Instant Pot Creme Brulee
This Instant Pot Creme Brulee is a rich, creamy custard with a brittle caramelized layer on top that makes an elegant but easy dessert for entertaining.
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe: This is the easiest way to make thick, custardy creme brulee. It’s simple, comes together quickly, and it’s made from just six ingredients that I almost always have on hand.
Update: This is my go-to recipe for a sophisticated dessert, so I’ve updated the recipe, post and photos to help you make it like a pro.
How to Make Instant Pot Crème Brûlée
Even though this dish is easy to make, the textures are wonderfully complex. The rich, silky-smooth custard is a perfect contrast to the crunchy, caramelized sugar topping.
The creme brulee “bakes” in the pressure cooker in 6-ounce custard cups, then goes into the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours or overnight.
You don’t make the caramelized crust on top of each custard until shortly before serving. The key to making the crack-worthy crust is to use superfine sugar (it’s sometimes labeled baker’s sugar). This fine sugar melts faster than normal granulated sugar.
Tip: If you don’t want to buy baker’s sugar, you can pulse regular granulated sugar in a blender to make superfine sugar.
Can I Make Custard in an Instant Pot?
Yes! In fact, desserts that require a water bath, like cheesecakes, flan, and custards, are perfect for making in the pressure cooker’s moist environment.
Ingredient Notes
Since there are only six ingredients in pressure cooker creme brulee, it’s really important to use high-quality ingredients.
In particular, choose a fresh heavy cream (local if possible) and high-quality vanilla extract. If you’re looking for suggestions, I really love Lágrima‘s premium artisan vanilla extract or Nielsen-Massey’s Pure vanilla extract. It’s also a wonderful gift to give for the holidays.
If you want to try homemade, my friend Marci has an awesome tutorial about how to make your own vanilla in an Instant Pot.
Note: I often use Costco vanilla extract for cookies and cakes, but for desserts like these where the vanilla flavor is the centerpiece, it’s worth it to me to use a premium vanilla.
Making the Sugar Crust
When you’re ready to serve your dessert, it’s time to make the hard-shell sugar crust on top.
Most recipes call for using a kitchen torch because it gives you full control over how the sugar melts and caramelizes. However, you don’t have to use a kitchen torch!
Until I was gifted a kitchen torch for Christmas, I used to borrow my husband’s welding torch to finish creme brulee. (It works great for brulees and fireworks, for the record!)
If you don’t have access to a torch, you can just use your oven broiler. To do so, place the creme brulee cups on a baking sheet and place the sheet on your oven rack a few inches below the broiler. Broil until the sugar is brown and caramelized, rotating the baking sheet frequently to help the cups brown evenly. Make sure you keep a close eye on things, since it can burn quickly.
Tip: Make sure the custard cups or ramekins you’re using are broiler-safe before using the broiler!
Make-Ahead Creme Brulee
Feel free to make the Instant Pot Creme Brulee ahead of time. The finished custards will last in the fridge for 2 to 3 days wrapped in plastic wrap, just make the sugar crust right before serving since the crisp texture doesn’t last in the fridge.
Serving Suggestions
To add some extra flavor, texture, and a pop of color to your custards, serve them with fresh raspberries or strawberries. You could also add a dollop of homemade whipped cream for yet another texture.
More Instant Pot Dessert Recipes
If you love making desserts like creme brulee in your Instant Pot / pressure cooker, you’ll have to try these sweet treats next:
- Layered Instant Pot Strawberry Cheesecake has stunning pink and white layers and summery fruit flavors.
- Pressure Cooker (Instant Pot) Chocolate Pots de Crème are adorable and richly chocolate-flavored custard.
- Chocolate Cake for Two in the Instant Pot is a rich, dense and decadent dessert that’s perfect for two to share.
Do you LOVE this recipe?
Leave us a review below to tell us why!
Instant Pot Creme Brulee
This Instant Pot Creme Brulee is an easy 6-ingredient dessert to make ahead topped with a hard caramelized sugar crust.
Ingredients
- 8 egg yolks
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- pinch of salt
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 6 tablespoons superfine sugar
Instructions
- Add 1 1/2 cups of water to the pressure cooking pot and place the trivet in the bottom.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk eggs yolks, 1/3 cup granulated sugar and a pinch of salt. Add cream and vanilla and whisk until blended.
- Strain into a large measuring bowl with a pour spout or a pitcher. Pour mixture into six 6-ounce custard cups, cover with foil, and place on a trivet in the pressure cooking pot. Stack the cups in a second layer. (I used a second trivet between the layers.)
- Lock the lid in place. Select High Pressure and a 6 minute cook time. When the cook time ends, turn off the pressure cooker and use a natural pressure release for 10 minutes and then finish with a quick pressure release. When the valve drops, carefully remove the lid.
- Carefully remove the cups to a wire rack to cool uncovered. When cool, refrigerate covered with plastic wrap for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.
- When ready to serve, sprinkle about a tablespoon of sugar to cover the entire surface of each custard. Working with one at a time, move the flame of the torch 2 inches above the surface of each custard in a circular motion to melt the sugar and form a crispy, caramelized topping.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 655Total Fat: 52gSaturated Fat: 31gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 18gCholesterol: 503mgSodium: 82mgCarbohydrates: 40gFiber: 0gSugar: 39gProtein: 9g
Nutrition information is calculated by Nutritionix and may not always be accurate.
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Question actually:
The top layer dishes are less cooked. Is that an issue and what should I change. Maybe a shorter trivet? I used my egg trivet to stack second level.
Hi Sheryl – yes, a shorter trivet will probably help, although the bottom does cook faster.
These were delicious! I made 6 small ones using 2 levels in the pot and had to put them back in for 3 minutes because they weren’t set in the middle. They turned out perfectly! I topped them with a few raspberries and a mint leaf and my family loved them.
Thanks Cheryl! Sounds like a perfect way to serve them.
Hi. If I wanted to substitute some of the heavy cream for Irish cream liqueur, will that affect how how it cooks? What ratios would you suggest? Thank you.
Hi Misty – I haven’t tried it, but here’s a similar recipe that uses liquer https://celebrationgeneration.com/boozy-creme-brulee/
I have made this several times and it’s delicious. Can I use the fryer basket from my Instantpot duo crisp and air fryer as a two level steamer for this recipe?
Thank you
Hi Lesley – I haven’t tried it, but if they fit, that should work fine.
If you used the super fine sugar instead of the granulated sugar for the custard, would you get a smoother custard?
Hi Joanne – if your sugar isn’t dissolving when you whisk it with the egg yolks and cream, then I would use a super fine sugar instead.
Thank you very much. I have had silky and not so silky. I have never made it so I wasn’t sure how one was silkier than the others.
Generally the more egg yolks you use in the recipe, the silier the creme brulee is.
Barbara, I’m wondering if the Mealthy Crisp Lid could be used to caramelize the sugar and if so, if you’ve tried it.
Hi Sigrid – yes, I think you could use the Mealthy CrispLid to caramelize the sugar, but you’d want to watch it very closely so it didn’t burn. I have not tried it though.
I made mine but they are watery never got solid at all what could I have done wrong?
Hi Kimberly – sorry you had troubles. Are you sure your pressure cooker came to pressure?
Did you use half-and-half instead of heavy cream? If so, change to high pressure for 10 minutes with a 20 minute natural release. That worked for me after I had the same issue.
Just wondering why the number of egg yolks are 8 in this recipe but only 6 in your first cookbook? The rest of the ingredients are the same for both versions.
Hi Linda – some people were aghast that I used 8 egg yolks, so I reduced it for the cookbook. Extra egg yolks give it more richness, but either way works.
Hi, I was wondering how tall is the second trivet used? I need to buy One but there are diferent heights.
Hi Daniela – here’s a link to the rack I used https://amzn.to/2F6Wba7 It is 6 x 6 x 0.38 in Enjoy!
I used ramekins and they came out very watery still in the middle. I put them on for an additional 3 mins, same issue. Adding another 6 mins now….hoping it works out.
Made this tonight for desert. Added some chopped frozen raspberries. So delicious!
Thanks Wayne! I’m sure it was great with the raspberries.
Can I use jelly sized canning jars?
Hi Gail – it might work if they’re the small wide mouth jars and you have a torch to caramelize the sugar.
That would be really cute for a party or just to feel special for dinner. Nice touch.
Definitely!
Thank you for this recipe. My husbands favorit desert and he said it’s the real deal. I followed recipe to a tee. Only chance was I had opened a vanilla bean scraped out the seeds and put in the fine sugar. Stores air tight for a while (the longer the better. Up to 7 days prior is excellent) and made vanilla sugar for the topping. Was awesome
“If you don’t have a kitchen torch, you can use a welding torch if your husband has one with his tools.”
Oh, come on. Seriously?
What if my wife’s husband has one in with my tools? Can I use my wife’s husband’s welding torch?
Guys sometimes cook too. I do all the cooking for my family, in addition to the metalworking and woodworking.
Hi Marshall – while the majority of my readers are women, I do have a lot of men readers too. I’ve updated the post to be more gender neutral. I thought about deleting your comment because it was a little offensive, but you do have a good point.
Mine worked great as far as the IP goes, we torched the tops afyer 24 hours in fridge. The recipe is a little “eggy” almost like flan for us, but not bad by any means.
Sounds like most of the posters here are whipping air into the eggs and you should never over work the mixture, no matter what the cooking method. Never use a whisk, use only a solid spood and do not whip it to a frothy bubbly mixture, then you are not going to have the issues that I am reading here. Including the boiling over. The scrambled egg texture.
Thanks for sharing!
I just made creme brûlée in my pressure cooker and it turned out wonderful! For those having problems with boiling over, perhaps you can try the natural release method instead of releasing pressure after 10 minutes. You have to wait longer but you may have more success. I am at 9000 ft and cooked my 4 oz ramekins for 8 minutes – maybe a bit too long but sometimes things take longer to cook at this altitude – I will try less time in the future.
Unbelievably wonderful and restaurant perfect.
Thanks Christine!
Hi, i must have done something wrong – the mixture appeared as scrambled eggs once opened the pressure cooker and some of the ‘scramble egg’ like custard mixture in the steaming water. What may i have done wrong??
Barbara, I made these for Brendan’s birthday, wanted a change from the usual cake. Came out wonderful. Used the broiler to caramelize. Perfect. Thanks for the recipe.
What changes would be needed to make chocolate crem brûlée? We had it at a restaurant and now this admitted chocoholic would love to make it. Especially if I can use my magic Instant Pot. 🙂 Thank you!
I’d love to try this – but the ramekins I have are 4 oz. What time would you suggest for the smaller containers?
Hi Jenna – I would try 4 minutes. Let me know how it goes.
I had similar results as the first commenter. The foil lids blew off and the cream boiled over. Lots of water ended up in the ramekin which caused a curdled effect.
Hi Nicole – sorry you had problems. Do you think perhaps you over mixed the eggs so there was lots of air in the batter? What cups did you use? How full were your cups?
I think this answers my question? Thanks
Me too! I will take mine back to water bath in oven. Pretty sad looking.
Are regular ramekins not ok to use in a pressure cooker?
Hi Shalayne – regular oven safe ramekins are okay to use in the pressure cooker. I used the custard cups because that’s what I had on hand.
I halved the recipe and used 2 rectangular ramekins. I followed the times indicated above and it came out liquid. Please help. Thank you.
Hi Alicia – did you try cooking it a little longer? The type and size of the container makes a difference.
I can’t get my crème brulee to work out right. If I place foil over it, it boils over, every time, even when the cups are only 1/2 full. If I don’t place foil on them, they don’t boil over, but the custard gets a little soggy from the water that has dripped into them from the steam. Can you give me any advice? I love crème brulee, but I’ve tried this 3 times and it hasn’t worked for me. I’m about to give up and go back to baking them in the oven.
Hi Karlie – I’m sorry you’re having trouble with the creme brulee. What kind of cups are you using? Are you using heavy cream and large eggs? Are you whisking lots of air into the custard?
This may be a dumb question, but would this work with whole milk instead of heavy cream?
Hi Rachelle – no, you need cream in this recipe.
Barbara
The flavor was great but my six cups were all undercooked.
Living in Atlanta so no major sea level issues.
Ess
Glad you enjoyed the flavor, it’s definitely best to check one and see if it’s done to your liking before removing them all from the pressure cooker. Then it’s easy to cook them a minute or more if needed. Egg sizes and fat content of cream can vary, which would affect the cook time. Just write down what you did this time and tweak it a little bit next time. Thanks for the feedback.
Hi. Would love to try this recipe but I don’t need to eat six. Could I do half the recipe in the same amount of time in my Instant Pot or should I adjust for a smaller quantity?
Thanks!
Hi! The time should be the same when cooking half the recipe. Enjoy!
Thank you for the wonderful recipe, Barbara! However, I’ll use the blow torch that I keep with MY tools, thank you. 😉
You go girl!
Hi Barbara! I love your recipes. I use my pressure cooker a lot but this will be the first time I will make a dessert in my pressure cooker. I would love to try this recipe! What type of pressure cooker-safe bowls did you use and where can I get them?
Thanks Kat! I updated the post with a link to the custard cups at the bottom. Enjoy!
What do you mean by trivet in the pressure cooker? And where would I get them?
My favorite trivet is the one that came with my Cuisinart pressure cooker http://www.cuisinart.com/parts/specialty_appliances/cpc-600/cpc-tr600.html#cpc-tr600
Can’t wait to make this Cream Brûlée. Thanks.
Made this for dessert & it came out amazing! I have never made Crème brûlée before let alone in a pressure cooker & this was prob one of the easiest desserts I’ve ever made. The whole family enjoyed it very much.
Thanks so much Barbara!
Love your recipes for use in the pressure cooker, and this dessert seems perfect for the holidays! Thanks for info on the vanilla–I agree, quality ingredients make all the difference!
I love Creme Brulee. I thank you for this recipe, I would have never thought to do this in my pressure cooker. I look forward to trying this out.
These are gorgeous, Barbara! Creme brûlée is one my mum’s favorite desserts. Yet another reason for me to buy a pressure cooker. 🙂
Beautifully packaged vanilla! Thanks for the offer to win.
I would love to have the Vanilla and I will be trying this recipe for the holidays
I can’t wait to try out this recipe in my pressure cooker!
Omg, I would love to try this ! Love your blogs
That’s some great looking vanilla! Does it taste even better than Penzey’s double strength?
I subscribe by email.
Hi Amy – unfortunately we don’t have a Penzey’s in Utah and I’ve never tried their double strength. I’m sure if you win it you’ll love it though.
Vanilla has such homey smell and feel!
beautiful dessert. Love the bottle too! Great vanilla is an asset in any kitchen. thanks for the giveaway.
Looks wonderful!
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I would like to win a bottle of Lágrima Pure Vanilla Extract!
Good vanilla is so important in baking. Want to make creme brulee now!
YUM! This sounds so easy. Can’t wait to try this out. The Vanilla is a definite plus!!
I can’t wait to try this receipe! I love custard deserts. A chance to win the wonderful vanilla is a plus!
Ooh, this would be fun to try! I wonder if flan would work the same way?? That vanilla looks faancy!
Totally just saw that you DID make flan in the PC!! WAHOO!!!
Yum-EE!
This is my first time hearing of Lagrima – I’m always open to good vanilla! Your creme brulees look superb. 🙂
My gosh Barbara!!! This is a fantastic idea. Is there no end to things you can do int the pressure cooker. Amazing. I don’t use mine enough. I’ will definitely try this one…very soon.
Creme brûlée is one of my favorite desserts, and I will definitely try making it in the pressure cooker.
i subscribed to pressure cooking today by email.
i follow lagrima on twitter
I’m guessing then that I can’t just pull out a stick lighter and use that as a torch?
i follow pressure cooking today on twitter and facebook
i tweeted.
the creme brulee looks delicious.
Fabulous recipe!
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Another thing I’ve never made-in the pressure cooker or out! It sure does look delicious. One of these days I’ll invest in one of those kitchen torches-those are nifty little gizmos-I LOVE gizmos.
And that vanilla looks heavenly……..mmmmmmmm!
Oh my goodness my favorite dessert … and a chance for an elegant bottle of wonderful vanilla as well! I am so in!!!
Please and thank you … and Happy Holidays!
🙂
I want to try the Lagrima vanilla, and I love crime brûlée — so pick me! Robinzd@mac.com!