The Best Ice Cream Shops in Austin
Austin scoops harder than a city this hot has any right to, and the order below is a starting position — vote it into the shape you think it deserves. Nearly everything here is a dedicated frozen-dessert business with a fixed address: places whose whole job is the freezer, not a restaurant with a soft-serve machine in the corner. Where a shop runs a kitchen alongside the freezer, its own entry says so. Gelaterias are in, because Austin's gelato shops churn on site and compete for the same evening walk as the ice cream counters. The ranking is an editorial call weighing two things: how far a shop's product sits from the standard freezer catalogue, and whether the recipe was worked out in Austin or imported from a brand's home city. The second test only nudges, though — a Portland import with a machine nobody else has still outranks a hometown shop selling the classics. Several beloved names had to be left off. Their websites are still up; their shops are not.
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Lick Honest Ice Creams
Founded in Austin in 2011 and now churning roughly 700 gallons a week, this is the shop that made vegetable flavors normal here — no artificial stabilizers, no high-fructose corn syrup, no seed oils. Goat Cheese, Thyme & Honey is the one worth arguing about: savory, floral, and still somehow a dessert. Roasted Beets & Fresh Mint runs it close.
Texas Ice Cream Made with Honest Ingredients | LickDiscover small-batch Texas ice cream made with honest ingredients from local farms. Explore flavors, find a Lick Honest Ice Creams scoop shop, or order online.https://www.ilikelick.com/ - 2
Amy's Ice Creams
Mexican Vanilla takes better than a third of the year's sales all by itself, at a business scooping in Texas since 1984 — which tells you how hard the rest of the rotation works. Batches run seven gallons at a time, and mix-ins get folded in by hand at the counter, so ask for something crunchy crushed into it.
Amy's Ice Creams | HomepageIt all began with our famous Mexican Vanilla ice cream. Now we’re serving up over 350 constantly-rotating flavors to kick off your next ice cream adventure.https://amysicecreams.com/ - 3
Gati Ice Cream
Coconut milk does all the work here. Jam Sanitchat spun the shop off from her Thai Fresh kitchen, and most flavors run to four ingredients or fewer — everything vegan, everything gluten-free, which usually reads as a compromise and doesn't. Mango Lime converts dairy people. Breakfast and coffee share the Holly Street room, and the freezer runs till ten.
Breakfast & Lunch I GF Baked Goods | Coffeeshop | Vegan Ice Cream | AustinGati Ice Cream is a coffee shop, breakfast & lunch, vegan ice cream, gluten free & vegan bakeryhttps://www.gatiatx.com/ - 4
Dolce Neve
Trained at Carpigiani Gelato University in Bologna, Francesca won the Sherbeth Festival talent show in 2012 and runs the South First shop with her brother Marco and her partner Leo. Batches come two or three gallons at a time, thickened with locust bean flour instead of a synthetic stabilizer and served warmer than ice cream — Pistachio is the test.
Dolce Neve GelatoDolce Neve is the only Italian owned, award winning, artisanal gelato shop in Austin and Houston. Flavors are made in small batches daily using traditional Italian methods.https://www.dolcenevegelato.com/ - 5
Manolis Ice Cream, Pastries & Cakes
Family-owned since 2018, and it started as a dessert trailer before settling at 8907 Circle Drive out in southwest Austin. Italian ice is the reason to drive that far — watermelon, sour blue raspberry, cotton candy, scraped rather than scooped. The Affogato closes the deal: a scoop drowned in espresso at the counter. Open daily until eleven.
Manolis Ice Cream | Best Ice Cream in Austin, TX — Yelp's #4 in AmericaFamily-owned since 2018 — handcrafted ice cream, sorbet, Italian ice & pops in Austin, TX. Pet-friendly, kids' play areas. Open daily 2–11PM.https://manolisusa.com/ - 6
D'Lites Ice Cream and Grocery
Low-calorie soft serve sounds like a punishment, and this southwest Austin counter disproves it. Chocolate and vanilla hold every day while the weekly board rotates through Thin Mint Cookie, White Chocolate Pistachio and Tres Leches Cake. A grocery aisle of low-sugar bread and pasta sits behind the freezer, and the shop dates its experience to 1982.
HOME | D'LITES ICE CREAM AND GROCERYD’Lites is not just an ice cream shop! Our grocery section is filled with a variety of healthy products to compliment your low-carb lifestyle. https://www.dlitesaustin.com/ - 7
Zeds Real Fruit Ice Cream
Blended to order in under sixty seconds on the New Zealand-made Little Gem machines, with whole fruit driven straight through a vanilla base. Nobody in town does the technique better — but the brand began in Portland and only reached East Austin in 2021. Ask for Real Fruit Ice Cream with dark cherry at the original Harvey Street counter.
Zeds | Austin's Best Ice Creamhttps://www.zedsicecream.com/ - 8
Connor's Creamery
Soft serve out of a trailer at 12709 North Mopac, open eleven to nine seven days a week, with its own booking page for private events. The swirl list is where it gets interesting — Banana Ripple, Bubble Gum, Butter Pecan, plus a rotating seasonal. A simple format done properly, which is harder than the fancier shops make it look.
Connor's Creamery | Soft Serve Trailer in Austin, Texashttps://www.connorscreamery.com/ - 9
Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams (South Congress)
Doors stay open until 12:30am most nights and 1am on Fridays and Saturdays, which is the practical argument for the South Congress shop. Brambleberry Crisp is the flagship — blackberry jam and oat streusel through a base that leans grassy rather than sweet. The Columbus company runs two more Austin shops, at the Domain and the Triangle.
Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams in Austin, TexasBeat the Texas heat with a scoop (or two!) of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams in Austin. Stop by any one of our Austin scoop shops and be sure to ask about what’s new.https://jenis.com/scoop-shops/jenis-south-congress/ - 10
Bella Vita Ice Cream
Started in a New York apartment in 2020 and now parked on North Mopac at 10515, this one crosses Italian gelato technique with a Mexican family's recipes. Angel's Kiss is the signature, and the liquor-infused scoops are the reason to leave the kids at home. Bubble tea and pastries share the counter, and the sorbets are dairy-free.
Bella Vita: Homemade Ice Cream & More | Bella Vita Ice CreamDiscover Bella Vita, a family-owned gem in Texas serving homemade ice cream, bubble tea, coffee, and pastries. Enjoy unique flavors crafted from time-honored recipes, blending tradition with innovation in every scoop. Join our community for delicious moments!https://bellavitaicecream.com/ - 11
Gelato Paradiso
A California brand with shops in Corona del Mar, Laguna Beach and Coronado keeps exactly one Texas outpost, tucked in at 1400 South Congress. The gelato gets made by hand on the premises, small batches, every morning. Gianduja is the flavor to lead with — hazelnut and chocolate, thick enough that a cone is the wrong container for it.
Gelato Paradiso LocationsFind authentic Italian gelato at our California and Austin locations. Visit us for fresh-made gelato and sorbetto, crafted daily using traditional methods and premium ingredients.https://gelatoparadiso.com/locations - 12
Sweetness ATX
Downtown at 315 Lavaca since July 2024, with a flavor board that is deliberately unfashionable: butter pecan, rainbow sherbert, rocky road, cherry vanilla. The Dr. Pepper Float is the local tell — a Texas counter, not a transplant. Vanilla soft serve if the queue is long and you have somewhere to be.
Sweetness ATXWhich Sweetness is your weakness? ;)https://sweetnessatx.com/ - 13
The Baked Bear
Build-your-own ice cream sandwiches, a San Diego franchise, one Austin shop at 211 Walter Seaholm Drive in the Seaholm District. Pick two cookies, pick a flavor — then watch it get pressed to order. Bear Batter between two snickerdoodles is the move, and the counter runs noon to 11pm every day of the week.
Austin - The Baked Bearhttps://www.thebakedbear.com/austin/
