Summer is heating up and what better way to cool down than with some ice cream? From traditional styles, to non-dairy, to those perfectly instagrammable sweets, we found some of the best tasty treats in town!
Here are the best places to get ice cream in Austin!
Amy’s Ice Cream
Multiple locations and times.
Amy’s is an Austin classic! Started in 1984 with handcrafted artisan ice cream, Amy’s is home to the famous “Mexican Vanilla” and have over 350 flavors that rotate in and out of each location for a new flavor adventure with every visit. They also have plenty of topping to choose from to crush into your ice cream.
The Baked Bear
211 Walter Seaholm Drive, Suite LR150
Open every day 12 p.m. to 11 p.m.
The Baked Bear is famous for their warm and delicious ice cream sandwiches. You get to choose which cookies you’d like for the top and bottom of your sandwich and one of the many flavors for the ice cream in the middle. You can even add any of the available toppings or to have it pressed to warm up your delicious ice cream cookie sandwich. If you aren’t in the mood for a whole sandwich, you can order just the ice cream or cookie on its own.
Bésame
3901 Promontory Point Drive
Open Wednesday through Friday from 4 to 9 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 12 to 9 p.m.
Chef-inspired, artfully balanced, nostalgia forward. Limited-Edition Pints drop every Thursday at 7:30 p.m. They have amazing creations like cookie choux puff filled ice cream, ice cream sandwiches, and pints! Their flavors are constantly changing but expect things like their Snack Attack! It consists of; pretzel ice cream, brookies, butterscotch swirl, Ruffles potato chip gravel and candied pecans. You just gotta try it for yourself! Plus waiting around for an pint drop every Thursday might be our favorite form of gambling!
Connor’s Creamery
12709 N. Mopac Expressway
Open Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Sunday from 12 to 9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 12 to 10 p.m.
Connor’s Creamery is a traveling ice cream trailer but you can currently find it at Garbo’s Lobster. They have all your ice cream classics; soft serve, ice cream floats, sundaes and hot chocolate with dozens of topping options. The best part is that you can book them for your next event! Nothing says you care like an entire ice cream truck surprise!
DipDipDip Ice Cream
7301 Burnet Rd., Ste. 101
Open Monday through Thursday from 3 to 10 p.m., Friday to Saturday from 1 to 11 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 10 p.m.
Funky fresh, artisanal ice cream. That’s exactly what you get with DipDipDip Ice Cream, aka Dip Dip Dip Tatsu-Ya’s sweet side piece! They have all the funky flavors adventures foodies are looking for. Their flavors include; miso PB&J, sum yum yuzu, matcha cha-cha, shroom of doom and Barney poo. And if you’re wondering, yes the miso PB&J does in fact have miso croutons in it!
Dolce Neve
1713 South 1st street and 1109 East 5th street
Open Sunday through Thursday from 12 to 9 p.m. and Friday to Saturday from 12 to 10 p.m.
Dolce Neve, which means “sweet snow”, was started by three Italians who found themselves in the US looking for authentic gelato. They eventually took matters into their own hands and opened up Dolce Neve. They have all the classic gelato flavors but also new and refreshing flavors like; mascarpone and matcha, fromage blanc and apricot Jam and even amaretto peach blackberry jam.
Frozen Rolls Creamery
704 North Lamar Boulevard
Open Monday through Thursday: 6 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. | Saturday through Sunday: 2 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.
Frozen Rolls Creamery offers a variety of thai style rolled ice cream choices with many flavors, toppings, and drizzles. They have tons of flavors with dairy-free options as well. You can get your rolled ice cream in a bowl or a waffle cone taco shell!
Gati Ice Cream
1512 Holly Street
Open daily from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Jam, owner and chef at Thai Fresh is also the owner and chef of Gati. Her small batch ice cream is coconut milk based and most flavors contain no more than 4 ingredients. They have over 40 rotating flavors which are all vegan and gluten free.
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
11601 Rock Rose Avenue, #110 | 1208 South Congress Avenue | 4616 Triangle Avenue, #200
Various times, find them here.
Jeni’s ice cream is made of a special blend of natural ingredients to create a uniquely smooth, bright and clean finish. They have a wide variety of flavors from “Gooey Butter Cake” to “Lemon and Blueberries Parfait.” The shop will even give you as many free samples as you would like to help you decide on which flavor to order. They’re all so delicious it might be hard to choose which one you like best!
Lick Honest Ice Cream
1100 S Lamar Boulevard, #1135 | 1905 Aldrich Street, #150 | 6555 Burnet Road, #200
Open Sunday through Thursday: 12 to 9 p.m. | Friday through Saturday: 12 to 10 p.m.
Lick Honest Ice Cream only uses the best of the best ingredients in their ice cream, never using artificial flavors. They pride themselves in using fresh, local dairy products from cows in Central Texas and only using sustainable cups, spoons, and napkins. They offer creative, seasonal flavors like “Cilantro Lime,” Dewberry Corn Cobbler,” and “Sweet Persimmon and Sage.”
Luv Fats
Multiple locations and times, find them here.
Luv Fats Ice Cream is a Black family run, local ice cream business that creates decadently, delicious coconut milk and avocado-based ice cream. They makes an effort to source from local vendors and makers in Austin as much as possible. Adventurous foodies, this ones for you! Some of their past flavors includes things like; sourdough toast and peach jam, soy sauce and caramel rosemary. Make sure you try their torched marshmallow fluff topping!
Manolis Ice Cream Pastries & Cakes
8907 Circle Drive
Open Friday through Sunday from 2 to 11 p.m.
Manolis is family run and operated and they make everything in house. On top of delicious ice cream they also have pastries, cakes, sherbet, Italian ice and ice cream pops! You really can’t go wrong with anything on their menu! If we were going to recommend something we would say try the dulce de leche ice cream cake pop and the stracciatella from their regular ice cream scoops!
NadaMoo!
Now sold in stores
NadaMoo! is home to the dairy-free coconut milk ice cream we know and love! This Austin family owned business has vegan, gluten-free, and non-GMO options that taste delicious. They closed their brick and mortar store that was located on South Lamar and now only sell pints grocery stores nationwide!
OMG Squee
4607 Bolm Road
Open Thursday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Dually named after their beloved dog Squeegee and the sound you make when you’re delighted, OMG Squee is a true labor of love. It is now, and always will be, 100% gluten free due to founder Sarah’s gluten allergy. You may have caught Sarah on Season 6 of Netflix’s ‘Queer Eye,’ where she was featured as one of the Austin Heroes! Back to the ice cream, they serve amazing gluten-free soft serve ice cream in flavors like ube, miso caramel, matcha milk, Mexican chocolate and black sesame! They also serve their soft-serve in a taiyaki mochi waffle! You’ll just have to try them and squee!
Sandy’s Hamburgers
603 Barton Springs Road
Open daily from 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Sandy’s is an Austin staple and has been since 1945. Their iconic sign isn’t an ice cream cone for nothing! Sandy’s offers delicious cones, shakes, malts, sundaes, floats and more! They all pair well with their yummy burgers!
The Yard Milkshake Bar
3400 Esperanza Crossing
Open Monday through Thursday: 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. | Friday through Sunday: 12 p.m. to 10 p.m.
The Yard Milkshake Bar is located in The Domain shopping center and serves specialty milkshakes and edible cookie dough. Their famous elaborately decorated and topped milkshakes come in many different flavors like “Cereal Killer,” “Dreamsicle,” “Chocolate Wasted,” “Cookie Monster,” and many more! The Yard got their start on the hit TV show “Shark Tank.” They are currently open for dine-in, to-go, and curbside pick-up.
Zed’s Real Fruit Ice Cream
1814 Harvey Street
Open Monday through Friday from 3 to 10 p.m. and Saturday through Sunday from 12 to 10 p.m.
New Zealand style ice cream made here in Austin! New Zealand style ice cream is just hard packed ice cream with frozen fruit blended into a creamy soft serve style treat! Zed’s has two base flavors, vanilla and dairy free vanilla. Then they have a selection or fruit, toppings and drizzles to choose from!
Want more Austin food features?
Check out these posts:
- Get Your Drive-Thru Food Fix From These Local Austin Restaurants
- Here’s Where To Get The Best Micheladas in Austin
- Salvage Your Austin Summer With These Activities and Events
Featured photo via Christin Hume on Unsplash
