15 Cool and Innovative Ice Cream Trucks
Today's new breed of ice cream trucks have gourmet products to offer, including artisanal ice cream, homemade toppings, and other new exciting sweets to try.
That oh-so-familiar ice cream truck jingle conjures up memories of classic ice cream sandwiches, brightly-colored characters with gumball eyes, push-up pops, and many more iconic frozen treats. But the newest ice cream trucks are selling gourmet products, including artisanal ice cream, homemade toppings, and other new exciting sweets to try. Check out 15 innovative ice cream trucks that will inspire a desire to chase down these modern purveyors.
Looking for more frozen treats? Check out the best popsicles in the U.S.
Itizy Handcrafted Ice Cream, New York City
Itizy churns out small batches of high-quality ice cream in New York City using fresh cream from a local not-for-profit dairy cooperative. Fan favorites include Coffee Brownie, Mint Stracciatella, and Blueberry Mojito Sorbet. The Coffee Brownie ice cream is made with real coffee and features baked-from-scratch brownie crumbles, Mint Stracciatella has fresh mint leaves steeped in the cream base, and Blueberry Mojito is a refreshing sorbet full of blueberries, lime juice, mint, and a hint of rum. As if the mouthwatering flavors aren't reason enough to visit Itizy, the company donates one school meal to a child in need (thought the UN World Food Program) for every five scoops of ice cream sold.
Scoop, Portland, OR
Amanda Rhoads started Scoop Handmade Ice Cream after noticing the lack of freshly-made artisan ice cream in Portland. She was so passionate about the project that she learned how to make artisanal ice cream herself. Now the business boasts over 30 flavors, including Cake Batter, Irish Coffee, Salted Caramel, and Green Tea. And if you're craving something that hasn't yet been added to the menu, Scoop will work with you to make a unique flavor for special orders.
Parfait Organic Artisan Ice Cream, Seattle
Parfait describes its ice cream with a rhyme: "small batch, made from scratch." Everything on this Seattle-based truck — which will soon have a brick-and-mortar location — is homemade and contains high-quality ingredients. The custard ice cream base only contains four ingredients: milk, cream, sugar, and eggs. Each cone is made with a special iron and hand-rolled, which produces a beautiful pattern and delicious result. Parfait offers all the typical classics as well as some standouts, like Ballard Bee Honey, Milk Chocolate Chai, Meyer Lemon, and Toasted Hazelnut.
Zsa's Gourmet Ice Cream, Philadelphia
Zsa's sells small batch, artisanal ice cream to Philadelphia residents out of its small, but festive blue truck. They sell flavors by the pint, but also serve up scoops, sandwiches, and homemade baked goods. Current flavors include Chocolate Truffle, Vanilla, Salted Caramel, Maple Toffee Graham, and more. Cookies used in sandwiches range from Salted Toffee Almond Graham Crackers to Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Oatmeal.
Coolhaus, Multiple Cities
The Coolhaus ice cream truck was named after architectural movements and architects themselves. Natasha and Freya, partners in cookie crime, began experimenting with homemade ice cream cookie sandwiches in 2008. Now the duo owns four trucks and one shop in Los Angeles, New York, Austin, and Miami. The sandwiches, which are stuffed to the brim with the ice cream of your choice, can be made with a variety of cookies. Flavors range from Classic Chocolate Chip to Potato Chip and Butterscotch, Red Velvet, and even some vegan varieties. Ice cream filling selections include Dirty Mint Julep, Green Tea, Nutella Rocky Road, and Sweet Potato and Marshmallow, to name just a few of the 50 options on rotation. Their products are sustainable and organic whenever possible — even the wrapper around the ice cream sandwich is 100% natural and edible!
Van Leeuwen, New York City
Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream makes its creamy treats using only hormone- and antibiotic-free milk, local cream, cane sugar, and egg yolks. They use high-quality ingredients for their ice cream flavors, which include classics like Mint Chip, Strawberry, and Chocolate, but also Earl Grey, Currants and Cream, Palm Sugar, and Sticky Black Rice. Their six trucks and three stores can be found around Manhattan and Brooklyn. The creamy concoctions are served with biodegradable cups, spoons, and napkins.
Hello! Ice Cream, Michigan
Hello! Ice Cream serves scoops of gelato and gelato-based frozen treats out of an adorable green vintage ice cream truck named Ingrid. Everything on the truck is made fresh with gelato flavors, like Espresso, Stracciatella, Banana, and Salted Caramel. The rich and creamy product can be served as is or found in gelato pops, cakes, mini cones, and gelato jewels (balls of gelato on a stick dipped in a sweet coating).
Ice Cubed, Chicago
Ice Cubed offers the ice cream truck treats you remember from childhood, but with grown up tastes. They make small batch ice cream, hand-crafted popsicles, and other frozen desserts. Everything on the truck is made from scratch and used to create some out-of-the-box and intriguing flavors. For example, the Hudson Valley Winter includes foie gras ice cream, Mirabelle plum compute, and Minus 8 vinegar. Corn Maze features caramel ice cream, salty popcorn crunch, Penuche nougat, and roasted almonds.
Twirl and Dip, San Francisco
Twirl & Dip fans chase down this Northern California truck for the handcrafted organic soft serve paired with hand-rolled cones. They offer the classics: Organic Vanilla Bean, Organic Chocolate, or a Twirl, which combines the two. Their chocolate dip is made with Tcho chocolate and Maldon sea salt. The truck offers other rich sauces in seasonal fruit flavors, old-fashioned ice cream sodas like butterscotch and strawberry, and classic floats.
Enticed, Dallas
Enticed isn't your typical ice cream truck. In fact, they don't serve ice cream. The Enticed truck entices its customers with gourmet shaved ice. The authentic Hawaiian shaved ice is set apart from your typical sno cone because each order is shaved directly off of a large block of ice for the best possible snow-like consistency. Syrups are made in-house using cane sugar (no preservatives). The all-time best seller is Tigers Blood, but Orange Pineapple, Wedding Cake, and Tropical Mist are all popular choices.
S'cream Truck, Los Angeles
The S'cream Truck has dubbed itself "a modern take on the ice cream man." The retro-fitted mail truck has been resdesigned to serve up homey fare like S'Cream Balls and S'Cream Cups. S'cream Cups are typical flavors, like Vanilla Bean, Salted Caramel, and Chocolate Chip, served in a cup, while S'Cream Balls are ice cream balls on a stick that are dipped in chocolate or chocolate shavings. All ice creams and products are natural and free of artificial colors or ingredients.
Cones Truck, Charlotte
The Cones Truck is a standout soft-serve ice cream truck in Charlotte. You can get your typical cones, floats, and classic sundaes, but the truck also has a menu of fun creations, which often incorporate homemade baked goods. Customer favorites include the Granny Gene Sundae (soft serve layered with homemade lemon curd and garnished with graham cracker crumbles); the Carolina Gold (a sundae covered in chocolate and caramel sauces, vanilla wafer chunks, and white chocolate sauce); and Aladdin's Delight (ice cream topped with pomegranate molasses and pistachios).
Fifty Licks, Portland, OR
Ice Cream purveyor Chad Draizin has always had a passion for the local Portland food scene. His ice cream has a French-style custard base and he is very devoted to quality flavors. In fact, if a new ice cream he is experimenting with isn't the best version of that particular flavor he's ever tasted, then he won't serve it. That's the reason Fifty Licks doesn't serve chocolate — Chad is still perfecting the recipe. The ice cream flavors change with the seasons, but recently the Fifty Licks truck has offered Strawberry, Jasmine Tea-Apricot, Toasted Milk, Coffee, Tahitian Vanilla, and Szechuan Peppercorn. The truck only operates during the warmer months, but a brick-and-mortar store is opening in August to satisfy yearlong ice cream cravings.
Big Gay Ice Cream Truck, New York City
The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck serves soft serve with a modern twist. Sure, you can still get your cone dipped in chocolate, but founders Douglas Quint and Bryan Petroff also offer creative toppings like wasabi pea dust, Nilla Wafers, Dulce de Leche, olive oil, and sea salt. Fan favorite the Salty Pimp features vanilla soft serve that is injected with Dulce de Leche, topped with sea salt, and dipped in a chocolate shell. The original truck was so popular that there are now two Big Gay Ice Cream Shop brick-and-mortar locations in New York City.
Westside Creamery, Atlanta
Westside Creamery Artisanal Ice Cream and Sorbet calls its approach to frozen desserts "farm to bowl." All of the ice cream and sorbet is small batch and made using fruits, vegetables, and herbs from local farms. Despite their focus on high-quality local ingredients, Westside Creamery still aims to satisfy "your inner truck-chasing child" with floats, ice cream sandwiches, and nostalgic scoops in flavors such as Salted Butter Caramel, Mint Sweet Tea, and Peanut Butter.
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