Pressure Cooker (Instant Pot) Lemon Curd Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How do you know when lemon curd is done cooking? ›

Dip a spoon into the curd then run your finger over the back of it. If it leaves a clean line in the curd, it's cooked enough and ready to cool. Curd will thicken up more once cooled completely. Spoon into a container, cover and refrigerate.

The color of the lemon curd is depending on the egg yolks that you use, and if the yolks color is more orange than yellow, then your lemon curd will turn dark yellow- orange color and not bright yellow.

Press the “Manual” or “Pressure Cook” button. (Some Instant Pot models have a button that says “Manual” and others have a “Pressure Cook” button. They do exactly the same thing.) Use the +/- buttons to set the time to 5 minutes.

Lemon Curd should thick enough to coat the back of a spoon when it's hot and should thicken up to pudding-like consistency when it's chilled. The curd can take up to 10 minutes to thicken to the consistency of pourable pudding, so be patient (remember it will thicken more once it cools).

While in a warm climate, the curd will take around 4 to 7 hours, while it will take a bit longer in winters. In a cool climate it can easily take around 8 to 10 hours. Make sure the temperature of the milk before setting the curd is warm enough during winters, otherwise the curd won't set properly.

The few reasons to why your lemon curd may not be setting properly are not having enough eggs in the curd, too much liquid/ lemon juice, not enough sugar, not cooked long enough, scrambled eggs, and sometimes too much butter.

A metallic aftertaste is usually the consequence of the lemon curd coming into contact with a metal (especially while it's hot). This could be a metal whisk, a metal bowl, a metal (or metal-coated) saucepan, or a metal sieve.

To ensure you have the right amount of liquid in the final dish, add half a cup more liquid than you want to be left with to account for the small amount of evaporation. Once you've figured out the liquid, you can determine the cooking time by reducing the original cooking time by two-thirds.

The Instant Pot's burn message simply means that your Instant Pot has detected that its inner pot has gotten too hot. There may be a slight amount of burned food at the bottom of your pot, but not enough to ruin whatever you're cooking.

Will lemon curd thicken as it cools? ›

The lemon curd will continue to thicken as it cools. Lemon Curd can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week. Makes about 1 1/2 cups (360 ml). Note: If you want a lighter lemon curd whip 1/2 cup (120 ml) of heavy whipping cream and fold into the lemon curd.

To test if the curd is cooked properly, dip a spoon into the mixture then run your finger through the mixture on the back of the spoon. The line made by your finger should hold and remain clear, without any sign of the curd flowing back into the space.

Dahi does not set well if you use less starter for hom*ogenized milk. On the other hand, non hom*ogenized milk needs less starter as they tend to set well and faster. Adding more will make your curd sour. So adjust the amount of starter accordingly.

Make sure you don't let the curd come to a boil at any point, and don't stop stirring at any point either, because that will lead to the eggs curdling, and the curd will taste like scrambled eggs.