12 Best Places for Gourmet Ice Cream in Utah

You never know when a craving for ice cream will hit, but when it does where are you going to go to get your fix? Here are 12 places, in no particular order, that will more than fill your need for creamy coldness:

 

1 – Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream

Handel’s has been making ice cream since 1945 and now we have one in Layton. One visit and you will see what makes this place different. You will see that you can get chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry, but after you see the menu, you will want to wander into Handel’s amazing combination of flavors. Here are a few examples:

• Coconut Carmel Delight – Coconut flavored ice cream with caramel ripple, coconut caramel cookies, and coconut flakes

• Monkey Business – Banana cake batter with caramel ripple and brownie pieces with caramel ripple

• Heavenly Hash – Chocolate ice cream with chocolate-covered peanuts, chocolate chips, and marshmallow ripple

There is always something new at Handel’s as seasonal flavors are featured year-round. They offer 41 flavors and can be found not only in Layton, but Salt Lake, Woods Cross, and St. George.

 

2 – Baskin-Robbins

Baskin-Robbins is famous for its 31 flavors. My favorite is nutty coconut and when I get a sundae, I have them top it with hot fudge and peanut butter sauce.

Ice cream cakes are popular at Baskin-Robbins. Each store decorates its own cakes which can be ordered for special occasions. They are half cake and half ice cream of your choice.

I found a wild sherbet flavor – Wild and Reckless Sherbet. It is a combo of green apple, blue raspberry, and fruit punch. They have six locations on the Wasatch Front.

 

3 – Cold Stone Creamery

Having trouble thinking of a flavor of ice cream to have? You will find it at Cold Stone. They have a selection of tried-and-true fabrications called Signature Creations to choose from or you can create your own.

First, they make their own ice cream fresh inside every store. Then they take your favorite ice cream flavor, add your choice of mix-ins, and finally chop and fold it all together using two spades on a frozen granite stone. This is what makes the Cold Stone experience so unique.

Cold Stone Creamery also makes ice cream cakes to your specifications. Choose the ice cream flavor, and the mix-ins and they will create a delicious cake for your special occasion. They also make ice cream cupcakes, pies, and sandwich cookies. Several locations can be found along the Wasatch Front.

 

4 – Zeppe’s

Zeppe’s is the place to find Italian ice, Gelato, and old-fashioned Custard. Italian ice is a frozen dessert that has the texture and consistency of ice cream but contains no fat, cholesterol, or dairy products. It is made with fresh fruit puree, natural flavorings, sugar, and water.

Gelatas are their most popular menu items because they are the best of both worlds – your choice of chocolate or vanilla old-fashioned custard layered with your favorite flavor of Italian ice for a truly tempting dessert. Or you can mix your favorite gelato with your choice of Italian ice for a delightful shake.

You will be pleased with the flavors to choose from. Zeppe’s has eight locations in Utah.

 

5 – Neilson’s Frozen Custard

The patented Neilson Frozen Custard machine produces the basis for the amazing frozen creation known as Concrete. The egg yolks in custard distinguish it from traditional ice cream, however, Neilson’s claims that there are fewer calories and less fat than what is found in premium ice cream.

Their machines produce two flavors of frozen custard – chocolate and vanilla. The mix-in flavors to either of those two, allow you to make some delicious creations of your own. They also offer a burger and sandwich menu to have something before your dessert.

They offer some wonderful suggestions, but in the end, the decision is yours. You can find Neilson’s Concrete in Bountiful, Holladay, South Jordan, St. George, Layton, Las Vegas, and West Jordan.

 

6 – Culver’s

The restaurant chain Culver’s serves frozen custard called a Concrete Mixer. Starting with either a chocolate or vanilla base, you can choose from an amazing variety of mix-in flavors. They also serve shakes and malts. The difference between a shake and a Concrete Mixer is milk. They add milk to the frozen custard to make the shake thinner so you can sip through a straw instead of using a spoon. Malt is added to a shake to make it a malt.

 

7 – The Kaysville Creamery

New to Kaysville, having only opened in May of 2022, the Kaysville Creamery is already making a splash in town. Entrepreneur, Dallas Hamblin turned the original 1891 Barnes Bank office, 1North Main into an ice cream parlor.

Hamblin noticed that there was no northern outlet for ice cream from the BYU Creamery. Success came faster than that creamery could keep up with, so he added the flavors of the Utah State University Aggie Ice Creamery. Now he can cater to fans of both colleges with distinct ice cream flavors. He said, “There are typically 16 rotating flavors offered at one time and about 50 flavors total.”

These aren’t just ordinary flavors. BYU offers the popular “Graham Canyon” ice cream treat – Graham cracker ice cream, graham cracker swirl, and chocolate-covered honeycomb. The Aggies have an “Aggie Space Debris” flavor – Huckleberry flavored ice cream with huckleberry and raspberry swirls, as well as white and dark chocolate flakes. These flavor combinations only scratch the surface of what is offered.

 

8 – The Bowtie Creamery

The Bowtie Creamery is an Ogden local, small-batch ice cream shop located at 1479 East 5600 South #B102. A small batch means that they make each batch of ice cream in small quantities with fresh ingredients. Their ice cream is made in batch sizes of six quarts or less.

They feature a standard set of flavors which are individual in and of themselves in addition to monthly flavors. The April flavors are – German Chocolate, Lemon Honey Lavender, Cadbury Egg, English Toffee, and Banana Chip.

 

9 – Big Scoops Creamery

The Big Scoops Creamery opened in Roy in 2000. Their goal is to serve happiness every day to customers in the Ogden area with the finest quality ice cream, personalized for each customer. Choose from 23 flavors of ice cream, including classic favorites and a rotation of tasty creations. Create any combination of flavors with your choice of mix-ins and watch your chosen creation come together on their marble slab. Big Scoops is located at 3588 W 5600 S, Suite A in Roy, Utah.

 

10 – Farr Better Ice Cream

In 2020, Farr’s celebrated 100 years of serving ice cream from their location at 274 21st Street in Ogden. They claim to have developed over 600 different ice cream flavors over those years.

Many Ogden residents will recount traditions of stopping at Farr’s after a special occasion for an ice cream treat. Farr’s now offers a remodeled ice cream parlor with its old-fashioned décor to enhance your ice cream experience. They offer all your favorite flavors and more.

 

11 – Blacksmith’s Ice Cream

Located on historic Main Street in Bountiful, Blacksmith’s Ice Cream is a small batch, seasonal, hand-churned, ice cream parlor.  The ice cream is made in-house daily using fresh local ingredients. Yelp gives it a five-star rating with 109 reviews. You can find out more about Blacksmith’s Ice Cream by reading those reviews.

 

12 – Mrs. Cavanaugh’s Chocolates and Ice Cream

A wonderful thing about Mrs. Cavanaugh’s Ice Cream is that they include delicious chocolates in many of their flavors. Their ice cream is only sold in stores located in Bountiful, North Ogden, Valley Fair Mall, Layton Hills Mall, Orem, and Spokane, Washington. Factory tours are offered at their store in North Salt Lake.

Mike Wall at the North Salt Lake factory subscribes to the small batch, fresh ingredient philosophy. They make an amazing variety of flavors that are distributed to all their locations. Stop into one of their stores for a sample.

My research on the subject of gourmet ice cream has introduced me to a world of ice cream I never knew existed. I thought I was a wild and crazy guy for adding peanut butter sauce to my hot fudge nutty coconut sundae. Now that I have been introduced to some of these combinations I never knew existed, I won’t be happy until I can sample some of these delectable dishes.