Dulce de Leche is a delicious and versatile spread, but it can take FOREVER to make! This Instant Pot Dulce de Leche cuts your cook time in a quarter, allowing you to make this sweet concoction easily in your own home!
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Recipe Origins
If you read my article about Alfajores (Argentinian Shortbread and Dulce de Leche Sandwich Cookies), you’ll know that I’ve been trying to learn how to make my own Dulce de Leche for quite some time.
Dulce de Leche is a caramel-like substance made from sweetened condensed milk that is adored in Argentina. Quite frankly, I don’t know why it’s not eaten more here in America. This stuff is delicious!!
Why Make this Recipe
- Faster: Making Dulce de Leche on the stovetop/in the oven can take anywhere from 1 ½ – 4 hours! That 40 minute cook time in the Instant Pot makes a big difference.
- No Hovering Necessary: Set it and forget it. Come back, and it’s done!
- Make Dessert from Scratch: You make homemade frosting and cookies, so why not make homemade Instant Pot Dulce de Leche? It’s so satisfying knowing you made it yourself!
What Do I Need to Make this Recipe?
Ingredients
Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the recipe at the bottom for quantities.
- Sweetened Condensed Milk: That’s it! You can even cook it directly in the can.
Some recipes call for vanilla or baking powder, but I found that the recipe worked best when it was just kept simple.
Tools
- Instant Pot: Or another electric pressure cooker
- Trivet: To rest the can on
- Aluminum Foil: To cover the pan in foil completely.
How to Make this Recipe
Step 1: Prep the Can
To start, remove the paper label from the outside of your can and then use a can opener to open it. Discard the lid.
Next, rip off a large piece of aluminum foil and wrap it tightly around the open can, covering the top and bottom. This step is vital, as you want to make sure that none of your dulce de leche can boil out of the can.
Step 2: Cook the Dulce de Leche
Place the trivet in your Instant Pot, and fill it up with enough water to cover about half the can.
The amount of water will depend on the size of your Instant Pot, but for me it took about 10 cups of water.
Place the lid on your Instant Pot and then set the pressure to Manual High for 40 minutes. This leaves a lightly colored Dulce de Leche. If you want a thicker or darker Dulce de Leche in the Instant Pot, you can increase the cook time.
Perform an Instant release when the time is up. Dump the contents of the can into a bowl and whisk it up until smooth. Enjoy!
Expert Tips
- Removing the lid of the can is very important for this recipe. If you choose to leave the lid on the can, entirely different safety precautions need to be taken.
- Use oven mitts to remove the can from the Instant Pot (or allow it to cool down first). The can will be very hot.
- If a little bit of water gets into your can while cooking, it won’t hurt anything. Simply pour it out of the can before stirring the spread.
- If you are not in a hurry, you can also perform a natural pressure release for more time to your Instant Pot Dulce de Leche to cook.
How to Get the Right Texture
The longer you cook the Dulce de Leche, the darker and thicker it will get. If you open up your Instant Pot and your spread is too light, you can always wrap it back up and cook it for longer.
Keep in mind that the spread will also thicken as it cools.
What to Use Dulce de Leche For
Hmmm… Everything? But here are some ideas to get you started:
- Dipping Apple Slices
- Enjoying Plain
- Fruit Dip
- Pancakes (or even this Pancake Breakfast Board!)
- Alfajores
- Ice Cream Topping
- Pies
- Brazo de Reina (Roll up cake filled with Dulce de Leche)
- Liege Waffles (as a topping)
- Banoffee Pie
- Puerto Rican Thanksgiving Food
Recipe FAQs
I cooked this recipe to represent Argentina. Argentina loves to eat Dulce de Leche! It is also a popular spread across most of South America.
Caramel and Dulce de Leche are very similar, but the ingredients within them vary slightly. Sugar, butter, water, and cream combine to make caramel. In contrast, Dulce de Leche is made with sweetened condensed milk.
Both are sweet, sugary concoctions that are delicious on ice cream, cakes, and cookies. However, dulce de leche tends to have a thicker consistency and a darker color. It’s sometimes so thick that it can spread like peanut butter.
If your dulce de leche comes out of the aluminum foil looking lumpy or curdled, this is NORMAL. Put it in a bowl and whisk it and it will smooth out!
As long as you remove the lid from the can, you are safe from explosions when cooking your Instant Pot Dulce de Leche in this method.
If you are wondering about BPA or toxins, the answer is still debated by scientists. If you are concerned about this aspect of the recipe, feel free to choose another method to cook your Dulce de Leche instead.
In Spanish, “dulce” translates to mean “sweet” or “candy”, and “leche” means milk! Literally translated, Dulce de Leche means “candy made from milk”.
I transferred my Instant Pot Dulce de Leche to a mason jar with a lid. You can keep it in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
You can also freeze it for 1-2 months.
Did you enjoy this recipe for Instant Pot Dulce de Leche? If so, make sure to check out these other recipes I picked out just for you:
If you make this recipe at home, leave a review/comment on this post letting us know what you thought!
And don’t forget to share a photo of your finished product on Facebook and Instagram and tag @TheForeignFork and hashtag #TheForeignFork.
Instant Pot Dulce de Leche Recipe
Equipment
- Instant Pot
- Trivet
- Aluminum Foil
Ingredients
- 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
Instructions
- To start, remove the paper label from the outside of your 14 oz sweet condensed milk can and then use a can opener to open it. Discard the lid. Next, rip off a large piece of aluminum foil and wrap it tightly around the open can, covering the top and bottom. This step is vital, as you want to make sure that none of your dulce de leche can boil out of the can.
- Place the trivet in your Instant Pot, and fill it up with enough water to cover about half the can. The amount of water will depend on the size of your Instant Pot, but for me it took about 10 cups of water.
- Place the lid on your Instant Pot and then set the pressure to Manual High for 40 minutes. This leaves a lightly colored Dulce de Leche. If you want a thicker or darker Dulce de Leche in the Instant Pot, you can increase the cook time. Perform an Instant release when the time is up. Dump the contents of the can into a bowl and whisk it up until smooth. Enjoy!
- If you open your aluminum foil and your Dulce de Leche isn’t as dark as you’d like, simply rewrap the can and place it back in the pot. Seal it again, and turn the pressure on for longer. I would recommend increments of 10 if cooking it for longer.
- Note: If your dulce de leche comes out of the aluminum foil looking lumpy or curdled, this is NORMAL. Put it in a bowl and whisk it and it will smooth out!
- ANOTHER NOTE: Your dulce de leche will thicken as it cools. As long as it reaches your desired color, put it in the fridge and it will start to thicken. It will thin out when heated up again 🙂
Notes
- Sweetened Condensed Milk: That’s it! You can even cook it directly in the can.
- Removing the lid of the can is very important for this recipe. If you choose to leave the lid on the can, entirely different safety precautions need to be taken.
- Use oven mitts to remove the can from the Instant Pot (or allow it to cool down first). The can will be very hot.
- If a little bit of water gets into your can while cooking, it won’t hurt anything. Simply pour it out of the can before stirring the spread.
- If you are not in a hurry, you can also perform a natural pressure release for more time to your Instant Pot Dulce de Leche to cook.
Lina Marron says
After the 40 minutes, do you perform a Quick Release or Natural Release on the Instant Pot? Thanks.
The Foreign Fork says
It is a Quick Release 🙂
Mary says
My family has this in a pudding ever holiday. We LOVE it so much. This way would be easer than boiling it for hours. To make the pudding do the following:
1 can of the condensed milk cooked chilled
1 carton whipping cream
Whip the whipping cream until you have a cool whip like mixture. (If you put the whipping cream in a metal bowl then place the bowl in a bowl of ice. It will whip much faster.) Then mix in the cooked and chilled condensed milk. We always add a cup of ruff chopped pecans. Place covered in the refrigerator until you serve.
So wonderful!
The Foreign Fork says
That sounds absolutely fantastic Mary!! I will be trying that with the next can of Dulce de Leche that I make! Yes, this recipe is a lot faster than boiling it for hours… patience is not one of my better qualities so I like that this is fast 🙂
Bonnir says
Sounds wonderful! What size carton of whipping cream do you use?