Matcha Rice Krispies Treats, Simple Snack Made for Adults

These Matcha Rice Krispies Treats recipe take the beloved kids' dessert and turn it into a uniquely flavored, not-too-sweet treat for us. Put "green tea" in anything and suddenly it's a health food, right? Shall we?

Explore More

• How to Incorporate Matcha Into Rice Krispies Treats
• What Ingredients You Need for Matcha Rice Krispies Treats
• Which Matcha Powder Should You Use for Cooking?
• Best Recipes with Matcha
• What is Brown Butter and How Do You Make It
• Matcha Rice Krispies Treats with Brown Butter Recipe

How to Incorporate Matcha Into Rice Krispies Treats

Look, you COULD just dump a couple tablespoons of matcha green tea powder into the ubiquitous 3-ingredient Rice Krispies Treats recipe that's on the back of every cereal box and bag of marshmallows. And you WOULD just come up with something bright green and pretty good, but it'll probably be a little dry and probably be a little bitter, and those are qualities we only want in our personalities, not snacks.

What you SHOULD do is use this recipe for Matcha Rice Krispies Treats with a few tweaks to the original recipe:

• Brown butter to deepen the caramelly, umami flavor that will balance the naturally bitter flavor of matcha
• Less cereal so there's more marshmallow sweetness and stretchiness to each treats
• Add only 1½ tablespoons matcha so it has that bright, grassy flavor without too much bitterness
• Add vanilla extract and sea salt, both of which increase the aura of sweetness without actually adding any sugar

What Ingredients You Need for Matcha Rice Krispies Treats

Fresh/refrigerator ingredients:

• Butter, ¼ cup or ½ stick

Dry/pantry ingredients:

• Marshmallows, 1 10-oz bag mini or large
• Rice Krispies cereal, 5 cups 
• Matcha powder, 1½ tablespoons
• vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon 
• Sea salt, ½ teaspoon

Matcha is a Japanese green tea powder made from dried Camellia sinensis tea leaves, which are the same tea leaves used to make regular brewed green tea, white tea, and black teas. However, rather than brewing the dried tea leaves and drinking the liquid like regular tea, for matcha you whisk the fine powder into liquid and consume all of it. Matcha powder doesn't dissolve.

While there are several factors that distinguish different matchas from each other, e.g. country of production, terroir of the specific region, organic vs non-organic, what we generally care about when it comes to baking and cooking is whether the matcha is ceremonial grade or culinary grade.

Ceremonial grade matcha is considered the highest grade. Producers harvest leaves earlier in the season from the youngest, shade-grown plants. Ceremonial grade matcha is bright, verdant green in color, has a sweet, herbal and smooth flavor, thus making it the best for drinking by itself as a tea.

You certainly can use a ceremonial grade matcha for baking and cooking, but it is almost always more expensive and kind of a waste to not to enjoy it by itself.

Culinary grade matcha comes from slightly older leaves or later harvests. It has a more robust flavor, and is intended to hold its flavor and color when mixed with stronger flavored ingredients like the sugary marshmallows and brown butter in this recipe. Culinary grade matcha gives good color and flavor without being too delicate or “lost” in the mix.

Best Recipes with Matcha

• Matcha Chia Pudding
• Matcha Butter Mochi
• Matcha Olive Oil Cake
• Matcha White Chocolate Bark

What is Brown Butter and How Do You Make It

Brown butter is regular butter that’s been gently cooked until most of the water has evaporated. The milk solids turn golden brown to develop a deep, nutty aroma and flavor. It has a richer, toastier flavor and more umami, and who doesn't love more umami?

To make brown butter:

• slowly melt the butter over low heat on the stove
• let the butter foam and bubble to evaporate off the water
• continue gently cooking until the milk solids coagulate, sink, and start to brown into "bits."

The liquid butter will turn a deeper golden amber, and will smell toasty.

I've included these instructions with the recipe below.

Pro-tip: If you're taking the step to make brown butter, might as well brown an entire stick of butter (8 tablespoons)! This will render about 6 tablespoons of browned butter after the water evaporates off. Measure out 3 tablespoons along with some of the browned bits, and save the rest in the refrigerator for any future use!

Food for Afterthoughts

Jules: Crème brulée can never be Jello. You could never be Jello.
Kimmy: I have to be Jello!
Jules: You're never gonna be Jello!

This is a scene from My Best Friend's Wedding is one of my all-time favorite rom-coms. Julia Roberts' character, Jules, is trying to convince Kimmy, played by Cameron Diaz, that someone as classy as she (Kimmy) couldn't possibly be right for someone as plain as Dermot Mulroney's character, Michael. Jules says that Kimmy is creme brulee, and that Michael needs a simple girl who's just Jello.

I am Jello. I like simple things. I don't own any designer handbags, purses, or clothing. I drive a reliable car, and even here in LA where everyone drives, even two blocks to the market, I took the Big Blue Bus to work whenever I could. Sure, I can appreciate the finer things in life, but I'm most certainly not a classy, sophisticated creme brulée. I don't even like creme brulée. In fact, I've never really liked any desserts in creme brulee's family like custards, puddings, flan, and creme caramel.

But I do like a Rice Krispies Teat.