Matcha Crème Brûlée

A recipe for Matcha Crème Brûlée! This creamy custard is flavored with matcha and topped with a layer of crisp, caramelized sugar.

This Matcha Crème Brûlée (抹茶のクレームブリュレ) is such a fun fusion/variation of the decadent Crème Brûlée dessert.

It comes together with only a handful of ingredients and the base can be made up to three days in advance. Simply cover the top with sugar and torch immediately before serving.

Heavy cream is steeped with a scraped out vanilla bean before mixing with sugar, matcha, and egg yolks to create the custard base. The mixture is divided among ramekins and baked in a water bath just until set.

Refrigerate the baked custard until well chilled, about 4 hours and up to 3 days.

Right before serving, sprinkle the tops evenly with about a tablespoon of sugar and heat with the torch until the sugar caramelizes. The result is a crisp, caramelized layer over the creamy custard.

I topped the Matcha Creme Brulee with whipped cream, fresh blueberries, a few chocolate curls, and matcha Kit Kats. Other fresh berries such as strawberries would be delicious or simply enjoy the dessert on its own.

Notable Ingredients

Matcha is a powder created by grinding whole green tea leaves. I have been able to find it in markets with Japanese ingredients and more recently in the tea section of larger grocery stores.

Be careful when storing matcha. It can become stale and brownish when exposed to oxygen.

If you don’t have vanilla beans available, substitute with about 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste.

A Few Matcha Crème Brûlée Tips

Adjust the amount of matcha more or less as desired.

This recipe uses five egg yolks. Save the leftover egg whites to make Paciencia Cookies (Filipino Meringue Cookies) or Matcha Macarons with Chocolate Ganache.

While beating the eggs, add the warm heavy cream in a very thin and light stream to keep the eggs from scrambling. If a few pieces do scramble, strain the mixture before dividing among ramekins.

Carefully pour the water into the baking dish around the ramekins and transfer to the oven. You don’t want any water splashing into the custard and no custard falling into the water. The water should reach about halfway up the ramekins.

Bake the custards just until set around the edges, but still a little wobbly in the center. They will set further as they cool. Deeper ramekins will take longer than the wider, more shallow ramekins. I personally prefer the more shallow dishes.

Don’t cover the top with sugar and torch until immediately before serving. It will soften with time and lose that contrasting crisp texture.

A culinary torch is best to create an even color over the tops of the Green Tea Creme Brulee.

If you don’t have a torch to caramelize the sugar, stick the ramekins under a broiler just until the sugar caramelizes to a deep golden brown. Keep an eye on them and rotate as needed to evenly heat.

Looking for more Creme Brulee recipes?

Try my:

• Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée
• Pumpkin Crème Brûlée
• Dark Chocolate Crème Brûlée

This recipe was originally posted in February 2014 and updated in March 2023.

Matcha Crème Brûlée Recipe

Adapted from Just One Cookbook

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5 from 1 vote

Matcha Crème Brûlée

A recipe for Matcha Crème Brûlée! This creamy custard is flavored with matcha and topped with a layer of crisp, caramelized sugar.

Course Dessert

Cuisine N/A

Keyword cream, creme brulee, dessert, green tea, matcha

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Resting Time: 4 hours hours

Total Time 4 hours hours 45 minutes minutes

Servings 4 Servings

Ingredients

• 2 cups (470 milliliters) heavy cream
• 1 vanilla bean
• 1/3 cup (77 grams) granulated sugar plus more for torching
• 1 tablespoon (6 grams) matcha green tea powder
• Pinch salt
• 5 large egg yolks

Topping:

• 1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar or turbinado sugar
• Fresh berries
• Whipped cream

Instructions

• Place 4 (6 ounce, 170 milliliter) ramekins in a deep, large baking dish and set aside.
• In a small saucepan, place the heavy cream over medium heat. Scrape in the seeds from the vanilla bean and add the emptied pod. Once the cream begins to steam, but not boil, remove from heat, cover, and steep for 20 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 325˚F (160˚C).
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, matcha, pinch salt, and egg yolks until light and thickened.
• Remove the pod from the heavy cream. While whisking the eggs, slowly add the heavy cream in a thin stream, careful not to heat the eggs too quickly or beat too much air into the mixture. If any of the eggs scramble, strain the mixture.
• Divide the custard evenly among the ramekins. Carefully fill the pan halfway up the ramekins with hot water without splashing any into the ramekins.
• Gently transfer the pan to the preheated oven without splashing any water. Bake until barely set, but still a little loose on the top, 30-35 minutes.
• Remove the ramekins from water bath and place on wire rack to cool. Once room temperature, cover, and refrigerate 4 hours to up to 3 days.
• Once ready to serve, top each custard with an even layer of sugar, about 1 tablespoon (12 grams). Move the flame from a culinary torch across the entire surface until the sugar starts to darken and caramelize.
• Serve the Crème Brûlée immediately after caramelizing the top with fresh berries and whipped cream if desired.