The Craziest Ice Cream Flavors You Can Buy Right Now
Updated: Dec. 02, 2022
Traditional vanilla is always a hit, but this year's craziest new ice cream flavors include bold bursts of popcorn, loquats, cheesecake, and even surprisingly-delicious zucchini.
Moo-ve over, normal flavors
Stranger flavors abound at Baskin Robbins
Breakfast, but make it dessert-worthy
One of the biggest trends in ice cream right now is the crossover of real meals in dessert-worthy pints. Expect to see waffles, pancakes, cereal, and other traditional most-important-meal-of-the-day flavors making their way into scoopable pints, like this Humphrey Slocombe Complete Breakfast 4-Pack. It comes with two pints each of Blue Bottle Vietnamese Coffee and Secret Breakfast, a delicious blend of cornflake cookies and bourbon, so it’s all but a guaranteed good time. Check out these fascinating ice cream traditions from around the world, too.
This is a bright idea
“Expect 2019 to be the year of Instagrammable flavors,” explains Mark Becker, co-founder of Max & Mina’s, a local artisanal ice cream maker in New York City. “In the past, we saw a lot of interesting flavor combinations that didn’t really have much visual appeal, but with everything being about social media uploads now, bright colors are one of the biggest trends. Expect happy-looking citrus flavors and lots of bright toppings to fill store freezers.” Halo Top Creamery’s high-protein, lower-calorie Lemon Cake flavor is sure to be a hit.
Spice up your life
“Cardamom pistachio is actually our most popular unusual flavor right now,” shares Becker, who sells Max & Mina’s to the nation’s top confectioners like Dylan’s Candy Bar and Bloomingdales. “A customer requested it once. We quickly realized cardamom plays so nicely against sweetness, and pistachios offer a rich, nutty texture that balances it all perfectly.”
If stir fry tasted like ice cream
Are you sitting down right now? This flavor looks and tastes like classic vanilla, but it’s actually packed with real zucchini for fiber, nutrients, and the ability to trick finicky eaters into having actual vegetables. The hidden zucchini in Peekaboo Vanilla With Hidden Zucchini delivers vitamins and minerals including vitamin A, C, calcium, phosphorous, and more without anyone even catching on.
A vegan bouquet for your mouth
A pint of Noona’s Dairy-Free Rose Ginger Ice Cream is a tongue-tingling burst of floral romance for your tongue. While dairy-free and vegan flavors aren’t necessarily crazy, combining those elements with unusual flavors like rose and ginger certainly is conversation-worthy. All of these fun ice cream flavors should be easy to find these days, but here’s why you’ll never find grape ice cream.
Pumpkin spice, but extra nice
If Thanksgiving flavors are your favorite, you’ll be excited about Nye’s Cream Sandwiches in Pumpkin Cranberry Spice flavor being on the market and ready for your ongoing gratitude. Think of this flavor as a surprisingly perfect combination of your favorite PSL foods and sweet cranberry sauce flavors.
Ice cream, brownies, and cookie dough
Why stop at just one of your favorite flavors when you can have all three in a serving of Enlightened Brownies & Cookie Dough, which only has 100 calories? We know cookie dough ice cream isn’t groundbreaking, but a lower calorie option which also includes brownies? The future is finally here.
Holy cannoli!
Why didn’t we think of making this Coolhaus ice cream in especially-inventive Take the Cannoli flavor after making this world-class easy spinach lasagna recipe? It’s made with Italian mascarpone ice cream with chocolate-covered cannoli shells for the ideal Italian dessert.
This “beets” your typical cotton candy
Peekaboo Cotton Candy Ice Cream is already a mashup of dessert flavors you don’t normally find together, but what makes it even more interesting is the real, organic beets used to add significant nutrients and natural food coloring to the recipe. Neat, huh?
Peanut Butter lovers will fawn over this
Reese’s infused ice cream is hardly new, but until now it was hard to find a packaged ready-to-eat Reese’s Ice Cream cake. This price-friendly Reese’s Ice Cream Cake requires no special ordering and is equally perfect for birthdays and random happiness-inspiring moments.
You can’t lose with a tasty snooze
Nightfood is a new ice cream company designed to leave unhealthy nightly cravings behind and replace them with sleep-supporting minerals, enzymes, and amino acids. Flavors include Midnight Chocolate, Full Moon Vanilla, Cookies n’ Dreams, After-Dinner Mint Chip, Cold-Brew Decaf, Milk & Cookie Dough, Cherry Eclipse, and Breakfast in Bed (maple ice cream with waffle chunks), and the brand itself is a 2019 Product of the Year winner. You’ll probably be especially appreciative of the decaf coffee option. Try some of these healthy toppings for an even more special treat.
You’ll go coconutty for this upgraded classic
Typical coconut is a classic standby, but this summer’s crazy take on everyone’s favorite tropical favorite adds the unexpected element of black sesame seeds. Try 365 Everyday Value Toasted Coconut & Black Sesame Ice Cream if you love a slightly caramelized version of rich, sweet coconut flavor with the added earthy, nutty texture of sesame seeds.
The guac isn’t extra in this case
If you’re into personalized gifts, eCreamery is a genius idea for the sweet-toothed people on your list this year. You can make almost any custom flavor you can imagine and have your own label or name written on each pint. Might we suggest a surprisingly delicious combination of avocado ice cream with raspberry and caramel swirls? Sounds weird, but we promise you’ll be impressed with the creamy texture.
Goatcha! A surprisingly good combo
We can think of dozens of good reasons to try goat milk (it’s one of the many weird things that gives you glowing skin), and we think adding Jeni’s Goat Cheese With Red Cherries Ice Cream is an ideal way to start. Expect ripe red cherries to balance the slightly tart, creamy goat milk base in a way that’s surprisingly refreshing.
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