Instant Pot Earl Grey Creme Brulee

My Instant Pot Earl Grey creme brulee has a light, creamy, melt in your mouth custard flavored with beautiful bergamot notes contrasted by a delicious crackly crust.

My last creme brulee turned out to be a big hit so I’m back with another recipe! This time, I’m taking the classic creme brulee to another level by infusing it with Earl Grey tea. The idea was inspired by my Earl Grey and honey blossom ice cream. If you’re a tea fan, you’ll love my Instant Pot Earl Grey creme brulee. The Instant Pot transforms the custard into a silky smooth, aromatic creme brulee contrasted by a crackly caramel crust.

Ingredient note

• Heavy cream: I’ve tested this recipe with different ratios of milk and heavy cream and found that the tastiest result is with straight heavy cream.
• Earl Grey tea: I used loose Earl Grey tea leaves to infuse flavor into the custard. My favorite Earl Grey teas are from Tea Guys and Harney.

Tips for making the custard

For the custard, I let the mixture steep for 10 minutes to infuse the flavor of Earl Grey into the cream. If you let the tea steep for more than 10 minutes, you'll get a bitter note. The warm custard is used to temper the egg yolk sugar mixture. I always strain my custard to get rid of the small pieces of scrambled eggs or residual egg whites to get the smoothest texture.

Tips for making creme brulee in the Instant Pot

I love making creme brulee in the Instant Pot because it cuts the time in half from prep to finish compared to the traditional oven method with the water bath. If you’re making creme brulee in the Instant Pot for the first time, read through these tips will help you achieve the best tasting creme brulee.

• Cooking the Earl Grey creme brulee on LOW pressure results in the lightest, creamiest custard.
• Cook the creme brulee in batches for consistent result.
• Add in ½ cup of water in between batches because the Instant Pot needs water to generate the steam necessary to cook the custard.
• Cover the ramekins tightly with foil to prevent condensation from dripping on the custard.
• The center should be jiggly and and edges set. The custard will firm up considerably in the refrigerator. If it’s still liquid in the center, cook for an additional 2 minutes on low pressure.
• Let the pressure naturally release for 10 minutes before you release the rest of the pressure.
• It’s important to refrigerate the creme brulee for at least 4 hours for the texture to set properly.

How long to cook the creme brulee

In general, these are the cooking times and correspond volumes that worked for me: ¼ cup takes 3 minutes, ½ cup takes 5 minutes, ¾ cup takes 6 minutes. If you’re making the creme brulee in one large dish, cook on LOW pressure for 18 minutes.

If you don’t have an Instant Pot, you can still make this delicious Earl Grey creme brulee. Just follow the instructions from my matcha creme brulee recipe using the conventional oven and water bath method.

How to brulee the sugar crust

When ready to serve, remove the Earl Grey creme brulee from the fridge and get ready to make that caramel, crackly top. Sprinkle the entire surface with granulated sugar and use a propane torch to caramelize (or burnt) the sugar. My favorite torch is the Bernzomatic torch. If you don’t have a torch, you can use your oven on its broiler setting to get the layer of sugar melted and caramelized.

Grab your spoon and get ready to crack through that caramelized top for the ultimate creme brulee experience. The exquisite flavor of bergamot shines through the creamy, melt in your mouth custard while the crackly caramel crust and fresh blackberries make my Instant Pot Earl Grey creme brulee completely irresistible.

For more Instant Pot dessert inspiration, check these recipes: IP blood orange creme brulee, IP blood orange flan, IP fig goat cheesecake.