Vegan panna cotta, served with homemade blueberry compote. A delicious plant-based version of the traditional Italian dessert.
Panna cotta is an Italian dessert made of sweetened cream and thickened with gelatin. I’ve been trying to make a vegan version of this recipe since I went vegan, but none of them had worked until I found this one.
Only 3 ingredients required: plant milk of your choice, some natural sweetener and agar powder, that’s all! I also add vanilla and lemon peel strips to infuse the milk, but it’s not necessary.
I like to enjoy my panna cotta with some homemade berry compote and I prefer to make it at home because it’s more affordable and also because I make it using just 2 natural ingredients: fruit and a natural sweetener. I used frozen blueberries and cane sugar, but any other fruit or sweetener will do.
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Vegan Panna Cotta
- Prep: 5 mins
- Cook: 10 mins
- Total: 15 mins
- 4 1x
- Desserts
- Vegan, Italian
Servings 4 1x
Vegan panna cotta, served with homemade blueberry compote. A delicious plant-based version of the traditional Italian dessert.
Ingredients
- 4 cups unsweetened plant milk of your choice (1 liter), we used soy milk
- 1/4 cup maple or agave syrup (80 g)
- 2 tsp agar powder (4 g)
- 2 lemon peel strips (optional)
- 1 vanilla bean, scraped (optional)
For the blueberry compote:
- 1 cup frozen blueberries (230 g)
- 2 tbsp cane, coconut or brown sugar
- 1 tbsp water
Instructions
- Add milk, syrup and agar powder to a saucepan and stir until well combined.
- Add vanilla seeds and bean to the mixture and also the lemon peel strips. Stir again.
- Bring to a boil and cook over medium-high heat for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Remove the vanilla bean and the lemon peel strips.
- Divide the mixture amongst 4 glasses and let it cool at room temperature first and then in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
- To make the blueberry compote, add all the ingredients to a saucepan and cook over medium-high heat for 5 to 10 minutes or until it thickens. Stir occasionally. Let it cool at room temperature and then transfer to a sealed container.
- Top with some blueberry compote and chopped pistachios (optional) and serve.
- Keep panna cotta covered in the fridge for 4 to 5 days and the blueberry compote in a sealed container also in the fridge for 1 to 2 weeks.
Notes
- Feel free to use any sweetener or store-bought compote or jam.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/4 of the recipe
- Calories: 238
- Sugar: 31.8 g
- Sodium: 455 mg
- Fat: 4.7 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 41.6 g
- Fiber: 2.8 g
- Protein: 8.8 g
I made it exactly as the recipe stated, with no lemon or vanilla. After pouring into small jars, it separated! Any idea why this would happen?
Hi Ann! I’m so sorry about that! Maybe, your agar powder wasn’t in good conditions 🙁
It sounds like your agar didn’t set properly.
Agar Agar is an algae. It needs to be boiled to activate. to make sure it is ‘activated’ boil it 4 times. This means when it comes to a boil take it off the burner until it stops boiling. Then put it back on the burner until it boils again.. etc.. boil it 4 times. this makes sure the agar gets to heat properly.
Can I use simple syrup instead of agave or maple syrup?
Hi Elizabeth! Yes, feel free to use simple syrup 🙂
Hi great recipe, I made this with a mixture of milks that I had (soya and coconut milk) and infused mint into it!
Also I poured it into muffin moulds and it made enough for 6 servings! so I might half the recipe next time as there’s only 2 of us 🙂
It didn’t set, even over night
That’s odd. Agar is very dependable.
Hi Ralph! Yes, it is. Thanks for your comment 🙂
Hi G! Did you used the same ingredients and followed the ingredients to the T? Try to add more agar powder next time 🙂
Are you positive that you used agar powder and not agar flakes? They an look similar if you are not familiar with them. If you used the flakes you need to increase the measure to about 2 tbs (not tsp). I did that and it came out fine, in spite of my agar being very old…
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Hi Jay! Thanks a lot for your comment 🙂
I made this today and the compote was delicious! However, I had an issue with the panna cotta.
I mixed the almond milk, agar powder and maple syrup; then boiled it for 2 minutes. Not being familiar with agar powder, I thought it was suppose to set so I cooked at medium for another good 5-10 minutes. I poured into my glasses, and put in the fridge once cooled. After an hour it was firm (firmer than jello). It was not creamy (like yogurt).
Would this be caused by cooking too long? it didn’t mention in the recipe what the consistency should so I thought I did something incorrectly and cooked longer. If you could let me know that would be great, and I will try again. As mentioned, I loved your blueberry compote and all your recipes! Thanks for sharing.
Hi Frances! It’s okay, panna cotta is like jello, not a yogur, but if you prefer a yogurt texture add less agar powder 🙂
Instead of maple syrup, could I sub huckleberry syrup? It’s a little sweeter.
And would coconut milk work instead of almond or soy… or would that just be to much?
I’ve tried other milks – oat and coconut work well. We all thought rice was too sweet, strangely, although there was no added sweetener in it.
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Hi Ralph! Thanks a lot for your comment 🙂
Hi Elizabeth! I think it should work, add more or less sweetener if needed 🙂
I’ve been experimenting too and arrived at an almost identical result, using carrageenan instead of agar. Oat milk is good, but brownish, and looks better with pale fruit, or maybe a bit of coconut or rice cream to improve the presentation.
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Hi Ralph! I prefer to use agar as it’s healthier, but both are a good choice 🙂
Made this for a neighborhood cookout yesterday. It looked so very weird when I put it in the fridge and had zero faith it would turn out well, but it did! Had many compliments, so thank you for the recipe! (I made my own jam from berries in our garden, so only tried your panna cotta recipe without the compote).
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Hi Tamara! I’m so happy to hear that 🙂 So glad you guys enjoyed it!
Loveee the delicate flavour!
However, I noticed it was a little too soft for me so I added another two teaspoons of agar (approx. 2 packets). I didn’t have any lemons or vanilla beans so I substituted for 1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla essence instead and it was scrumptious!
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Hi Chynna! So glad you liked it 🙂
Can I use coconut milk
Hi Marg! As you can read in the recipe box, you can use any plant milk you want 🙂
I made this with coconut milk for a New Year’s Eve desert for our family. It was delicious, the kids loved it. I had a frozen berry mix on hand for the compote (not blueberry on its own) and used maple syrup to sweeten as I’m reducing refined sugar and it turned out great. Thanks for sharing your wonderful recipe 😀
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Hi Kellie! Sounds great 🙂 Happy New Year!!!