when I say easy, I really mean it. It doesn’t take much time to prepare and tastes heavenly. This is a great homemade dessert to impress your guests for dinner parties, or as a surprise for your family. You won’t believe how simple it is until you make it. Just mix the ingredients, steam, refrigerate, and enjoy the custard pudding!
How to Steam Custard Pudding on a Stove Top?
Whether custard pudding is baked or steamed, it is referred to as Purin in Japan. The steamed version – cooked on a stovetop in a steamer or in a blain-marie in a pot or frying pan – is specifically named Mushi Pudding (蒸しプリン). This steamed custard pudding recipe happens to be one of my family’s favorite desserts, so I make this quite often and can guarantee it is easy to make.
Japanese households generally do not have ovens, so to make custard pudding at home, we love to steam it on the stovetop. To steam custard pudding, you simply combine eggs, sugar, milk, and vanilla, pour into individual ramekins, add them into a deep skillet with a water base, cover to steam for 10 minutes, and that’s it! A custard pudding recipe without an oven. You can keep it that quick for a basic custard pudding, or follow a few more steps below to make a caramel sauce for a steamed version of Crème Caramel.
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- 1 cup milk (240 ml)
- 3 large eggs (50 g each w/o shell)
- 3 Tbsp sugar
- ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
- 3 Tbsp water
- 1½ Tbsp sugar
- 1½ Tbsp water (adding later)
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Gather all the ingredients. You will need 4 6-oz ramekins.
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Wrap the lid with the kitchen cloth to prevent the water dripping onto custard pudding from condensation. Fill the large skillet with water about 1-inch height and start boiling water.
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Combine eggs and sugar in a medium bowl and whisk very well.
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Add milk and vanilla and whisk all together.
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Run the mixture through a fine sieve and divide the mixture into individual ramekins.
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Once water is boiling, turn the heat to low and place the ramekins into the skillet gently. Cover with the lid and steam the custard pudding for 10 minutes.
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Turn off the heat but do not open the lid. Steam with remaining heat for another 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, let it cool on the wire rack. When it’s room temperature, move to the refrigerator to chill, for about 2-3 hours.
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Before serving, make the caramel sauce. Place 3 Tbsp water and sugar in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and stir until sugar has dissolved.
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When the sugar has dissolved, increase the heat to high and swirl the saucepan once in a while to caramelize evenly. The mixture will start to bubble. It will take some time for the mixture to turn from a light amber color to a dark amber color.
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When the mixture turns to a desired brown color, add 1 ½ Tbsp water. The mixture will bubble vigorously, so be careful. Whisk the mixture and turn off the heat.
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Set aside to cool completely. If the caramel is too hard after cooling, reheat it and add more water. Pour the caramel sauce over the custard pudding and serve.
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
Thanks for sharing this recipe! The custard reminds me a little of the filling in Chinese egg tarts (ironic because when I was little, I would only eat the filling and not the crust of the tarts). I’ve been thinking of making something sweet and delicious this weekend, and this might just be it!
Also, I hope you have a lovely Mother’s Day and a great time with your family!! Maybe they’ll cook something for you this weekend? =)
Hi Kimmi! Thank you for your kind words! We’ll have a nice brunch plan in a restaurant. Looking forward to it. Hope you enjoy this custard pudding! 🙂
I just made these, and they’re great! Thanks for the recipe, great as usual.
Hi Rae! Thank you for trying this recipe already! I’m so glad you liked it! Thanks for the feedback!
Dear Nami, When I made it in the steamer it seemed to be stl liquid when I took it off to steam alone. Is it supposed to be like that, or be solid when I take it off?
Hi Sunshine! The egg mixture is solid, like custard pudding. It has a silky texture to it. How thick was your ramekin? One reader commented before that hers didn’t get steamed enough and the reason was thicker container (heat takes a long time to go through).
Hello E! Hope you enjoy this custard pudding! I’m so happy to hear you liked my recipes. Hope your BF will enjoy them as well. Thank you for writing! 🙂
Hi Lloyd! Choux cream is my husband’s favorite dessert. I have never made them before, but I hope to try it sometime soon! 🙂
Thank you Chiemi-san! My family loves it too, and such an easy dessert to make compared to some baked goods… (at least to me). 🙂
Hi Huong! THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! xo 🙂
So I saw this, and thought “hm, I’ve seen this before, sold at the local Mitsuwa for like $1 per serving. Figured I’d give it a shot.
1. It was VERY easy to make, as advertised!
2. I made it for Mother’s Day, and the mom liked it a lot! (BTW, Happy Mother’s Day, Nami!)
3. My father, who worked on boats back in the day, mentioned a similar concoction that he learned to make while as a seaman, but he lost the method… until I demonstrated it for him. 😀
The result!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151418304448531&l=70d3b1bb9d
Hi David! So happy to hear your family enjoyed this pudding. So easy right? 🙂 Thanks for the facebook link – I just shared it on facebook. 🙂
It’s nice to know that your father knew this method, too! Thank you so much for the kind words. xo
This is the easier cousin of creme caramel! Inverting the ramekins always give me the jitters. This, on the other hand, is so much simpler. Reckon I can do a larger bowl of this and still not over cook it?
Hi Jayne! You can use a larger bowl, but instead of trying the biggest bowl first, try increasing the size for perfect cooking timing. Make sure to use low heat all the way so that the custard doesn’t have bubbles inside (that will ruin the texture when you eat). Hope that helps!
Thanks for your reply, Nami. I’ll try to figure this out. 🙂 Might end up using small soup bowls for ease of serving.
Hope you enjoy it! 🙂
I made this last evening. I couldn’t believe how easy this was! Delicious – everyone in my family enjoyed it.
Hi Charlotte! Thank you so much for trying this recipe! Glad you liked it. You can only make small amount at a time, but it’s pretty easy to prepare while you’re cooking for a meal and serve this as dessert. Thank you for your feedback! 🙂
Hi Nami,
Can I substitute the milk with vanilla soy milk as my husband is lactose intolerant?
Please advise. Thank you.
Looking forward to trying this recipe. 🙂
Regards,
Cindy
Hi Cindy! Yes, you can replace with vanilla soy milk or even coconut milk (if you don’t mind vanilla or coconut flavor in it). Hope you and your husband enjoy this recipe! 🙂
Tried this recipe, but it turned out pretty bad!! Not sure what I did wrong, but it tasted as though the custard was too overcooked? Not sure but there seemed to be bubbles in the custard. Also, even though I’m not a big fan of sweets, or really anything sweet, it tasted like it needed way more sugar than it called for. Made it for a potluck, and even though the outside looked correct, the flavor was horrid!! Not even I was able to finish a ramekin. May have to try it again with more sugar and less cooking time. Any suggestions/comments as to what may have gone wrong? I was expecting more of a flan flavor and consistency.
Hi genesis!
I’m sorry to hear it didn’t go well. I just want to check if you added caramel… with caramel, it’s a perfect amount of sweetness. But it’s “Asian” sweet level so it’s not as sweet as American sweets, for example.
This is a “quick” version, and usually the caramel is under the custard and we flip (see my recipe here: https://www.justonecookbook.com/recipes/creme-caramel-purin/). This version is a short cut version so you have to pour the caramel on top to save time. My caramel recipe is pretty standard, and it should be sweet. Therefore, egg custard is not sweet enough if you are eating it by itself. If both are sweet, it’s way too sweet for Asian dessert standard. Hope that makes sense.
The bubble you talked about is from overcook and strong heat. The heat has to be low for 10 minutes. Now if your custard is less amount than mine (in the picture), you have to cook less. Otherwise it’ll be overcooked. If it wasn’t silky texture, it was probably overcooked. Make sure the heat is low and adjust the cook time according to your ramekin size.
I think that’s what I can suggest from what I read. Hope it will work next time. It’s typical Japanese custard pudding (I’ve tasted many different kinds) and I have been making this for a while, so the recipe should work. However, I’m not in the kitchen with you, so my suggestion is very limited. Hope the suggestions will be helpful. 🙂
Hi, I’ve tried your custard pudding recipe twice as it looked quite easy. However, not sure if I missed out anything as the texture of the pudding isn’t correct. It is not smooth like pudding and doesn’t taste like pudding – it tastes more like steamed egg. And you can see “bubbles” in it and the surface is not smooth. Wondering if I had whisked the eggs and sugar too much? Or the heat when steaming is too strong? Would appreciate if you could give me some suggestions on how to get the texture right 🙂 Thanks!
Hi Michele! First of all, from your description (“bubbles” and “steamed egg”), I can tell the heat is too strong. You get bubbles when the heat is too strong or over cook the custard. My ramekin is glass so you can tell the texture of the pudding is very silky and smooth. It should be like that. Also the material of ramekin and amount of your custard matters for the cooking time. Please adjust cooking time accordingly. I do not think over-mixing matters for the texture. You can stop whisking when everything is combined well, then run the mixture through a fine sieve. Thank you for trying this recipe twice. Hope changing cooking time and heat will help next time!
I have the same problem. In addition, when I open the lid 10 minutes after turning off the heat, the custard collapsed T_T. I’m still figuring how to use the induction oven. I’ve made custard many times before with success, but I steamed them in the oven.
Trang, yeah it seems like cooking time or heat needs to be controlled/changed according to your induction cooktop. I used to have it, and I remember it was a bit different from my current gas stove. If you’re comfortable with your oven, you can use the oven too. 🙂
Hi Nami!
I always wanted to make this custard pudding and lately I found your recipe and brought the finished pudding to a potluck event. It was wonderful! Thank you for sharing this with us!
Much love!
-Rene
Hi Rene! I’m so glad the custard pudding was successful and thank you so much for letting me know. So happy you enjoyed it! xo 🙂
Hi Nami,
Thanks for sharing. But can I use chawanmushi cup with the lid to steam this? Or the cup must be open ?
Hi Jole! Yes, you can use chawanmushi cup for this dessert. However, I am trying to figure out whether you should close the chawanmushi lid or not. I would suggest not to cover, because I don’t cover to make pudding (but I do cover the frying pan with a lid). I know it’s NOT necessary to cover the pudding cup…but don’t have good reason why we don’t need to cover it while we do cover chawanmushi cup… Only reason that I can think of is that we have to cook chicken etc in chawanmushi and it will cook faster if the lid is on… I’m sorry I’m not so helpful here… You can try with the lid on to see if there is any difference. 🙂 Thanks for the great question!
Hi Nami,
Today i make this using chawanmushi cup and cover the lid, the result is the same. Smooth custard. I used the portion of your chawanmushi recipe. 1 egg with 1/2cup of milk and it turn out great.
But I only steam for 6-7min as my cup is smaller.
Hi Jole! You’re so kind to stop by again to let me know. THANK YOU!! I’m glad to hear the mystery was solved. So both results are the same. 🙂 Hope you enjoyed this pudding!
what type of milk do you use?
Hi April! Whole milk will make the dessert rich, but reduce fat (2%) milk is okay too!
i made it today but i didn’t make it good enough so its full of water drops and tastes like a normal boiled egg with sugar sprinkled on it 🙁
Hi Abdul! Did you wrap the lid with towel? Water shouldn’t go into the pudding as towel will prevent. The texture should be smooth and silky. Maybe your heat was too strong if the texture is boiled egg.
This recipe is a quick version and if you don’t mind taking a longer time to make, I’d recommend this one. The flavor is similar but texture is much smoother and refined.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/recipes/creme-caramel-purin/
hello nami 🙂
i was hoping to ask if you could show us how to make sakura pudding? 😀
Hi Mikah! Thank you so much for your request. I live in San Francisco, and I haven’t seen salted/pickled sakura flower in Japanese supermarkets. 🙁 If I find one, I’ll definitely try some sakura desserts! Thanks for writing! 🙂
Hi Nami..:)
I tried out this recipe and it really worked out well..:)
Thank you so much..:)
Hi Namita! Thank you so much for trying this recipe! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe! 🙂
Hi Nami! I’m planning to make this for my mother’s birthday, since she loves eggy, not-too-sweet desserts. However, I wanted to ask if it would be alright to pour the caramel sauce on top of the custard and refrigerate it together, instead of doing the step just before serving? It’s my first time making caramel from scratch so I’m nervous. Thanks! 🙂
Hi Bianca! Sure! Since you mentioned that it’s your first time making caramel from scratch, I’ll give you a little advice. Don’t be scared when you add water to the mixture (Step 9). It might give you a big splash with noise. When I first made it long time ago, I had no idea what I’m doing and I was a little bit surprise. So just giving heads up, so you know what to expect.
I have another version of custard pudding called “Purin” or Creme Caramel which takes a little longer to make but result is actually amazing (recipe below). So check it out. 🙂 This “Custard Pudding” is easier version I made. 🙂
https://www.justonecookbook.com/recipes/creme-caramel-purin/
Good luck, and I hope your mom enjoys this. Happy Birthday to your mom! 🙂
Can I substitute the vanilla essence with vanilla powder?
Hi Kevin! I had never heard of vanilla powder till now and found this article where people discussing about vanilla powder vs. vanilla extract.
http://www.thekitchn.com/good-question-what-is-vanilla-83146
Let me know how you like if you end up using it. 🙂
hello!! I have been searching for a recipe to try and replicate something I ate at a Chinese buffet recently. It was a dessert in a baked wonton wrapper and it was labeled “pineapple tart”! I can’t stop craving it! Do you think this custard is similar? If so, how can I incorporate the pineapple into it? I’ve gotta have it!!! LoL!! Thanks!
Hi Jen! If it’s pineapple tart, this is not similar. It’s hard to know for sure as I have never tried this pineapple tart. If it included creamy custard, used in Chinese baking, this is not it. This is more like creme caramel or Japanese pudding (Purin). 🙂
Hi Nami, I love your recipes, but I have a question? How long in the fridge does the custard need to be?
Hi Daniel! Thank you for your kind words! About 2-3 hours. I will update the recipe with this info. 🙂
Hi magi know the large egg is around how many gram?
Hi Peggy! I’ve measured it several times in the past and it’s always around 45-50 grams.
I tried this recipe, the puddings turned out well, flavor was good, but the texture was not like the puddings I’ve had in Japan, it was not as smooth. Nami do you have an idea on what could have caused this?
Hi Diana! This is a quick pudding, and lack of those smooth texture, if you are looking for the particular Japanese pudding recipe, please try this one.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/recipes/creme-caramel-purin/
You’ll love this one! 🙂
KEEP ON WRITING MORE RECIPIS AND SHARE WITH ME I ENJOY YOUR FOOD
Thank you so much! 🙂
How if I add lemon to sugar and water so it will not crystallize and so I can skip the the 10th step. Will it change the flavour?
Hi Victoria! You can. In Japan this is a most common approach (but quite dangerous with splash). 😉
This pudding is Yum, Yum Yum and so easy to make. I do not have individual ramekins so used 1.8l pyrex dish. Cooked for 40 minutes, worked well.
Thank you for a great recipe. Satisfied Cook
Hi Heather! Thank you so much for your kind feedback and letting us know the large ramekin version! I’m sure many JOC readers think your tip is very helpful! Thank you!!!
I tried it, but it had a very eggy taste. Anything I could do to fix it?
Hi Amaris! You can either reduce the amount of egg or add more milk/sugar to create the balance. 🙂
can i use honey instead of sugar for making the custard itself ?
Hi Rawan! I am not sure as I’ve never tried. If you decided to try, let us know how it goes. I’m sure others may be interested as well. 🙂
Hi, Nami! Thank you for sharing this recipe. I tried this out today, but the weird thing was that while the ramekins were in the pan, the custard rose like a souffle. Is that supposed to happen? The custard is in the refrigerator now so I haven’t tasted it. Just a little worried how it will turn out though. 🙁
Didn’t realize I had to click to show the comments! Just saw the answer to my question: heat was too high. Oh well. Guess I’ll have to try again!
Hi Nicky! Oops, sorry I typed your name wrong earlier. Sorry I didn’t see your other comment. Oh so the heat was too strong. Make sure to cook with “gentle” heat. 🙂 Hope next batch will come out well!
Hi Nicjy! From your description, it sounds like the heat was too strong. It’s edible but the texture may not be silky.
Hello, I tried this recipe and followed all the steps, but my pudding is still liquid! What am I doing wrong?
Hi Katherine! Maybe the steaming wasn’t properly done since you mentioned it’s still liquid. Was the steamer lid was properly closed? I’d like to know the steaming setup.
Can i put the pudding in the freezer?
Hi Nawwal! To keep it for a long time? You can freeze the pudding made with gelatin (https://www.justonecookbook.com/pudding/) but not with steamed kind (this particular recipe). 🙂
Thank you for your custard recipe.I will be trying it out today. Let’s see how impressed my guests are going to be.
Hi Devi! Thanks for trying this recipe! Hope they came out well and your guests enjoyed it. 🙂
Hi! I was wondering if it would be possible to replace the whole milk with almond milk?
Hi Tama! I haven’t substituting the milk in this recipe… so I can’t guarantee, but I assume you can. 🙂 Let us know if you try and didn’t work out. 🙂
Hi Nami! So I ended up going for a half cup whole milk and a half cup almond milk (to cut down calories) and it turned out silky and delicious and great! Thank you for the recipe 🙂
Hi Tama! Wonderful! So happy to hear yours came out well. Thank you for letting us know. I’m sure others will appreciate your feedback as well. xoxo
I want to make it. . .it looks delicious!
Thank you Lor!
I made this recipe and I managed in a few tries! My friends and family loved it <3 Just a little bit more sugar here and there because all of us got a sweet tooth :9
Hi Beebee! Thank you so much for trying this recipe! Glad to hear it worked out for you! 🙂
Hi Nami,
When I tried making this custard it didn’t cook through at all! I was a bit disappointed but I cooked it for an extra 10 minutes and it came out perfectly. The same thing happened when I made mushipan so I think something is wrong with my stove lol. I can’t wait to try the custard later though because it smells and looks fantastic!
Hi Grace! It could be the difference in the stove, steamer/pot, or type of ramekin. The heat conduction was probably different from mine and yours, which could end up taking a long time. 🙂
Hi Nami!
I’ve been really enjoying your recipes lately. 😊 I made your curry udon yesterday (successfully!) and fresh udon noodles (not so successfully! my mom told me I needed to add more water and knead for longer, whoops. 😅 But I had store-bought noodles for back-up). I’m also excited to try your recipes for oyakodon and steamed vegetables with miso-sesame sauce soon. 💕
Anyway, I would like to make this purin but I’m wondering if I can use 2% milk? That’s usually what we have at home. Should I buy full-fat?
Hi Mariyam! Thank you so much for trying my recipes and I’m so glad you enjoyed them. 🙂 You can use 2% milk, less rich, but I don’t think it’s that noticeable. Hope you enjoy the recipe!
I’ve got a question. For the sugar, could I use cane sugar?
Hi Nikki! Yes. 🙂
Can I use honey to replace sugar?
Hi Janie! I think you can, but I haven’t tried it before to confirm that will work 100%… Let us know if you ever tried it. 🙂
Hi Nami, I want to say thank you for sharing this very easy recipes. But I do have a question, I steamed it for 10 minutes then let it sit inside the steamer for 10 more minutes with the heat’s off but when the time’s up and I open the lid, it was all curdled in the middle while the liquid is separated and pooled around it. I was wondering why would that happened? Thank you so much! 🙂
Hi Gloria! Thank you for trying this recipe! “Curdled” is a sign that your heat was strong. Do you think you could go lower? IF your heat was already at lowest possible, try opening the lid a little bit (a small gap), so that heat will escape a little bit. You don’t want the egg mixture to overcook, and gentle low heat is important. So it seems like the egg was cooked fast around the glass but the center didn’t get cooked. The idea is steam slowly and gently. Hope this helps! I’m sorry it didn’t go as expected. 🙁
Do you think I could use honey in place of the sugar?
Sorry, just saw that someone else had already asked about using honey. I made this two days ago with sugar and it was AMAZING! I have ducks and goats so I used duck eggs and goat milk with excellent results. I have to have more of this delicious custard! I’m going to try it with honey today.
Hi Donna! I’m very sorry for my late response. I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Wow, you have ducks and goats eggs and goat milk! It must be extra delicious. Thank you for your kind feedback. 🙂
Hi there. Thanks so much for this recipe! It’s not something I ever would have tried on my own, even though I lived in Japan for sixteen years and have had it many times. Mine turned out…okay. I think I overheated it a little (my stove is quite hot, even on low) so the consistency was a little heavy, but still tasty. My only real problem is the caramel. It basically turned into sticky caramel and stayed in the bottom of the mould, rather than spilling out nicely over the top. Do you have any idea why this happened? I admit I was a little shy about putting too much water into the caramel after browning, so maybe I didn’t add enough? Or was it the heat? Not sure. It took about 10 minutes to brown, as you said, but was really boiling and bubbling when it got there, even close to the lowest setting my stove has. I definitely want to give it another try, but I’m just not sure what to change.
Oh, sorry. What I didn’t explain is that I was trying to do it the more traditional way, with the caramel on the bottom first, then the custard.
Hi,
Does the caramel sauce have to be make immediately before? Can I make it ahead of time? The pudding looks great! I really want to try making it
Hi Stephanie! The caramel sauce tends to stick and harden, so it’s easier to make it when you use it. 🙂
It is lovely…and perfectly not too sweet. I was out of vanilla so used some lemon oil for flavor
Hi Anna! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe. Thank you for your kind feedback! xo
I am 68 years old and you taught me somethings just reading two of your recipes. I am really impressed with your knowledge and ability to teach.
Hi Margo! Aww thank you so much for your kind words. I’m really happy to hear my recipes are helpful and thank you for your sweet feedback, Margo! 🙂 xo
The Purin turned out amazing. However, my caramel sauce just turned back to powder. Any suggestions or ideas of why/how to fix this? Thank you!
Hi Eroha! Wonderful! Thank you for your kind feedback. What do you mean by caramel turned back to “powder”?