The Best Ice Cream Toppings to Kick Your Scoop Up a Notch
Ice cream is a delicious, creamy, and sweet treat all on its own, but it’s also no secret that ice cream is the perfect blank canvas for mix-ins, flavorings, and toppings galore. Whether you choose vanilla ice cream to start or a flavor that already packs a punch, there’s an endless assortment of candies, sauces, eye-catching colors, and mouth-watering flavors that, when added to your ice cream, can kick your scoop up a notch. Read on for some of the best ice cream toppings out there!
Hot Fudge
Hot fudge is a classic ice cream topping for a reason! This rich, warm, and gooey topping is probably the best topping out there when paired with creamy, cold ice cream. Hot fudge is an absolute staple in one of the more popular ways to eat ice cream out there—an ice cream sundae. The contrasting temperatures between the hot fudge itself and the ice cream are what make for such a delectable treat.
Sprinkles
You already know that sprinkles are one of our favorite ice cream toppings, and for good reason! They come in many shapes and flavors, from the color-coordinated to an all-out rainbow-hoopla, and everything in between. If you’re looking for a sweet, aesthetically pleasing way to bring your ice cream game to the next level, look no further than sprinkles. They’re anything but run-of-the-mill and are a surefire way to kick your scoop of ice cream up a notch.
Caramel
Caramel sauce, like hot fudge, is a decadent ice cream topper that is a classic accouterment to virtually any ice cream flavor. Caramel as a topping can vary, too, depending on the type of caramel sauce you’re interested in. There’s the classic caramel sauce that comes in a bottle and adds a light, but flavorful punch to your scoop. Or there are caramel candies that can be chopped up and added to your ice cream or melted into a rich sauce. Or there’s hot, homemade caramel sauce—like the less chocolaty sibling of hot fudge. Whichever caramel topping you choose, it’s bound to make your ice cream irresistible.
Crushed Cookies
Another stable in not only ice cream flavors but in ice cream toppings is crushed cookies. The most popular type of cookie to use as a topping is the Oreo—sweet, sugary cream sandwiched between two chocolate wafer cookies—but almost any cookie will do! Oreos in particular add a great twist to your regular old scoop of ice cream because they add both sweetness, from the filling, and chocolate, from the cookies. If you’re a fan of cookies ‘n’ cream ice cream, then you’ll undoubtedly enjoy crushed cookies as a topping on your next scoop!
Peanut Butter Cups
Another winning combination when it comes to ice cream toppings is chocolate and peanut butter. We all know and love chocolate peanut butter cups due to the perfect combination of two favorite ingredients, but they make excellent ice cream toppings, too. Simply take a few peanut butter cups and roughly chop them (or purchase some mini peanut butter cups to avoid the extra work) and sprinkle them over your favorite ice cream flavor. Delicious!
Cookie Dough
Cookie dough is yet another ice cream topping that works just as well as a mix-in as a topping. You’re likely familiar with the beloved cookie dough flavor of ice cream, which involves bits of delectable chocolate chip cookie dough mixed into vanilla ice cream, but why not also add some bits of cookie dough on top of your ice cream? Have double the cookie dough if you want—who’s stopping you?
Whipped Cream
Whipped cream is a topping that is equally as delicious on its own, or in addition to any of the other toppings we’ve mentioned. This sugary, creamy, and light-as-air topping will add even more sweet melt-in-your-mouth goodness to your scoop of ice cream, and what could possibly be better? You can go for old-fashioned whipped cream, created by literally whipping heavy cream and sugar until stiff peaks form, or opt for the version that comes straight from a can. Either way, you pretty much can’t go wrong with whipped cream on top of your ice cream.
Chocolate Shell
Hard chocolate coatings are a fun and unique topping to add to your scoop. There are a couple of options when it comes to this topping, which is going to be a win if you like chocolate! You can either buy chocolate shell toppings from the grocery store, which are liquid inside their plastic containers but become solid when the topping meets the cold surface of the ice cream, or you can make a simple chocolate shell topping yourself by melting pure chocolate. Either option will result in a hard, chocolate bar-like consistently on top of your ice cream.
Marshmallow
Marshmallows are a fun and delectable topping that can be reminiscent of a lot of different flavors! Mix marshmallows, chocolate ice cream, and nuts for a new take on Rocky Road. Toast marshmallows in the oven or over an open flame and add graham cracker crumbs for a s’mores ice cream topping. Or top your scoop with marshmallow fluff for a creamy, sticky delight. Whichever type of marshmallow topping you choose, it’s sure to be delicious!
Cereal
A nontraditional ice cream topping that’s become more popular in recent years, cereal is a fun option that will add a little crunch to your scoop. You can opt for a fruity cereal to give your ice cream a colorful flavor profile, plain crispy cereal to simply add some crunch without compromising your ice cream’s flavor, or, as always, go for chocolate cereal (because who doesn’t like chocolate?) Whatever cereal you choose, it will add some fun and some texture to your next scoop of ice cream.
Ice cream is incredible in its purest form, but it’s also even better with oodles of toppings! There are even more toppings that we didn’t include here, so if we missed one, you’ll just need to get some Besties Ice Cream and show us the other topping varieties out there. What’s your favorite topping?