18 Weird Ice Cream Flavors Worth Road Tripping For
Updated: Jun. 09, 2024
Shops across the U.S. scoop up all kinds of weird ice cream flavors, ranging from cereal milk to garlic and lobster.
Just about everyone loves ice cream, but some scoop shops take things far past chocolate and vanilla. Places like Sparky’s Homemade Ice Cream and The Charmery treat ice cream like a canvas. It’s a base upon which they can make wild dessert dreams come true! Unlike the classic flavors you find at most local ice cream shops, the ones that made our list are harder to find. You can take a road trip—or find a shop that ships its weird ice cream flavors.
If you’ve ever tried your hand at homemade ice cream, you’ll know it’s a lot of work coming up with flavor combinations. Some of the shops blend or steep unique ingredients into their creamy, custardy base before churning. Others use creative mix-ins, like jazzed-up dessert sauces, crunchy candy or—dare we spoil the surprise—chopped-up seafood. The most unusual scoops sound like full meals (don’t miss mac and cheese or Thanksgiving dinner).
Strawberry Balsamic
Salt & Straw, Multiple Locations, Ships Nationwide
Salt & Straw twisted the tart flavor of balsamic vinegar into a top-selling strawberry ice cream. This unusual ice cream has gone from a cult favorite in Portland, Oregon to a national obsession. Salt & Straw has opened scoop shops in L.A. and Miami and at Disney World!
Earl Grey
Van Leeuwen, Multiple Locations, Ships Nationally
Van Leeuwen’s most popular flavors include classics like Sicilian Pistachio and Cookies & Cream, but the more unexpected flavors have captured our attention. (This won’t be the first time you see Van Leeuwen on our list.) Earl Grey ice cream is made by steeping the tea in whole milk, then adding cream, eggs and sugar. Top off your scoop with homemade French madeleines.
Lavender Honey
Sparky’s Homemade Ice Cream, Columbia, Missouri
This vibrant purple flower adds subtle floral flavor to lavender desserts like shortbread, tea cakes and ice cream. Sparky’s Homemade Ice Cream is a beloved Missouri institution known for unique flavors like Mandarin Orange Dark Chocolate and Banana Nutella, but the famous Lavender Honey ice cream may be the best.
Garlic
Gilroy, California
Gilroy, California is the Garlic Capital of the World. You’ll find garlic in all sorts of unexpected places—like ice cream. There are multiple shops across Gilroy that serve this local classic as traditional scoops and soft serve. Visit the Garlic City Café, the Garlic Shoppe and Garlic World (told ya they were garlic-crazy!) for this ice cream.
Cereal Milk
Milk Bar, Available Nationwide
The best part of breakfast is drinking the delicious milk left behind after eating a bowl of cereal. When Milk Bar decided to churn that cereal milk into ice cream, the dessert world changed forever. Head to one of Milk Bar’s retail locations to try Cereal Milk, or check the freezer at your grocery store—this flavor is now available nationwide.
Cheetos Flamin’ Hot Ice Cream
Marble Slab, Texas and Southeast States
Sure, we love cheese puffs, and we definitely love Cheetos, but in ice cream? Yup. Marble Slab Creamery turned this cheesy snack into a cold, creamy treat. This ice cream features a sweet cream base with Flamin’ Hot Cheetos crushed and distributed throughout, and you can get it in milkshake form. This limited-edition flavor has appeared on the menu more than once, so if you live near one of Marble Slab’s 250 locations, keep an eye out.
Cold Sweat
Sunni Sky’s, Angier, North Carolina
How often do you find an ice cream flavor that’s so extreme that you need to sign a waiver to try it? This ice cream from Sunni Sky’s is seriously spicy, with some customers describing it as “frozen fire.” It uses two different hot sauces in its creamy base and has real chunks of three types of chile peppers, including habaneros and ghost peppers.
Dill Pickle
Dakota Drug Co., Stanley, North Dakota
If you love pickle-flavored foods, this weird ice cream flavor’s for you. With a soft chestnut color that looks like caramel or peanut butter, the brine-spiked scoop is sure to surprise. The Dakota Drug Co. soda fountain prides itself on being able to mix almost any flavor with its Whirl-a-Whip ice cream machine, a rare classic that blends basic ice cream with just about any add-in to create a unique single-serve treats.
Kraft Macaroni & Cheese
Van Leeuwen, Brooklyn, New York and Nationwide
Van Leeuwen is back again! Yes, boxed mac and cheese is ol’ reliable—it’s a shortcut to cheesy, saucy noodles. But while we love to follow this comfort food with a bowl of ice cream, we’ve got to be honest—we never saw the two coming together. Van Leeuwen originally created this flavor for a limited-edition release. It uses cream, milk, cane sugar, egg yolks and, of course, tons of Kraft cheese powder.
Lobster
Ben & Bill’s Chocolate Emporium, Massachusetts and Maine
With its vanilla bean and butter base and lobster pulled fresh from the Atlantic (then cooked and chopped), this ice cream steals the show at the Chocolate Emporium. And no, the lobster ice cream does not contain chocolate like the name of the shop might imply. The candy-red flecks of lobster make for a pretty presentation. Don’t knock it ’til you try it!
Vanilla with Sweet Sriracha Sauce
Mason’s Creamery, Cleveland, Ohio
This vegan ice cream is hot. Mason’s Creamery offers many seasonal surprises on its rotating menu, but this spicy sriracha-flavored scoop is so popular that it’s available year-round. With its creamy heat and a drizzle of Sriracha sauce on top, you’re unlikely to find another scoop that tastes like this one.
Arabian Rosewater Pistachio Cherry
Owowcow Creamery, Locations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey
Owowcow prides itself on farm-to-table flavors and makes its ice cream with organic cream and milk, cage-free eggs and local raw honey. In addition to classic flavors like vanilla, mint chocolate and strawberry (made with fresh berries), Owowcow is also known for weird ice cream flavors inspired by the bounty of local farms, like Arabian Rosewater Pistachio Cherry, Lemon Basil and Green Apple Riesling.
Old Bay Caramel
The Charmery, Multiple Locations in Maryland
Crab-loving Marylanders put Old Bay on everything. If you visit the Old Line State, expect to see shakers full of this Baltimore-based spice blend on restaurant tables next to the salt and pepper. It’s tasty sprinkled on fish and fries, but a local shop called the Charmery has shown everyone that Old Bay belongs in dessert, too. This signature scoop features a ribbon of Old Bay-spiked caramel sauce in rich, velvety vanilla ice cream.
Grapenut
Island Pops, Available Nationally
Every dad’s must-have breakfast cereal is also an ice cream flavor. In Eastern Canada, New England and parts of the Caribbean, ice cream mixed with crunchy Grape-Nuts cereal bits is as much of a staple as vanilla or chocolate. If your curiosity is piqued by this flavor, find it at places like Brooklyn-based Island Pops, which ships its Trinidadian-flavored treats nationwide.
Sweet Avocado Cayenne
Rococo Creamery, Locations in Maine
Rococo Creamery has quite a list of eccentric flavors. This one features creamy avocado and—surprise—crackling cayenne. Its neon green color probably makes it look deceptively sweet, but this ice cream is only for savory dessert fans. While Sweet Avocado Cayenne is not currently on the menu, we hope it comes back soon! In the meantime, Rococo’s other weird ice cream flavors worth trying include Goat Cheese Blackberry Chambord and Black Sesame Yuzu Pie.
Pink Lemonade Pop Rocks
Max & Mina’s Ice Cream, Queens, New York
For a mix of fresh-squeezed lemonade and tingly Pop Rocks, Max & Mina’s Ice Cream has the perfect scoop. The tart pink lemonade flavor is backed up by a strange sensation: crackling Pop Rocks. The New York-based parlor’s crazy flavors have been featured on Food Network’s Outrageous Foods, as well as in the New York Times, People and USA Today. If all those trusted taste buds can’t persuade you, Max & Mina’s extensive menu will—it’s packed with outlandish flavors like Strawberry Horseradish and Lox.
Thanksgiving Dinner
The Ice Cream Store, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware
With its impressive flavor list, The Ice Cream Store has become an obsession both in and out of its home state. Of all the odd options it’s offered, Thanksgiving Dinner might be the weirdest. This seasonal specialty is made with vanilla ice cream studded with tomatoes, potatoes and green beans, then topped off with hot sauce and granulated sugar. The shop is also known for pun-derful flavors such as The Swirl with the Dragon Cashews and MintNight in Paris.
Goat Cheese with Red Cherries
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, Nationwide
For a frozen treat that tastes exactly like cherry cheesecake, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams makes a flavor that sounds strange but is so good. The delicate combination of tart roasted cherries and creamy goat cheese has helped build Jeni’s into a nationwide brand (and landed it a spot on our list of best ice cream brands). With locations across the U.S., a specialty supermarket line and three cookbooks in print, you can get a fix of this unique flavor no matter where you are.
Originally Published: August 05, 2021
