Learn how to make the perfect Vegan Purin (Japanese Creme Caramel) with this step by step recipe. Like a cross between flan and panna cotta, this vegan custard pudding is silky smooth and topped with a layer of bitter-sweet caramel! (Dairy free, egg free & gluten free)
I LOVE JAPANESE PURIN. The moment we would arrive to my grandma’s apartment in Japan, we would drop off all our luggage and RUN to the supermarket next door. First thing I’d hunt down? Purin. I’d buy my three favourites (along with a bunch of other stuff), run back home and devour them all. Something about Japanese purin… not too sweet, silky smooth and the caramel sauce is just 🤤.
When I went vegan, it was painful knowing that a part of me wanted it but a part of me refused to. I dreamt of the day Vegan Purin would come to Japan. Fast forward to 2021: the famous Pucchin Purin came out with a vegan line! Because of our current situation now though, I haven’t been able to plan a trip back to Japan which hurts my soul but also inspired me to try and make Vegan Japanese Purin at home. I’ve attempted to make vegan flan and custard puddings but they’ve always come out quite a different texture: either too soft or too agar-texture like… if you know what I mean.
After a LOT of experimentation (we’re talking almost 3L of homemade soy milk), I FINALLY came up with a recipe I’m so excited and proud to share today. This is insanely close to Pucchin Purin that I remember eating– soft, silky, jiggly, not too sweet with the perfect bitter-sweet caramel sauce. Holy moly friends, I’m feelin’ hella giddy.
What is Japanese Purin?
Before getting into the recipe though…what IS Japanese Purin? It’s basically a type of sweet custard dessert topped with a bitter-sweet caramel. It’s basically a Japanese version of flan, creme caramel, caramel custard, flan fe leche, custard pudding or any kind of custard dessert you might have in your culture. In Japan, we call it purin and not pudding, because the letter ‘d’ is pronounced like ‘r’.
Purin is one of the most popular desserts in Japan– you can literally find it at every convenient store, department store, grocery store and even vending machines! There are actually three varieties of pudding you can find:
- Yaki Purin (焼きプリン) – where the custard is cooked in the oven and has a slight browned baked layer on top.
- Purin (プリン) – the custard is set typically with gelatin, and is the one sold at supermarkets and convenient stores.
- Mushi Purn (蒸しプリン) – where the custard is steamed.
No-Bake Eggless Vegan Purin (Creme Caramel / Pudding)
Today we’ll be making purin, which requires no baking or steaming. Very reminiscent of my childhood favourite Pucchin Purin (プッチンプリン) where you flip it and push the tab down to release it out of the plastic container. This recipe is completly dairy free, gluten free and egg free. It’s silky, smooth and creamy with a slight firmness to it (kind of similar to a creamy panna cotta). Highly delicious and perfect for the warmer season coming!
How to Make No Bake Creme Caramel Purin
The Ingredients (+ Substitutions)
You only need 6 ingredients to make delicious purin! Here’s a run down:
- Kudzu starch OR rice flour: I’ve found kudzu starch to produce the most purin-like consistency but because this starch is not as common in North America, I’ve found rice flour (NOT sweet rice flour) to work very similarly. I do not recommend using potato starch, corn starch or tapioca starch for this recipe.
- Unsweetened soy milk: I highly recommend using homemade soy milk or an Asian brand of soy milk for this recipe without too many gums and additives because it’s much creamier in texture.
- Cane sugar: A bit in the purin but mostly for the caramel. You can opt to use your sweetener of choice but please note that the flavour will change.
- Maple syrup: Adds another tone of sweetness.
- Vanilla: For flavour.
- Agar: Please use agar agar powder for this recipe and not the flakes or strips.
The Directions
For the Purin:
- First, dissolve the rice flour, sugar and lesser amount of soy milk together and then heat it to make a paste. This ‘paste’ prevents any clumping in the purin when dissolving the remaining ingredients in. Then slowly whisk in the warmed soy milk a little as a time to prevent any clumps. Once all the soy milk is mixed in and is smooth, stir in the maple syrup, vanilla and salt.
- To another pot, add the agar and water and stir to dissolve. Heat the pan over medium heat and as soon as it comes to a boil, reduce heat to low and continue to dissolve the agar for another minute or two while whisking.
- Strain the soy milk mixture over the pot. Be sure the soy milk mixture is warm or it will cause the agar to harden quickly and cause clumps. Whisk the mixture gently. Try not to form any bubbles (to prevent air bubbles in the purin).Turn off the heat, divide between 4 pudding cups and let it cool at room temperature first. Then cool in the fridge for at least 8 hours.
For the caramel: Making the caramel is easy but timing is key. Add the sugar and water to a pan over medium heat and wait for it to turn auburn in colour. DO NOT be tempted to touch it or it will cause the caramel to crystallize. As soon as you see larger bubbles that turn golden brown, turn off the heat. Then carefully pour in the hot water. PLEASE be careful when adding in the hot water because as soon as the water hits the caramel, it vigorously bubbles and may splash.
Recipe Notes + Tips
- Smooth paste: Ensure the initial paste is lump free in consistency. This is key the silky smooth purin.
- Weigh the ingredients: I highly recommend using a scale to weigh the ingredients for this recipe because of the nature of how agar and starch works with the liquid ingredients.
- Properly activate the agar: Be sure to melt the agar throughly to active it.
- Keep the soy milk warm: Ensure that the soy milk mixture is warm before adding it to the agar or it may clump up / start hardening.
- DO NOT stir the caramel: I know it can be tempting to stir the caramel but stirring will cause the sugar to clump and crystallize.
- Add HOT water: Ensure when adding the water at the end, it is HOT because this prevents the caramel from completely solidifying as it is cooling. Remove from the pot immediately after swirling in the hot water to prevent further cooking of the caramel as well.
More delicious Japanese desserts to try:
- Hanami Dango
- Mitarashi Dango
- Strawberry Shiratama Dango
- Japanese Sweet Potato Yaki Mochi
- Daigaku Imo (Candied Japanese Sweet Potatoes)
If you recreate this Vegan Purin recipe let me know how you liked it by leaving a comment and rating below or by tagging me on Instagram @Okonomikitchen, I love seeing all of your tasty recreations!
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Vegan Purin プリン (Japanese Creme Caramel)
- Total Time: 40 minutes minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
Learn how to make the perfect Vegan Japanese Purin with this step by step recipe. Similar to flan or creme caramel, it’s a no-bake silky smooth custard topped with a layer of bitter-sweet caramel!
Ingredients
Purin
- 4 tbsp rice flour (40g) OR 3 tbsp kudzu starch (30g)
- 1/2 cup (120ml) + 1 2/3 cup (400ml) unsweetened soy milk, divided
- 1 tbsp cane sugar (12g)
- 2 pinches of salt (1g)
- 1 1/2 tbsp maple syrup (30ml)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (5ml)
- 2g agar agar powder
- 1/2 cup water (120ml)
Caramel sauce
- 1/2 cup cane sugar (100g)
- 2 tbsp water
- 2 tbsp hot water
Instructions
Purin
- Add the rice flour (or starch), sugar and 1/2 cup of soy milk to a medium pot. Whisk well to combine. Warm the remaining 400ml of soy milk in the microwave until lukewarm.
- Heat the mixture until it turns into a paste like consistency over medium heat. Use a whisk first and then switch to a silicon spatula to prevent the bottom from burning. As soon as it thickens into a paste, turn the heat low and keep mixing for about another minute until smooth.
- Add the warmed soy milk slowly, a little at a time and whisk it into the paste. Once all the soy milk is mixed in and is smooth, stir in the maple syrup, vanilla and salt.
- Into another pot, add the agar and water and stir to dissolve. Heat the pan over medium heat. As soon as it comes to a boil, reduce heat to low and continue to whisk for about 1 1/2 – 2 minutes or until agar is fully dissolved. Strain the soy milk mixture over the pot. TIP: be sure the soy milk mixture is warm or the agar will firm up quickly. Whisk the mixture gently and try not to form any bubbles or foam. Turn off the heat and remove from stove. Quickly give pudding cups a rinse with hot water. Divide into 4 pudding cups and let it cool at room temperature for 15 minutes. Then transfer to the fridge and allow it to cool for at least 8 hours.
Caramel
- Add sugar in pan with 2 tbsp of water over medium heat. DO NOT touch the pot or mix it. Once it starts to bubble and turn amber in colour (about 8 minutes), turn the heat off and then pour in hot water. Swirl the pan to evenly distribute and to give it subtle mix so that the bottom does not get too thick. NOTE: please be careful when adding in the hot water, as soon as the water is added it does bubble vigourously. You can use a lid of a pot as a shield.
Notes
- Helpful Equipment: whisk, silicon spatula, medium pot, pudding molds
- Nutritional Information Disclaimer: Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated on an online tool (Cronometer).
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: dessert
- Method: stove top
- Cuisine: japanese, vegan, gluten free
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 214
- Sugar: 34.5
- Sodium: 112mg
- Fat: 2.2
- Saturated Fat: 0.06
- Unsaturated Fat: 0.2
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 44.2
- Fiber: 0.8
- Protein: 3.9
- Cholesterol: 0
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I’m half Japanese and, growing up, I spent all of my summers in Japan and eating purin!!!!! I went vegan 10+ years ago and haven’t been to Japan in 12 ish years so haven’t had purin in forever. My partner and I made this last week and the texture is 100% spot on and so delicious!!! We used soy milk at first but my partner didn’t prefer it so we did the same recipe and subbed almond milk and it came out still perfect!!
This looks beautiful and I am about to try it! Could you please tell me if the caramel should go onto the purin hot? Or do you leave the caramel to cool first? Thanks!
Omg this was the most PERFECT purin recipe!!! I haven’t had purin since I was a kid and one bite of this took me straight back to my childhood in Japan!
I followed your recipe exactly with the purin and it came out soo smooth and creamy with the perfect sweetness and consistency!
The sauce I had to try twice because I freaked out and turned down the heat midway, thinking the sugar was going to burn on the bottom of the pot. The second time I totally left it alone just like your recipe says and it turned the most beautiful amber colour!
Now that I’ve made this recipe and have more confidence with it, I’m definitely making it again!! My partner loved it too. Thank you Lisa for your amazing recipes xx
Oh noooo! My first batch never set — even after 12+ hours in the fridge 😭 Just did a second try but the consistency is still quite liquidy when it goes into the molds despite weighing and whisking and straining and burning the recipe into my eyeballs …any pointers on what I may be doing wrong?
I just made the purin and put it in the fridge to cool for 8 hours. Your directions don’t mention how easily the puddings come out of the cup. Is there something special I need to do? And when do I pour the caramel over the purin? At serving time?
When you flip it over, you should tap the top and it should come out. Then pour caramel on top 🙂
it was really fun to make and very satisfying to eat afterwards :p i would re-do it again without hesitation!
This purin has a perfect, light texture, and it tastes so good with the caramel sauce. It is easy to make as long as you follow the instructions properly, so I’m definitely making it again! It makes for a very refreshing tea time snack or dessert. You could probably also try all sorts of flavors with this other than the traditional purin flavor, which is great. I added turmeric to make it look a bit more yellow and for the health benefits because I’m obsessed with turmeric lol. 10/10 would try again!!
This tasted incredible, hands down the best vegan プリン / Creme Caramel ever 😍
Plus making This gives you a free arm workout from all that stirring 😂
I had fun making this! I panicked a bit when the paste I had didn’t want to mix with the milk once again, but it was a matter of time and patience. The purin turned out really smooth in texture and by itself without the caramel, it was really delicious as well!! I’ll make some more this weekend 😀
This looks so incredible. Wow. I’ve been getting something that looks similar to this from Tsuchi here, (and I’m sure I will continue buying it from them too!! 😀) but I’m so eager to try your recipe for this!!!