A scoop or two of vanilla or a bowl of choc-chip is all very nice, but there’s plenty of scope for ice cream to get a whole lot more interesting. We’re talking colourful, Willy Wonka–style creations, ice cream with savoury ingredients folded through, scoops rolled in crushed Cheetos and flavours you're more likely to find on a dinner plate than in a cone. From the beautiful to the bizarre, and often a bit of both, we’ve ranked the world’s most outrageous ice cream flavours, counting down to the most shocking of all.
This quirky spot uses liquid nitrogen in its production process, resulting in a seriously rich, wonderfully creamy and impressively dense ice cream base. The indulgence doesn’t stop there. Amongst an array of decadent flavours, the fan-favourite crème brûlèe comes complete with a crackly layer of burnished torched sugar. It’s up to you whether you enjoy it by the scoop, pint or in an ice cream sandwich.
Portland-based Fifty Licks is known for its unconventional, experimental flavours, though never for gimmicks – these creations are all about the taste. An enduring favourite is the mango sticky rice flavour, which features a jasmine rice and coconut milk ice cream base swirled through with alphonso mango. Other unusual scoops on the menu include cornbread ice cream, which comes with chunks of cornbread and a drizzle of honey butter.
Based in South West Australia, creamery Simmo’s has the perfect treat for when you’re craving ice cream with an alcoholic kick. Whiskey meets dessert in this fun dish that mixes mascarpone ice cream with plump, whiskey-soaked prunes and finishes things off with a whiskey ripple. Think rum and raisin, but boozier, bolder and better. This one is a local favourite, although there are plenty of other interesting (and more kid-friendly) options, including Mango Tango and Yum Yum Blue Bubblegum.
Tin Pot Creamery has several scoop shops in northern California’s Bay Area (including Palo Alto and Los Altos) and is known for its French-style creations. Classics like mint chocolate chip and vanilla bean sit alongside matcha green tea and lavender with lemon-poppy cookies. Most innovative – and prettiest – of all is the delicate blue jasmine tea, which started as a limited-edition flavour and was so popular it has been added to the ‘forever menu’.
Vegan pop-up ice creamery Sassi Ice Cream can be found at various festivals and events across Adelaide. The Sassi team has acquired a following for its unique vegan offering, and is known for recreating traditional Middle Eastern recipes with ice creams intended to evoke the feeling of wandering through a heady Middle Eastern bazaar. Among all the creamy, dreamy, richly spiced combinations, sage and pomegranate is particularly popular.
Cute ice cream and sweet shop Mary’s Milk Bar is well-loved for its delicious gelato, which ranges from the traditional to the truly innovative. Each flavour is made by hand that morning, and those flavours don’t just change by the season, but by the day. There’s always something interesting on offer here, though, from goats’ cheese and fig to smoked paprika and peanut butter, not forgetting spicy-sweet cumin and mango ripple.
The menu at il laboratorio del gelato looks like a Pantone colour chart – there are so many vivid and unusual creations on offer. The visionary shop opened in 2002, and has been committed to whipping up unique frozen treats ever since. If you’re looking for an ice cream more unusual, top picks include the Guinness, pumpkin, Cheddar cheese and tarragon flavours (a pastel-coloured number that brings warm and delicate aniseed notes to the party).
Durian is infamous for its funky smell – so much so that it’s banned on public transport in a number of countries, including Thailand. The fruit still has plenty of fans though, and popular ice cream manufacturer Chomthana sells tubs of durian ice cream for an eating experience that delivers all the full-on flavours associated with the divisive fruit, without the overwhelming scent.
Where do goths go for ice cream? If they happen to be in Los Angeles, it has to be Little Damage. The shop is famous for its black waffle cones, made with activated charcoal for a striking effect. They’re topped with soft-serve ice cream in flavours that are constantly rotating and chosen specifically to pop vividly against the dark cones. Regularly reappearing varieties include lemon velvet and the shop’s original flavour, almond charcoal (right).
Magnolia Ice Cream has been selling ice cream since 1925, whipping up an array of frozen treats that offer a proper taste of nostalgia to its legions of fans in the Philippines. Halo-halo, inspired by the beloved dessert of the same name, is one of its bestselling flavours, thanks to a rich, refreshing mix of condensed milk, tropical fruits and sweetened red beans. The brand has gone global, and you can find tubs of Magnolia ice cream in many Asian supermarkets across North America.
Cape Town’s Tapi Tapi is all about revolutionising traditional ice cream flavours. The brainchild of Tapiwa Guzha, who first arrived in the city as a student from Zimbabwe, this parlour is nothing short of spectacular, with creations that reflect Africa’s culinary heritage and incorporate unique ingredients. Amongst the array of complex flavours, you’ll find options such as edible clay and biscuits, and imphepho (a South African plant similar to sage) smoke and rooibos tea.
Jeni's, which has shops across the US, has released more than its share of insanely good ice cream flavours – whiskey and pecan, and buttercream birthday cake (which comes complete with chunks of sponge, frosting and rainbow sprinkles) included. But the everything bagel flavour perhaps beats the lot, bringing us bagel ‘gravel’ (sesame, poppy seeds, onions and garlic), schmeared through subtly sweet cream cheese ice cream.
Der Verruckte Eismacher – The Crazy Ice Cream Maker – is an experiential ice cream shop in Munich with a taste for fun (founder Matthias Münz can often be found serving up scoops dressed in a top hat, bow tie and red coat). The boozy Corona flavour (complete with refreshing lime notes) is a firm favourite with fans and you’ll also find the likes of white sausage, pizza and pickle-based ice cream on rotation here (the latter is apparently aimed at those with pregnancy-induced cravings).
Think ham doesn't go with ice cream? Think again. Windy Brow Farms has taken a New Jersey classic – Taylor Ham, or pork roll – and incorporated it into a sweet treat. The processed pork, which is mixed with cinnamon and sugar, adds a salty kick to sweet maple ice cream. This brunch-inspired flavour has been a crowd-pleaser since the fruit farm released it as part of its ‘Only in Jersey’ range, which originally included sweetcorn and honey and tomato pie, too.
Tomato is a favoured ingredient at The Creole Creamery, which has three locations in New Orleans, Louisiana and one in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The Creole tomato sorbet – a sweet but tangy flavour that makes the most of locally grown produce – is a seasonal staple. Other tomato-infused concoctions have included Alotta Burrata, a cheese-based scoop swirled with strawberry-tomato jam (pictured).
Van Leeuwen is renowend for its collabs, bringing fans wacky-flavoured tubs that sell for a few weeks only. Previous flavours of note include a Kraft macaroni and cheese ice cream, a mystery flavour for Netflix’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, a French-inspired Dijon mustard flavour and, most recently, Hidden Valley ranch ice cream, based on the creamy salad dressing. While most tubs are short-lived launches, the likes of buttermilk berry cornbread and praline butter cake have made their way onto the permanent menu.
London-based company Lick Me I’m Delicious is known for creating experimental food installations and weird and wonderful gadgets, including a Nitro Ice Cream Parlour. The portable nitro food lab was designed to concoct crazy-tasting treats on the go; think dark port and Stilton and wasabi and honey ice cream. Its most impressive creation to date has to be a glow-in-the-dark jellyfish ice cream, made from jellyfish proteins. It lit up when licked and, understandably, went viral when it launched back in 2013.
Salt & Straw is known for its kooky ice cream creations, and its most innovative and unusual offerings crop up as part of its annual Thanksgiving series. The flavours vary a little each year, with 2022’s ‘dinner’ including caramelised turkey and cranberry sauce, roasted peach and sage cornbread stuffing, a vegan pumpkin and gingersnap pie, and Mom's Mango Pie, a collab with musician Hrishikesh Hirway. The small chain mainly has shops on the West Coast, plus one in Miami, Florida.
In 2018, Ireland’s Gelati Ice Cream captured public attention when it launched a limited-edition Heinz Tomato Ketchup flavour ice cream in honour of an Ed Sheeran concert (the musician’s love of the condiment is well-known). While the tangy, tomatoey ice cream flavour didn’t last, it put Gelati firmly in the spotlight. The brand has a reputation for constantly coming up with new flavours, including mayonnaise, every chocolate bar you can think of, and a refreshing gin and tonic number.
It sounds outrageous and, well, it is. But Cheat-Ohs – soft-serve ice cream rolled in crushed Cheetos – is a regular fixture on the specials board at Big Gay Ice Cream, which has several locations in New York City. The cheese puff creation understandably proved a huge social media hit when it first appeared a few years ago, and its frequent return is testament to the fact that the combination of sweet and salty is actually rather delicious.
Filipino cuisine is characterised by its mastery of sweet and salty combinations, and Manila-based artisan ice cream shop Sebastian’s Ice Cream sells some of the most unique combinations we’ve come across. That includes ube and queso (a swirled mix of purple yam and cheese) and the really rather unusual champorado and dilis flavour (pictured), a chocolate pudding ice cream topped with salty, crunchy, candied anchovies.
Despite the name, Ben & Bill's Chocolate Emporium is most famous for its lobster ice cream. Yep, this spot has been serving scoops studded with one of New England's most adored seafood delicacies since 1988. If you don’t fancy sampling the delight that is chunks of lobster folded into butter-infused ice cream, you can always try the bubble gum, root beer or range of coffee flavours. There’s a second location at Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard.
The much-lauded Michelin-star restaurant Labyrinth, which specialises in modern Singaporean cooking, serves one of the country’s most-loved savoury dishes in frozen dessert form. Its chilli crab ice cream features a beguiling mix of soft shell crab and coconut that not only gets customers talking, but ranks as one of the restaurant’s most popular dishes.
High-end French ice cream manufacturer Philippe Faur is known for its long list of flavours, ranging from the classic to the truly eccentric. In 2002, the company debuted a savoury selection to be sold on rotation along with their more traditional treats. There’s luxury flavours galore on that list, including a caviar option made from white sturgeon caviar, which the experts at Philippe Faur advise serving with smoked salmon, scallops or a baked potato for the ultimate high-low combo.
Long before Heston Blumenthal’s eggs and bacon ice cream, the world had spaghetti eis, a novelty sundae replicating a plate of pasta. Invented in the late 1960s by the son of an Italian immigrant who ran a gelato parlour in Mannheim, Germany, spaghetti eis consists of strands of vanilla ice cream swimming in a bright-red strawberry sauce (a nod to tomato-based pasta sauce) and topped white chocolate shavings (intended to resemble Parmesan). This cult classic is now sold all over Germany.
Now discover the crazy ice cream flavours you'll only find in America