The Best Ice Cream in Dallas for National Ice Cream Day, Plus Some Freebies

This Sunday, July 21, is National Ice Cream Day. In honor of the occasion, we've updated our list of favorite spots around Dallas.

For Sunday, only a few places are running specials:

You could get a free Dilly bar at Dairy Queen, but it comes with a lot of "ifs." If you download the app and if you buy something else for at least a dollar. So, they basically want to mine your data. And what are you even buying there for a dollar? Skip the app and the minimum purchase and just buy the Dilly bar for $2.19.

Van Leeuwen and Sanrio, the creator of Hello, Kitty, have collaborated for a special flavor in honor of the kitten's 50th anniversary. Yummy Berry White Chocolate Truffle ice cream is available in stores only on July 21.

Marble Slab Creamery has a special on July 21: Buy a scoop and get a small scoop for free.

Here are some of our favorite ice cream shops. If you prefer gelatos, we made a list of Dallas' best gelaterias recently too.

Bazaria Sweets

700 W. Spring Creek Parkway, Plano

Bazaria is a locally owned shop that carries almost any cold treat you can imagine, from frozen yogurt to milkshakes to homemade gelato, and it's all Halal certified. A must-try here is the chocolate mousse frozen yogurt, which comes with a creamy chocolate base and fresh chocolate shavings spread throughout. It's almost like eating a real chocolate mousse cake — except, well, it's frozen. Bazaria’s gelato is a real showstopper too. Made from scratch, the flavors like almond fig and cherry cheesecake make Bazaria stand out among other gelato shops on the area's dessert scene. Especially in the hundred-degree Texas heat, Bazaria might just become your new go-to.

Beth Marie’s

1020 W. Main St., Denton

Beth Marie’s has been serving old-fashioned ice cream since 1998 on the south side of Denton’s Historic Square. The ice cream here is classified as certified premium quality because it contains 14% butterfat. It’s churned in a machine that was designed in 1927, which can make 10 gallons of ice cream in 18 minutes. Whatever that means, it must be impressive. There are more than 150 flavors in their wheelhouse, between 48 and 64 of which are served at any given time. The retro shop started in Denton and has since spread to Grapevine and Carrollton.

Casa Del Bro

5444 FM 423, Frisco

With a menu full of items like steak tacos, cheesy quesadillas and chicken tinga burritos, Casa Del Bro in Frisco doesn’t seem at first like the go-to neighborhood stop for ice cream. But it is. Batches are made from scratch in flavors that include cookie butter and strawberry cheesecake, both with a creamy base studded with globs of cookie butter and fresh chunks of cheesecake. The ice cream here is whipped up every morning, which makes it softer than your average scoop. Top your dessert off with sprinkles or get it in a waffle cone. Just make sure to get here early. Scoops run out fast.

Churn x Bake

2707 W. 15th St., Plano

Churn x Bake is an artisan ice cream and bake shop in Plano where flavors are Asian-inspired and made in-house. They could have stopped with the interesting flavors like mango sticky rice and peach oolong tea, but they decided to take things up a notch with customizations. They’ll plop a scoop or two of ice cream in a bubble waffle cone and even serve you additional desserts like a fluffy Japanese souffle pancakes and matcha crepe cakes. Can it get any better? Yes. They also serve bubble tea.

The Dolly Llama

2817 Howell St.

The Dolly Llama fancies itself a waffle master and offers some unique and over-the-top creations. Get your ice cream served in a warm bubble waffle cone or over a Liege waffle. Then, add anything and everything to it including the Honda parked out front. If sugar shock is your goal, this is your Huckleberry. Plus, we really don't give llamas enough attention. Such weird little animals.

Fat Duck Ice Cream

Follow on Instagram for places and dates

DeSoto native Bryce Woods is an up-and-coming, small-batch ice cream maker you definitely want to follow. He's been diving deep into the science behind the perfect scoop of ice cream — balancing water, fat, air and sugar — rendering a super-premium, custard-style ice cream. Ooey Gooey is a popular flavor, as is milk and cookies and banana pudding. Brunch in Dallas is French toast cinnamon nutmeg ice cream with French toast bites. Keep an eye out for pop-ups. Woods is worth tracking down and can often be found at the Deep Ellum Outdoor Market on Saturdays.

Handel’s Ice Cream

4200 Legacy Drive, Plano

A chain that originated in Youngstown, Ohio, Handel’s has since brought its ice cream to five different locations in the Dallas area. The ice cream shop is perhaps best known for its 120+ rotating flavors, all made fresh in-house each day. Try the best-selling Oreo cheesecake flavor, a vanilla base loaded with huge chunks of cheesecake and Oreo cookies. Seasonal summer favorites include the Key lime pie, pineapple upside-down cake and strawberry cheesecake chunk. Bring your kids, friends and an appetite. Handel’s doesn’t skimp on flavors or portions.

Melt Ice Creams

405 N. Bishop Ave.

Melt Ice Creams, originally out of Fort Worth, has a shop in the Bishop Arts District and can also be found in retail outlets like Whole Foods. You can also have it shipped to your door via Goldbelly. Melt crafts premium small-batch ice cream with a high percentage of butterfat for extra creaminess. The house-made waffle cones have real butter and heavy cream. Check out the vegan and dairy-free options if that's how you roll. The real draw here is a constantly evolving menu of seasonal flavors, like Key lime pie with tart Key lime juice blended with sweet cream and white chocolate-coated graham cracker crust crumbles.

Parlor's Ice Cream

6465 E. Mockingbird Lane, No. 465

Parlor’s takes its concept of nostalgic ice cream to heart. Flavors like milk and cookies, made with a light vanilla ice cream and cookies loaded into the crevices, are sure to incite a sugar rush while reviving some fond childhood memories. Using flavors and ingredients sourced locally and from scratch, owners Brandon and Kellie Stoll are making ice cream as fresh as it gets.

Pure Milk & Honey

5321 E. Mockingbird Lane

This hidden soft-serve spot in Dallas lives up to its name: in pure ingredients and pure flavor. Located in Mockingbird Station, Pure Milk & Honey has been serving cold desserts to Dallas since 2019. With a from-scratch business model, the locally owned spot makes all of its soft serve using milk from Texas dairy farms and fresh honey from local beekeepers. It’s churned in-house to spawn an ultra-creamy soft serve that melts almost instantaneously when it hits the tongue. Order in small cups, large waffle bowls or even sandwiched between layers of house-made cake. It’s all fresh and pure.

Sugar Pine Creamery

6832 Coit Road, Plano

Good-quality soft serve is something you could never find in Dallas, until Sugar Pine Creamery came along. They offer six different soft serves at any given time, two of which are always dairy-free. You’ll usually get a heads-up before they drop a new flavor on their website or Instagram account. Unique combinations and fun twists on classics is their avenue. Sapporo beer and cherry, cardamom mascarpone and taro are a few in the archive. If you can’t choose, you can also get two flavors swirled.

Sweet Firefly

2701 Custer Parkway, Richardson

Sweet Firefly is a locally owned ice cream shop that serves small batch and gourmet scoops, candied treats and adult ice creams from Cow Tip Ice Cream. Every month they have a new rotation of flavors announced on their Instagram, which is usually something unique like cotton candy, but they always have the classics like vanilla, cookie dough and butter pecan. With how generous the scoops are, you’d swear you know the staff personally. They’re very involved with the local community and can make a Dallasite feel at home in their suburban creamery.

Sweet Pearl’s Ice Cream

305 Coneflower Drive, Garland

Second chances are the foundation of Sweet Pearl’s Ice Cream. After owner Will Gibson suffered from a horrific bicycle accident putting him out of work, he looked to making ice cream at home to keep himself busy. In just a few short years it evolved into a thriving business. He makes regular, vegan and gluten-free flavors. Sea salt caramel, sweet pearl and Saigon cinnamon have the hearts of many ice cream aficionados. If you’re lucky, you’ll get to meet Pearl herself, the rescue dog that’s the face of the shop.

Tongue in Cheek Ice Cream

526 W. Arapaho Road, Richardson, and 3505 E. Park Blvd., Plano

The original Tongue in Cheek location is in the heart of Richardson, but there's a new shop in Plano too. If you’re looking for big portions and cheap prices, this might become your new favorite ice cream spot. Try the best-selling banana pudding, a banana-flavored ice cream giving way to fresh wafers in each bite. Other popular option is the Caramel Crack, which comes with a rich caramel base and crispy chocolate balls sprinkled throughout. Ordering your ice cream is only the beginning of the fun here, though. Be sure to grab a spot on one of the swings while you eat. Swinging with a cone in hand makes an ice cream outing all the more fun.

Van Leeuwen Ice Cream

Several locations

Van Leeuwen just opened a new store in Deep Ellum and also has a store in Inwood Village (5450 W. Lovers) and in The West Village (in the old Paciugo space), where it serves a wide variety of dairy, vegan and gluten-free ice cream flavors. Van Leeuwen distributes its products in grocery stores, but the scoop shop makes it much easier to sample a few flavors. Plus, you can get it in a cup, a cone or even a cookie sandwich. The brown sugar cookie dough chunk may just be the star flavor. It comes with a rich, dark sugar ice cream base studded with candied walnuts, brownies and cookie dough. Try other specialties like the marionberry cheesecake and the praline butter cake.

The Yard

4940 Texas Highway 121, No. 100, The Colony

The Yard, from the hit TV show Shark Tank, is serving up some of the biggest milkshakes on the local dessert scene. The menu here boasts shakes ranging from the milk and cookies, a vanilla shake topped with a cookie sandwich, to the salted caramel cheesecake, which has a caramel-cheesecake-flavored base topped by a slice of cheesecake. And you can keep the jar when you’re done. This way, you can feel the sugar rush at the moment and remember it later.