Where to Find Denver’s Best Ice Cream (2024)

As the mercury rises, it’s prime time to indulge in chilled treats. Luckily, Denver has plenty of legen-dairy parlors at which to cool off with freshly churned scoops, fruit-studded paletas, and loaded sundaes. Here, 18 of our favorite Denver-area ice cream shops for your summer enjoyment, plus how to get local pints delivered straight to your door when it’s too hot to move.

Right Cream

Rosedale

Fair warning: Right Cream’s Cookies & Cream flavor may very well ruin you for all other ice creams. And so will the sundaes topped with the likes of horchata-spiced shortbread crumbles, ribbons of almost-too-salty caramel, fresh lemon curd, and sherry whipped cream. David Right’s creative, mix-in-heavy concoctions are available next to Denver Beer Co.’s South Downing location, as well as out of Uncle Wash Park on Monday and Tuesday nights this summer.
Order this: Any of the pints in the cooler. Seriously any of them.

Little Man

Highland

Is it even summer in Denver if you haven’t licked a scoop served out of a 28-foot-tall, milk-can-shaped shop? Little Man has become so iconic that it has spawned spin-offs all over the Front Range: Congress Park’s Sweet Cooie’s, Oneida Park’s Dang Soft Serve, Eastbridge’s the Constellation, Fort Collins’ Old Town Churn, and West Colfax’s the Little Man Ice Cream Factory all fall under its frozen treat umbrella. But head to the milk can for the quintessential taste of Denver summer.
Order this: It doesn’t get much better than a scoop of Salted Oreo.

Nuggs

Park Hill

The O’Sullivan brothers behind Brothers BBQ opened Nuggs to combat the ice cream desert that was the Park Hill/Mayfair neighborhood. Now, a decade later, the area is brimming with banana splits, ice cream waffle tacos, and a case full of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Nuggle Cheesecake thanks to the brothers’ churning and scooping. While East Colfax will always be, well, East Colfax, Nuggs’ patio has definitely made summer nights there a little sweeter.
Order this: The Double Stuffed Cookies N’ Cream is pretty tasty, and even better stuffed into a waffle cone taco.

Sadboy Creamery

Capitol Hill

With a tagline of “Small batches, big feelings” and flavors like Glumfetti Cake and Wildberry Blues, Sadboy definitely leans into the melancholic schtick. And while the pints may be a little hard to come by (you order early in the week for weekend, or rather, Sad-urday, pickup above City O’ City), the extra planning it takes to secure the loaded ice creams is well worth it.
Order this: The Monster Cookie Dough is so chock-full of M&M’s, Reese’s peanut butter chips, and cookie dough that literally every bite will be packed with a chunky mix-in.

Sweet Action

Speer, Washington Park, and Uptown

There’s a lot to love about Sweet Action, including the plentiful vegan flavors, the 100 percent wind-powered parlors, the speakeasy behind the Uptown shop, and the flavors that run the gamut from Orange Blossom Mimosa to Chocolate Mint Brownie Blast. And thanks to the Frozen Matter/Sweet Action merging, there are even more locations at which to indulge.
Order this: One of the dairy-free ice cream sandwiches, like the strawberry-filled sugar cookie or chocolate and peanut butter creation.

Bonnie Brae Ice Cream

Washington Park

You might have to battle a crowd for your scoop of Cappuccino Crunch, but that’s just part of the charm of this always-busy Wash Park shop. Other than a COVID-induced hiatus, the long-time parlor has been scooping for more than three decades, earning fans that span generations and neighborhoods.
Order this: One of the flavor collabs with John Elway’s 7Cellars Wine, like the Cabernet Nutella Bliss or Chardonnay Apricot Dream.

Pint’s Peak Ice Cream

Retail locations and farmers’ markets

Caitlin Howington blends her pastry chef training with her passion for frozen desserts atPint’s Peak, her four-year-old ice cream company that just gets tastier and tastier each season. Find her pints in flavors like Ube Cookies & Cream, Mango Sticky Rice, and Honeycomb Vanilla at farmers’ markets and events around town.
Order this:Howington nails anything chocolate, so if it’s available, give her Mexican Chocolate & Raspberries a go.

Sweet Cow

Multiple locations

With seven locations spanning north Boulder to the Stanley Marketplace in Aurora, plus a roaming Moomobile ice cream truck, chances are you’re not too far from a Sweet Cow right now. This is good news, because you don’t want to be too far from their laundry list of flavors (seriously, each location has 20-some scoopable flavors at a time) and celebration-worthy cakes.
Order this: A chocolate chip cookie dough (or whatever flavor you’re craving) milkshake.

High Point Creamery

Hilltop, RiNo, and Berkeley

Ever since the original High Point Creamery opened in Hilltop in 2014, the upscale parlor has been wooing local ice cream lovers with seasonal flavors like Basil with Blackberry Swirl and Orange Creamsicle, as well as the not-so-seasonal staples of Tin Cup Whiskey & Pistachio Brittle and Mint Chocolate Bark.
Order this: The ice cream flight, with your choice of hot fudge or caramel sauce; because five flavors is so much better than one.

Glacier Homemade Ice Cream & Gelato

Boulder, Fort Collins, and Greenwood Village

Glacier has churned out a whopping 1,000 flavors since its inception in 2001, from the untraditional (Cotton Candy, anyone?) to the classic (Butter Pecan is always a solid choice), with more being added each week. More than 70 of those flavors are available at any time, meaning you’ve got some tough decisions to make.
Order this: The over-the-top Death by Chocolate paired with Salted Caramel Oreo.

Smith & Canon

Lakewood

Owner/ice cream wizard Curt Peterson makes his own Philadelphia-style (eggless) base, a rarity in the ice cream world, where most makers doctor up a pre-made custard base. This means that Smith & Canon’s flavor combos like Wasabi with Honeydew and Spicy Chocolate are especially on point. Order pints online or head to Smith & Canon’s physical location in Lakewood’s Colorado Mills, where you can affogato-ify your scoop with espresso or nitro cold brew for an extra buzz.
Order this: Every flavor Peterson dreams up is incredible, but we’re partial to the Foxy Brown, a cheesecake and cinnamon roll mash-up.

Gelato Boy

Boulder, LoDo, Hale, and Berkeley

When Venice native Giulia De Meo fell in love with born-and-raised Coloradan Bryce Licht, she didn’t want to leave behind her beloved gelato in Italy. And so the couple recreated it here at Gelato Boy, a Boulder-born operation that’s expanded to Denver. Made with less fat and sugar than ice cream, their spectrum of gelato flavors also uses all-natural ingredients and local dairy.
Order this: Sophie’s Neighborhood Berries & Graham. Besides being delicious, all proceeds go directly to Sophie’s Neighborhood, the Boulder-based nonprofit researching treatments and a cure for multicentric carpotarsal osteolysis.

Magill’s

Lakewood

For more than 40 years, Magill’s has been answering the question of just how much Caramel Brownie Fudge ice cream can Lakewood eat. The answer? A whole freaking lot. Flavors like Huckleberry, Horchata, Cookie Butter, and Salted Caramel Cashew have been gobbled up by the gallon, too, and fans know that the ice cream options will always be vast and varied.
Order this: You’ve gotta see what the caramel brownie fudge fuss is all about, don’t you?

Heaven Creamery

Cherry Creek, RiNo, Centennial, Lakewood, and Boulder

Martha Trillo’s Heaven Creamery unites the frozen dessert cultures of Mexico, Italy, and the United States under one roof. The Chihuahua native studied with makers in Mexico and Italy to perfect her paletas (fruit-forward popsicles) and gelato, respectively, before bringing her talents to the Denver area, where she has already expanded her empire to five shops. At every Heaven location, patrons can enjoy a rainbow of cream-based and nondairy vegan flavors (crafted with Trillo’s lactose-intolerant daughter in mind), all of which are light on sugar and heavy on fresh produce.
Order this: Try the spicy Pineapple-Chile paleta, a cup of Raspberry Dark Chocolate gelato, or a sundae loaded with sliced bananas and kiwis, caramel sauce, and whipped cream.

Eiskaffee

Capitol Hill

After High Point Creamery co-owner Chad Stutz tasted eiskaffee—a German-style ice cream, coffee, and whipped cream concoction—in Munich, he was motivated to introduce Denverites to the treat. That’s why he and his wife, Erika Thomas, opened a creamery of the same name three years ago inside Capitol Hill’s 11th Avenue Hostel, where they’ve been slinging triple scoops and caffeinated bevvies ever since.
Order this: The floats—a decadent, buzzy mix of cold brew steeped with Kaladi Coffee Roasters beans, your choice of Eiskaffee’s ice creams (we recommend the Bavarian Cream), heaps of whipped cream, and grated chocolate.

Snowl

Aurora

From build-your-own taiyaki (fish-shaped waffle cake) ice creams to snow bowls to boba teas, Snowl’s menu is a dessert (and Instagram) lover’s dream. The main draws are the huge, impossibly soft and feathery shaved “snow” bowls, covered in condensed milk and topped with fresh fruit, cookies, cereal, and/or nuts.
Order this: We’re torn between the Black Sesame and Sweet Potato Cheesecake Snow bowls; go with a group and try everything.

The Inventing Room

West Highland

You’ll need a ticket to get into the Inventing Room’s Sugar Science dessert program, but the extra effort is worth it for innovative treats you won’t find anywhere else, like Mexican fried ice cream liquid nitrogen sundaes with exploding whipped cream, and glow-in-the-dark candies. You won’t find a more magical dessert experience than this.
Order this: Tickets to the Sugar Science dessert program, where you’ll learn the science of sugar while tasting cool treats along the way.

MC2 Ice Cream Co.

Broomfield

In 2011, brothers Matt and Michael Casarez set out to break the Guinness World Record for most ice cream flavors displayed together. They created 985 flavors within six months, including Buttered Blueberry Pancake, Silly Rabbit (a nod to Trix cereal), and Chocolate Cake Donut, and you’ll find some of those same scoops at MC2, an ice cream truck owned by Matt and his wife, Lindsay, as well as insideBroomfield’s Arista Deli & Coffee.
Order this: The Cookie Dough Inception flavor is one of the best versions we’ve tried, overloaded with homemade chocolate chip cookie dough.

And when it’s too hot to leave the house…

Enter PineMelon, the locally focused online grocer that delivers to your door. While you can order basics like meats, produce, and pantry staples, we find ourselves hitting the reorder button for these local ice cream brands.

• RoseBud is for ice cream purists that prefer their frozen treats on the classic side rather than loaded up with chunky mix-ins and crazy flavor combos. Try pitch-perfect flavors such as Fancy A** Vanilla or StrawVery Tasty.
• The cheekily named God Save the Cream seriously serves, churning flavors like Lemon Curd Raspberry, Avalanche Affogato, and Campfire Marshmallow.
• Lakewood-based Polar Bros Nitro Ice Cream uses liquid nitrogen to nail its ultra-creamy texture. PineMelon carries several of their flavors, but the Nutella Oreo is the one that always gets finished first.

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