Pastéis de Nata

Name: Pastéis de Nata
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 12
Cuisine: Portugal
Ingredients: 1 sheet all-butter puff pastry; 500 ml whole milk; 150 g sugar; 40 g plain flour; 6 egg yolks; 1 cinnamon stick; 1 strip lemon zest; 1 tsp vanilla extract

Local name: Pastéis de nata

Portuguese custard tarts in puff pastry, baked at fierce heat until the tops blister and darken in patches.

Published on 20 July 2026·Updated on 10 September 2026

#custard#puff pastry#cream#cinnamon#pastry

Photo: Photo Claude TRUONG-NGOC , CC BY-SA 3.0

Prep: 30 min
Cook: 15 min
Total: 45 min
Serves: 12
Difficulty: Hard

Method

Heat the oven to 250 degrees with a tray inside. That starting heat does most of the work.
Roll the pastry into a tight log and cut 2 cm rounds. Press each one into a muffin tin with your thumb, working it up the sides.
Warm 400 ml of the milk with the cinnamon and lemon zest. Take it off the heat at the first steam.
Slake the flour in the remaining 100 ml of milk, pour in the strained hot milk and thicken over low heat for 2 minutes.
Off the heat, stir in the sugar, yolks and vanilla. Let it cool for 10 minutes.
Fill the cases three quarters full and bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the surface blisters almost black in places.

Those dark blisters are the point. Sugar at the surface caramelises before the custard sets, which gives the contrast bakeries in Lisbon aim for.

The techniques this recipe uses

Reduce
Uncovered, water leaves and flavour concentrates. It is done when the sauce coats the back of a spoon.

Nutrition per serving

Calories: 257 kcal
Protein: 3.4 g
Fat: 19.4 g
Carbohydrate: 18.3 g
Fibre: 0.4 g

An estimate computed from the recipe quantities and the USDA food composition database. Real values vary with the products used.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my custard have no dark blisters?

The oven was not hot enough, or the tray was not preheated. Those blisters come from the sugar at the surface caramelising very fast, before the custard sets, which needs an oven at its top temperature and immediate heat from below.

Why roll the puff pastry into a log?

Discs cut from the log show the pastry layers in a spiral; pressed up the mould with your thumb, they form a swirled, layered wall. Pastry simply cut out with a round cutter does not give that structure.

Why is my custard lumpy?

The yolks were most likely added to a base that was still too hot. Let the milk and flour mixture cool before folding them in, and whisk constantly. Straining the custard before filling the moulds rescues most mishaps.

Eating vegetarian in Spain and Portugal
The Iberian vegetable dishes that predate the word vegetarian, what actually holds them together, and the ham stock and hidden tuna to watch for.

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