This Easy Pistachio Panna Cotta recipe yields creamy panna cotta flavored with real pistachio paste. You can also swap for pistachio butter or pistachio flavoring. I topped these with more pistachio paste and chopped pistachios, and some with macerated cherries.
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I made these as an attempt at a chic St. Patrick's Day dessert. You can class it up or down, depending on the vessel and toppings. I love serving some in cups and unmolding some onto cute little plates. The subtle green color is really nice and plays beautifully with a variety of garnishes. The base is adapted from Serious Eats, and I used their recipe for homemade pistachio paste to flavor the base.
Panna cotta is a great recipe to use up milk and heavy cream! But you can also make dairy-free panna cotta using nondairy milk, like almond, oat, soy or macadamia. Another recipe to use up milk is pastry cream, which uses almost 2 cups of it. If you're looking for another easy pistachio recipe, I recommend my mini no bake pistachio cheesecakes. That's a good one if you don't have pistachio paste or butter, because it uses pistachio pudding mix.
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Why you'll love this recipe
- This easy panna cotta recipe is a great make-ahead dessert! Perfect for dinner parties or weekly meal prep.
- The pistachio flavor can be achieved completely naturally. I add a touch of orange blossom water, almond extract and pistachio flavoring just to boost the natural flavor, but all of those are optional.
- This easy Italian dessert is very creamy thanks to the addition of heavy cream, and not too much gelatin.
Ingredients
- Gelatin sets the panna cotta. I use powdered gelatin in this recipe, but if you only have gelatin sheets, you'll need 6 sheets.
- Milk and heavy cream make up the base of the dessert. I used whole milk, but any milk will work. Heavy cream is also called whipping cream or double cream.
- Granulated sugar sweetens the panna cotta.
- Kosher salt balances the sweetness and brings out the flavor.
- Vanilla extract and optional (not pictured) almond extract, pistachio flavoring and orange blossom water uplift the pistachio flavor and balance the dessert's entire flavor profile.
- The panna cotta is flavored with pistachio paste. I used homemade pistachio paste made in a food processor with raw pistachios, but you could use store bought. I recommend room temperature pistachio paste as it will melt in to the cream mixture easier.
- If you choose to include macerated cherries as garnish, you'll need cherries, additional sugar, salt and optional citric acid or lemon juice.
See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Substitutions and variations
Here's how to customize this easy pistachio panna cotta recipe to your liking:
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- No extracts — omit or swap any or all of the extracts.
- Chocolate — chocolate ganache or chocolate sauce would be a really nice garnish for this. To make chocolate ganache gently warm together 100g of heavy cream with 200g of semisweet chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate) in a heatproof bowl set over a small pan or pot with an inch of water. Swap for white chocolate, if desired.
- Serving glasses — I used a plethora of different glasses. You can use sundae cups, martini, coupe or wine glasses. If serving for an intimate gathering, one big panna cotta would work too. You could use a 2 quart baking dish or tart pan (just be sure it doesn't have a removable bottom).
- Agar agar — if you want to use agar agar instead of gelatin, use 10g, or roughly 1 ¼ tablespoon of agar powder.
- Vegan version — if you want to make this recipe vegan, swap the milk for dairy-free, the cream for full-fat coconut milk or cream, and the replace the milk in the gelatin blooming step with cold water.
This recipe has not been tested with any substitutions or variations. If you try any, please let me know how it turned out by commenting below!
How to make This Easy Pistachio Panna Cotta Recipe Step-By-Step
Step 1: In a small bowl, combine the gelatin and 6 tablespoon (95g, 3.4oz) of cold milk. Stir to combine then let sit for 5 minutes.
Step 2: In a medium pot over low medium heat combine the whole milk (495g, 19oz), heavy cream, granulated sugar, kosher salt, pistachio paste, and optional extracts. Whisk together and heat to a low simmer. Taste for salt and sweetness.
Step 3: Once you are happy with the flavor, turn the heat off. Add the bloomed gelatin mixture to the cream mixture and whisk until the gelatin is fully dissolved.
Step 4: Pour into the prepared molds/vessels. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours to set the panna cottas. Serve in the molds or demold them.
Step 5: To demold, slide a thin knife, rubber spatula or offset spatula along the top edge to remove the suction and place the ramekins in a small bowl of hot water for 10-15 seconds to warm the outside and help it release. Invert the ramekin onto a plate. You may need to jiggle it quite a bit.
Step 6: Serve with macerated cherries, chopped pistachios and/or more pistachio paste. I loosened my homemade pistachio paste with a bit of warm water so it was pourable.
Top tips
- Be patient and gentle when unmolding. If it doesn’t come out at first, give it a bit more time in hot water and run a thin knife or offset spatula around the edge.
- Be careful not to introduce liquids that are too hot to gelatin. Gelatin loses strength at 212°F.
- Do not freeze panna cotta. Gelatin also degrades at freezing.
More recipes you'll love
Lastly, if you make this Easy Pistachio Panna Cotta recipe be sure to leave a comment or give it a rating. I love to see when people make my recipes, so please tag me @youthsweets on Instagram if you post!
📖 Recipe
Pistachio Panna Cotta
Ingredients
Panna cotta
- .5 oz gelatin powdered (2 .25 oz pouches, scant 2 tablespoons, 15g)
- 2 cups + 6 tablespoon whole milk cold, DIVIDED (495g + 95g)
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream (509g, 16 oz)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100g)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup pistachio paste homemade or store bought (140g, 5 oz) I used Serious Eats recipe
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract optional
- ¼ teaspoon orange blossom water optional
- ⅛ teaspoon pistachio flavoring optional
Garnishes (optional)
- 1 ½ cups cherries pitted, sliced in half
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- Pinch kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon citric acid or 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoon pistachios chopped (optional)
- ¼ cup pistachio paste
Instructions
Do ahead
- If unmolding, grease the ramekins (or whatever molds you’ll use) with a bit of oil. If serving in glasses, or ramekins, skip this step.
Bloom the gelatin
- In a small bowl, combine the gelatin and 6 tablespoon (95g, 3.4oz) of cold milk. Stir to combine then let sit for 5 minutes.
Cook the mixture
- In a medium pot combine the whole milk (495g, 19oz), heavy cream, granulated sugar, kosher salt, pistachio paste, and optional extracts. Whisk together and heat to a low simmer. Taste for salt and sweetness.
- Once you are happy with the flavor, turn the heat off. Add the bloomed gelatin mixture and whisk until the gelatin is fully dissolved.
- Pour into the prepared molds/vessels. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours to set the panna cottas. Serve in the molds or demold them (see instructions below.)
Demold (optional)
- Slide a thin knife, rubber spatula or offset spatula along the top edge to remove the suction and place the ramekins in a small bowl of hot water for 10-15 seconds to warm the outside and help it release. Invert the ramekin onto a plate. You may need to jiggle it quite a bit.
Macerate the cherries
- While the panna cotta is chilling, combine the pitted sliced cherries with the sugar, salt and optional citric acid or lemon juice. Let sit at least 30 minutes or longer in the refrigerator until time to serve.
Garnish
- Serve with macerated cherries, chopped pistachios and/or more pistachio paste. I loosened my homemade pistachio paste with a bit of warm water so it was pourable.
Notes
Nutrition
Originally published 3/13/2026.
