Matcha gelato

A milk gelato with Japanese green tea: a grassy aroma, gentle bitterness and a deep green colour with no colouring.

Matcha is a powder made from shade-grown green tea leaves that is not steeped but whisked straight into liquid — which is why you can build an ice cream on it without brewing and without watering down the mix. In flavour round-ups for 2026 matcha is a fixture among the leading themes, and Slovak makers list it among the flavours that resonate right now. A gelato base suits it better than a cream base: less fat means the tea flavour is not coated over and comes through at once. Note that matcha contains caffeine — this is not a dessert for children or for late in the evening.

Type: Italian gelato · Servings: 8 · Difficulty: Moderate

Equipment

Ingredients

  • 640 g whole milk 3.5 %
  • 110 g whipping cream 33 %
  • 40 g skimmed milk powder
  • 15 g matcha (powder) (culinary grade is enough; ceremonial grade is finer)
  • 135 g granulated sugar (sucrose)
  • 45 g dextrose (glucose powder)
  • 2 g locust bean gum (carob gum, E410) (or 3 g of ready-made gelato stabiliser)
  • 1 g guar gum (E412)

Making the mix

  1. Mix the locust bean gum and guar gum thoroughly with the dry sugars (granulated sugar and dextrose). On their own they would form lumps as soon as they get wet.
  2. Sift the matcha through a fine sieve into a small bowl — without sifting you will get dark lumps in the ice cream.
  3. Pour the milk, cream and milk powder into a pan and heat, whisking. When the mixture is lukewarm (about 40 °C), gradually add the sugars and stabiliser and whisk until dissolved.
  4. Heat the mix to 85 °C (check with a thermometer) and hold it there for 1–2 minutes, stirring constantly. This pasteurises the mix and fully hydrates the stabiliser.
  5. Take out about 100 ml of the hot mix and whisk it into the sifted matcha a little at a time until you have a smooth, lump-free paste. Return the paste to the pan and stir it in thoroughly.
  6. Pass the mix through a fine sieve so no leaf fragments are left in it.
  7. Cool the mix quickly in a bowl set in iced water.
  8. Cover and age in the fridge for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.

Method — Compressor ice cream maker

  1. Switch on the ice cream maker 5–10 minutes ahead so the bowl can pre-chill.
  2. Pour in the chilled mix no higher than the fill line (with a smaller bowl, churn in two batches) and churn for 30–40 minutes, until it has the consistency of thick whipped cream.
  3. Transfer to a chilled container, press cling film onto the surface and leave to harden in the freezer for 2 hours.

Total time: 8 h 35 min

Method — Freezer-bowl ice cream maker

  1. Take the frozen bowl out of the freezer just before use, fit the paddle and switch the machine on.
  2. With the machine running, pour in the chilled mix — no more than two-thirds full; freeze the rest as a second batch.
  3. Churn for 20–30 minutes, until the ice cream thickens. There’s no point going longer — by then the bowl has warmed up.
  4. Transfer to a chilled container and leave to harden in the freezer for 3 hours.

Freeze the bowl for at least 24 hours beforehand (until you can no longer hear the coolant sloshing inside). The mix must be thoroughly chilled.

Total time: 9 h 25 min

Method — Ninja CREAMi and similar machines

  1. Divide the chilled mix between CREAMi tubs, filling each no higher than the MAX line (a full batch makes about two standard tubs).
  2. Put the lids on and freeze on a level surface for 24 hours.
  3. Place a tub in the machine and run the Gelato program.
  4. If the ice cream is crumbly or powdery, run Re-spin (many users add 1–2 tablespoons of milk first).

Programme: Gelato

Only some models (such as the Deluxe range) have a Gelato program. If yours doesn’t, use the Ice Cream program. A standard tub holds about 470 ml, a Deluxe tub about 700 ml. Don’t fill above the MAX line, and freeze it level — the machine doesn’t handle an uneven block well.

Total time: 30 h 5 min

Stages

Preparation
15 min
Cooking
15 min
Cooling
30 min
Ageing in the fridge
5 h
Churning
35 min
Hardening in the freezer
2 h
Total time
8 h 35 min

Plan: what to do and when

The whole recipe takes 8 h 35 min, of which 30 min is hands-on — the rest is waiting you can spend elsewhere.

The day before (6 h)

  • Prepare the mix (weigh and stir the ingredients) — 15 min
  • Cook the mix — 15 min
  • Cool the mix down — 30 min
  • Let the mix age in the fridge — 5 h

On the day of serving (2 h 35 min)

  • Churn in the machine — 35 min
  • Let it harden in the freezer — 2 h

Serving and storage

It is excellent with white chocolate or a few raspberries, which balance the bitterness of the matcha. Gelato is served warmer than cream ice cream, at −11 to −13 °C. Move the tub from the freezer to the fridge 15–20 minutes before serving and work it with a spatula before scooping.

In a sealed container with cling film pressed onto the surface it’s best within a week; after that, ice crystals start to build up. Never refreeze ice cream that has melted. The green colour fades in the light, so keep the tub closed.

Tips

  • Matcha turns bitter and loses its colour if it is boiled for long. That is why it goes in after pasteurisation, into a mix taken off the heat.
  • The quality of the powder decides everything: pale, greyish matcha is usually old and tastes of hay. A deep green powder gives the ice cream both colour and aroma with no colouring.
  • Want a stronger flavour? Add another 3–5 g of matcha. Above 25 g for this batch the bitterness drowns out everything else.
  • You can buy locust bean gum and guar gum in health food shops. To do without a stabiliser, stir 15 g of cornflour (cornstarch) into a little cold milk, whisk it into the mix and simmer for 2 minutes. The ice cream will be slightly denser.

Why it works

Matcha is the whole leaf ground up, so it brings fibre and protein into the mix — solids that do not freeze and that thicken it. Fifteen grams raises total solids by about 1.5 percentage points; the fat stays at around 6 %, which is typical gelato territory. Anti-freezing power (PAC) tells you how much water stays unfrozen at a given temperature — the higher it is, the softer the ice cream. Dextrose has almost twice the anti-freezing power of granulated sugar but is less sweet, which is why the two sugars are combined.

Related recipes

  • Matcha frozen yogurt

    Green frozen yogurt with matcha — gently bitter, refreshing and lighter than cream-based matcha ice cream.

  • Matcha mochi

    Green mochi filled with matcha ice cream — slightly bitter green tea balances the sweet rice dough.

How we calculate the composition · What PAC and POD mean · Balance this mix in the calculator

Sources