Upgrade Your Ice Cream Scoops with These Offbeat Toppings

Whipped cream is obvious. Get salty and spicy with your dessert adornments.

Salt & Straw
Culinary perfume | Photo courtesy of Salt & Straw
Culinary perfume | Photo courtesy of Salt & Straw

Ice cream is a universally loved treat that transcends season and weather-appropriate conditions. (Why is it so weirdly delicious on a freezing cold day?) Those with a sweet tooth naturally gravitate toward the frozen dessert, but savory lovers can have their way, too. As ice cream innovators create novel flavors, so, too, do they dabble in experimental toppings.

“People are always looking for new interesting flavors in ice cream, and this translates into toppings as well,” says Nick Morgenstern of Morgenstern’s Ice Cream. “The unconventional ice cream topping I’m personally loving right now is salted egg yolk, and the pineapple salted egg yolk on our menu has surprised everyone by becoming one of the top three selling flavors this summer. In addition to that, I love the combination of tart and neutral, so I really like our Mango Tangerine ice cream, which I sprinkle with salt and top with a drizzle of olive oil.”

Rainbow sprinkles and brownie bits will always have our hearts, but joining those tried-and-true options are chili crunch, extra virgin olive oil, ground espresso, and so much more. Hell, Salt & Straw recently debut a line of culinary perfume with which you mist your ice cream. (More on that below.) That all might sound unconventional to you right now, but don’t knock ‘em til you try ‘em.

Vanilla ice cream with cornflakes
Vanilla ice cream with cornflakes | Photo by Austa Somvichian-Clausen

Go sweet with your ice cream toppings

Finely ground espresso
For a sweet treat that doubles as an energy boost, try sprinkling finely ground espresso beans over vanilla ice cream for a taste that mimics an affogato without the instant melt. Following the principle that “like goes with like,” opt for a coffee-flavored ice cream to enhance each ingredient’s rich and roasted qualities Coffee buffs who have a whole brew system at home could procure whole espresso beans—a floral-forward single origin would be nice here—and grind them at home.

Crushed cornflakes
Lovers of Milk Bar’s cult classic cornflake-flavored soft serve will appreciate this one. To replicate the taste at home, pick up a carton of sweet cream or similarly flavored ice cream and pour a handful of cornflakes in a small plastic bag. Gently crush up the cornflakes with a rolling pin or bottle of wine before pouring over the top of your scoops. For a colorful option, try incorporating Fruity Pebbles as well. The ambitious among us might want to make Tosi’s Cornflake Crunch, which is a little salty, a little sweet, and a lot worth it. It’ll add an extra touch to your plain flakes.

Culinary perfume
You’ve probably smelled gourmand fragrances before, but we’ll bet that you probably (hopefully) haven’t given any of them a taste. Well, that’s now a possibility with Salt & Straw’s new Culinary Perfumes, which they collaborated on with fragrance house, Imaginary Authors. The perfumes come in three flavors: Cloud of Cocoa, A Swoon of Citrus, and A Plume of Blooms. All add a new dimension of smell to your favorite scoop.

Toasted marshmallow fluff
Pair two beloved treats together—ice cream and marshmallows—for the ultimate dessert experience. We love that the addition of toasted marshmallow fluff can help recreate some of our other favorite desserts, too. Honey graham ice cream (Talenti makes a delicious gelato version) plus toasted marshmallow equals frozen s’mores. Chocolate ice cream plus toasted marshmallow equals a cold hot chocolate.Using peanut butter ice cream will deliver a chilled fluffernutter. Spoon marshmallow fluff over your ice cream and use a kitchen torch for a toasty top.

Tahini caramel
Tahini, a sesame seed paste, dwells in hummus and cookies alike. Its toasty, nutty character lends major depth when combined with sweet caramel then drizzled over your favorite scoop of ice cream. It’s delicious over classic vanilla, but would also be great paired with a nut flavor like pistachio or hazelnut, creamy coconut, or even black licorice ice cream. To make, use your favorite caramel recipe and add three tablespoons of tahini at the end of the process, while your sauce is still warm.

Vanilla ice cream with Trader Joe's chili crunch | Photo by Austa Somvichian-Clausen

Favor the savory

Extra virgin olive oil
You already love dipping pieces of crusty bread into EVOO, why not try it with your ice cream? Our number one tip with this topping is picking a quality olive oil, making sure it’s extra virgin. The flavor of olive oils run the gamut, so find one that suits your taste palate, whether that means a fruity and bright-tasting oil, or a spicy, peppery one. Either way, olive oil tastes amazing drizzled liberally over vanilla scoops, or with a citrus flavor such as lemon or orange. Morgenstern’s Oro Blanco Olive Oil Jam is another great option with the same savory flavor plus the taste of citrusy pomelo and grapefruit.

Chili crunch
Crunchy toppings are one of the best ways to create a textural contrast when enjoying a bowl of smooth ice cream. Rather than lean on the usual suspects like Oreos or honeycomb, we suggest giving your scoops an unexpected kick with a dollop of flavorful chili crunch. Fly By Jing’s popular version contains mouth-numbing sichuan, and Trader Joe’s with crunchy onions is a no-fail option with a very low heat level. Our suggestion is to use the least “sweet” vanilla or chocolate ice cream you can find.

Flaky sea salt
It’s a tale as old as time: sweet tends to harmonize with a little bit of salt. The beloved combination of salty-sweet is already an ice cream classic in the form of salted caramel, but we’re advocates of adding a pinch of flaky salt to, well, everything. If you didn’t know, salt also comes in many different flavor forms, so the combination potential is endless. Sprinkle classic sea salt over chocolate ice cream, or vanilla salt and strawberry cheesecake ice cream. Fleur de sel or grey sea salt both add nice minerality. Don’t be shy! Cascade some everything bagel seasoning on goat cheese ice cream.

Dark chocolate and crushed pepper
Already a flavor combination utilized in Hispanic and South Asian cuisines, among others, chocolate and chilies are exactly what you need to spice up your next bowl of ice cream. Fine shreds of bitter dark chocolate play perfectly with either bright aleppo pepper or deep guajillo, then sprinkled on top of vanilla ice cream. Added bonus: cool, milky ice cream provides instant relief for a hot tongue.

Furikake seasoning
A condiment staple in Japanese cuisine, usually seen atop fluffy mounds of jasmine rice or cuts of silken tofu, Furikake is a savory seasoning consisting typically of sesame seeds, nori (dried seaweed), and salt—with several variations thereof. It has a nutty, briny flavor that tastes amazing atop sweet scoops of vanilla or tart plum sorbet.

Want more Thrillist? Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat.

Austa Somvichian-Clausen is a freelance food and travel writer, who lives in Brooklyn with her girlfriend and two fur babies.Follow her on Instagram.