A scoop of your favorite ice cream is never a bad idea, and Sunday, July 19, is National Ice Cream Day. Here are some of our favorite sweet spots in New Jersey to get your cup, cone or sundae.
Throughout New Jersey
The Baked Bear
Multiple locations; plus Jersey Shore food truck
You can customize the perfect ice cream sandwich. Step 1 is to choose your top and bottom: mix and match any cookie or brownie, which come in flavors like Nutella chocolate chunk, snickerdoodle, Funfetti and cookie monster. Step 2 is choosing your ice cream flavor(s): caramel pretzel fudge, blackberry crumble, toasted s’mores and butter brittle cake are some of the more non-traditional options. Step 3 includes an array of toppings, ranging from hot caramel, almonds, Heath Bar bits and Oreo crumbs. Step 4, if so you choose, is to warm up the sandwich in the press.
Scream Truck
Union, Somerset, Morris, Essex, Bergen, Passaic, Middlesex and Monmouth counties
Though there’s no storefront, you can catch this ice cream truck around NJ carrying its famous soft-serve ice cream that’s served in a snackable square shape. Get a cup of squares mixed with cookies, brownies and candies. They also have decadent sundaes and shakes on the menu. Aside from renting the truck for a party, you can reserve your house along a route and get text alerts when the truck is in the area. On July 19, Scream Truck will be handing out free samples from the South Avenue Train Station lot in Westfield from 12 to 4 pm.
On July 19, Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace (Morris Plains, Ramsey, Tinton Falls) will offer two scoops of any gelato flavor for $2.50 in celebration of Uncle Giuseppe’s 25th anniversary. You can also try their new Italian Rainbow Cookie Gelato, a combo of sweet cream gelato with pieces of Uncle Giuseppe’s homemade rainbow cookies with ribbons of raspberry jelly (try it in a cup, cone, pint, quart, or even stuffed inside a cannoli).
North Jersey
Applegate Farm
616 Grove St., Upper Montclair
If you’re craving some great ice cream with a side of history, check out Applegate Farm. Housed in the original, 1848 farmhouse, this shop has survived the Civil War, Great Depression, and two World Wars, all while growing from simple dairy barn to one of the East Coast’s largest ice cream outlets. This season’s Summer at the Farm specials include Dirt Cup Sundae, Frozen Shirley Temple, and Strawberry Shortcake Sundae.
Beenie’s Ice Cream
38 Morris St., Morristown
Year-round inventive flavors include Banilla Banana, black cherry amaretto chunk, brambleberry blast, jelly donut with sprinkles, Mallomar, Chiapas Cold Brew Coffee, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Dunkaroos, gluten-free or Golden Oreo, and honey lavender. But the real treat is that Beenie’s will take your leftover wedding cake and turn it into ice cream for your first wedding anniversary!
Cliff’s Homemade Ice Cream
1475 Rte. 46, Ledgewood
A neighborhood staple for more than 50 years, Cliff’s has 11 soft and more than 60 hard hand-dipped flavors. What do you think of Holy Cannoli, Morris County Mud, Huckleberry Buckle and Smurf flavors?
Denville Dairy
34A Broadway, Denville
Since opening over 60 years ago, this family-owned dairy has been selling their homemade ice cream, cakes and pies, plus a wide selection of pints and quarts. They are known for their chocolate chip and M&M ice cream sandwiches, party dixie cups, Italian ice cups, made with regular, sugar-free, fat-free or vegan ice cream.
CARPIGIANI PRESS OFFICE / Francia Magsaysay
Francy’s Artisanal Ice Cream
Bergenfield
Francia Magsaysay created classic flavors, but also future-forward options like black sesame, gianduja crunch (hazelnut), guyabano (soursop, from the Caribbean), kape’t tinapay (coffee and bread, from the Philippines), melon, ricotta fig and walnut, and fruit salad.
Gelotti Homemade Ice Cream & Italian Ice
2 Union Ave., Paterson
Gelato, ice cream’s Italian cousin, is better for all the right reasons: less fat and a richer, creamier taste. Try Banana Cookies & Cream, cherry pistachio, chocolate marshmallow or red velvet. Italian ice, gelato and yogurt are also on the menu. Or, try a Lil Cone, chocolate-dipped frozen banana or ice cream cupcake. You can also get jars of sprinkles and other toppings to go!
Guerriero Gelato & Cakes
West Orange, Morristown, Montclair, Caldwell, Teaneck
There is hard ice cream, gelato, Italian ice and cakes to choose from, ranging from banana Oreo, banana pudding and peppermint bark to cannoli cream, blood orange and root beer. They also make an award-winning blueberry basil.
Holsten’s Brookdale Confectionery
1063 Broad St., Bloomfield
You may recognize this old-fashioned ice cream parlor from The Sopranos series finale, but our readers know it as one of the best dessert stops around. Sticking close to its 1939 soda shop roots, the Holsten’s menu—which also includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner options—still features black and white sodas, egg creams, and sundaes, all of which are made with homemade ice cream. Don’t forget to ask about their homemade chocolates, candies and fudge!
Julietta
423 Washington St., Hoboken
You’ll feel like you’re in Italy snacking on gelato. Flavors include pistachio, vegan blueberry, vegan passionfruit, mint chocolate chip and hazelnut almond.
Kilwins
121 E. Ridgewood Ave., Ridgewood
There’s an entire Mint Cookies & Cream Collection as part of the chocolate, ice cream and fudge shop. The original recipe ice cream dates back to 1947, and includes flavors like cappuccino chocolate chip, toasted coconut, New Orleans praline pecan, strawberry chunk and blueberry waffle cone.
Magic Fountain
907 Broadway, Bayonne
Arguably Bayonne’s pride and joy, Magic Fountain’s homemade ice cream is indeed magical. From open to close during the season, there is always a line of patrons waiting to get their frozen fix. Enjoy a classic soft serve with sprinkles or be swept away with an out-of-this-world “hurricane”—ice cream mixed with whatever your hungry heart desires.
Moo Jersey
Hoboken
Jeff, the head chef, grew up near a dairy barn outside Boston and has been in love with ice cream ever since. They churn the ice cream slowly in small batches using high-quality local ingredients. Each pint is 14 percent butterfat and less than 30 percent air, making it thick and flavorful like gelato but milky like typical ice cream. Flavors include cookies & cream, cold brew coffee and black raspberry. Sign up for a DIY Ice Cream Experience, and you’ll flavor and churn two custom pints or make ice cream pizza.
Nasto’s Old World Desserts
236-40 Jefferson St., Newark
Located in the Ironbound section of Newark for three generations, the shop has been serving fresh fruit sorbets, reginetta, tartufo, spumoni, tortoni, gourmet cakes and ice cream cakes – but it’s most known for its tiramisu and the cherry vanilla ice cream mentioned in The Sopranos.
Oddfellows
450 Bloomfield Ave., Montclair
Oddfellows is a small-batch ice cream shop with 500 “wacky” flavors added to the menu since first opening in Brooklyn in 2013. That includes miso peanut butter and jelly, passionfruit apricot pistachio, vanilla blackberry blondie and raspberry rocky road. There’s a vegan line, too. Fun fact: if you book a party on site and bring booze, they’ll whip it into shakes and floats for the adults.
South Street Creamery (& Red Sea Café)
146 South St., Morristown
Morristown’s oldest ice cream shop recently opened an East African café. There’s gelato, sherbet, sorbet, non-fat yogurt and sugar-free ice creams. Also on offer are gourmet coffees, chilled and warm drinks, fresh baked goods and a wide variety of fudge. Customers can also request custom ice cream cakes or host make-your-own sundae parties.
Sparta’s Shack
640 Lafayette Rd., Sparta
Cookies & cream in a chocolate-dipped waffle cone with rainbow sprinkles is top of the list here. Ask about their tornadoes, cannoli waffles, Spartan waffles, Krispie Pebbles milkshake and cookie dough boat. You may be there for a while choosing from their toppings bar. They also have sugar-free, reduced-fat and vegan options.
Torico Ice Cream
20 Erle St., Jersey City
Torico is known for its homemade ice cream that uses sourced ingredients; the peanut butter, pineapple and coconut come from “the real thing.” The options change seasonally year-round. There are also sorbets, sherbets and Italian ices available.
The Towne Scoop
542B Bloomfield Ave., Verona
The Towne Scoop’s vintage look and bow tie-outfitted scoopers may be its trademark, but this store’s true claim to fame is its ice cream. There are over 20 flavors of ice cream, frozen yogurt, and Italian ice, plus 18 toppings to mix and match.
Van Dyk’s Homemade Ice Cream
145 Ackerman Ave., Ridgewood
With a parking lot as packed as its customers’ bellies, this hole-in-the-wall creamery leaves no stone unturned in the ice cream business: portions are huge, flavors and toppings are vast, and there are smiles (sometimes dripping) all around. Aside from serving up sizable scoops and colossal cones, Van Dyk’s is unique for generous mix-ins: peppermint pieces, whole cherries, chocolate chunks—the list goes on!
Central Jersey
the bent spoon
35 Palmer Sq., Princeton
There are many offbeat seasonal flavors that make this place a must-visit. Even better, all those interesting additions are often sourced from local farmers. Come by for anise hyssop, peanut butter vanilla beach, fresh ricotta and NJ peach.
Coney Waffle
Multiple locations
If you want creamy ice cream smothered inside a fresh, hot waffle, this is the place to be. They make an assortment of decadent cakes, too.
Farmingdale Creamery
1144 Rte. 33, Farmingdale
Aside from handcrafted flavors like Mississippi mud pie, wild blueberry, cookie curveball, toasted coconut and Dubai chocolate (and vanilla bourbon brownie or peanut butter fudge that are vegan), try the Chimney Cone Special (chimney cake with hot fudge and two scoops of ice cream) or a root beer float. Specialty sundaes come as chocolate chip cookie, apple caramel, molten chocolate lava cake and Georgia peach cobbler. You can order a shake, an ice cream sandwich, and even a slice of ice cream pie (in varieties like orange & cream, cappuccino cream, pecan caramel and Heath Bar).
Four Boys Ice Cream
Englishtown, Farmingdale, Jamesburg, Jackson, Milltown
It all started with a truck. In the winter of 1999, Dan, the eldest son of Peter and JoAnn Becker, talked his parents into buying an ice cream truck as a prospective business. They named it for their four boys, and in 2004 became established as a storefront. People flock to their Central Jersey locations for their hard ice cream, soft ice cream, Italian ices, sherbet, sundaes, frozen yogurt, slushies, shakes, floats and Dole Whip soft serve. The vanilla/chocolate soft twist with sprinkles, fudge, whipped cream and a cherry is a fan favorite.
Fresh Tiki Bar
15C Division St., Somerville
The menu at this dessert destination includes artisan ice cream, waffles, ice cream sandwiches, ice cream soda floats, hot cocoa, waffle wands and sundaes. Top items are Italian rainbow cookie ice cream, the GNO Pink Drink served in a pink cowgirl boot mug, freshly baked M&M cookies, Aimee’s Coffee Brownee Artisan Sundae, and heart-shaped waffle ice cream sandwiches.
Halo Pub
9 Hulfish St., Princeton
This ice cream shop meets coffee shop is known for its super-premium artisan ice cream and gourmet coffees from Philly’s La Colombe. The flavors are created at its micro-dairy parent, Halo Farm, in nearby Lawrenceville. Halo Fete is in the adjoining space and makes French patisserie inspired ice cream cakes and individual items on site.
Hoffman’s Ice Cream
804 Richmond Ave., Pt. Pleasant Beach
569 Church St., Spring Lake Heights
Though it began as one of the Garden State’s first Carvel shops way back in 1955, Hoffman’s in Point Pleasant Beach has grown into a dessert destination in its own right, now offering all house-made ice creams and cakes. Almond turtle, caramel nut cluster, blueberry pie, Jersey Monkey and key lime pie are some favorites. If you like to drink your ice cream, opt for a root beer float or a cold brew shake.
Iceberg Ice Cream
403 Grand Central Ave., Lavalette
No trip to the Jersey Shore is complete without cold ice cream on a hot summer day. Iceberg serves up the coolest hard serve, soft serve, Italian ice and sherbet. Try a chocolate-dipped cone, specialty sundae or novelty banana split. There are also no-sugar and “safe serve” (allergy-friendly) options.
Jake’s Cree-Mee Freeze
337 Rte. 33, Manalapan
Drive up along Route 33 and visit this stand-alone ice cream shop for various ice cream, frozen yogurt and Italian ice flavors. The creamsicle twist soft serve is worth the trip!
Jersey Freeze
Multiple locations
When a location is a favorite of Bruce Springsteen’s, you know it must be good! Ice cream cones, cakes, cupcakes and sundaes are all the rage. Ice cream choices are soft serve, hard ice cream, fat-free, sugar-free, and non-dairy. The Freehold location serves lunch and dinner as well. As of late, they are gaining notoriety for their Shakes of the Month, their ice cream cakes, their giant chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches, and their dot cake ice cream. This year, they started an ice cream truck that’s rentable for parties and events.
Magnifico’s Ice Cream
500 Rte. 18, East Brunswick
Driving along Route 18 doesn’t have many upsides – except for pulling out of traffic and into the Magnifico’s parking lot for a selection of ice cream, cakes, novelties, pup cakes, Oreo sandwiches and more. Gary Magnifico started working for his parents’ Carvel franchise in Manville in the 1970s, then opened a soft ice cream stand at the U.S. 1 Flea Market in New Brunswick. In the winter of 1980 while driving down the northbound side of Route 18, he noticed an abandoned freestanding Carvel for sale, purchased the building and property, and opened the doors to Magnifico’s in April 1981.
Mia’s Scoop & Sweets
222 E. Front St., Plainfield
The ice cream sundaes here are more like piled-high works of art – from Mia’s Kitty Waffle to the Dubai Strawberry Chocolate Bucket to Cotton Candy DayDream to their trademark Duckalicious.
Nicholas Creamery
Multiple locations
The unique flavors from this small-batch ice cream shop that Eat This, Not That! calls the best in NJ for 2025 include Porta Ricotta & Olive Oil, Hudson Cafe Coffee Crunch, Brown Sugar Cookie Dough and Mueller’s Crumb Cake. Their grab-and-go selection of cakes include Celebration, Cookie Dream and Peanutbutterpalooza.
The Original Kohr Brothers Frozen Custard
Multiple locations
In 1919, the Kohr brothers set up a booth on the Coney Island boardwalk, hoping to sell some of their homemade custard. Little did they know they’d sell a whopping 18,000 cones in just a single weekend! Over 100 years later, the original recipe is still a favorite, and can now on Wild Wheels Pier in Wildwood, as well as various other locations throughout the Jersey Shore.
The Original Rich’s Ice Cream
344 Rte. 9, Lanoka Harbor
1801 Rte. 37, Toms River
35 S. Union Ave., Manahawkin
Family-owned since 1955, this ice cream shop features hot cocoa Oreo, cappuccino crunch and toasted coconut in addition to the traditional chocolate, strawberry and vanilla chip.
Owowcow Creamery
237 N. Union St., Lambertville
The new flavors include strawberry rhubarb crumble, chocolate apricot almond and salted strawberry stracciatella – and all flavors here are made by hand.
Polar Cub
380 Rte. 22 W., Whitehouse Station
From ice cream to chocolate-dipped bananas and “flurries,” this local mom-and-pop shop can do it all. Their famous soft serve flavors are peanut butter, orange, pistachio and peach.
The Scoop N Scootery
21 E. Front St., Red Bank
This late-night shop, which also offers delivery, has people lined around the block for the Customization Station, where you use a video screen to pick from dozens of flavors and toppings. Choose from flavors like campfire s’mores, fluffernutter, blueberry swirl and black raspberry. Then add on chocolate flakes, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, pie crust, Nutella sauce, apple pie and dozens of other toppings. Some of the pre-designed sundaes include Buttercream Dream, A La Mode and Banana Hammock. There’s also a menu of Sundae Cores & Tunnels that come in varieties like frosted red velvet cake, cannoli cream, edible cookie dough and frosted carrot cake; as well as frozen yogurt, milkshakes and cookies.
Scoops the Ice Creamery
2014 Rte. 22 E., Scotch Plains
Scoops The Ice Creamery has been an ice cream destination for families for about 25 years. All hard ice cream flavors are made in-store and there are over 50 flavors to choose from at a time plus soft serve, fat-free ice cream and Italian Ice. Scoops is open daily year-round and there are tables inside and outdoors.
Thomas Sweet
Princeton (2 locations), New Brunswick, Montgomery
Since opening its doors in 1979, this Victorian-style ice cream shop has been a favorite stop for kids and adults alike. Serving up house-made ice creams, frozen yogurt, chocolates and specialty coffees (not to mention the treats in their chocolate store!). Their Blend-Ins are a local favorite.
Vanilla Bean Creamery
22 North Avenue W., Cranford
Run by Ice Cream University (yes, it’s real) grad Ralph Kopelman, this shop is scooping 32 ice cream flavors—plus a special flavor of the week, along with Italian ice and sorbet—all of which are handmade on the premises daily. Specialties include salted caramel pecan, vanilla chocolate super crunch, sticky toffee pudding, and party cake.
South Jersey
Custard Hut
109 Rte. 50, Ocean View
710 New Rd. (Rte. 9), Somers Point
Custard Hut has been serving up soft ice cream, homemade hand-dipped flavors, chilies, banana splits, gelati, water ice and candy sundaes since 1977.
Fundaes Arcade & Play Cafe
105 Saddle Way, Suite 800, Chesterfield
The sugar high here is real. There are arcade games, a soft play area, and a selection of ice cream cups cones, sundaes, shakes and floats.
Peewee’s Ice Cream
57 N. Main St., Medford
This shop prides itself on small batch ice cream made with local NJ ingredients – like strawberry and even corn! There are dairy and vegan flavors available. The blueberry lemon milkshake is vegan and gluten-free.
Scoop DeVille
101 Haddon Ave., Haddon Twp.
2022 Boardwalk, North Wildwood
Scoops is known for signature soft serve ice cream, like Oreo mudslide or molten lava; frozen yogurt like banana pudding or blueberry cheesecake; fresh-dipped bananas and cheesecakes, Whippies (soft serve + homemade fruit whip water ice); Stacker Sundaes (aka packed); frozen drinks; and even vegan ice cream and cakes.
Yellow Brick Road Ice Cream Shop
754 Mantoloking Rd., Brick
1857 Hooper Ave., Toms River
Choose from over 40 flavor choices of both soft and hard ice creams, hard yogurts and Italian Ices. Both locations offer soft serve ice cream flavors in traditional vanilla, chocolate or twist, as well as two flavors that change weekly and will be different at each location. The facility is not peanut-free, but vegan, gluten-free and low-sugar options are available.
Trade in ice cream for water ice during the first-ever Water Ice Festival, which brings together 30+ vendors at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City on July 18.
Check out one of NJ’s iconic spots, Jersey Freeze, and its first franchised location in Colts Neck; as well as the new Scoop N Scootery late-night spot in Red Bank.
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Read More:
This is the Best Ice Cream Shop in New Jersey, According to Eat This, Not That!
These Are the Sweetest Chocolate and Candy Shops in New Jersey
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