The Best Vegan Crème Brûlèe recipe just happened in my kitchen!
If you were a lover of Crème Brûlèe in your past life, you are not going to believe you are eating a vegan version with this recipe!
With just 5 ingredients and only 3 of them are essential!
The most notable characteristic trait of the classic Crème Brûlèe
Is the warm caramelized sugar shell that you have to break through to get to the creamy custard beneath
In order to do this properly you should invest in a blow torch or kitchen brulee torch
Notes for Success:
Some people will use the broiler setting on the oven to burn the sugar, but this is not really the greatest idea
Since the broiler method could also turn your custard back to a warm pudding.
When measuring cornstarch I cannot stress enough that a kitchen scale is the best way to go.
Cornstarch is a very difficult ingredient to measure consistently with a volume spoons measure
So while I list both measures below I cannot stress enough how the grams measure with a scale is going to give you the best results.
Many times people have complained that their custard is like rubber and they don’t know why!
This is from a heavy measure of cornstarch when using volume measuring spoon vs the 100% accurate scale measure in grams.
*Note: The Vegan Butter is not an essential addition to this recipe
I like to add it though because traditional Non Vegan Creme Brulee is made with heavy cream which has a very high fat content
That fat lends to the creaminess and body of the final custard.
But as long as you are using the highest fat plant milk possible you can definitely leave it out
CLICK HERE FOR THE YOUTUBE VIDEO TUTORIAL FOR HOW TO MAKE THIS CREME BRULEE
For more awesome custard recipes click the links below!
No Bake Vegan Fruit and Custard Tart
The Ultimate Vegan Brooklyn Blackout Cake
White Chocolate Berry Cream Pie
- Fruit Tart
- Brooklyn Blackout Cake
- White Chocolate Berry Cream Pie
Vegan Crème Brûlèe Recipe

For the best results when working with custard recipes that call for cornstarch as the main thickener, it is really a good idea to WEIGH YOUR INGREDIENTS! Everyone has a different "hand" when measuring with volume cups & spoons and will almost definitely get a different result.
A heavy hand in measuring cornstarch could result in a very rubbery custard and not a creamy delicate one as you see here.
Ingredients
- Plant Milk *I use vanilla soy milk for best results 2½ cups (590ml)
- Granulated Sugar ½ cup (100g)
- Cornstarch 5 Tablespoons (40g) **see note above
- Vegan Butter *optional 1 Tablespoon (14g)
- Vanilla Extract or Paste 2 teaspoons (10ml)
- OR 1 vanilla bean scraped of it's seed and boiled with the plant milk *see notes below
- Grnaulated sugar 4-6 Tablespoons for caramelizing the tops
Instructions
- Combine the sugar & cornstarch together in a heavy bottom sauce pot, then add the plant milk
- Cook over medium heat stirring constantly with a whisk until it comes to a boil.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the vegan butter & vanilla
- *If you are using a vanilla bean you will split it and scrape it of it's seeds and boil the entire pod in the milk. Once it boils, remove the pod and dry it off, then add it to a bowl of granulated sugar tightly closed and use for vanilla sugar as the caramelizing sugar for the tops 🙂
- Pour the custard into un-greased ramekins and refrigerate to set - this should only take about 15-20 minutes
- Once set, sprinkle approximately 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar lightly over the tops, NOT A THICK LAYER, then using a torch (according to the instructions on your particular model) caramelize the tops
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Creme Brulee must be kept refrigerated and will stay fresh for up to 4 days
Do not caramelize the sugar until just before serving
Yeeeeeeeeeees!!!
I’m going to try this tomorrow with the vanilla bean pod. To clarify, I understand I should scrape the pod and boil the pod with the milk/sugar/corn starch mixture, but should I add the seeds after taking the mixture off the heat, or should the seeds be added during the boil?
Thank you!
Wow. This was scary good and scary easy. I’m still in shock.
LOL! YAY!
Made it for Christmas and it was delicious. Family has already asked me to make it again! Heck. Yeah.
Amazing! Used vegan eggnog instead of vegan milk, worked great!!!
YAY! great! thank you!