Our vegan custard is a smooth, creamy and delicious recipe that you can make in 10 minutes with 5 simple ingredients.
You can use this custard in tarts, cakes, pastries and other desserts. You can also flavour it with vanilla, lemon, chocolate and much more. Here, we’ll show you how.
What is vegan custard?
Custard is usually thickened by the coagulation of egg protein, generally made by combining the egg yolks with milk and sugar.
Our vegan version uses cornstarch as a thickening agent, a tiny bit of turmeric for colour, and plant milk – such as soy, almond or coconut – to replace dairy milk.
The best thing about this vegan custard recipe is that you can use it in many vegan desserts, such as our easy vanilla cake, tangy lemon tart, or a fresh and summery fruit tart.
It can also be used as a pastry cream to fill doughnuts and croissants or baked to make custard pies.
Finally, this basic vegan custard recipe can be easily tweaked and flavoured with several ingredients.
In the variations section below we show you how to make coconut custard, lemon custard, chocolate custard, coffee custard, and even pistachio custard.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Plant milk: we use soy milk, almond milk, or oat milk to make a low-fat vegan custard. We use coconut milk to make a richer, full-fat one.
- Cornstarch: we use it as a thickening agent. We find this hard to replace. If you are allergic, then potato starch is a good replacement.
- Sugar: we use white sugar. Any sugar will work.
- Vanilla: this depends on your budget really. Most often we use vanilla extract, but if we feel like splurging, then we use the real seeds of a vanilla pod.
- Turmeric: this is optional, but we like to add a tiny pinch of turmeric when we want to give the pastry cream a yellow colour.
Do not add too much or else your custard will turn to a fake yellow-greenish colour, and it will taste like turmeric. You can replace turmeric with saffron powder. - Lemon: this is optional, but we like to add lemon peel to our basic vegan custard. We also make a mean vegan lemon custard, see variations chapter below for that one.
How to make vegan custard
In a pot, off the heat, add all the ingredients: plant milk, sugar, cornstarch, vanilla, turmeric and lemon peel. Stir with a whisk till all lumps are gone.
Then on medium heat, stir continuously until the liquid thickens into a creamy custard. It can take between 2 to 5 minutes, depending on the quantities.
When you have almost reached the consistency that you like, take off the heat and keep stirring for another minute. The custard will keep thickening while off the heat.
TIP: to check if your custard is ready take a wooden or silicone spatula, dip it in the custard, then run a finger through it. If the spatula stays clean, the custard is ready.
Tips and troubleshooting
Cooling down
If cooled down improperly, the vegan custard will dry up on the surface, and the dry parts will create lumps. To avoid that, keep stirring while the custard cools down.
The fastest and easiest way to do that is to fill up your sink with cold water, then submerge 3/4 of the pot in the water and stir for 5 minutes, or until the custard is close to room temperature.
Getting rid of lumps
If your custard makes lumps, do not worry. There are two ways to fix it:
- Whisk the custard very vigorously with a whisk. Like really hard. The fast whisking movement will remove the lumps and the vegan custard will go back to super creamy.
- Blitz it up with an immersion blender. This will also remove the lumps, but this way the custard will be more a little more liquid after blending it.
You can use these two tricks also if you reuse the custard after storing it away in the refrigerator. It will get more thick and gelatinous, so you’ll need to blend it or whisk it to make it creamy again.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, our vegan custard recipe is gluten-free as it’s made with cornstarch, a thickener derived from corn.
Corn is naturally gluten-free, however, some lower quality brands might make their cornflour in a machine that has previously worked wheat flour. So, if you want to be sure check the label.
You can eat custard poured over fresh fruit, in cakes, tarts with lemon or strawberries, pies, croissants, doughnuts, danish rolls, and more. You can also eat it with a spoon.
Yes, but we do not recommend freezing it. It takes longer to thaw than to make from scratch and the taste won’t be the same. You could however turn it into homemade vegan ice cream.
To do this, place it in the freezer, then whisk it every 30 minutes until it turns into smooth ice cream. It should take you about 3 hours.
You can also just freeze the custard, and after 3 hours blend it in a power blender or food processor. It’s delicious!
Believe it or not, it seems that custards have been around since Ancient Rome. I can definitely picture Marcus Aurelius dipping grapes in some freshly made roman custard during his stoic meditations.
Flavour Variations
Chocolate custard: made with the same simple ingredients (no lemon, no turmeric). Just add your favourite brand of vegan dark chocolate at the end, off the heat. Stir for a minute and enjoy!
Pistachio custard: roast pistachio nuts first, then blend them with the plant milk, till you have smooth pistachio milk.
Now add sugar, cornstarch, pistachio milk, and vanilla to a pot, and proceed as for the classic custard.
Coffee custard: add real espresso coffee or instant coffee to the plant milk, dissolve, add the other ingredients and proceed as for the classic custard. No lemon or turmeric in this one.
Texture variations
Baked custard: to make a great vegan baked custard we recommend cooking the custard in a saucepan first for about 2 minutes, then using it to fill a pie shell, and then baking it in the oven for about 30 minutes.
This is how we made our lemon tart, vegan fruit tart, or custard pie.
Crème anglaise: also known as vanilla custard sauce, is a lightly thickened pouring custard flavoured with vanilla extract and no lemon flavour.
Bring to a boil for a minute then while stirring continuously, keep stirring on low heat until lightly thickened. Cut the amount of cornstarch in our base recipe in half.
Pastry cream: perfect to fill up doughnuts, croissants, custard rolls, or vanilla cakes. Classic pastry cream is generally flavoured with vanilla and no lemon. To make it just cook the custard for longer.
Boil it for about 3 minutes while stirring, then take it on low heat and keep stirring until you reach your desired consistency.
Storage
You can store this vegan custard in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. Cooldown the custard while stirring before putting it in the refrigerator.
You can reheat the custard on low heat by adding a dash of plant milk while stirring.
It is possible that during the cooling process the custard will dry out on the surface and make a thin skin that will result in annoying lumps.
If you are annoyed by the lumps then you can blend the custard with a hand blender. We tried and it works.
We do not recommend freezing the custard unless you want to make ice cream out of it.
YouTube
Double click/tap to watch video-recipe on YouTube.
Vegan custard
Equipment
- Whisk
Ingredients
For a low-fat lighter custard
- 2 cups plant-milk soy, almond, oats, rice
- ½ cups cornstarch
- ⅓ cups sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ lemon peel
For a full-fat richer custard
- 1½ cups plant-milk soy, almond, oats, rice
- ⅔ cups plant-cream soy cream, rice cream, coconut cream or coconut milk
- ½ cups cornstarch
- ⅓ cups sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- To a pot off the heat, add all the ingredients: plant milk, sugar, cornstarch, vanilla and lemon peel. Stir with a whisk till all lumps are gone.
- On medium heat, stir continuously until the liquid thickens into a creamy custard. It can take between 2 to 5 minutes, depending on the quantities.
- When you have almost reached the consistency that you like, take off the heat and keep stirring for another minute. The custard will keep thickening while off the heat.
- TIP: to check if your custard is ready take a wooden or silicone spatula, dip it in the custard, then run a finger through it (careful it's hot). If the spatula stays clean, the custard is ready.
Video
Nutrition
If you liked this recipe, you might also like these other vegan recipes made with vegan custard:
Did you try this recipe at home? Let us know in the comments below, we love to hear from you!
Buon appetito!
Nico
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Thank you for this recipe i needed a vanilla flavored milk base and this was perfect. Modified the sugar and starch but i am very impressed
For the chocolate version, how much chocolate do you add?
Hi Diane,
Sure, check out the recipe for chocolate custard here: https://theplantbasedschool.com/chocolate-custard/
Happy cooking 🙂
I made the thick version with almond milk and oat cream and it was sensational. I had tried a couple of ready-made vegan custard powders, but they were no comparison. Saving this recipe!
YAY! So happy to hear that, Shannon!
Thank you for leaving a comment here ☀️
Hi, I had a question about the creme anglaise and the pastry creme, I wanted to know if after the creme anglaise and pastry creme are done are they stable and good to eat at room temperature and if so for how long?
Hi Emily,
So sorry for the delayed reply. Yes they are stable to eat at room temperature.
Just keep in mind that as they cool down, they will thicken slightly.
A couple of tips with regards to storage:
– Store it in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. Cooldown the custard while stirring before putting it in the refrigerator.
– You can reheat the custard on low heat by adding a dash of plant milk while stirring.
– It is possible that during the cooling process the custard will dry out on the surface and make a thin skin that will result in annoying lumps. If you are annoyed by the lumps then you can blend the custard with a hand blender. We tried and it works 🙂
Hope this helps, have a wonderful weekend! Kindest,
Louise
Do you recommend using this custard Afro Cream Brûlée?
Hi Donna,
thanks for your message. I am afraid I don’t know what Afro Cream Brûlée is.
Best,
Nico
My apologies. Typo. Meant to read: “do you recommend using this recipe for crème brûlée?”
Hi Donna,
I haven’t tried this recipe for crème brûlée, so not 100% sure it would work.
However, you top each serving with 1 to 2 tsp of sugar and torch/burn it until caramelized. I think it could work.
Best,
Nico
Made this to accompany an Irish apple cake for St. Patrick’s Day. Yum! Everyone at the table enjoyed it! I maybe let it thicken a bit too much, and then it got even more firm in the fridge. But I just whisked in some soy milk and sugar, and it loosened up nicely. The lemon zest flavor is delicious.
I only wanted to make half recipe, and that would have called for a quarter of a cup of cornstarch to one cup of soy milk. Way too much cornstarch and I knew that but I didn’t follow my gut. I ended up with something so thick that it was not pourable at all. I was able to rescue it by adding almost another whole cup of soy milk. So be cautious. Start off with maybe 2 tablespoons if making the whole recipe and if needed, disolve another tablespoon at a time in cold soy milk. But delicious and loved learning a lesson.
After making custard can you store it in the freezer or refrigerator.? Mine got real thick in the refrigerator. How long can I keep it ?
Hi Angel,
Thanks for your comment.
You can store this vegan custard in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. Cooldown the custard while stirring before putting it in the refrigerator.
It will thicken, so you can reheat it on low heat by adding a dash of plant milk while stirring.
It is possible that during the cooling process the custard will dry out on the surface and make a thin skin that will result in annoying lumps.
If you are annoyed by the lumps (like me) then you can blend the custard with an immersion blender 🙂
We don’t recommend freezing this recipe.
I hope this helps 🙂
Nico