The Best Evaporated Milk Recipes, Whether You’re Craving Sweet or Savory
Did you know that this pantry MVP can flex from pumpkin pie to creamy pasta sauce?
These evaporated milk recipes prove this pantry staple, which is the unsweetened sibling of condensed milk, is affordable and versatile. Bake and cook your way through these recipes with evaporated milk to explore how this budget-friendly buy can boost everything from mac and cheese to pumpkin pie to fudge.
Tres Leches Cake
Tres leches (three milks) is a natural place to start in our guide to the best evaporated milk recipes. Introducing the cake cast: Sweetened condensed milk, whole milk or cream, and evaporated milk. For this easy cake, we suggest starting with a boxed cake mix, then dressing it up with a triple-milk sauce for moist and showy results.
Creamy Macaroni and Cheese
The search for the creamiest macaroni and cheese stops here. We bet you can guess one of the secret ingredients…yes, this is a recipe using evaporated milk. Canned cheese dip and prepared cheese product, such as Velveeta, add to the luscious party that 2 cups of shredded cheddar starts. “Delicious! I make a lot of different versions of macaroni and cheese,” one BHG fan says. “This is on the top of the list!”
French Market Beignets
No need to book a ticket to New Orleans. We’ll walk you through how to make these powdered sugar-dusted puffs of fried yeast bread right in your own kitchen. For a next-level brunch, dessert, or snack, simply combine flour, yeast, sugar, shortening, and eggs with evaporated milk. Allow the dough to rise to the occasion, then roll, fry, and serve warm, ideally with powdered sugar and a cup of chicory coffee.
Brownie-Walnut Pie
A pan of chocolate brownies is already a rich dessert. But when we’re really in the mood for a treat, we add chopped walnuts and bake brownies inside of a flaky pastry crust. The evaporated milk recipe joins the party in the topping—a silky homemade hot fudge sauce—which turns up the decadent volume even more.
Microwave Pumpkin Fudge
This fall fudge recipe using evaporated milk is one of our go-to desserts when we’re seeking something showy yet simple to execute. Featuring a handful of pantry and refrigerator staples, including canned pumpkin, evaporated milk, butter, and sugar, it’s a cinch to toss together. A handful of pecans add a pleasant hint of crunch along with salty, nutty flavor that balances the sweetness of the white chocolate fudge.
Homemade Tres Leches Cake
For a fully from-scratch twist on tres leches, turn to this recipe with evaporated milk. The tender poke cake still only asks for 30 minutes of hands-on time, and the results are worth every minute of effort. As the cake bakes, infuse the three milks with the flavor from cinnamon sticks. Then once the cake is partially cool, pierce it with a skewer or knife and drizzle the dairy on top (in two doses, once before and once after an overnight shift in the refrigerator).
German Chocolate and Caramel Brownies
Savor all of the chocolate, caramel, coconut, and pecan goodness of German chocolate cake without any of the fussy layering…or even without having to whip up a cake batter. These easy brownies start with a box of cake mix, but since we suggest doctoring that up with melted butter and half of a can of evaporated milk, the finished product sure doesn’t taste semi-homemade. This becomes even more true because mid-way through the bake time, you’ll finish the brownies with a two-ingredient evaporated milk recipe for caramel as well as a handful each of coconut flakes, milk chocolate chips, and chopped pecans
Dulce de Leche Pumpkin Pie with Hazelnut Crust
This pumpkin pie is far too tasty to reserve for Thanksgiving alone. Good thing it’s simple enough to make any day of the year, according to one five-star reviewer: “Wonderful pie and really easy to make! No one left even a bite on their plate.” It starts with a hazelnut pastry, then features a creamy cheesecake layer. The evaporated milk recipe factor comes in with the dulce de leche-infused pumpkin pie filling, which is accented by a decadent yet light dulce de leche-hazelnut whipped cream.
Easy Hot Fudge Sauce
Stroll right past the jarred fudge sauce at the supermarket and stir together your own signature sauce. To recreate our parlor-style recipe using evaporated milk, you need just 15 minutes, one saucepan, butter, sugar, and chocolate. Your next ice cream sundae (or brownies, waffles, pancakes, cake, or cheesecake) is about to get even more irresistible!
Almond Tres Leches Cake with Strawberry-Mango Salsa
We couldn’t resist sneaking in one more play on tres leches. This stunning sheet cake follows the same homemade poke cake strategy as we mentioned above. What takes this rendition over the top are the toppings: vanilla whipped cream and a refreshing strawberry-mango fruit salsa.
Carrot-Coconut Cream Cake with Raisin-Rum Filling
This carrot cake is like three different desserts in one. The layer cake will cure your cravings for cream cheese-frosted carrot cake, of course, as well as coconut cake (the top layer), and rum raisin ice cream. The evaporated milk recipe filling—complete with dark rum, raisins, coconut, and walnuts—is where you'll find a hat tip to the ice cream. It's so delicious, we almost wish we could order it by the cone-full, too.
Cinnamon-Pumpkin Custard
A classic custard is one of the most common recipes with evaporated milk you’ll find in many cookbooks. This autumnal dessert idea stands out from the competition thanks to its silky-smooth, pie-spiced canned pumpkin custard. To cap things off in photo-worthy fashion, top the dish with a web of caramelized sugar, which also lends texture and extra sweetness.
Coconut-Pecan Frosting
Here it is: The ultimate homemade frosting recipe to use for German chocolate cake—or any dessert you’d like to amplify with a nutty, tropical boost. (Doesn’t a coconut-pecan whoopie pie sound dreamy?) Beyond a can of our signature ingredient, you just need eggs, butter, sugar, coconut, and pecans for this versatile evaporated milk recipe.
Almond Flan with Golden Caramel
End your dinner with the ultimate reveal. This almond-flavored flan, which is made with a base of evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk, comes to the table looking like a chilled custard. But carefully flip the treat out of the pie pan and onto a serving platter, and everyone will be surprised to discover that this is an ooey-gooey caramel dessert. (The caramel layer bakes on the bottom, and transforms into a “topping” once you turn the flan right-side up.)
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