The Best Ice Cream in Phoenix
I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream! Particularly, when you live in a place where temperatures can start hitting 100 in April! If you are visiting when the mercury is rising you are going to want to know where to find the best ice cream in the Phoenix.
Luckily the desert-dwelling residents of the Valley of the Sun seemed to be a little obsessed with all things ice cream and there is no shortage of ice cream shops in Phoenix to get your ice-cold groove on.
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Today I'm sharing my top picks for the best ice cream and all its varieties. Get your sweet tooth ready, there is nothing better on a hot day than this…unless you are eating your ice cream in a pool!

By the way, if you love ice cream and are interested in the origins of various varieties, regional variances, and any other ice cream history, I highly recommend The Sweet Spot from Amy Ettinger.
The Best of the Best

Anything food-related is always going to be subjective, so while the Sweet Republic may be my pick for my all-time favorite, you may just as easily find another shop on this list that you prefer. Variety is definitely the spice of life!
Sweet Republic
This award-winning shop is known for its unique sweet-savory flavor combos. Like many other shops, Sweet Republic ice cream uses fresh local ingredients and makes their ice cream from scratch. But I think that their Asian heritage and culinary backgrounds (Le Cordon Bleu in Sydney) plus time spent at Eccolo in Berkeley, make for very distinct recipes that they bring to the table, and to your bowl!
Location: Sweet Republic has a location in Scottsdale (9160 E Shea Blvd) and Phoenix (6054 N 16th St)
Oldies Are Goodies

Everybody loves a classic. I'd say even more so when it comes to ice cream. For generations, people have been going to ice cream parlors for shakes and sodas on date night, for a family treat, to celebrate a special event, or to drown their sorrows. The Phoenix area has no shortage of nostalgia served up with one scoop or two.
MacAlpine's Soda Fountain
Established in 1928, MacAlpine's Soda Fountain is a local legend and serves up Thrifty brand ice cream in a vintage retro environment.
Location: MacAlpine's Soda Fountain is located in Phoenix (2303 N 7th St)
Mary Coyle
An old-school ice cream parlor with sundaes, shakes, and floats. They master anything with nuts, so try out one of their nut-forward flavors like pecan praline, rocky road, coffee Heath Bar crunch, or penuche nut.
Location: Mary Coyle is located in Phoenix (5823 N 7th St)
Sugar Bowl
If Sugar Bowl was on Instagram they would definitely be using a pink filter! This old-fashioned soda shop serves ice cream, shakes, and malts along with their famous Camelback Soda: an old-fashioned soda with vanilla ice cream with a side of soda water.
Location: Sugar Bowl is located in Scottsdale (4005 N Scottsdale Rd)
Udder Delights
All the dairy for their ice cream products comes from Superstition Farm dairy farm (you can even tour the farm!). Their head chef creates fresh flavors with local ingredients without artificial colors or preservatives.
Location: Udder Delights is located in Gilbert (1385 E Warner Rd)
Churn
This is a classic yet artisan ice cream shop. They serve hand-crafted ice cream with classic candy and toys that make everyone feel like a kid! Strawberry season in Arizona is June through September, so make sure you try all of their seasonal strawberry treats like Strawberry sauce and strawberry shortcake ice cream, yum! Also famous for its peanut butter ice cream!
Location: Churn is located in Phoenix (5223 N. Central Ave)
City Creamery
Old-fashioned ice cream at its best in a really fun town known for its historical downtown. Check this spot out if you want a really good hot fudge sundae and classic flavors including chocolate, vanilla and strawberry.
Location: City Creamery is located in Cave Creek (6268 E Cave Creek Rd)

Unique Ice Cream Shops
Not your average ice cream shop, check out a few unique spots that also offer some of the best ice cream in Phoenix.
Melt
Melt Ice Cream Downtown Phoenix has so many things going on. It is inside the Jobot Coffee shop, serves their product in a Chinese takeout container (with a fortune cookie on top!), and has some very unique flavors like jalapeno lime cheesecake, and one of my favorites à la Humphry Slocombe in San Francisco's Ferry Building, Vietnamese coffee!
Location: Melt Ice Cream is located in Phoenix (333 E Roosevelt)
Novel Ice Cream
Want fun ice cream sandwiches? Head to Novel Ice Cream! They have taken the traditional ice cream sandwich and swapped the cookie for a donut which they call the Dough Melt. Novel “only” offers 12 flavors which they switch out once or twice a month and their seasonal flavors sell out fast.
They work with an ice cream chef and baker, use a higher percentage of butterfat, and use a local producer for their honey and lavender. (Yes, there are lavender farms in Arizona!)
Location: Novel Ice Cream is located in Phoenix (1028 Grand Ave) and Mesa (40 N Macdonald)
Ohio in the House
Ohio is home to over 2,000 dairy farms, lots of unique ice cream shops, and an ice cream trail, so it's only natural that they exported some of their best-known brands to Phoenix. Here are the 2 best Ohio-based ice cream shops.
Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream
I have been a fan of Jeni's for a very long time (love salted caramel and her other fun flavors). When I lived in California, I had it shipped from Ohio before Jeni's stores started showing up around the country. And now she is in the Phoenix area! Her ice cream flavors are so original and always good!
Location: Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream is located in Scottsdale (7051 E 5th Ave, Scottsdale)
Handel's
Handel's has been around since 1945 but came to Arizona in 2018. They have 5 locations in the greater Phoenix area and have 40+ flavors to choose from! For those of you who enjoy a classic vanilla scoop, try the amazing Tahitian Vanilla Bean.
Location: Handel's Ice Cream is located in Gilbert, Peoria, Scottsdale (x2), and Surprise.
For the Science Geeks

They've been doing this in San Francisco for a while now (Smitten Ice Cream was one of the first), so it makes sense that made-from-scratch liquid nitrogen hand-crafted-to-order premium ice cream has come to Phoenix, where the desert-loving crowd can really appreciate the cold factor!
Nitro Live Icecreamery
This very blogger-friendly locale has it all and everything is customizable here, including your base. So whether you want ice cream, low-fat ice cream, yogurt, or custard, you are going to get it ice cold with whatever flavor or mix-in you want.
Location: Nitro Live Icecreamery is located in Gilbert (884 W. Warner Rd)
Creamistry
This is actually a franchise ice cream store with a single Arizona location in Gilbert. They instantly freeze each ice cream order using liquid nitrogen, making sure each item is rich, creamy, and cold! Get it in a “croffle,” a croissant-waffle, the francophile in me was intrigued!
Location: Creamistry is located in Gilbert (335 North Gilbert Road)
On a Roll

I had never seen or heard of ice cream rolls until I moved to Phoenix. But it turns out they have been doing this in Asia (right under my nose too) for quite a while. I'm glad I finally got to experience it!
Nomadic Ice Cream Rolls
Created by a charismatic gentleman who turned tragedy into triumph, this used to be a food truck that is now a shop in Glendale. “The dude” starts with liquid ice cream that is poured onto a freezing cold slabbed and then scraped into delicious rolls. He has some very original flavors, but let me tell you, it is not the easiest thing to eat!
Location: Nomadic Ice Cream Rolls is located in Glendale (5750 W Glendale Ave)
Maya Ice-Cream Rolls
Thai-style ice cream rolls made by an Indian family! The only downside (in my opinion) is it is inside a mall. But the upside is that it is really interesting to watch them make them!
Location: Maya Ice-Cream Roll is located in Phoenix (4604 E Cactus Rd inside Paradise Valley Mall)
Pops

Raise your hand if you grew up eating Otter Pops or anything from the Popsicle brand? Yep. Been there. Definitely did that. Well, popsicles have gotten a lot more sophisticated and I like it!
Pop ‘N Tea Bar
This is the spot all the grammers love to go to! Their pops are known as “diamond bars” because of their shape which they dip or drizzle into toppings. They have dairy and non-dairy all-fruit options. Go for a popsicle but don't forget their amazing teas too!
Location: Pop ‘N Tea Bar is located in Phoenix (550 West McDowell Road)
Paletas Betty
Paletas are Mexican popsicles. At Paletas the pops are handmade in small batches with fresh fruit, fresh-ground spices, and homemade flavorings. They are delicious but don't take my word for it, they are constantly being awarded best this and that by many of the Phoenix area residents!
Location: Paletas Betty is located in Chandler (96 W. Boston St.)
AZ Pops
All-natural, local ingredients even when they may not make any sense, like their sesame cucumber pop! They are also nut-free, gluten-free, and have no artificial coloring and flavoring.
Location: AZ Pops has 2 locations in Phoenix (5050 N 7th St. and 3632 E Indian School Rd)
For Vegetarians and Vegans

Something for everyone right? It's nice to see that those who follow a vegetarian or vegan diet can still partake in frozen treats!
Nami
Nami is a vegan pastry shop that serves soy-based, organic ice cream-like desserts (think Blizzards) with things like organic chocolate, organic, graham crackers, Ricemellow fluff, and vegan Cap’n Crunch—or fresh fruits.
Location: Nami is located in Phoenix (2014 N 7th Street)
Gelato

People are constantly arguing about whether gelato is ice cream. It's practically the same in every way except gelato has no eggs. But I say, who cares, it's a delicious frozen treat and it doesn't matter what you call it!
That's Amore
Run by an Italian family originally from Milan, That's Amore is making artisan-crafted batches on a daily basis in nearly 40 flavors, all with love!
Location: That's Amore is located in Scottsdale (7605 E. Pinnacle Peak Road)
Cool Gelato Italiano
Run by trained Italian gelato-makers who like to give their flavors fun names, the Italian-born and gelato-master-trained husband and wife team behind Cool Gelato Italiano know what they are doing! Their background in food consulting also means they are constantly on top of food trends as well.
Location: Cool Gelato Italiano is located in Scottsdale (7373 E. Scottsdale Mall)
Frost Gelato
I love Frost Gelatos' story. Two tourists in Rome looking for something cool to drink stumble into a gelateria, try gelato for the first time, and fall in love. Returning to Arizona, they hired a full-time Italian chef from Bologna with 30+ years of experience and training from another master gelato chef – smart boys!
Location: Frost Gelato has 2 locations in Phoenix (2502 E. Camelback Rd.) and Gilbert (San Tan Village, 2150 E. Williams Field Rd.)
Fatty Daddy's
Go for the gelato, but stay for the cookie! They serve their gelato in a cookie cup AND with a macaron on top (oh, la, la!) plus a marshmallow toasted to ooey-gooey-goodness!
Location: Fatty Daddy's has 2 locations in Phoenix (888 N 1st Ave) and Scottsdale (1608 N Miller Rd)
How about you? Have you tried an amazing ice cream treat in the Phoenix area? Have I tempted you to hop on a plane, train, or automobile to try one of these out? Do tell! How about your favorite spot for ice cream in your own hometown? Share!

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Oooh, I’m drooling! What a fantastic list, I can’t wait to try them all!!
OMG! I am drooling over here. I can’t eat a lot of ice cream or it depends on where it’s from, it’s weird. However all of these look amazing!! I’ve always wanted to try ice cream rolls, I see them a lot on Instagram videos. I’m all about creative and decorative ice creams, the ones that look too good to eat. This makes me want to take a trip to Phoenix, just to get all these types of ice cream. I’m not a huge fan of heat though, while it reached 100 degrees there, we had SNOW in April in North Carolina, lol.
These all sound yummy!
Wow it looks like Phoenix has the lockdown on ice cream. I would love to head out there and hit a few spots. I love this!
Wow! We would definitely want to try it when we visit Phoenix, so many choices!
Udder Delights sounds fun. I grew up in the country but never actually got to tour a dairy farm before!
Oh my goodness, this is amazing! I would love to try each and every ice cream you pictured! I’ll keep these places in mind 😉
Okay this looks delicious!!
Beautiful pics and amazing ice-creams 🙂
All of this sounds delicious! And how funny — we have a Mary Coyle ice cream shop here in Ohio, too! Totally unaffiliated, but same name 🙂
That s’mores bowl looks heavenly! Sounds like a great place to get ice cream!
Even more of a reason to come visit you!
The Sugar Bowl was one of my favorite places to visit while living in Scottsdale! Everyone must pop in for lunch and ice cream at least once!