The 13 Best Ice Cream Shops in Dallas

The Sweetest Scoop

BY Megan Ziots // 07.05.22

Save Article

Cauldron Ice Cream is home to the OG puffle cone and liquid-nitrogen ice cream. Courtesy of Cauldron

Baldo's serves mini-cone flights where you can choose three to six flavors to try.

Melt serves ice cream the old-fashioned way with modern style.

Milk & Cream tops their ice cream filled glazed donuts with cereal. Courtesy of Milk & Cream

Botolino serves some of the best gelato in Dallas, including this Matcha gelato. (Courtesy of Botolino)

Creamistry makes crazy ice cream concoctions with liquid-nitrogen. Courtesy of Creamistry

Milky Treats is a cereal-infused ice cream shop in Plano. Courtesy of Milky Treats

Cauldron Ice Cream is home to the OG puffle cone and liquid-nitrogen ice cream. Courtesy of Cauldron

What better way to beat the Texas summer heat than with a delicious scoop (or six). Dallas has a ton of great ice cream places, from freshly opened parlors to classic spots that have served the city for years.

Ahead, discover the best places to find excellent ice cream in Dallas.

Updated June 28, 2022

Azucar Ice Cream serves up top scoops in Dallas’ Bishop Arts neighborhood.

Azucar Ice Cream Company

269 N. Bishop Avenue

This Bishop Arts District ice cream shop hails from Miami (Little Havana) and serves some of the best scoops in the city. Don’t miss the Abuela Maria —a guava cream cheese and maria crackers ice cream. When asked if you want extra guava sauce — always say yes.

SHOP FOR MOM

Swipe

Other favorite flavors include café con leche, Mexican vanilla, and cuatro leches. Azucar also make their waffle cones in-house.

Baldo’s Dallas — Baldo’s serves mini-cone flights where you can choose three to six flavors to try.

Baldo’s Ice Cream & Coffee

6401 Hillcrest Avenue

This favorite ice cream shop is located right alongside SMU’s campus. Coffee and ice cream are served (including mini cone flights!), but what makes this place truly unique is its sourcing — ingredients are often from local farms or roasters, and everything is made from scratch in small batches daily.

Botolino Dallas — Botolino serves some of the best gelato in Dallas, including this Matcha gelato. (Courtesy of Botolino)

Botolino Gelato Artigianale

2116 Greenville Avenue

A Lower Greenville gem, Botolino serves authentic Italian gelato. Sixteen flavors are offered at a time and can include anything from Red Velvet to Black Sesame and Turkish Coffee. Dairy-free, water-based sorbetto is also available and comes in mango, black cherry, lemon mint, and Texas grapefruit flavors.

Dallas seems to be in agreement — Botolino just earned the 12th spot in Yelp’s Top 100 Texas Restaurants.

Cauldron Dallas — Cauldron Ice Cream is home to the OG puffle cone and liquid-nitrogen ice cream. Courtesy of Cauldron

Cauldron Ice Cream

3001 Knox Street, Suite 103

The Cali import (home to the OG puffle cone) made its way to Dallas in the spring of 2019. Located just off Knox Street, the super modern liquid-nitrogen ice cream parlor is Instagram-worthy and delicious.

Unique and tasty flavors, such as Earl Grey Lavender, Milk and Cereal, Vietnamese Coffee, and Pineapple Express (it tastes just like Dole Whip), can all be scooped into Cauldron’s soft twist on the waffle cone. To make things even prettier, ice cream can be fashioned into the shape of a rose.

Creamistry

1929 Greenville Avenue

Creamistry opened in Lower Greenville in 2018 and has successfully spread the liquid-nitrogen ice cream word. Choose from a variety of classic flavors, then top things off with candies, cereals, cookies, and even Takis.

Howdy Homemade

4333 Lovers Lane

This modern University Park ice cream parlor is known for its excellent ice cream and for creating meaningful employment for teens and adults with special needs. The feel-good ice cream shop serves about 36 ice cream flavors and six sorbets, including the popular Dr. Pepper Chocolate Chip.

Jeni’s Ice Cream — Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams Dallas scoop shop is now open in Deep Ellum.

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams

2649 Main Street

This beloved artisan ice cream company was founded by Jeni Britton Bauer in Columbus, Ohio, and has since expanded to more than 40 shops across the U.S., with destinations in Charleston, Los Angeles, and Austin. Dallas Jeni’s addicts have long been able to find the pints at local stores like Foxtrot Market and Royal Blue Grocery, but our city’s first full-fledged “scoop shop” opened in Deep Ellum in 2021.

Unique ice cream flavors range from Gooey Butter Cake and Texas Sheet Cake to the new (and divisive) Everything Bagel.

Melt

405 N. Bishop Avenue

In 2019, Fort Worth’s beloved Melt finally expanded to Dallas with a prime spot in the Bishop Arts District. Flavors that are always available include cookie crack, chocolate chocolate, beans, and salt lick. There’s also the Always Sammie, a classic vanilla ice cream sandwich. Unique flavors in rotation include birthday cake batter, rhubarb swirl, and springtime sunshine, a vegan option.

Milk & Cream

5420 Ross Avenue, Suite 160

Milk & Cream does something a little different with their ice cream — they stuff it in between donuts. This Lower Greenville spot has been open for a few years, but it’s still a popular place to snap a pic of and then devour your treat.

Popular ice cream flavors include cookie monster, which is just how you’d imagine it, lavender bean, and birthday cake. All can be topped with different kinds of cereals, such as Fruity Pebbles, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, or Cookie Crisps. It’s a childhood dream come true.

Milky Treats

7000 Independence Parkway, Suite 104D, Plano

Opened in 2018, this little shop in Plano is definitely worth the 30-minute drive up North. At Milky Treats, ice cream is handcrafted in customized small batches and can be cereal infused.

Signature swirls include Astroworld (which features Fruity Pebbles and Pop Rocks) or the Glen Cocoa (Cocoa Puffs, Kit Kat, crushed almonds, and chocolate drizzle). To sweeten the pot, opt for a donut ice cream sandwich in lieu of a cone.

Parlor's Ice Cream Dallas — Parlor’s debuted near White Rock Lake in 2022. (Courtesy)

Parlor’s Handcrafted Ice Creams

6465 E. Mockingbird Lane, Suite 465

After three years of serving hancrafted scoops via their popular ice cream cart, Brandon and Kellie Stoll debuted a brick-and-mortar shop by White Rock Lake just this year. The duo originally began selling their desserts from a four-wheeled cart three years ago.

Located in Hillside Village Shopping Center, Parlor serves scratch-made ice cream using grass-fed milk and cream, as well as eggs from local farms. You’ll find classic flavors like sweet cream, cold brew, and mint chip on the menu, as well as rotating classics and seasonal favorites. Sweet peach is available just in time for summer.

Pure Milk & Honey Flavors — Soft-serve flavors include Honey, Dark Chocolate, and Banana.

Pure Milk and Honey

5321 E. Mockingbird Lane, Suite 135

In 2019, owner Cindy Chung opened her new natural and organic ice cream shop at Mockingbird Station, featuring honey-based soft-serve ice cream. Flavors include Pure Milk and Honey, honey lavender, chocolate, butter pecan, orange creamsicle, and more. You can also opt for a sundae or top your ice cream with fruit, nuts, or candies.

Van Leeuwen Ice Cream

3699 McKinney Avenue, Suite 101

The Brooklyn-based ice cream shop’s highly-anticipated Dallas shop finally debuted in 2022. Taking over the former Paciugo space in West Village, Van Leeuwen is known for its variety of flavors and vegan options. Founded in 2008, the brand uses coconuts, cashews, and oats to create its dairy-free flavors, and a combination of simple milk, cream, eggs, and cane sugar for its regular ice cream.