In Korea, there are many popular foods made or flavored with green tea. This green tea ice cream is one of them. You may already know that green tea is very healthy in many points. If you make ice cream at home with some green tea, it will be healthier and still taste delicious. I made this recipe especially for people who don’t have an ice cream machine like me. The mixture is frozen without using a machine. It will be icier than store bought ice cream, but I actually prefer that kind of texture for my ice cream. If you have an ice cream machine, you can use it too. I am very happy about the result, so I am excited to share this recipe with you. 
Yield: 1 Quart
Short Korean Lesson: *^^*
- NokCha (녹차) = Green Tea
- WuYou (우유) = Milk
Video Instructions
Main Ingredients
- 2 tsp Green Tea Powder
- 1 Container Half and Half (473 ml)
- 4 Egg Yolks
- ½ Cup Sugar
Directions
In a bowl, add 4 egg yolks and about ¼ cup of half and half from the container (473 ml). Mix well.
In a nonstick pan, add the egg mixture and boil for about 10 minutes on low. This process just makes it safe to eat the egg, so you don’t want to cook the egg yoke too much – make sure you keep the temperature low. Occasionally stir it.
Meanwhile mix 2 tsp of green tea powder and ½ cup of sugar together.
This will help the powder to mix better in the ice cream mixture later.
After 10 minutes, turn off the heat and add the green tea mixture. Stir it well until the sugar dissolves with the heat from the pan.
Pour the green tea mixture into the rest of the half and half from the container (473 ml).
Pour the ice cream mixture into the container. It is good to use a bowl that has a wide bottom with a lid. Mine was a Pyrex storage bowl. Put it in the freezer for about 3 hours.
After 3 hours, mix the ice cream, and press it back down flat before you put it back into the freezer.
Every hour, repeat this process for at least 4 times. It will make your ice cream softer.
Depending on your green tea powder, the color and taste can be slightly different. You can buy the green tea powder from Amazon.com. I will add some links for you here. Try this tasty homemade green tea ice cream someday.
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I’ve been wanting to try this for a while, but I didn’t have any matcha (green tea powder). I finally was able to find some at one of our local malls. It was a sweet deal to also find Paris Baguette there too. They had some yummy baked goods.
I made this today, but I added bananas to the recipe for a thicker consistency. I’m letting it freeze over night & hope to get a taste tomorrow. Can’t wait!
i somehow keep over cooking my eggs with half and half. what should i do?
hi Vanessa,
What temperature did you use for cooking? Use low temperature and keep stir it.. when the mixture just start to turn to pale yellow color.. stop cooking.. Hope this will help you a little. thanks
I used the lowest fire I could possibly use. I redid it about 3 times but in the end, I succeeded! But at the end, the ice cream came out to be too icy since I only had one carton of half and half and used some of it in the first 3 trials. I will continue to use this recipe for for future.Thank you for posting!
Vanessa, I accidentally put my level a bit too high twice now (I’ve done this recipe like 6 times total) and what I’ve found is that when the eggs kind of start cooking (like scrambled eggs), I can still use it! =) Sounds disgusting, but the texture is smoother (ironic, I know) and I get more compliments with this than the “normal” way of the liquidy egg-yolk mixture. I’m tempted to keep doing it this way, haha.
Hi Aeri,
Love your website. You make me want to be a better Korean!
Anyway, I have a dumb question for you. Can I just pour the mixture into an ice cream maker? Would that give me the same result? Thanks.
hi Jane,
I don’t have an icecream machine.. so I didn’t try it yet..but I guess it will be even better with ice cream machine.. and save your time and work.. so try it…maybe if you try..please let me know the result..hehe thanks
Jane, yes, I’ve been doing this with my Cuisine Art ice cream maker and it works great. Just 30 min. then smooth ice cream! =) Any leftovers have to be frozen, which will become hard (since we don’t use chemicals to make it soft-serve like the grocery store’s ice cream). So I usually leave it out to thaw while I eat dinner…or when I forget to do that, I just microwave the glass container I use to store my ice cream for about 30-60 seconds to thaw it out a little for easy scooping. =)
I had green tea ice cream in a Japanese restaurant, and it was delicious,I have never found a recipe that has the same delicious taste. I wonder just what spices they used. Was it just powdered green tea like you use, or something else added?
hi Vicki,
hehe.. thanks
I don’t know what kind of icecream you tried in a Japanese restaurant..so can’t tell with confidence..but I think.. you might be satisfied with my green tea icecream too.. maybe you can try and see if you like it.
Vicki, I’ve also first had this at a Japanese restaurant (that’s why I was so glad when I’ve found Aeri’s site! =). The J-restaurant served it with red bean paste, and there shouldn’t be any spices in it since this is the traditional recipe…unless the restaurant where you had it customized their own recipe. =) Following this recipe to a T (you can use an ice cream machine or freeze it like Aeri) yields green tea ice cream of the same texture & taste. =) Good luck!
Hi Aeri, could I process my green tea leaves in a blender to make the powder? I bought a can of Chinese green tea and there is too much.
hi Mee Ae,
Sorry but I can’t tell the result with confidence. I don’t know how fine your blender can grind the green tea leaves..and you will not get nice green color like the green tea powder from store.
I tried doing this, the blender doesn’t powderize the tea leaves, so I don’t recommend you to do this (unless you like the texture of the tiny leaves). If you have a “powerdizing machine”, then go ahead. Green tea POWDER (or any other flavored powder) is what you want because it’s fine enough for you to dissolve it in the mixture of this recipe.
i am sorry. i dont understand what is the container? is this a milk?
hi marmelad,
Aha, the container is.. half and half.. that is.. half cream and half milk. American grocery stores sell it. If you don’t have, you can mix half amount of heavy cream and half amount of normal milk. thanks
This is the next recipe I plan on trying.Unfortunately,I have never seen green tea powder where I live.I guess I might have to try it with another flavor. Thanks for sharing