Passion Fruit Panna Cotta Recipe
This passion fruit panna cotta recipe is equal parts sweet and tart. Using passion fruit juice makes this an easy dessert to put together and gives it a beautiful floral fragrance. Give this delicious no bake dessert a try!
If you like creamy desserts, you’ll love this strawberry panna cotta recipe. Plus, you’ll also enjoy my classic creme brulee and this caramel flan.
Passion Fruit Dessert
Have you ever tried a passion fruit dessert, or even a passion fruit itself? If not, it can be hard to describe—to date, it’s one of my favorite fruits of all time! It has a fresh, tropical flavor that’s both sweet and tart, with a beautiful yellow color, black crunchy seeds and a pleasant aroma.
Making a passion fruit dessert is practically guaranteed to be a novelty for most people. This is a great recipe to make for a party or a nice dinner. If you’re thinking that you don’t live anywhere near the tropics nor stores that carry passion fruits – neither do I! But I’ve got a workaround, just read on.
Panna Cotta Recipe
This passion fruit panna cotta is rich, smooth with just the right amount of tang and fragrance from the passion fruit. I had this milky jello, mousse-like dessert at a fancy, high-end spa resort in Leavenworth, WA.
I fell in love with it from the first spoonful and dreamt about re-making it when I get home. After making several trial versions, I nailed it with this panna cotta recipe.
The flavor is smooth and rich from the cream and sour cream. You’ll love the unique flavor of this sweet Italian dessert.
Shortcut: Use Passion Fruit Juice
With this recipe, there’s no guesswork as to how many passion fruits to use because we’ll use the premade 100% pure passion fruit juice. You can find this at specialty grocery stores, the frozen section of regular stores or online (I got it on amazon).
Yes, you can use fruits and just squeeze as many of them out to get the same amount of juice as the recipe calls. But buying fresh, prepackaged and already made juice is so much easier and ensures consistent results time after time. It’s up to you though which route you’d rather take.
If you’d like to add a topping of actual passion fruit pulp to the top of your panna cotta, you can get it here on amazon. It’s quite sour, so I’d add a little bit more sugar to the panna cotta itself if you’re going to use passion fruit pulp as the topping.
No-Bake Dessert
If you’ve never made a panna cotta, the hardest part is nailing that perfect texture. It should almost be like milky jello. The panna cotta dessert should be able to hold a shape but also be slightly wobbly.
I also like that you can make a batch and serve it in different sized containers. Sometimes I’ll serve this no-bake dessert in wine glasses portioned out between six people. Other times if I make it for a potluck, I’ll make it in a large trifle bowl, and then let people scoop portions on to their plates. Or, serve them all fancy in mini espresso cups.
Being that it’s no-bake, panna cotta makes a perfect treat for those days when turning on the oven is just too much. And since no baking is required, you can serve it in those fancy mini plastic cups which make absolutely stunning display pieces.
Passion fruit Panna cotta with freeze dried strawberries 🍓.
How to Make This Panna Cotta Recipe
*For detailed recipe instructions see the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- In a saucepan, combine gelatin and whole milk. Stir it and allow it to bloom for 2-3 minutes.
- Then, add half of the heavy cream and heat while stirring until the gelatin dissolves. Do not boil.
- Next add the sugar and stir until it is dissolved in the warm cream.
- Slowly add the rest of the cold cream into the hot cream mixture stirring non stop.
- Add your vanilla and sour cream, then whisk until smooth.
- Add the passion fruit juice, then pour into your serving containers right away. Add freeze-dried strawberries by pushing them in, if desired.
- Refrigerate for several hours until it is set, then enjoy!
More Custard Desserts:
- Chocolate Custard Cake
- Coffee and Chocolate Pot de Creme
- Chocolate Banana No-Bake Custard Cake
- Bird Milk Cake
Passion Fruit Panna Cotta Recipe
This passion fruit panna cotta recipe is equal parts sweet and tart. Using passion fruit juice makes this an easy dessert to put together and gives it a beautiful floral fragrance.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 1.5 tsp unflavored gelatin
- 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream (at least 33% fat content)
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla paste
- 1 cups sour cream
- 1/2 cup passion fruit puree without seeds
Instructions
How to make Passion Fruit Panna Cotta
-
In a saucepan sprinkle 1 1/2 tsp of unflavored gelatin over 1/4 cup of whole milk, stir and allow to bloom for 2-3 minutes. Then, heat gently and keep stirring until the gelatin is dissolved.
Add 1/2 cup of cream and heat once again just until steaming. Do not boil.
Next, add 2/3 cups sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved completely.
-
Now, slowly pour 1 cup of cold cream into the hot gelatin mixture while continuously whisking.
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Add 1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla emulsion (it will have vanilla beans) and 1 cup of sour cream and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Lastly, add 1/2 cup passion fruit juice or puree. Whisk everything until it's well combined.
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For mini portions, use 1/4 cup measuring cup to pour the passion fruit panna cotta into mini cups. For regular portions use regular wine glasses and add 1/2 cup of panna cotta mixture into each glass.
This recipe should give you about 12 mini cups or 6 regular 1/2 cup portions.
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Refrigerate for several hours or until set.
Recipe Notes
* We will be adding the sour passion fruit puree to the milk mixture and if the cream mixture is too hot, it will separate from the acid in the passion fruit puree.
**Â If you mix cold cream and hot gelatin too fast, the gelatin might clump up into unsightly gummy chunks. If this happens, just heat the whole mixture and stir to dissolve the gelatin.
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Marina | Let the Baking Begin
This is WONDERFUL! I brought it to thanksgiving dinner and it was the perfect refreshingly light dessert for such a heavy meal. I doubled the amount of passion fruit and added a bit more gelatin to compensate for the extra liquid and it was perfect!
Made this recipe once, and it was absolutely delicious but it could have had more passion fruit flavor. Can I increase the amount of passion fruit juice?
I dont recommend making this….because if you do make this panna cotta, you will end up eating it all by yourself. Yes, all 6 portions of it….so good! 🙂
Hi I have yet to try this but I wanted to know what dose “allow it to bloom” mean?
Can’t wait to try this recipe. What is the garnish? Thank you
Once again I tried another recipe and am obsessed! Second time making this passion fruit panna cotta!!74/ so refreshing in the summer has the perfect tangy and sweet flavor! Thank you so much marina for another beautiful perfect recipe!
Laskar hat school feni
This was the best thing I have eaten all year.
How do I come by passion fruit purée? Is it store-bought or do I have to purée it myself?
You can either order it online (amazon or regular grocery stores) or check the frozen food section of your local grocery store.
How long in advance can the Panna cotta be made?
Up to a week most likely.
Hi!
Wondering what the serving size is.
Thank you
In the step 4 of the recipe card it recommends to either use 1/4 cup for mini portions or 1/2 cup for a regular dessert portion. Hope this helps!
Hello
There are 2 different amounts of passion fruit juice in the ingredients and the method ( 1/2 cup and 2/3 cup)
Which measurement is correct
Please let me as passion fruit is my dad’s favourite and I want to make it for him, he is unwell
Thank you
Dianne
It’s 1/2 a cup. Thank you for your question, Dianne!
This recipe is excellent! The Panna Cotta turns out so tasty and incredible, with a perfect texture!!! Easy to make as well!
That’s an awesome review! Thank you, so much, for taking the time!
Hi Marina,
I can’t wait to try this recipe! However, in the ingredients section, you call for 1/2 cup of the passion fruit purée, while in the instructions you call for 2/3 cup. Yikes! Which is it?
Thank you from
Carolyn in Washington State
Y’all, this Passion Fruit Panna Cotta is delicious!!!!Thank you for yummy recipe and beautiful pictures!