Orange Spice Greek Yogurt Creme Brûlée

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This recipe the dessert you can actually eat for breakfast and still call yourself a self-respecting adult—and even a fancy one at that!

Plain greek yogurt is naturally flavored with orange zest, vanilla extract, cinnamon and nutmeg, then covered with just enough sugar to brûlée! And the best part is, you don’t have to have a brûlée torch OR ramekins to make it!

Why You Should Make Orange Spice Greek Yogurt Creme Brûlée

This recipe is the perfect way to surprise and impress a special someone for breakfast—could even be yourself—while putting in minimal time and effort (no, really). Here are all the reasons why you’ll want to make this soon-to-be new breakfast favorite.

• 6 ingredients, 6 minutes: If you have greek yogurt, sugar, vanilla, an orange and some spices, this breakfast can come together in 6 minutes!
• Perfect breakfast for a weekday or weekend: this is a perfectly quick and light breakfast for a week day breakfast or combined with fruit, granola or your favorite breakfast side for any weekend morning.
• No special equipment needed: you don’t need a torch, special bowls or even a zester, but if you do have those things, it will make your life a tad easier (mostly the torch).

What Ingredients Do I Need To Make Orange Spice Greek Yogurt Creme Brûlée?

• Greek yogurt
• Vanilla extract
• Orange
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• White Sugar

How Do I Make Greek Yogurt Creme Brûlée?

Alright, so there are two ways to make this dish: the fancy way (aka with a torch and ramekins) and the regular people way (with any small glass bowl and without a torch). See below for the deets on both methods.

1. Mix yogurt. Add vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg and orange zest to greek yogurt and stir until just combined. If you don’t have a zester, you can use a cheese grater (I’ve had to do this in a pinch before)—just be sure not to over grate the orange and that the blades are sharp to get enough zest and not just get the oils. Don’t over stir your yogurt, or it will warm and lose its firmness, which will give it a texture more like traditional creme brûlée.
2. Place into ramekins. Divide yogurt between two 6-ounce ramekins and use the back of a spoon to smooth and level the surface. If you do not have a ramekin, place into small glass 3“ to 4” bowls.

   Optional: place in freezer for 10 minutes to chill yogurt further and give it more of a custard-like consistency.

3. Top with sugar. Pour sugar over the top of the yogurt being sure to coat as evenly as possible.
4. Brûlée sugar. Use a brûlée torch to brûlée sugar. If you do not have a brûlée torch, see the section below for alternative methods.

Can I make this recipe if I don’t Have a Brûlée torch?

Don’t have a fancy brûlée torch? It’s okay, neither do I (I borrowed my roommate’s to test this recipe). Here are some video tutorials with two different methods to get that hard crunchy top layer without one:

• Using a spoon: You can heat the back of a small teaspoon over a gas stove and use the heat from that spoon to melt the sugar. To find out how to do that, watch this short video.
• Meting sugar on a stovetop: You can also melt sugar on a stovetop and pour the melted sugar over the yogurt before it cools. Once it does cool, it will harden into a crunchy coating just like it would if you had used a torch. You can see exactly how this method works in this quick video.

If you are using either one of these methods, I would definitely recommend placing the yogurt in the freezer for about 10 minutes beforehand.

What Is the best kind of greek yogurt to use in greek yogurt creme Brûlée?

The best kind of greek yogurt to use in this recipe is a thicker yogurt with less moisture. This type of yogurt will help you get a thicker, more custard-like consistency and will better be able to hold up to the heat without turning into soup. To test this recipe, I used plain Fage 2% yogurt, which turned out pretty well. While I usually love Chobani yogurt, their greek yogurt tends to have a bit more liquid, which can leave you with a bit of a soupier result for this recipe.

If you only have Chobani yogurt and are trying to figure out what to do with it, I’d recommend that you consider making Greek Yogurt Cinnamon Rolls instead. This recipe does well with a higher moisture yogurt and is DE-licious (and obviously, I’m not biased).