Boiling condensed milk is a great way to make a thick, creamy, and sweet treat. The process itself is fairly simple—all you need to do is boil some sweetened condensed milk over low-medium heat for around two hours.
Doing so will result in a rich, caramel-like substance that can be used in desserts and beverages or enjoyed just as it is.
In this article, we’ll cover the step-by-step instructions on how to boil condensed milk.
Step by Step Boiling Condensed Milk
Step 1: Gather Your Ingredients
The only ingredient you’ll need for boiling condensed milk is sweetened condensed milk. It’s essential that you use sweetened condensed milk—unsweetened varieties don’t work quite as well and can give your boiled product an unpleasant flavor.
You should also make sure you have enough cans of the stuff so that you end up with at least three cups worth after boiling.
Step 2: Make Preparations
Before starting the boiling process, take some time to prepare your workspace by cleaning any utensils or dishes you’ll need.
You should also line the bottom of your pot with a few folded kitchen towels to help insulate against burning and sticking during the long cooking time ahead.
Place the empty pot over low-med heat on your stovetop so it starts warming up slowly before adding the ingredients.
Step 3: Prepare A Pot Of Boiling Water
Next up, it’s time to prepare your pot for boiling your condensed milk on the stovetop. Fill a large saucepan with room temperature water and turn up the heat until it comes to a boil over medium heat.
Once boiling, reduce heat to low-medium – this ensures that your condensed milk won’t boil over while cooking!
Step 4: Time Your Boil Times Carefully
Now its time to submerge your unopened can of condensed or evaporated milk into your pot of boiling water and let it gently simmer – never allowing it to fully boil – for times between 1-3 hours (times may differ depending on your recipe).
It is important that you check regularly so that the cans don’t burst open – make sure all cans have enough water above them at all times!
Don’t forget to keep an eye on the pot as there might still be some bubbling occurring at lower temperatures too!
Step 5: Add Sweetened Condensed Milk
Once your stove and pot are ready, pour in all of your sweetened condensed milk cans into the pot (if needed, remove pull tabs from sides of cans).
Let this liquid come up to almost simmering temperature while stirring occasionally until it comes to a very gentle boil (you might see small bubbles forming).
If desired, add a little bit of salt or vanilla extract for extra flavoring at this point.
Step 6: Reduce Heat and Simmer
Now it’s time to reduce the heat slightly so that liquid continues cooking at a low simmering rate instead of quickly evaporating into nothingness (which would burn).
A nice slow bubble every now and again is ideal—anything beyond that probably means too much heat!
Continue simmering for 1 ½ -2 hours at this reduced setting until most liquid has boiled off completely thickening with each passing minute—it should eventually darken in color as well depending on how long you let it go for!
Keep stirring regularly so nothing gets stuck or burned on bottom while liquid caramelizes further reducing thickness even more.
When done, remove saucepan from stovetop burner and allow contents inside cool down naturally before transferring entire mixture into a covered container/ dish & refrigerating immediately if not serving right away!
Step 7: Carefully Remove The Cans And Let Cool
Once your boil times reach their suggested maximums (but no longer than 3 hours!), carefully remove each can from its hot bath and place them on safe surfaces like wooden cutting boards or metal trays with kitchen mittens or cloth towels.
So they don’t burn anybody’s hands! Let these cans cool down completely (about 1-2 hours) before attempting any handling because they are extremely hot and steamy inside!