🥧 Pastel de Nata
Pastel de nata is the singular name for Portugal's famous custard tart: a crisp, flaky puff-pastry cup filled with silky egg custard and baked until the top caramelises in dark patches. It is lightly sweet, creamy inside and shatteringly crisp outside, and is usually eaten warm with a sprinkle of cinnamon and a coffee.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 sheet puff pastry (about 300 g)
- 300 ml milk
- 6 egg yolks
- 150 g sugar
- 80 ml water
- 1 cinnamon stick
- Ground cinnamon for dusting
Method
- Roll the pastry into a log, cut into 12 rounds and press each into a muffin cup, thinning it up the sides.
- Simmer sugar, water and cinnamon stick for 3 minutes to make a syrup.
- Heat the milk until steaming, whisk in the syrup and discard the cinnamon stick.
- Cool slightly, whisk in the egg yolks and strain the custard.
- Fill the cases three-quarters full and bake at 250–280 °C for 12–15 minutes until blistered on top.
- Dust with cinnamon and serve warm.
How to make it lighter
- One tart weighs about 60–70 g, so enjoy one rather than a box with coffee.
- Share a larger batch: bake mini tarts in a mini-muffin tin for smaller portions.
- Skip the extra sugar sprinkle on top and use cinnamon alone for aroma.
History
The recipe is usually credited to the monks of the Jerónimos Monastery in Belém, Lisbon, who reportedly began selling the tarts after religious orders were dissolved in the 1830s. Today pastel de nata is one of Portugal's best-known foods and is sold in bakeries worldwide.
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →