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Delicious, nourishing egg custard made the traditional way, loaded with healthy fats for your creamy enjoyment as the ultimate comfort food.
Egg custard pudding was my favorite treat growing up.
I usually made a couple of bowls a week at my Grandparents’ house, who lived not far down the road.
My Grandfather, also a huge egg custard fan, and I would happily enjoy a bowl while sitting in his favorite chair, watching baseball on the rabbit-eared black and white TV in the living room.
Egg custard was basically the only thing I could cook in my middle school years, and it didn’t really get much better until I had kids!
The reason I learned how to make this one dish at my Grandparents’ house at such an early age was my nearly constant craving for eggs, which were rarely served in my own home.
I have no idea why I craved eggs so much – I don’t crave them at all anymore probably because I get so many good fats elsewhere in my diet and eggs are often on the menu.
I think these tween cravings were likely because the wholesome fats in the yolk provided such excellent nourishment at such a fast-growing and hormonally charged time of life.
In my opinion, egg custard is a great first dish to teach your children (along with scrambled eggs). When you skip the white sugar in most versions and substitute unprocessed, whole cane sugar or dark maple syrup instead, the flavor even resembles flan!
If your children are tweens or teens and still haven’t shown much interest in cooking (this is an important life skill to teach!), haul them into the kitchen and show them how to whip up a bowl of egg custard or another healthy dessert recipe that might interest them.
Be sure to serve each bowl with a spoonful of homemade whipped cream on top.
More Homestyle Puddings to Enjoy!
While this egg custard recipe uses dairy milk, there are many ways to make nondairy pudding if you prefer. Here are some alternative recipes to consider.
Classic Egg Custard Recipe
An easy, traditional recipe for egg custard pudding that will delight both young and old with its rich flavor and easy digestibility.
Ingredients
- 6 eggs preferably pastured or free range
- 3 cups whole milk preferably grassfed
- 1/2 cup maple syrup preferably dark or Grade B
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- ground nutmeg optional
Instructions
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Crack eggs into a medium-sized, oven safe glass bowl (I use this one) and whip until just blended.
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Add sea salt and vanilla and mix well. Blend in maple syrup and whole milk with a whisk.
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Bake egg custard in the same mixing bowl at 400 °F/204 °C for 45-50 minutes or until bubbly and lightly browned on top, and a knife inserted in the center of the bowl comes out clean.
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Remove from the oven and sprinkle the optional nutmeg on top.
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Egg custard is delicious served warm! After the bowl is cooled, refrigerate leftovers for up to 4-5 days.
Recipe Notes
Goat or cow milk both work well in this recipe.
If you wish to use duck eggs instead of chicken eggs, use 4 instead of 6 eggs. Duck eggs are quite a bit larger than chicken eggs.
here it also looks like sweet scrambled eggs…
and do you cover it while cooking?
do you pre-eat the oven?
Ahh man! I used to love that stuff! I can’t wait till we can have eggs again!
This sounds so simple, and so delicious….
As the commenter above, I would have supposed it a more complicated process involving a pan of water.
This is also a rare treat for me, as I have trouble tolerating animal protein and starch in the same meal, and most yummy desserts have plenty of both! (cake = flour + milk and eggs, etc.)
That’s interesting that you say how you craved eggs as a teenager – I did too. I would boil eggs for myself after school on a regular basis as a snack. My parents ate (and still eat) very unhealthy and mostly over processed foods, with a few fruits/veggies thrown in. Probably I craved the eggs because I wasn’t getting good food /fats like you said, in my diet. Strangely enough I also craved kidney beans and I would cook them in a frying pan, then cover them with parmesan cheese. Weird!
I LOVE egg custard but have never learned how to make it myself. Thanks for sharing this. The very first thing I taught my grandchildren to cook is making their own scrambled eggs from our own fresh eggs when they come to stay with us once a week. When they are small it can get pretty messy…one is a two year old now…but they can all crack and prepare (at least help) their own eggs. I love that I can fill them with this super charged food once a week, as well as our home made applesauce, raw milk products, and garden goods. This custard will go on our list of things to make together.
Thanks Sarah, I’m going to try this right now in fact! Great idea!
Mine just came out of the oven and is beautiful. I used homemade coconut milk but my husband just gave it a thumbs up!
Here’s the version I posted awhile back using coconut milk instead of milk: https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/2010/06/thai-custard-pudding/