Silky Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée

By Elizabeth Waterson // Oct 28, 2019 (Updated Mar 12, 2026) // 82 Comments

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This vanilla bean crème brûlée is a silky baked custard infused with real vanilla bean and finished with a crisp caramelized sugar topping. Heavy cream, egg yolks, and sugar bake gently in a water bath to create a smooth custard that's rich yet delicate. After chilling, a thin layer of sugar is torched until golden and crackly, creating that classic contrast between creamy custard and brittle caramel that makes crème brûlée such an elegant dessert.

Creme Brulee is a classic recipe you need in your repertoire. Served at fancy restaurants, luckily there is nothing fancy about making creme brulee. Just a few ingredients and a little patience will help you make this gorgeous custard with a caramelized hardtop.

One of my favorite things about creme brûlée is that you can make it ahead of time, the same reason I adore cheesecakes. So this is the perfect dessert to make for a dinner party, you can make the creme brulee up to two days ahead of time and torch the creme brulees right before serving.

You also need a good classic chocolate cake and vanilla cheesecake recipe.

freshly torched creme brulee in a ramekin

Custard Flavor Builders

Heavy cream: Provides the rich base that gives crème brûlée its signature silky texture.
Egg yolks: Thicken the custard during baking, creating a smooth and creamy consistency.
Vanilla bean: Infuses the cream with deep vanilla flavor and those classic specks throughout the custard.
Granulated sugar: Sweetens the custard and forms the crisp brûléed topping when caramelized.

This Creme Brulee Recipe is a great make-ahead recipe. Perfect for your dinner party when you have 1000 other things to worry about.

Baking is a science and to really achieve the best results I highly recommend investing in a kitchen scale. This OXO Kitchen Scale is the one I use and is also the number one recommended kitchen scale by Cook's Illustrated. Think about it -what one person scoops into a "cup" is completely different from what someone else scoops!

Featured Review

"So simple yet so good. These were so easy to make. And I loved that I was able to make them ahead so the day of I wasn't stressing. Seriously a foolproof recipe and absolutely Delicious"
Aisha

Jump to Recipe· 4.6 from 21 reviews

How to make creme brulee, step by step

knife scrapping a vanilla bean pod — Cut the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds out.

metal pot with heavy cream and vanilla bean pods and seeds — Cut the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds out.

hand separating egg yolks from egg whites into a bowl — Separate the egg yolks from the whites.

egg yolks and granulated sugar with a hand held mixer in a large glass bowl — Separate the egg yolks from the whites.

Save the egg whites for another use, like meringue cookies.

egg yolk and sugar whisked together in a large glass bowl — Mix until light in color.

warmed heavy cream poured into egg and sugar mixture — Mix until light in color.

vanilla bean flecks at the bottom of a metal pot — Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pot, all those vanilla beans are the flavor you need.

creme brulee mixture being strained into a clean mixing bowl — Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pot, all those vanilla beans are the flavor you need.

creme brulee mixture being poured into ramekins — Pour custard mixture evenly into ramekins.

creme brulees in a water bath — Pour custard mixture evenly into ramekins.

During the autumn season, I love to make my pumpkin creme brulee recipe.

I often make the recipe the day before, up to the chilling in the fridge part. Then right before serving sprinkle on your sugar and torch the top!

creme brulee missing a few bites with fresh berries on top on a white marble surface

No kitchen torch, no problem!

Yes, I prefer using a kitchen torch but you can turn your broiler on and put the creme brulees right underneath the oven's broiler and let cook for 2-3 minutes- watch it carefully as everyone's oven is different and you don't want the sugar completely burned black, just caramelized sugar on top of the creamy custard!

Expert Tips

Use real vanilla beans, you could use vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract but I don't think you get the same flavor and taste.
When making the custard be patient, I have learned the hard way that rushing can create a curdled custard. Specifically when you pour the hot cream into the egg yolk mixture do it slowly, the slower the better. You do not want the eggs to cook or curdle.
A water bath is necessary. I use a large roasting pan, add the ramekins, then pour the custard, and finally add the hot water right before going into the oven. After making creme brulee many times I have tried rushing Be very careful you don't want the water to splash into the custard.
You can take the leftover vanilla bean pod that was used to steep in the cream and add the pod to a bag of sugar to make vanilla sugar.
When "burning" the creme brulee make sure you put the full tablespoons and a half of sugar on top to ensure you have a nice crack when you break the creme brulee

★★★★★ Please let me know if you make this recipe by leaving a star rating and comment below!

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