Hello, my lovely people! This is Kreamy Vegan, your go-to vegan, sustainable, and delicious lifestyle guru friend.
Are you having a great summer? It’s getting hotter and hotter every day in Norway, and I crave something cold and refreshing. As a Korean (who also lived in Japan), I missed matcha ice cream, a cold oat milk matcha latte, or a matcha float. The earthy and subtly bitter taste of matcha goes perfectly with the cold, creamy, and sweet ice cream. The taste of matcha is unlike anything else. If you love green tea or have enjoyed matcha latte, I strongly urge you to try this matcha ice cream recipe!
I am crazy about matcha, and you can read my blog post, Matcha 101 to learn more about matcha—the taste, caffeine, how to store it, and my matcha latte recipe.
Let’s get started with making the best matcha ice cream recipe.
Introduction to The Best Matcha Ice Cream Recipe
1. Choose High-Grade Grade Matcha
The very first step to making the best matcha ice cream recipe is choosing high-grade matcha. Here are a few things that I look for in the best matcha.
- Organic: I recommend using organic matcha, as matcha is ground whole green tea leaves. That means you can’t wash the tea leaves and drink the whole powdered leaves.
- First-Harvest: The first harvest makes the green tea leaves more nutrient, more vibrant in color, and tastes softer, and less bitter.
- Ceremonial Grade: Ceremonial grade tea leaves are the most tender leaves that are ground tea. It is also the most fine powder, which makes it easier to dissolve in water.
- Origin: Matcha is originally from Japan, so you’ll be able to find many amazing matcha powders from there. I also love Malcha powder (it means Matcha in Korean) from Jeju Island in Korea, as the island is known for its clean nature and great tea harvest.
Make the best matcha ice cream with the premium products below!
My Japanese Matcha Pick
Encha Ceremonial Grade Matcha Powder from Uji, Japan (30g/1.06oz)
My Korean Malcha Pick
2. Choose Your Milk & Cream Base
You can choose your milk and cream base for this recipe, and I will be using soy milk and oat cream. As an Asian, I am pretty lactose-intolerant, and I always preferred plant milk over cow milk. Also, soymilk is a traditional drink in East Asia and it goes so well with matcha! I hope you try this matcha ice cream recipe with soymilk and some oat cream. They are so amazing and kind to your stomach.
🌟 My Choice of Milk 🌟
Edensoy Unsweetened Eden Organic Soymilk, Non-GMO, 32 oz (6-Pack)
I love my soymilk so much! It’s honestly one of the best drinks ever, and this unsweetened soymilk is so versatile in the kitchen. You can use both for the savory and the sweet recipes. Use the soymilk to make my vegan tteokguk, strawberry latte, or this gorgeous matcha ice cream.
Plant milk is also shelf-stable, so get several packs to save yourself from delivery fees or carrying them all by yourself.
🌟 My Choice of Plant Cream 🌟
Califia Farms – Plant-Based Heavy Whip Cream 16.9 Oz
This plant-based vegan heavy cream is a great cream to use for our ice cream!
3. Choose the Right Sweetener
I see some matcha ice cream recipes using bananas, but I really don’t think matcha flavor goes well with bananas. If you are a true matcha-lover, you’d want matcha to stand and shine on its own, not introduce another fruit flavor in there. So I will be using a simple sweetener here in my matcha ice cream recipe.
🌟 My Sweetener Pick 🌟
WHOLE EARTH Monk Fruit Sweetener with Erythritol, Plant-Based Sugar Alternative, 12 Ounce Pouch
To make creamy matcha ice cream, you need sugar. But instead of using regular sugar, I recommend using a healthy sweetener that only adds sweetness to bring out the best flavor of the ingredients.
4. Equipment Needed: Ninja Creami Ice Cream Maker
I got my Ninja Creami Ice Cream Maker about a year ago, and needless to say, I use it often and love it! It makes really good ice cream in such a short period of time, but there are some cons to having it, like the pretty big noise it makes. If you are interested, read my detailed Ninja Creami Ice Cream Maker review here.
Why Make Homemade Matcha Ice Cream
1. Choose Premium Ingredients
I gave a whole lot of recommendations for the ingredients. Matcha ice cream is a gourmet kind of food, and it deserves to have the best ingredients. Although you might be able to buy some matcha ice cream at a store, it won’t be the same as making your own homemade matcha ice cream with these amazing ingredients.
2. A Little Caffeine Boost
Did you know that matcha, or green tea, has caffeine as well? Like coffee and chocolate, matcha also has caffeine in it. Two teaspoons (about 4 grams) of matcha powder, which is the amount you need in one cup, contain about 50–100 milligrams of caffeine. Coffee has about 100–140 milligrams of caffeine. So a cup of matcha has less caffeine than a cup of coffee, but it certainly can give you a caffeine boost!
3. Vegan and Dairy-Free
Many ice creams sold have dairy cream, but this homemade matcha ice cream recipe only uses plant milk and cream to make the ice cream.
The result is the best matcha ice cream that is vegan and dairy-free. So if you are vegan, lactose-intolerant, or health-conscious, this matcha ice cream is the perfect dessert for you!
4. Make and Eat at Home
It can be difficult to find matcha ice cream where you live, like me! I live in Norway, and there are no matcha-flavored cakes, sweets, or ice cream sold here. Matcha is getting more and more popular these days here in Norway too, but it is a long way to start having everything matcha like we do in Korea and Japan. So, I had to make matcha ice cream at home. If you are in the same position as me, let’s make our matcha ice cream!
One of the proven ingredients for healthy skin is green tea. Read my All Natural Beauty Tips blog post for more details!
Health Benefits of Matcha
I love matcha not only for its distinct flavor but also for its incredible health benefits!
You can consider matcha as one of the green leafy vegetables, which is one of the healthiest types of food in the world. As I wrote in my blog post about why you need to eat more leafy greens, I try to eat lots of them every day. But when I don’t have enough, I turn to a cup of matcha. The green powder of leafy tea leaves is packed with chlorophyll.
Here are some scientifically backed benefits of matcha:
- Protects Brain Function: Matcha boosts brain function by increasing oxygen flow, and enhancing memory, cognitive performance, attention, and motivation. That’s why there are some matcha supplements out there, but I prefer a matcha latte or ice cream!
- Improves Fertility: Matcha may improve fertility by increasing sperm quality and mobility, thanks to its polyphenols, vitamin E, and selenium.
- Strengthens Bones: Vitamin K in matcha helps strengthen bones by aiding calcium absorption and preventing bone loss.
- Enhances Skin Elasticity: Rich in antioxidants, matcha improves skin elasticity, texture, and tone. It’s so effective that green tea extract is common in skincare products. Drinking matcha provides anti-aging benefits from within. You can read more about it in my blog post, All Natural Beauty Tips.
- Regulates Appetite: Green tea and matcha, the key to Japanese longevity, act as appetite suppressants. Caffeine and chlorophyll help control appetite naturally.
My oat milk matcha latte recipe is also my go-to way to have matcha!
More Health Benefits of Matcha
Matcha offers numerous potential health benefits, including:
- Fighting cancer by inhibiting tumor growth and inducing cancer cell death.
- Preventing type 2 diabetes by improving insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism.
- Combating depression by increasing serotonin levels and reducing brain inflammation.
- Lowering cholesterol by reducing LDL (bad) cholesterol and increasing HDL (good) cholesterol.
- Reducing blood pressure by relaxing blood vessels and lowering oxidative stress.
My Other Matcha Recipes
Are you crazy about matcha like me? Here are my other matcha recipes.
How to Make Matcha Ice Cream | Best Matcha Ice Cream Recipe
Best Vegan Matcha Ice Cream Recipe
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- In a cup, prepare 2 tablespoons of matcha powder, 1/8 teaspoon of spirulina powder, and erythritol with stevia (or sugar if you don’t have it.) Mix all the powder ingredients well.
- Pour 1/8 tablespoon of soymilk first into the cup, and whisk it fast to make it into a paste. There should be no clumps.
- Pour the rest of the soymilk little by little as you whisk.
- Once everything is combined, pour the matcha mixture into the CREAMi pint.
- Pour the vegan cream and mix everything in the pint again.
- Let the sugar dissolve for 30 minutes. Place the storage lid on a pint and freeze for 24 hours.
- Remove the pint from the freezer and remove the lid from the pint. Place the pint into the Ninja Creami Ice Cream Maker.
- Select ICE CREAM. Run the program.
- When processing is complete, remove the ice cream from the pint.
- Serve immediately. Yum!
A little bit of spirulina powder can make the color of the matcha ice cream pop!
Tips for Enjoying Matcha Ice Cream
1. Add a Pinch of Spirulina Powder
This is a trick that many bakeries and cafes have on their menus in Japan. You can use a tiny bit of spirulina powder in your matcha recipe to make the green color more vivid. But you only need a tiny bit! If you have tasted spirulina powder, you’ll understand that it tastes quite funky and sea-like. But if you add only a little, it’s healthy and brings out a gorgeous green color to the matcha!
2. Eat It with Rice Cake (Mochi or Tteok)
Matcha ice cream goes so well with rice cake, which is called mochi in Japanese and Tteok in Korean.
There are some white rice cake balls you can put on the matcha ice cream. The chewy and sweet rice cakes make a perfect topping for the matcha ice cream. I’ll share a recipe here one day! But you can also have some other sweet rice cakes, like my sweet potato rice cake, fragrant mugwort rice cake, and songyeon that has sweet sesame fillings.
3. Try Condensed Milk on Top
I think matcha ice cream is great on its own, but if you really want to take your matcha ice cream to the next level, try condensed milk on top. To complete the matcha ice cream, you can add some rice cake balls. Wow!
4. Make a Matcha Milkshake.
Now that you have your matcha ice cream, you can now make a matcha milkshake with it too!
Summary of Matcha Ice Cream Recipe
So there you have it—a creamy, delicious, gorgeous, matcha ice cream recipe! I love the calm green color of the matcha ice cream. When you take a spoonful of the ice cream, you get this dreamy, earthy, slightly bitter, and sweet flavor that comes from the tea leaves. Oh! And it has some caffeine to wake you up, so it’s a great ice cream to have as a dessert after lunch.
I hope you liked this matcha ice cream recipe, and if you did, check out my other Korean or Japanese recipes below!
Do You Like Korean Shaved Ice, Bingsu?
Chocolate Bingsu | Almond Milk Ninja Creami Recipe
Try this rich chocolate bingsu with easy homemade chocolate syrup, chocolate chips, and ice cream. You can also add brownies for more texture! Learn the recipe.
Strawberry Bingsu | Almond Milk Ninja Creami Recipe
Try this refreshing Korean frozen dessert, strawberry bingsu! Healthy and delicious with juicy strawberries, learn this simple almond milk Ninja Creami recipe.
Try Mugwort Recipes, Another Green Herbal Powder!
Mugwort Latte Recipe 쑥라떼 | Guide to Korean Ssuk Latte
Like there is a matcha latte and a pumpkin spice latte, aka PSL, there is a mugwort latte! It is quite similar to a matcha latte, as a mugwort latte is also savory, fragrant, sweet, and comforting. Some popular Korean lattes are popping up in cafes in Korea, and a mugwort latte was one of them.
Other Ice Cream Recipes Using Ninja Creami
4 Ingredients Easy Peanut Protein Ice Cream | Ninja Creami Recipe
The nutty, creamy, and deep flavors of the peanut butter ice cream are too good to resist. It’s also packed with protein, so it’s one of our favorites. They also go very well with the refreshing and elegant pear sorbet.
After-Workout Chocolate Ninja Creami Protein Ice Cream
Try this Chocolate Ninja Creami Protein Ice Cream recipe! It’s perfect after a workout with protein, nutrients, and caffeine to boost your energy and recovery.
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