A Japanese ramekin heaped with a couple of scoops of matcha ice cream is the perfect dessert after a sushi dinner.
A few years ago after a lovely meal at a Japanese restaurant in San Francisco, I enjoyed a scoop of creamy green tea ice cream. Inspired by that memory and an abundance of matcha tea powder in our pantry, I attempted to recreate that delicious dessert. The intense flavor of the matcha powder gave this ice cream a rich, complex flavor. Keeping with Japanese preferences, this recipe calls for only about half the sugar American palettes might prefer, but is still satisfyingly sweet.
Matcha Green Tea Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 3 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- 3 egg yolks
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp matcha green tea powder
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
Directions
- Heat cream and milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
- Add vanilla paste and green tea powder and heat until mixture almost boils, about 5 – 8 minutes.
- Reduce heat to low.
- Meanwhile, beat yolks and sugar until the mixture is light yellow and smooth.
- Add 4 tbsp on hot cream mixture to egg mixture and stir until combined. This will temper the eggs.
- Slowly add warmed yolk mixture to warm cream. Stir continuously in order to not cook/curdle eggs.
- Cook entire mixture over low heat until slightly thickened and mixture coats the back of a spoon.
- Cool completely. I put the mixture in the refrigerator overnight before I use it.
- Pour into freezer bowl of ice cream machine. Turn machine on and mix until mixture thickens, about 20 minutes.
- Transfer to airtight container and place in freezer until firm, about 2 hours.
If you liked this post, you might like to read about matcha green tea cookies.

