A classic French dessert with a Japanese twist, Green Tea Creme Brulee is a popular sweet at Japanese pastry shops. This rich matcha custard with caramelized sugar is an elegant and delicious treat made with 5 simple ingredients.
Before I talk about this delicious Green Tea Crème Brûlée recipe, I have one happy news to share with you. My recipes are being featured in the March issue of Singapore’s Food & Travel magazine!
Thank you Food & Travel for the feature! By the way, if you are curious about these featured dishes, the recipes are already on the blog: Omurice, Spaghetti Meat Sauce, Ebi Fry, Hamburger Steak, Kuri Kinton.
Now let’s move on to today’s recipe.
It was almost two years ago when I first learned about Green Tea Crème Brûlée on my friend Sissi’s site. My husband is really into crème brûlée and I’m into matcha (green tea)… so I knew I had to make this dessert for us one day. But who knew it took me 2 years to make it…
The main reason why it took me a long time is because I thought crème brûlée is difficult to make despite being told it’s easy (and it is SUPER easy!). My husband even bought me a crème brûlée kit a while back (wait, was it a sign?). The kit came with four ramekins and a kitchen blowtorch. He was more excited to use the blowtorch than me and he actually used it in Seared Tuna Sashimi (Aburi Toro) recipe.
So what triggered me to make crème brûlée this time? I just had more than enough egg yolks from making Easy Coconut Macaroons (using egg whites only). As I wanted a good crème brûlée before adding matcha (green tea), I researched crème brûlée a little bit. Most recipes online are pretty similar as the ingredients list is pretty short. I adapted Ina Garten’s crème brûlée recipe as the base and made my matcha version. This recipe is very simple yet really delicious! Hope you won’t end up waiting for 2 years like me to make this dessert!
I hope you will enjoy making this Green Tea Creme Brulee recipe! If you try it, don’t forget to share your picture on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter with #JustOneCookbook. Thank you so much for reading, and till next time!
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Green Tea Crème Brûlée
Ingredients
- 1½ cups heavy (whipping) cream
- 1½ cups whole milk
- 1 Tbsp matcha (green tea powder)
- 5 large egg yolks
- ½ cup sugar
For the Caramelized Topping
- 2 Tbsp sugar (1 tsp per serving)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients. Preheat the oven to 300ºF (150ºC). For a convection oven, reduce the cooking temperature by 25ºF (15ºC). You will need 6 ramekins that are 4 oz (120 ml) each.
- Place 1½ cups heavy (whipping) cream, 1½ cups whole milk, and 1 Tbsp matcha (green tea powder) into a medium saucepan over medium heat. Scald the mixture, stirring often, until it’s very hot to the touch but not boiled. Remove from the heat and let it cool. In the meantime, start a kettle of water on the stove.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together ½ cup sugar and 5 large egg yolks, until well blended and the mixture becomes pale yellow.
- Temper the egg and sugar mixture with the hot cream mixture, adding ½ cup at a time of the cream mixture and whisking vigorously after each addition. You don‘t want to cook the egg by pouring the milk and cream too fast.
- Place a fine-mesh sieve over a large bowl and strain the mixture.
- Divide the liquid between 6 medium ramekins. Place the ramekins into a large deep baking or roasting pan.
- Carefully pour boiling water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
- Bake the custard at 300ºF (150ºC) just until it is set when shaken, but still wobbly in the center, approximately 30–40 minutes. Remove the ramekins from the water bath, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (up to 3 days). If you are storing them for more than 12 hours, cover them tightly with plastic.
To Serve
- Remove the crème brûlée from the refrigerator at least 30 minutes prior to browning the sugar on top. Sprinkle about 1 tsp sugar on the top of the custard in each ramekin. Tap the side of ramekin to evenly spread the sugar and discard the excess sugar.
- Melt the sugar with a kitchen blowtorch until the sugar caramelizes evenly (1½ to 2 inches away from the surface of the custard). If you don’t have a blowtorch, place the ramekins right under a broiler on the top rack for 1–3 minutes with the oven door open. You want the sugar to caramelize, but you don’t want the eggs to cook. Allow the crème brûlée to sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.
Hi,
I only have four ramekins. Should I adjust the recipe based on the number of ramekins that I have? Or can I save the mixture for a later time?
Thanks
Hi Rosanna! How big are your ramekins? 8 oz? Creme brulee is always in shallow ramekins, but if you have 8 oz, don’t fill up till the top… just halfway, maybe.
Do I need the milk still or can I just use heavy cream? I’ve been making the traditional creme brulees, but would like to try different flavors
Hi Cianelle! I made using both milk and heavy cream to make my souffle but to make a classic style, you can use just heavy cream.
I just got started making creme brulees. Instead of a water bath I have been making it in a sou vide! So far its been a great experience. I look forward to using your recipe.
One quick question the included recipe that came with the sou vide used only heavy creme, eggs and sugar. What was the reasoning on doing half heavy creme and half milk?
Hi Danh! Good to hear! It’s less creamy that way than simply heavy cream. 🙂
Thanks for the recipe. It came out real tasty though to my taste the texture was not creamy enaugh. I left it 5 min more in the oven but it didn’t change the texture. Do you have an idea how to make it less liquidish?
Thanks
Hi Ilan! Thank you for trying this recipe! My first thought was if your oven was high enough? Sometimes what oven says is not the same as inside the oven temperature. I would check the
real oven temperature. If it’s correct, maybe increase the time a bit longer or increase the temp? It seems undercooked if it’s liquid-ish. Hope this helps… 🙂
I have made creme brulee with the InstantPot using this recipe:
https://recipes.instantpot.com/recipe/creme-brulee/
I was surprisingly easy and turned out well. I just wonder how much matcha powder I should use, since the ingridient portion ratios are slightly different than yours.
Hi Scott! I’ve never used this recipe, so I can’t tell the right amount without testing it, but probably start with 2 tsp, and goes up to 4 tsp to find the right amount?
Have you tried making or adapted this recipe in the InstantPot?
Hi Scott! No, I haven’t been ambitious to try dessert recipes in my IP yet. 🙂
Hello Nami,
First of all…I love cooking with your recipes. ☺️ Recently I came across your green tea creme brûlée recipe. I love green tea creme brûlée, so I had to try your recipe. It tasted super yummy!! But I wanted to know if the creme brûlée is suppose to have a green tea layer settled at bottom when baking is done. Or did I not mix well or strain well before pouring in ramekins. Let me know….curious mind wants to know. ????
Hi Tracy! Thank you for your kind feedback. I think your green tea powder didn’t get dissolved perfectly. It might help if you sift before adding into the liquid too. 🙂
I was going to ask if you’ve ever tried brown sugar for the topping, as I went through a massive creme brûlée phase in my early teens, and my recipe called for brown, but I read through all the comments and found someone did ask. I used the oven method, never a blow torch, so maybe that factored into it working. I found your site while looking up green tea ice cream, after finding many recipes online that simply add matcha to store-bought vanilla ice cream, and while modifying creme brûlée makes me nervous, I’ll probably try this out too!
My question is this: my culinary matcha powder comes in a paper envelope, and I’ve read elsewhere that matcha powder oxidizes very quickly, which detracts from the flavor: how would you suggest storing it, once opened? All I can think of is vaccum-sealing it in heavy plastic, and/or freezing it in the darkness of the freezer, worrying that even transferring it to a too-large (and likely clear) jar would trap the air inside it. What should I do?
Thank you for any thoughts, in advance,
Hi Jelly! I’m so sorry for my late response. No, I haven’t tried the top sugar with brown sugar before.
About your matcha question. If it comes in paper envelope, I’d put that paper envelope in the airtight container. I’m surprised that it came with paper envelope… that’s not a very good way to keep matcha. If you can find a large airtight container, I won’t even bother transferring the powder directly to the container. It’s best to buy small portion at a time too. 🙂
Hi Nami
I want to buy a kitchen blowtorch, please advise which brand and where can I buy it.
Thanks!
HI Joannie! I added the link for the blowtorch I use, and here’s the link for Amazon:
http://amzn.to/1N1afht
Hope this helps! 🙂
I coincidentally stumbled upon this site earlier and each (Matcha-) recipe I have look at absolutely delights me! Can’t wait to try them out! I love Matcha (-sweets) and adding it to a crème brûlée is a fantastic idea. Do you think it would work using brown sugar for the caramelising process?
Hi Pina! I love matcha too, and I hope to make all kinds of desserts with matcha…. 😀 (Light) Brown sugar tends to have a higher moisture content so it doesn’t always form a crisp crust as it cools. For the creme brulee, I recommend using regular white sugar. 🙂
I love creme brulee and I love matcha. So these 2 together? Awesome idea. I will try this recipe this weekend. Thank you!
We loved this and I hope you enjoy this unique combination!
Nami – I just wanted to tell you how DELICIOUS this creme brulee is! I made this last night and just had a dish of it …and I want another one! 🙂 My husband and I are creme brulee snobs..lol 😀 and this is WONDERFUL!! Definitely a keeper! 🙂
Hi Patty! YAY! I’m really happy to hear you and your husband enjoy this! We love this dessert too. Thanks for trusting my recipe and writing the feedback! 🙂
Hello Nami,
Wanted to share with you — today this recipe has been tried and tested on my husband, his parents and sister. It was a huge hit!… I’ll be directing my sister-in-law to your blog when I handed her her very own can of matcha.
Thank you again for sharing the recipe.
Hi Lily! I’m so happy to hear you all liked this recipe! And it’s so sweet of you to give her a can of matcha. 🙂 I’d recommend green tea ice cream too! So easy and so authentic flavor… that’s my favorite matcha dessert. 🙂
Thank you so much for introducing my site to your sister-in-law!
Hi Nami! Congratulations on the feature in the Food and Travel magazine! I’m a 21 year old student living in Vancouver, BC, and the city’s love for Japanese food is truly over-the-top! I must admit, your blog has become quite a guilty pleasure of mine. When I saw that you were featuring green-tea creme brulee, I nearly passed out. I’ll definitely be trying this recipe soon!
Hi Valerie! Thank you so much for writing! I’ve been to Vancouver a couple of times and I really enjoy the city (and the Japanese food!). I remember telling my husband “let’s move to Vancouver!”. 🙂 I hope you enjoy the Green Tea Creme Brulee! Thank you for the kind words!
Congrats Nami!! You deserve the recognition! Also, yummy looking dessert-the New Year has been bringing more vegetarian and dessert recipes from you-kudos!
Thank you Vivi! Oh!!! You noticed? I didn’t plan that way, but I also noticed that myself. I’ll be sharing more meat and fish dishes that I recently cooked and photo shoot soon to “balance out”. I had too many meat dishes last summer and I felt like Jan/Feb was all about veggie and dessert month! 😀