This green tea mochi ice cream is the perfect combination of chewy mochi skin and creamy, soft matcha ice cream. With detailed instructions, get a taste of Japan’s finest right in your kitchen!
Who knew that making your own mochi ice cream balls at home isn’t as complicated as you thought it is. Plus it’s fun to make, healthier and cheaper than buying the store-bought ones!
Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Made with 100% plant-based ingredients 🌱
- Detailed step-by-step instructions: Essential, especially for an intricate recipe like this!
- It’s like a mini vacation to Japan without leaving your kitchen. 🌏
- Naturally gluten-free!
Ingredients
- 🍦 Matcha ice cream
- You can also make your own just by using 1 pint of vanilla ice cream with 2 Tablespoons of matcha powder!
- 🍵 Matcha powder: Vibrant green tea powder that adds a distinctive, earthy taste that we all love.
- Speaking of matcha powder, check out my coconut matcha latte, mango matcha latte, or lavender matcha latte if you prefer the drink form instead!
- 🍚 Glutinous rice flour: The flour that gives mochi its signature chewy texture. You can buy them at your local Asian grocery stores! Some popular brands are the Erawan (Elephant) brand, Lotus brand, and Sunlee.
- 💧 Water: The essential liquid for creating the mochi dough.
- 🍬 Sugar: Keeps the mochi dough soft especially when frozen.
- 🌽 Corn starch: Used for dusting and preventing sticking in the mochi-making process. Feel free to sub with potato starch.
Is Green Tea Mochi Ice Cream Healthy?
Matcha itself has many health benefits such as boosting brain health, being a powerhouse of antioxidants, and might even help in preventing cancer as outlined in this Healthline article.
However, due to the addition of sugar and other processed ingredients, I wouldn’t exactly say that it’s a health food. For healthier options, get an ice cream that is lower in sugar, and definitely just be especially mindful when you’re eating this!🧘♀️
Or, consider making my Nutella Mochi Daifuku Balls instead, where you can use my Homemade Vegan Nutella (with Dates) to make it free from any refined sugar! 🍫
Or, you can make the mochi skin without sugar, but just make small mochi balls as the toppings for your green tea ice cream. This way, you don’t have to freeze the mochi skin such that it will stay soft and sugar-free!
Equipment
Here are a few pieces of equipment that will make your life that much easier when making this matcha ice cream mochi.
- Ice cream scoop. Let’s face it. You really need to make a nice ice cream ball for this recipe and there’s no other way to do it other than getting an ice cream scoop. And nope, fruit scoopers won’t work as well.
- Rolling pin. It beats the common substitutes like wine bottles or glasses. Plus, once you’ve tried this green tea mochi ice cream, you’ll likely want to make it again, so why not invest in a rolling pin?
- A small sieve is handy for dusting. A compact, handheld one will do the job perfectly.
- Lastly, consider using parchment paper as these mochis are very sticky. It’ll save you the hassle of cleaning by preventing them from adhering to your baking sheet or work surface.
Step-by-step Instructions
Part 1: Prepare the Ice Cream
Make the matcha ice cream: Divide your vanilla ice cream into 2 containers, add 1 Tablespoon of matcha powder to each container, and mix.
You might need to wait a bit until the ice cream thaws enough so it can be stirred relatively easily.
Scoop: Scoop out 9 ice cream balls onto a baking sheet, then freeze for at least 2 hours, but best overnight.
If your ice cream feels soft, freeze them first before scooping them into balls. Freezing will help them keep their shape well!
Part 2: Make the Mochi Dough
Mix and microwave: Mix all the mochi dough ingredients together in a large bowl. Cover with a large plate and microwave for 2 minutes at 750 Watts.
Stir and microwave: Stir the mixture, then microwave further for 30 seconds. Repeat in 10-second intervals as long as the dough looks watery.
Part 3: Cut Out the Mochi Dough
Dust: Dust your working surface, add the mochi dough, and dust the mochi dough again to prevent the dough from sticking to your rolling pin.
Roll and cut: Roll out the dough. Using a small bowl, cut out as many circles as you can.
Re-roll and cut: Re-roll the remaining dough, and cut out circles again.
Dust and stack: Layer a piece of plastic cling wrap, then the mochi skin on top. Repeat with the remaining mochi circles. Note that you might need to dust with a bit more cornstarch to prevent sticking.
Refrigerate: Let it cool down for about 15 minutes.
You can also make small mochi balls as toppings, instead of continuing with the steps below to wrap the ice cream inside the mochi. This would save you a lot of time and effort!
Part 4: Folding Time!
Brush off: Now take out one cling wrap + mochi skin. Brush off any excess cornstarch.
Place: Place one scoop of matcha ice cream in the center of the mochi dough, with the round side of the ice cream facing downward. Keep the remaining ice cream in the freezer to prevent melting.
Fold: Fold the top and bottom of the mochi dough into the middle of the ice cream. Repeat the process with the left and right sides.
Pull corners of the cling wrap: Next, pull up the corners of the plastic wrap to the center and twist it to seal the mochi ball. Immediately return it to the freezer.
Repeat: Repeat the two steps above for the remaining mochi balls.
Freeze: Freeze the matcha ice cream mochi for at least 1 hour, but best overnight. And speaking of frozen treats, you might also like my Chocolate Covered Grapes!
If these steps intimidate you, make my 5-minute matcha affogato instead. It’s absolutely delicious!
Top Tips
- Be generous when dusting with corn starch.
- You can always shake off the excess if you put too much, while on the other hand, you might risk breaking your mochi skin if you put too little as it might stick to the parchment paper.
- Do NOT skip adding sugar.
- I try my best to not add sugar, in fact, this is my only recipe that includes refined sugar. But without sugar, your mochi dough will be very hard when frozen.
- Make sure that your plastic cling wrap is large enough. The shortest side should be at least twice as long as your mochi dough circles.
- You can customize the flavor by swapping out the matcha powder with chocolate powder, or by using another ice cream flavor!
Storage and Meal Prep / Make Ahead Instructions
Storage: Store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 1 month. Note that the longer it sits in the freezer, the more time you will need for it to thaw before consuming it.
Meal Prep / Make Ahead: This is the perfect recipe to make ahead for your parties, or to meal prep! They freeze beautifully for up to 1 month, so you can make a batch in advance and have them ready whenever you crave a sweet, chewy delight! 🍦🍡🍵
To serve, thaw for about 15 minutes before consuming. The time required for thawing depends on how long it has been stored in the freezer.
FAQ
Want More Japanese(-inspired) Dessert / Snack Recipes?
Then you should definitely check out my Nutella Mochi Daifuku recipe, which can be made sugar-free when made with my Vegan Nutella with Dates recipe.
If you’re a huge fan of matcha🍵 like I am, check out these recipes:
- My Viral Healthy Matcha Flax Seed Pudding recipe
- Baked Oats Without Banana (with 5 variations, including a matcha and dark chocolate variation)!
For some savory Japanese(-inspired) recipes, I have a selection of sushi you can choose from, such as:
Matcha (Green Tea) Mochi Ice Cream Balls, Step-by-step
Equipment
- ice cream scoop
- large bowl
- sieve (for dusting)
- Rolling Pin
- pastry brush (optional, but recommended)
- plastic cling wrap
Ingredients
- 1 pint (16 oz or 473ml) green tea ice cream (or vanilla ice cream + 2 Tablespoons matcha powder); get your favorite vegan ice cream if you're vegan!
- 1 cup glutinous rice flour
- 2 teaspoons matcha powder
- 3 Tablespoons (45 grams) sugar
- 1 cup water
- corn starch for dusting
Instructions
Part 1 – Preparations
- Transfer half of your vanilla ice cream onto another large container. Add half of the matcha powder to each container and mix them evenly. You might need to slightly thaw the ice cream to make it easier to mix. However, be careful that you do not fully thaw the ice cream until it turns into liquid to keep its texture.
- Scoop out 9 ice cream balls onto any flat container. When scooping, flat out the excess ice cream using a utensil knife so you get a flat bottom.TIP: If your ice cream is a bit too soft now, freeze them first before scooping them into balls. Freezing will help them keep their shape well!
- Freeze your ice cream balls for at least 2 hours (although overnight is best) so that they are frozen solid.
Part 2 – Making the mochi dough
- Combine the glutinous rice flour, matcha powder, sugar, and water in a large microwave-safe bowl. Using a silicone spatula, mix until there are no more clumps.
- Cover the bowl with a large plate or plastic wrap. Then microwave for 2 minutes at 750W.
- After microwaving, stir the mixture for about 10 seconds. They don't have to be fully mixed, as long as they're roughly mixed.
- Microwave again for 30 seconds, keeping it covered.
- If the mixture remains slightly watery, microwave in 10-second intervals until it reaches the desired consistency.
Part 3 – Cutting out the mochi dough
- Cover any large cutting board, baking sheet, or any flat surface with parchment paper. Then using a sieve, sprinkle cornstarch generously.
- Place the dough onto the dusted surface. Dust again with more cornstarch using a sieve, to prevent the dough from sticking to the rolling pin.
- Using a rolling pin, shape the dough into a large rectangle.
- Use a small bowl to cut the dough into circles. Be sure to cut the circles as close as possible to each other. You might need to sprinkle the tip of your cookie cutter/bowl with some corn starch to prevent it from sticking.
- If you have a lot of dough left, you can repeat the rolling and cutting to get more mochi dough circles.
- Once you've used up all the mochi to get the mochi circles, stack each mochi skin on top of a plastic wrapper. Then repeat with the other mochi circles, stacking one plastic foil + mochi layer on top of another. Remember to sprinkle enough corn starch on top of each mochi circle to prevent sticking.
- Refrigerate for about 15 until they cool down.This step is important since the ice cream melts easily so we want to keep our mochi skin cold.
Part 4 – Wrapping Time!
- Once the mochi skin is cold, take one cling wrap + mochi skin out. Brush off the extra corn starch so your mochi doesn't taste too starchy.
- Using a flat spoon, put 1 scoop of matcha ice cream in the middle of the mochi dough, with the round side of the ice cream facing the bottom of the plate. Leave the rest of the ice cream in the freezer so they don't melt.
- Wrap the mochi by first folding the top and bottom of the mochi dough into the middle of the ice cream. Repeat with the left and right sides.
- Then pull up the corners of the plastic wrap to the center and twist to seal the ball. Immediately put it back to the freezer.
- Repeat the two steps above, making one mochi ball at a time while leaving the rest in the freezer.
- Freeze the mochi further for at least 1 hour before serving, or overnight for the best texture.
Notes
- Be generous when dusting with corn starch.
- You can always shake off the excess if you put too much, while on the other hand, you might risk breaking your mochi skin if you put too little as it might stick to the parchment paper.
- Do NOT skip adding sugar. I try my best to not add sugar, in fact, this is my only recipe that includes refined sugar. But without sugar, your mochi dough will be very hard when frozen.
- Make sure that your plastic cling wrap is large enough. The shortest side should be at least twice as long as your mochi dough circles.
- You can customize the flavor by swapping out the matcha powder with chocolate powder, or by using another ice cream flavor!
- Store them in the freezer for up to 1 month. The longer it sits in the fridge, the more time you would need to let it thaw a little bit first before it’s too cold for you to eat.
Great recipe with clear explanation.
She’s right y’all. Work with your mochi one by one, keeping the rest in the fridge. I still have a couple of them left and definitely looking forward to savoring them!
We’re hooked. Made this one and the nutella mochi at the same time. This recipe required more work but the matcha mochi ice cream we get at the end, tastes so divine!
Delicious mochi recipe and clear instructions 🙂