Matcha Crème Brûlée takes all the creamy decadence of traditional crème brûlée, but adds sweet and savory matcha flavor. A must-make for matcha lovers everywhere!
Adding different flavors to crème brûlée is surprisingly easy once you have the basic technique down. And since crème brûlée was one of the first recipes I learned in pastry school, I’m sharing all my tricks with you here.
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Why Make This Recipe
- So elegant: this is a classic French dessert for a reason!
- Easy to make ahead of time
- Matcha flavor adds complexity and style
🥗 Ingredients
- Cream: I recommend heavy cream for this recipe. You can replace some with light cream or milk, but if you replace too much, you may find that the custards are more difficult to set in the oven.
- Milk: Whole milk is the perfect complement to that heavy cream.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar works best for both dissolving into the cream, and also melting and hardening into the top crust.
- Egg Yolks: The yolks create a beautiful thick custard with the cream and milk.
- Matcha Powder: Culinary grade matcha is just fine for this recipe. You may find it in the tea section of the grocery store, or you can purchase matcha powder online.
- Vanilla Extract: The combination of the vanilla and matcha gives a lovely flavor.
🥣 Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Step 2: Whisk 1 teaspoon matcha powder and ½ cup, 2 tablespoons granulated sugar in a small bowl. Pour 2 cups heavy cream and ½ cup whole milk into a saucepan.
Whisk sugar mixture into cream over medium heat. Continue to whisk frequently to dissolve the sugar. Turn off the heat when the cream just starts to steam and small bubbles start to form around the edges (about 5 minutes). Let cool for 2 minutes.
Step 3: Meanwhile, add 5 egg yolks to a large measuring cup with a spout and whisk until smooth.
Step 4: Pour in a few ounces of the hot matcha cream while whisking. Continue whisking until well-combined.
Step 5: Slowly pour the rest of the matcha cream mixture into the egg yolks while stirring constantly.
Step 6: Whisk in ¼ teaspoon kosher salt and ½ teaspoon vanilla extract. Use a large spoon to skim the foam off the top before pouring into ramekins, so that you won’t have bubbles on the top of your custards.
Step 7: Bring a kettle to boil with hot water.
Step 8: Fill 6 4-ounce ramekins with mixture, and put ramekins in a 9x13 baking dish.
Step 9: Put baking dish in oven. Pour very hot water (just off the boil) around the ramekins, about ¾ of the way up the sides.
Step 10: Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until custards are set, but still jiggle slightly in the middle. Remove baking dish from the oven, and carefully move the ramekins to a cooling rack to cool.
When cooled to room temperature, refrigerate for at least 3 hours and up to 3 days.
Step 11: When ready to serve, sprinkle 2 teaspoons sugar evenly over the top of each custard’s surface, covering completely.
Hold a kitchen blowtorch a couple of inches from the surface of the custard, and turn on. Caramelize the sugar by moving the blowtorch in circles over the custard until the sugar melts and browns. Repeat for remaining custards.
You can serve matcha crème brûlée immediately, or refrigerate after caramelizing the sugar so that the custards have time to firm up again. 30-60 minutes is perfect, and don’t chill longer than 3 hours or the sugar topping will soften.
🧐 Recipe FAQs for Matcha Crème Brûlée
Crème brûlée is a French dessert that translates to “burnt cream.” It consists of a custard topped with a hard caramelized sugar crust. Vanilla is the classic flavor for crème brûlée, but other flavors can be used as well, such as lemon, lavender, maple, or this matcha version.
Yes! Crème Brûlée is a great dessert if you are gluten-free. Pair it with some fresh fruit or berries, and you have the perfect gluten-free dessert.
Yes, you can make the custards up to 3 days in advance. In addition, you can brûlée the sugar on top up to 3 hours before serving (though I recommend serving right after brûlée-ing or chilling for just 30-60 minutes afterwards so the top does not have time to soften).
Yes, matcha does contain caffeine. It has more caffeine than most other types of green tea, but less caffeine than coffee. There is so little in this recipe though that it shouldn’t make a difference.
👩🍳 Expert Tips
Watch your cream to make sure it does not boil, or it may be hot enough to curdle your custard. You also want to be careful to add the hot cream just a little bit at first, and then slowly whisking it into the egg yolk and sugar mixture so that you won’t curdle the eggs. (This is called tempering eggs.)
If you do see small pieces of egg in your custard, you can strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve to remove them.
If you are worried about pouring the hot matcha cream mixture from the saucepan into the measuring cup with the eggs, it can be helpful to pour the cream first into another measuring cup. Then use that to pour into the egg yolks.
Fill ramekins to the top with the matcha custard mixture because custard will settle as it bakes and drop slightly.
Wondering if the water bath is really necessary? Yes, it is! The water bath makes sure the custards cook slowly and gently so they don’t overheat and break.
Don’t overcook your custards. You want them to wobble or jiggle when you shake the side a bit. If the center is sloshing around, they are not done. On the other hand, don’t wait until they are fully set before pulling out of the oven—they will continue to firm up as they cool.
If you want to be extra sure, use a high-quality instant read thermometer to test the center temperature. The custard is done when it reaches between 170 and 180 degrees.
Don’t have a kitchen torch? You can put the custards under the broiler instead. Make sure the ramekins are about 3-4 inches from the heating coil, and watch carefully so they don’t burn. Broilers can be higher risk since they can take longer to caramelize, and in the meantime warm the custard up so much that it curdles.
Your custards will cook more quickly if you are using a standard crème brûlée mold which is more shallow than a regular ramekin. Start checking them after about 20 minutes.
This green tea Crème Brûlée recipe has a light matcha flavor—a little bit grassy and a little bit nutty. As a result of the small amount of matcha powder used and the 5 egg yolks, the custards are a very light greenish yellow. If you want a stronger matcha flavor and greener custards, add more matcha powder.
If you love matcha like we do, you should also check out our Matcha Mug Cake and Matcha White Chocolate Cookies. And try adding some matcha powder to our Crème Brûlée Cheesecake for a real showstopper dessert.
Other Delicious French Desserts
Now that you’ve mastered this classic recipe, take a look at some of these French favorites. Or see our whole archive of French recipes.
If you try this Matcha Crème Brûlée recipe, we would love to hear from you! Please rate this recipe and leave a comment below—your feedback is invaluable to us.
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📖 Recipe
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Matcha Crème Brûlée
Ingredients
- 2 cups heavy cream
- ½ cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon matcha powder
- ½ cup sugar plus 2 tablespoons (140 grams)
- 5 egg yolks
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 12 teaspoons sugar for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Pour heavy cream and milk into a saucepan.
- Whisk matcha powder into sugar, then whisk into cream mixture.
- Heat cream mixture over medium. Whisk frequently to dissolve the sugar. Turn off the heat when the cream just starts to steam and small bubbles start to form around the edges (about 5 minutes). Let cool for 2 minutes.
- Meanwhile, put egg yolks into a large measuring cup with a spout and whisk until combined.
- Slowly add a few ounces of the hot matcha cream into the eggs, whisking constantly. Then slowly pour in the rest of the cream while continuing to stir constantly.
- Whisk in salt and vanilla.
- Use a large spoon to scrape off most of the foam on top that was generated by brisk whisking.
- Bring a kettle to boil with hot water.
- Fill 6 4-ounce ramekins with matcha custard, and put ramekins in a 9x13 baking dish.
- Put baking dish in oven. Pour in very hot water around the ramekins, about ¾ of the way up the sides.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until custards are set, but still jiggle slightly in the middle.
- Remove ramekins from oven and let cool slightly. Then refrigerate for at least 3 hours and up to 3 days.
- When ready to serve, sprinkle 2 teaspoons sugar over the top of each custard’s surface, covering completely.
- Hold a kitchen blowtorch a couple of inches from the surface of the custard, and turn on. Caramelize the sugar by moving the blowtorch in circles over the custard until the sugar melts and browns.
- Repeat for remaining custards.
- Serve immediately, or chill in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes.
Notes
Fill ramekins to the top with the matcha custard mixture because custard will settle as it bakes and drop slightly. Wondering if the water bath is really necessary? Yes, it is! The water bath makes sure the custards cook slowly and gently so they don’t overheat and break. Don’t overcook your custards. You want them to wobble or jiggle when you shake the side a bit. If the center is sloshing around, they are not done. On the other hand, don’t wait until they are fully set before pulling out of the oven—they will continue to firm up as they cool. If you want to be extra sure, use a high-quality instant read thermometer to test the center temperature. The custard is done when it reaches between 170 and 180 degrees. Don’t have a kitchen torch? You can put the custards under the broiler instead. Make sure the ramekins are about 3-4 inches from the heating coil, and watch carefully so they don’t burn. Broilers can be higher risk since they can take longer to caramelize, and in the meantime warm the custard up so much that it curdles. Make-Ahead Tips:
If you do decide to chill your crème brûlées after caramelizing, don’t chill longer than 3 hours or the sugar topping will soften. You can refrigerate baked custards for up to 3 days before adding the sugar crust. Freezing is not recommended.
Nutrition
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More About Molly
Cooking healthy(ish) meals with seasonal ingredients is my passion. Trained as a French pastry chef, I spent over 10 years as a personal chef. Here you'll find well-tested recipes that you and your family will love!
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