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Panna cotta

Name: Panna cotta
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 355 min
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 500 ml cream; 100 ml whole milk; 150 g sugar; 12 g gelatine leaves; 1 piece vanilla pod, split (or a little vanilla extract); 200 g strawberries, hulled; 2 tbsp sugar

panna cotta

Cream and milk warmed with sugar and vanilla, set with leaf gelatine in small moulds and served with a raw strawberry sauce. A Piedmontese spoon dessert listed among the region's traditional food products, in Michela Becchi's recipe for Gambero Rosso.

Editorial illustration of the documented recipe; not a photograph of a kitchen-tested result.

Servings: 6
Preparation: 15 min
Cooking: 10 min
Resting: 5 h 30
Total: 5 h 55
Difficulty: Easy

Equipment

Saucepan
Six small moulds or glasses (about 100–120 ml)
Blender for the sauce

Servings6

Ingredients

Panna cotta
500 mlcream
100 mlwhole milkHalf a glass in the source; 100 ml is our estimate.
150 gsugar
12 ggelatine leaves
1 vanilla pod, split (or a little vanilla extract)The source says only 'vanilla'.
Strawberry sauce
200 gstrawberries, hulled
2 tbspsugar

Shopping list

Method

Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water.
Timer · 5 min5:00
Put the cream, milk, sugar and vanilla in a saucepan over a low heat. When it begins to boil, take it off the heat.
Why It only needs to be hot enough to dissolve the sugar and gelatine; long boiling would reduce the cream.
Squeeze the gelatine to remove the excess water, add it to the hot cream and stir until it has melted completely. Remove the vanilla pod.
Pour into small moulds, cover with cling film and refrigerate for 5–6 hours.
Timer · 5 h 30330:00
For the sauce, blend the strawberries with the sugar until smooth. Turn out the panna cotta (dip the moulds briefly in hot water if needed) or serve in the glass, with the sauce on top.

To drink & serve with

Piedmont
Editorial suggestion: a Moscato d'Asti from Piedmont.

Substitutions

Gelatine (vegetarian) → Agar-agar, following the packet instructions (it must boil, and it sets firmer than gelatine).
Strawberry sauce → Caramel, chocolate or other fruit, as Gambero Rosso suggests.

Common mistakes

Adding unsoaked or wet gelatine: lumps, or a diluted cream.
Boiling after the gelatine goes in: it can weaken the set.
Unmoulding too soon: it needs the full 5–6 hours.

Storage & reheating

Keeps 2 days covered in the fridge. Make the sauce on the day.

Safety

Contains milk. Gelatine is an animal product: not vegetarian unless made with agar.

Allergens

Milk

Check labels: stock, bacon and sauces can contain further allergens.

A Piedmontese tradition with a hazy birth

Panna cotta, 'cooked cream', is officially Piedmontese: it appears as product no. 295, beside bonet, in the Regione Piemonte's list of traditional agri-food products, updated for the tenth time in December 2025. Its beginnings are less certain. Gambero Rosso's Michela Becchi notes that there are few sources: folk tales credit a Hungarian woman living in the Langhe in the early 20th century, and the chef Ettore Songia is said to have been the first to write the recipe down, in the 1960s. It became one of the symbols of Italian restaurant cooking in the 1980s.

[1][2]

Just enough gelatine

The cream, milk, sugar and vanilla are only brought to the first bubble, then the softened gelatine is stirred in off the heat. Becchi uses 12 g of leaf gelatine for half a litre of cream and half a glass of milk, poured into small moulds and set for five to six hours. The sauce is raw: strawberries blended with a little sugar.

[2]

How it connects

Wine region

origin Piedmont

Recipe

related Tiramisù