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Lemon Flan. Vegan Flan Recipe. No Bake Eggless Custard flan with caramelized Coconut sugar. Spanish Custard flan or Creme Caramel. Vegan gluten-free Soy-free Oil-free Agar-free Recipe. 1 skillet, 15 minutes.
May is apparently National Egg month. How do I know this? Because I get emails and emails about everything. Most PR people do not know anything about the blog. They use a common PR list. All those mails about steaks and eggs are headed to trash and unsubscribe. No unsubscription option and 3 strikes = blocked. It takes incredible amounts of time to go through the inbox everyday, and often the important emails get lost.
Anywho, some dishes that are entirely made of eggs are sometimes difficult to veganize to the closest texture and flavor profile. Flan is one of them. My aunt used to make amazing flan, and yesterday I was thinking of her and that flan! In this version I use cashews and water to make the base and chickpea flour and a bit of starch as thickeners. No Agar! Lemon for the tang, kala namak for the eggy flavor and a pinch of baking powder to aerate the mix while it thickens. The resulting custard is smooth, eggy, lemony and amazing. I use coconut sugar to make the caramel. Use any other sugar or choice. Or make it into a creme brulee by sprinkling sugar on the set flan and torching it to caramel. Since the custard is made on stove top, this flan does not need to be baked.
Play round with the thickening and texture that you like and the flavors. More chickpea flour will make a more solid and set flan. More starch will make it more gel like. Kala namak adds a great flavor, but isn’t necessary. Be sure to cook the mixture through because raw chickpea flour will make one bitter and odd flan :). If you use besan, the mixture might be a bit less set.
What’s an eggy dish that you struggle to make egg free?
More eggy thngs from the blog
- Egg scramble with chickpea flour
- Egg salad with Tofu
- Frittata with lentil batter
- Omelet with chickpea flour
- Flan with coconut milk and agar
- How to make Flax and Chia Seed Egg sub
Make your caramel and pour into ramekins. Move the ramekins around to spread the caramel before it sets.
Make the custard and pour into the ramekins. Let chill for an hour atleast. Then soak in hot water bath, remove from the ramekin and serve.
Lemon Flan. Vegan Flan Recipe
Ingredients
Caramel:
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar
- a pinch of salt
- 1 tsp water
Flan custard:
- 1/4 cup cashews, soaked for 15 mins or longer
- 1 tbsp chickpea flour, 1/2 tsp more for more set
- 1/2 tsp starch, cornstarch or arowroot (1/2 tsp more for more set)
- a pinch of baking soda
- 2 tbsp sugar or sweetener of choice
- 2 drops vanilla extract
- 1 cup water
- 1/8 tsp salt
- a good pinch of kala namak, Indian sulphur salt for eggy flavor or use nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- add some lemon zest for more lemony custard
Instructions
For the caramel:
- Heat all the ingredients in a skillet over medium heat. Mix continuously in the beginning until the sugar mixes in. Use powdered sugar for even caramel if needed. Once the sugar is boiling and bubbly, pour into ramekins. Move the ramekins around to spread the caramel all over the bottom quickly as the caramel will harden.
For the custard:
- Blend all the ingredients until very smooth. Depending on your blender, it might take a minute or so. Pour into a skillet and cook over medium heat. I use the same skillet in which i make the caramel. The mixture will start to thicken and lump after about 2 mins. Keep whisking every few seconds until the mixture thickens evenly. Another 2 mins or so. Cook for another 3 minutes or until the chickpea flour is cooked through. Taste carefully to check. You can also adjust sweet or tang at this point or add in some zest for zestier flan. This step total 6 to 8 mins.
- Pour this hot mixture into caramel ramekins. Tap to even out.
- Cool for 5 mins, then refrigerate for atleast an hour.
- To serve, Place ramekins in hot (just boiling) water for 15 -20 seconds, invert onto serving plate and serve. If the sugar caramel is stuck to the ramekin, place the ramekin in the hot water (or microwave for a few seconds) until the caramel is melted and pour over the flan. Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Do you think I can sub semolina flour for the chickpea flour?
It will add texture and flan won’t be smooth
I made this last night. The custard was velvety smooth with a delicate taste. The caramelized sugar was a bit of a challenge, as it set up quickly. However, when I poured the hot custard in the ramekin, the sugar liquified and poured fabulous!
Simply an amazing dish. I plan on using the custard recipe and trying a Creme Brulee style dish.
Awesome! Thank you for taking the time to comment.
Loved the recipe. Thank you!
thank YOU! Olga
Can you substitute anything for the chickpea flour?
not in this recipe, other flours like wheat flour will be a different texture. coconut flour does not blend well.
You can use some agar powder as a thickener.
Try this https://www.peta.org/living/food/vegan-caramel-flan/
Hi it looks super creamy and delicoious, I was wondering if I can eliminate the lemon completely to obtain more of a real caramel taste. Thanks for your help, truly. DIANE B.
you’ll be fine to omit it
This looks amazing, can’t wait to try it! Another eggy dish that I wish I could make vegan is a “Dutch baby” pancake!!
lol, I just realized I commented the same thing in May, how embarrassing. Still very excited about the idea of a vegan Dutch baby!!!
Can almond be used instead of cashews? Thanks
Try macadamia nuts. Soak them longer so you get a smooth custard. Almond milk would work though.
This looks so good! Do you know any vegan recipes for “Dutch baby” pancakes? I used to make them all the time but now I’m vegan and they’re sooo eggy 🙁
I don’t but I’ll add it to todo 🙂
Thanks so much! All of your recipes that I’ve tried have been delicious, so I’d be excited to try any version you came up with 🙂
Richa,
My guess is we are supposed to grind the soaked cashew nuts. How much water should be used to grind the 1/4 cup of cashews?
Everything gets blended for the flan together including cashews
the texture in the picture looks great. I want to try this recipe. I am assuming the chickpea flour used is not the Indian Besan. Can you please confirm.
I used chickpea flour (white garbanzo bean) but you can also use Besan.
Also, see this post https://www.veganricha.com/2019/08/difference-between-besan-and-chickpea-flour.html
I used chickpea flour (white garbanzo bean) but you can also use Besan.
Also, see this post https://www.veganricha.com/2019/08/difference-between-besan-and-chickpea-flour.html