Salt & Straw Has a New Pint of Ice Cream That Tastes Just Like Fried Chicken

It's just one of five new flavors in the Picnic Series, which reimagines a classic summer spread.

Courtesy of Salt & Straw
Courtesy of Salt & Straw

Salt & Straw introduces a themed five-pint collection of unique flavors you'd never predict every month. Case in point, the Thanksgiving menu lineup with ice cream inspired by Parker House Rolls, Caramelized Turkey, and Cranberry sauce. Now the pint innovator has created and fitting theme for summer. 

The Picnic Series reimagines the classic seasonal spread in a five-course ice cream experience with everything from rosé-inspired flavors to a fried chicken main course. The lineup starts with a vegan Pink Rosé & Watermelon Sorbet, a Baked Brie & Fig Cheesecake, Devilled Egg Custard w/ Smoked Black Tea, Cinnamon & Honey Fried Chicken, and finishes with Chocolate Nocino Cherry Pie. 

Now let's talk about one pint, in particular, the Cinnamon & Honey Fried Chicken pint. The flavor features a spiced vanilla ice cream with bits of fried chicken croissant fried in Ezell's Famous Chicken fat. And as someone that's tried it myself, let me tell you, it tastes like the real thing. 

Courtesy of Salt & Straw

"[It's] slightly savory and evocatively spiced with sudden pops of crackling texture, this ice cream brings together the unprecedented marriage of ice cream and fried chicken, a marriage that the world didn't even know it needed," Salt & Straw said in a statement. "We start with fresh croissants, torn into bits, deep-fried with chicken fat 'til crispy perfection, and churn them into salted vanilla ice cream. A shake of very special (very secret) spices adds a sweet heat kick." 

 The Pink Rosé & Watermelon Sorbet, meanwhile, features a blend of watermelon and rosé sorbet (naturally) with homemade raspberry jam, while the Baked Brie & Fig Cheesecake includes a candied Ritz Crackers crust, dark ribbons of fig jam, and salted sweet cream ice cream made with Cowgirl Creamery. The controversial sounding Devilled Egg Custard w/ Smoked Black Tea has an Indian black salted custard ice cream with smoked tea shortbread crumble and peach balsamic marshmallow fluff. Finally, the Chocolate Nocino Cherry Pie is a single-origin chocolate ice cream spiked with Nocino liqueur and chunks of cherry slab pie. 

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Megan Schaltegger is a Staff Writer on the News team at Thrillist.