The 5 best crème brûlée torches

A crème brûlée torch isn't a separate device. It's a gas torch with a jet flame, exactly the same thing we call a lighter, and you'll find them in our crème brûlée torches collection.

If you search for a torch and see lighters everywhere, you might think you're searching wrong. You're not.

The best crème brûlée torch for most people is the Champ High Quattro at 14,95 euro. It has four jet flames side by side, making the flame wide enough to caramelise a ramekin in one go instead of ten little passes.

The lock button also keeps the flame burning without holding it down, and you'll notice that after four desserts in a row. All five are in stock with us. The heavier Champ Extreme weighs 333 grams, and you'll feel that after four ramekins in a row.

Sugar caramelises at around 160 degrees, and it has to happen fast. Linger too long in the same spot and the custard underneath warms up with it, and you lose exactly what it's all about: a crackling layer on a cold cream.

A torch that's up to the job does three things well. It gives a jet flame instead of an ordinary yellow flame, because a jet flame burns under pressure at around 1300 degrees while a yellow flame gets stuck around 800.

It has a flame that's wide enough, so you don't have to work in patches with one edge already brown before the other has started. And you have to be able to keep it burning longer than a few seconds without your thumb giving up.

On those three points, the five torches below are in order.

Making the odd dessert for the family? Then the Champ High Quattro is more than enough. Wide enough, hands-free, and not expensive.

Regularly torching for eight people? Get the Champ Extreme. It's heavier, but it doesn't heat up in your hand when you keep going.

Little space in the kitchen drawer? The Atomic Quattro is the smallest model with four flames and has an adjustable flame height.

Does the torch just sit out on the counter? Then the child lock on the Champ Tatin is worth it.

Looking for something that works, as cheap as possible? The PyroTorch Quattro costs 9,95 euro and has the same four flames as the number one pick.

The width of the flame

This is the difference between a minute of work and five minutes of fiddling. One narrow jet flame caramelises a circle of a centimetre or two; four flames side by side take a good part of the dish in one pass. For one dessert it makes little difference, for six it does.

Table burner or hand torch

A table burner stands upright on a foot: you set it down, pick it up, torch and put it back. A hand torch has a grip and sits like a pistol in your hand.

For crème brûlée both work, but a table burner is handier when you are working with several dishes, because you simply set it down in between. All five above are table burners. If you are after a model with a grip, have a look at our hand torches.

Burning on without your thumb

One dish easily takes twenty to forty seconds of continuous flame. On a burner with a lock button or on/off slide you fix the flame and only hold the burner. Without that button you stand there squeezing, and by the third dish that starts to annoy you.

Gas or electric

Electric crème brûlée burners exist, with a glowing plate that you press onto the sugar. Those melt the sugar rather than caramelise it, and you do not get an even layer with them. A gas burner with a jet flame does it better, faster and for less money.

Refillable or disposable

All five burners above are refillable with butane gas. A bottle of 300 ml fills a burner dozens of times and takes ten seconds. Disposable burners seem cheaper until you buy the third, and there is a reason not a single disposable sits in our refillable lighters.

Whether you use it for anything else

Most people do not buy these burners for desserts alone. The same jet flame lights a barbecue, a fire bowl or a wood stove, and a long pen lighter like the PyroPen Turbo works fine on sugar, only slower because the flame is narrow.

If you mainly light a fireplace, have a look at our top 5 fireplace lighters instead.

For the vast majority of people, the Champ High Quattro is the best crème brûlée torch of 2026. Four flames, a lock button and 14.95 euros is a combination the rest of the list can't get around. If you torch more often and more, the heavier Champ Extreme is worth the extra money.

Still in doubt? Then take your time going through the whole list. They all do the same job, they just don't all do it equally fast.