Green tea flavored desserts are so widespread all over the US today, and it seems like Green tea Ice Cream is as popular here as in Japan. Because green tea goes so well with milk products Green Tea flavor is understandably a delicious choice for ice cream. Green Tea Ice Cream is a Japanese dessert everyone knows in the US even outside Japanese food.
At many Japanese restaurants in the US, Green Tea Ice Cream has become one of the most popular desserts. Green tea has a very refreshing green grass aroma, and that helps cut the smell of fish and grease from dinner. It can be served as a couple of scoops in a bowl or could be inside Mochi (rice cake), which also tastes great.
Not only at Japanese restaurants, but very famous ice cream makers here make Green Tea ice cream. The good thing is that the flavor is not just a fad, but it looks like the flavor is here to stay in American food culture. Now you don’t have to travel to Japanese grocery store to buy Green Tea Ice Cream but almost any supermarket in the US!
The green tea used in Green Tea Ice Cream is called Matcha in Japanese. Matcha is a powdered form, and so it has a much more concentrated flavor than green tea leaves. It should not be mixed with green tea you drink from regular tea bag. Matcha is also a drink that is used in the tea ceremony in Japan, but you don’t drink as much as brewed green tea.
Matcha Green Tea is available at Japanese and some American supermarkets and also online. (This recipe is for the ice cream itself; you will use an ice cream machine to freeze the ice cream so please follow your ice cream machine instructions.)
Matcha Green Tea Ice Cream
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Ingredients
- 2 cups milk
- 2 Tbsp Matcha powder
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 6 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup and 2 Tbsp sugar
Instructions
- Place ice water in a large bowl that can hold a pot. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, add 1/4 cup of milk and green tea powder, and whisk well (the powder may not dissolve completely). Then add back to the rest of milk (1 3/4 cups) and mix.
- Heat the milk mixture and 1/2 cup of heavy cream at medium heat, and cook until just before boiling.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the rest of the heavy cream (1/2 cup), yolks, and sugar. Add hot milk very slowly to the egg mixture.
- Put egg/milk mixture back to the pot and cook at medium heat stirring constantly until thick (to check the thickness, dip a wood spoon in the egg/milk mixture, and check and see if you can scrape a clear line on the back of the spoon with a finger).
- Place the pot in the ice water and cool. Transfer to a container and chill at least 3 hours in the refrigerator.
- Follow the direction of your ice cream machine and mix. Very soft ice cream is done after about 15-20 minutes. Freeze 3 hours before serving.
Video
cindy
December 23, 2013 at 4:56 amhi there,
i was following your recipe step by step, but failed twice, it’s really bizarre, it seems the ingredients ratio you gave was not correct, for example, the heavy cream you applied on the video seemed more than 240ml, and do i need to whip the cream? the step i failed was always the last step, bring everything to boil under medium heat, i cannot get it to look smooth and creamy, it was either too thin or overcooked and it turned out clumpy…
could you please help me out here? thanks a lot!!
Noriko
January 7, 2014 at 11:44 pmCindy,
it’s too bad that your ice cream didn’t come out right. I checked the measurements, and they are correct.
The amount of heavy cream is 240ml. 120ml of cream is mixed with sugar and yolks, and another 120ml of cream is mixed with milk (480ml) with green tea. Because of egg yolks, you have to be careful stirring the liquid constantly on the stove so it doesn’t get curdled. Do not over cook. Hope this will help.
Angelina
March 24, 2014 at 10:00 amI wonder if it’s because of the type of milk Cindy was using. Noriko, did you use whole milk?
Noriko
March 25, 2014 at 10:51 pmAngelina,
we use whole milk.
Berry
March 31, 2014 at 10:45 amHi, I have done with your recipe exactly and it’s success more than I expected 🙂 the cream soft and delicious! So yummy!
Thank you so much
Noriko
September 14, 2014 at 3:38 pmBerry,
glad you liked our Green Tea Ice Cream recipe! We also have Green Tea Cookies if you like the green tea flavor.
Vivane
August 29, 2014 at 7:26 pmI think you missed the critical timing to remove it from heat. The egg yolks curdle very easily if you dont constantly stir it or if you accidentally leave it on the fire for too long. Maybe you can try it on a smaller fire (so it cooks slower and you have more time to react to your cooking custard?). I’ve tried making custard on a bain marie, its slower but safer.
Noriko
September 8, 2014 at 8:58 pmVivane,
it’s a little tricky, I know. But outcome is pretty good! Try again!
Shamini
January 8, 2014 at 7:23 amHi, Can you please recommend me on where to buy matcha green tea online?
Thank you a lot
Shamini
Noriko
January 12, 2014 at 9:03 pmShamini,
Marukai eStore, Mistuwa, or Amazon online stores carry it.
Pinny
January 24, 2014 at 6:37 amHi Noriko,
Thank you for the recipe but I still have some questions , If I don’t have any ice cream maker, I still can use this recipe ? how can I make it thicker? without ice cream maker? just boiled it and then leave it until it’s cooling down then put all together in ice cream container then freeze it. Can I ?
and heavy cream = Whipping cream ? am I correct?
Best regards,
Pinny
Noriko
February 1, 2014 at 11:34 amPinny,
I’ve never done without ice cream machine to be honest. It may be hard to get the creamy consistency without it. Sorry that I can’t help here. Yes, heavy cream is whipping cream (liquid, of course).
Charlotte
January 14, 2016 at 8:24 amThis is such a late reply but if you want you can put it in the freezer and mix it for a few minutes every ten minutes its in the freezer, until its the right consistency.
I hope this helps someone!
🙂
Karoliina
February 1, 2014 at 9:37 amHi!
I was wondering if I could make the ice cream without using the ice cream maker?(I dont have it and I cant afford it either)
Thank you.
Noriko
February 1, 2014 at 11:05 amKaroliina,
it maybe hard to get the consistency we want for ice cream without the machine… I’ll post it if I can find an alternative.
Vivian
February 20, 2014 at 6:45 pmHi Noriko!
Just wondering what is the brand of green tea powder you used in this video?
Thank you!
Noriko
February 23, 2014 at 5:47 pmVivian,
as long as it is Matcha green tea powder (not tea leaves), any brand would be fine. If you can find Itoen or Yamamotoyama, that would be great because they are reliable brands.
Emily L
May 6, 2014 at 2:19 amHi Noriko,
Thanks for such a helpful video!
I just wanted to ask if this was the same recipe for soft serve ice cream? I want to make Match Soft Serve on a cone!
Thanks for replying.
Noriko
May 6, 2014 at 9:08 pmEmily,
it is not soft serve ice cream, however, it is quite soft if you don’t freeze it after taking out from the ice cream maker.
john
May 16, 2014 at 11:03 pmOhayio, your recipes are really cool, got me inspired, i’ll try daifuku mochi today, wish me luck!
Btw, how would i make mochi with boiled rice if i can’t find the flour? Do i just beat it into a paste?
This looks cool too, i should get an ice cream maker 🙂
Noriko
June 4, 2014 at 12:58 amjohn,
our sweet mochi is made from Mochiko and different from mushed sweet rice (mochi rice). Good luck making it!
kathy lam
May 20, 2014 at 6:55 pmI have a japanese friend and when I went to her house, she made green tea ice cream for me for instead of doing like you, she combined the vanilla ice cream with green tea powder and mixed together. And it tasted pretty good.
Noriko
June 3, 2014 at 12:21 amkathy,
sounds pretty easy!
chaiwat
June 26, 2014 at 2:46 amHi Noriko
First, I would like express my appreciation for all your replies to those who have concern with your recipe. This differentiate you from the other sites.
My concern about this recipe is whether I can apply S/E powder into the ice-cream and store it in the refrigerator for a day before putting it into the ice-cream machine. Would it make any different in the outcome of this recipe?
Noriko
September 13, 2014 at 11:50 pmchaiwat,
I don’t know what S/E powder is, so it is hard to say…
Jonathan L.
June 27, 2014 at 2:31 pmLove the recipe. Just brought it to a potluck at work and people want me to bring more! (I swapped truvia in for sugar to cut down on the carbs a little).
My question is: How long will this stay good in the freezer once made?
Thanks!
Jonathan.
Noriko
September 13, 2014 at 10:32 pmJonathan,
it never lasted that long at my house, so I don’t know for sure, but it must last for a couple of weeks.
Viv W
August 30, 2014 at 10:54 pmThank you for the recipe. I’ve just finished making one. It is in the freezer now. It’s not too sweet, just the way I like it. Awesome recipe, two thumbs up.
Noriko
September 8, 2014 at 8:52 pmViv,
thanks for trying our Green Tea ice cream recipe!
Viv W
August 31, 2014 at 4:00 pmI put it in the freezer overnight and my icecream is as hard as ice! It was fine until I froze it. What did i do wrong? How to store my home made ice cream? Thanks
Noriko
September 8, 2014 at 8:51 pmViv,
it gets hard if you freeze it long enough. Leave ice cream for 20 minutes at room temperature before serving.
EmÃlia
September 5, 2014 at 7:06 pmHi there!
I’m from Brazil and was searching for a tea ice cream recipe to use as a basis for a matte (maté) tea ice cream when I bumped into your website.
While I noticed that you use a tea in powder form and the matte I have can only be made by infusion (I don’t like the flavor of instant matte), I decided to make a strong coffee ice cream instead today and it came out very well!
Thank you very much! Your recipe is very creamy and sweet!
For reference, I used half the proportions of your recipe plus 2 tbsp of extra strong nescafé instead of the Matcha. Try it someday!
Noriko
September 8, 2014 at 8:21 pmEmilia,
Yum! I love coffee ice cream! We should try that on our video!
Serena
September 25, 2014 at 3:12 amI think i might have stuffed up the recipe, because the green tea ice cream is much too sweet. Are there any tips to making the it less sweet. I’ve mixed in all the sugar already, should i add more milk or more green tea powder? Help!!
Noriko
September 29, 2014 at 8:15 amSerena,
I recommend you to finish making the batch. Next time you can reduce a little sugar (but not much).
Erika
October 10, 2014 at 6:24 pmI’m gonna give this a try before weather says ‘too cold for ice cream’. But where can I get green tea powder? Japanese/Oriental foof stores of can I get it in. Kroger in the Japanese section of their store?
Noriko
October 24, 2014 at 5:29 pmErika,
you can try local stores, but they probably don’t carry it. Japanese grocery stores definitely carry it, and try online stores too.
Sarah Lewis
October 15, 2014 at 5:46 amHow many people does this recipe feed?
Also what sugar should I use (brown sugar, caster sugar etc)?
Noriko
October 24, 2014 at 5:52 pmSarah,
depending on how much each person eats, but probably 6-8 servings.
Harsh
February 27, 2016 at 11:40 pmGreen Tea Ice cream can be make without eggs yolks
Noriko
March 2, 2016 at 7:15 pmHarsh,
sorry, we don’t for now.
Peggy
March 7, 2016 at 5:02 pmIs there a way of doing this without sugar and another ingredient?
aldi
March 12, 2016 at 12:08 amHi…!! Can you give me information about “Powder Soft the main ingrediance for make Ice Cream” such as green tea, I want it to mix in my machine Ice Cream. Where I got the information this product in japan, can you help me,ms Noriko ?. Thanks
Regard
Aldi
Harsh
April 7, 2016 at 12:44 amHi , Do you have the recipe of Youkan.
Heavy cream is not found , so I can use Whipped cream
james
August 6, 2016 at 9:32 pmcan i use green tea powder instead of matcha green tea powder?
Noriko
August 19, 2016 at 12:18 pmMatcha gives deeper and stronger flavor and the color, but you could try different tea if you like.