Crème Brûlée Recipe (2024)

My homemade crème brûlée recipe uses just 5 ingredients! It’s surprisingly simple to make despite its sophisticated name and appearance. Recipe includes a how-to video to guide you through every step!

My Favorite Crème Brûlée Recipe

I’m adding creme brulee to my list of recipes that look fancy and complicated (that caramelized sugar topping! Those elegant accents over the letters!), but are really quite simple to make. In fact, this recipe is going straight to the top, right next to my chocolate lava cakes(another must-try this Valentine’s Day!).

While it may appear elite and intimidating, creme brulee really isn’t that difficult to make. Making the custard is similar to making pastry cream, and the brulee top takes seconds to accomplish. There is some technique involved and a few tools you will need (ramekins and a kitchen torch, both linked in the recipe), but I’ll walk you through every easy step.

Note: unlike my cheesecake recipes, we unfortunately have to use a water bath today. A water bath guarantees smooth, creamy, crack-free custard-which is exactly what we want! Don’t worry though, I’m sharing plenty of tips on what type of pan to use, how much to fill, and how to prevent leaks.

Let’s get started!

What You Need

Just 5 basic ingredients make this easy and impressive creme brulee recipe:

• Eggs. We’ll just be using the egg yolks today (scroll down for recipes that will use up the whites!), and we want them to be room temperature before we get started. Forgot to set yours out? Use my quick and easy trick for quickly bringing eggs to room temperature!
• Vanilla. I like using a vanilla bean, but I also include instructions for using vanilla extract if that’s what you have on hand.
• Heavy cream. Whipping cream or double cream will also work.
• Salt. For flavor!
• Sugar. I’ve tried topping this creme brulee recipe with everything from superfine (caster) sugar to coarse turbinado sugar, and honestly all of them have worked for me. My preference for the most even sugar coating is just regular granulated sugar though.

SAM’S TIP: I recommend lining the exterior of your ramekins with squares of aluminum foil to protect from any splashes from the water bath. Make sure the foil covers all sides of the ramekin and extends at least 2″ above the top of each ramekin. Not only does this protect your custard from water splashes, but it also makes removing the ramekins from the hot water a lot easier!

Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!

How to Make Creme Brulee

1. Start the custard – Bring 1 ½ cups of cream, sugar, salt, and a vanilla bean to a boil, then remove from heat. Let cool for 15 minutes, then remove the vanilla bean and pour in the remaining heavy cream.
2. Temper the eggs – Whisk together the egg yolks in a separate bowl, then gradually drizzle small amounts of the cream into the egg mixture while whisking. Continue to slowly add all cream, whisking nonstop until combined.
3. Strain and fill – Pour the mixture through a strainer before pouring into your ramekins. Fill each ramekin ⅔ of the way full.
4. Water bath – Fill your roasting pan with enough water that it reaches about ⅔ of the way up each ramekin (not the foil, the foil should be much higher).
5. Bake for 25-35 minutes at 300F, then remove from water bath at let sit on a cooling rack for about 20 minutes. Remove the foil and place in the fridge to chill for 4-6 hours.
6. Brulee and serve! When ready to serve, sprinkle sugar on the tops of each custard and use a kitchen torch tobrûlée the tops.

SAM’S TIP: Shake the ramekin from side to side gentlyto evenly distribute the sugar — you want an even coating. Once distributed, turn on your torch andbarely touch the tip of the flame to the sugar, moving constantly in a circular motion until all of the sugar is melted and caramelized. Make sure you keep that torch moving to avoid burning your sugar and cooking your custard!

Frequently Asked Questions

Looking for another fancy but easy French dessert? Try my madeleines next!

Enjoy!

Let’s bake together!I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe andvideobelow! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me onInstagram, and you can also find me onYouTubeandFacebook

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