Keto Matcha Green Tea Ice Cream Recipe - Asian Keto Kitchen (2024)

Creamy, soft and sweet, this Matcha Green Tea Ice Cream Recipe is the healthiest matcha ice cream recipe you’ll ever make. Made without any dairy, eggs or sugar, you can easily make this matcha ice cream recipe with or without an ice cream maker.

What is Matcha (抹茶)?

Matcha is a high-grade green tea ground into powdered form. It comes from the leaves of the Camellia Sinensis plant. It’s usually whisked into hot water instead of steeped like green tea leaves. Matcha was originally used for ceremonial tea drinking in Japan and China. However, these days, it’s often used to make matcha desserts, sweets and drinks.

Matcha flavored desserts have increasingly become popular in the last few years and you can usually find matcha flavored treats anywhere around the world. There are so many Japanese ice cream flavors in Japan, as in they release new never-before-seen flavors every other day, but my favorite Japanese ice cream flavor has always been matcha. Luckily, it’s not a season-limited flavor so they sell it anywhere you go and you can enjoy it all year long.

Rather than drinking it, my favorite way to prepare matcha is by making matcha desserts like my matcha cheesecake recipe and ice cream. But most of all, I think this is the best green tea ice cream I’ve ever made as it turns out so creamy and delicious each time. 　　You can also use this recipe and top it over some delicious keto french toast for the perfect breakfast.

Difference between Matcha and Green Tea Powder

You have to be careful about which kind of matcha powder you buy at the grocery store. Matcha powder and green tea powder are made differently and taste very different. Matcha powder tends to taste more sweet than regular green tea powder. That’s because the way it was harvested and made into powder form is completely different than normal green tea powder.

Matcha tea powder is brighter green than ordinary green tea. It’s an extremely fine powder, kind of like baking powder, whereas green tea feels gritty, like crushed-up leaves.

To make matcha powder, the finest green tea leaves are usually harvested by hand and then stone ground into matcha powder. Matcha tea is best when mixed with boiling water. High quality matcha tea leaves are also grown in shady areas, whereas green tea leaves are grown in sunlight.

The shade growing process is critical to the quality, flavor and nutrition of matcha. Because the leaves do not absorb as much sunlight as normal green tea leaves, the leaves become thinner and broaden making them easier to ground into a fine powder. In addition, the matcha plant increases its chlorophyll production, the pigment that absorbs sunlight, giving that matcha that vibrant green color that we all know.

Most supermarkets will sell different brands of matcha powder. You have to be careful and choose the brand that offers real stone grounded matcha and not simply a powdered form of green tea leaves. I find that real matcha powder tastes much better in sweets and drinks.

What Matcha Grade is Best for Ice Cream

There are usually two to tree kinds of matcha powder sold, all with different grades. Depending on the grade of the matcha, the nutritional information, taste, way it was harvested and price will all be different. Depending on the company that sells it, there are usually two to three grades offered.

1. Ceremonial-grade Matcha: Very smooth and grassy. Great for tea and lattes. Not used that often for desserts.
2. Latte-grade Matcha: Smooth and somewhat grassy. Great for lattes and okay for desserts.
3. Culinary-grade Matcha: Somewhat bitter and less grassy. Perfect for desserts, but not hot tea.

Ceremonial grade matcha is the most expensive and culinary grade matcha is the least. Depending on your budget, you can choose whichever grade you want, but I recommend using latte or culinary-grade matcha for making my green tea ice cream recipe.

Keto Approved Sweeteners for Ice Cream

Since this keto ice cream recipe is completely sugar free, you’ll need to use a keto approved sweetener to make it. You have a couple of options to choose from. I used a blend of erythritol and stevia, but you can choose any other sweetener you prefer.

• ½ cup (70g) powdered erythritol + ¼ tsp stevia extract powder
• ½ cup (70g) powdered erythritol + ¼ tsp monk fruit extract powder
• ½ cup (70g) powdered xylitol
• ½ tsp – ¾ tsp stevia extract powder
• ½ cup coconut sugar or maple sugar for paleo option

Before choose a keto sweetener for this low carb matcha ice cream recipe, make sure that the sweetener you use is in its powdered form. If you use granulated sweeteners, your ice cream will end up really grainy and sandy and you don’t want that!

If you don’t have any powdered erythritol or xylitol, just put it in a blender and blitz on high speed for about 30 seconds. You’ll end up with “confectioner’s” sugar.

If you choose to use xylitol as your sweetener, make sure you do not have any dogs or cats in the house as it’s highly lethal to them!

How to Make Green Tea Ice Cream

My green tea ice cream recipe is actually dairy free, egg free and sugar free. It’s the perfect sugar free ice cream recipe to make if you’re following a low carb or keto diet. Come to think of it, this is also a vegan matcha ice cream recipe so perfect too if you’re vegan!

Before I show you hot to make matcha ice cream, you’ll need a few tools before making it. Make sure to have either a blender or hand mixer and an ice cream maker on hand. You can still make this matcha green tea recipe without a blender and ice cream maker, but the resulting ice cream tastes much better if you do!

Before starting anything, you’ll need to add your ice cream maker bowl into the freezer overnight and make sure it’s completely frozen. When you take it out of the freezer, if you still hear splashing sounds, that means it’s not fully frozen yet and your ice cream won’t turn out.

This Japanese green tea ice cream recipe uses a blend of coconut milk, pistachio butter, matcha powder and keto-friendly sweeteners.

In a blender, add all of your ice cream ingredients and blitz for about a minute. You’ll see that the mixture will turn pretty thick because of the coconut milk and xanthan gum.

The reason why I use a blender for this step is because it’s easier to mix the matcha powder with the liquids on high speed, whereas whisking the matcha powder by hand tends to leave matcha “flour” bumps in the batter. If you don’t have a blender, then you can mix all of the ingredients together using a hand mixer.

Next, you’ll want to transfer your matcha ice cream batter to a Tupperware and leave in the fridge for a couple of hours. It helps the ice cream maker make soft and equally frozen ice cream if you use cold ingredients from the start.

Once your green tea ice cream batter is cold, place it in the ice cream maker and let it churn according to manufacturer’s instructions. I personally used the ice cream maker attachment from Kitchenaid and it took about 25 minutes to churn the ice cream into matcha soft serve.

Once the matcha ice cream is frozen, you can either enjoy it now, or transfer the low carb ice cream to a freezer-proof container to let it freeze more.

I recommend freezing the keto matcha ice cream into individual Tupperware containers so that it’s easier to serve and thaw.

For any homemade ice cream recipe, you’ll need to let the ice cream sit on the counter for 10-15 minutes before serving to allow it to soften. Homemade ice cream tends to freeze rock solid in the freezer because our ice cream makers just aren’t as powerful as commercial ones.

That’s why I recommend freezing individual portions so that you don’t have to thaw the whole matcha ice cream batch each time.

Green Tea Ice Cream Recipe Without Ice Cream Maker

If you don’t have an ice cream maker, don’t worry, you can still make this green tea ice cream recipe. You just need a little bit more time to make it, that’s all.

After you have finished blending the ice cream ingredients together in the blender, you’ll add the green tea ice cream batter to a large container and cover with saran wrap. You’ll then transfer it to the freezer for about 6-8 hours to freeze. However, since no churn ice creams tend to turn icy, you’ll need to take out the ice cream from the freezer and mix it with either a spatula or hand mixer every hour to destroy those ice crystals.

So every hour for 6-8 hours, take it out of the freezer, mix it with a hand mixer (it’s easier), then put it back in the freezer to freeze. After about 6 hours, you should have green tea soft serve that’s ready to serve and enjoy.

Once it’s frozen to your liking, I would then separate into individual containers so that it’s easier to thaw for the next time you choose to eat some.

Why Use Nut Butter in Ice Cream?

If you add a nut butter in any ice cream recipe, it helps the ice cream become extremely smooth and creamy. For this recipe, you can use any type of nut butter. I chose to use pistachio butter because it’s green and you can’t tell it’s in there, whereas if you used almond butter or any other kind of nuts, the ice cream would have brown bits in it.

I’m Allergic to Nuts, Can I Use Something Else?

If you’re allergic to nuts, I recommend using a seed butter like sunflower seed butter or pumpkin seed butter. You can also make a custard based sugar free ice cream like this pumpkin ice cream recipe and add matcha instead of the pumpkin puree and spices.

Is the Vodka Necessary?

If you can’t have alcohol, you can simply leave it out. Since vodka is a spirit and it can’t freeze, it helps the ice cream stay nice and smooth without all of those ice crystals. If you have some on hand, I really recommend using some!

Do I need the Xanthan Gum?

Honestly, I really recommend it. Adding gum to sugar free ice cream recipes really helps the ice cream stay nice and smooth.

What Coconut Milk do you recommend?

I recommend using the highest fat content coconut milk you can find. I personally used [easyazon_link identifier=”B00M8VSKW4″ locale=”US” tag=”mypcoskitchen-20″]Thai Kitchen coconut milk[/easyazon_link] as it has a great fat content, is really creamy and tastes really good.

I don’t like Coconut, can I use something else?

Yep. If you don’t like coconut milk, you can totally just switch the coconut milk for heavy cream. Heavy cream has less carbs than coconut milk, but isn’t dairy free.

What Ice Cream Maker do you recommend?

Any ice cream maker will do, but I personally used the [easyazon_link identifier=”B0002IES80″ locale=”US” tag=”mypcoskitchen-20″]ice cream maker attachment from Kitchenaid[/easyazon_link]. You can also use an ice cream maker that doesn’t have a removable bowl like the one from [easyazon_link identifier=”B006UKLUFS” locale=”US” tag=”mypcoskitchen-20″]Cuisinart[/easyazon_link].

Final Tips & Substitutions

Make sure to read the following tips and see what ingredient you can substitute before making this recipe!

• Make sure that your ice cream bowl is completely frozen and you can’t hear any splashing sounds before using.
• Make sure that your matcha green tea ice cream batter is cold before pouring in the ice cream maker. If your batter is warm or hot, the ice cream maker will melt right away and the churning won’t work.
• Make sure to mix all of the ice cream ingredients together using a blender to avoid getting matcha “flour” bumps inside the ice cream batter.
• Make sure to use full-fat coconut milk. Low fat will make your green tea ice cream very icy.
• Make sure to use matcha powder and not green tea powder. They’re not the same and taste very different.
• Instead of pistachio butter, you can use any other kind of nut butter. For a nut free option, you can use sunflower or pumpkin seed butter.
• Instead of xanthan gum, you can use guar gum.
• Instead of coconut milk, you can use heavy cream in equal amounts.
• Here are the sweetener options you can use for this recipe:
  • ½ cup (70g) powdered erythritol + ¼ tsp stevia extract powder
  • ½ cup (70g) powdered erythritol + ¼ tsp monk fruit extract powder
  • ½ cup (70g) powdered xylitol
  • ½ tsp – ¾ tsp stevia extract powder
  • ½ cup coconut sugar or maple sugar for paleo option