‘I scream, you scream': Discover these 14 best ice cream shops in New Jersey

🍨 Summer and ice cream in New Jersey go hand-in-hand

🍨 These are some of the best ice cream shops in the Garden State

🍨 Do you agree?

Beach, boardwalk, barbecues, and backyard bashes…Summer is here in New Jersey and a great way to cool off is with a dish or a cone of your favorite ice cream.

With hundreds of ice cream shops in the state to choose from, where can you go to find the best? Most people may flock to the Jersey Shore to score a creamy treat from the boardwalk, right? Right. But there are other delicious ice cream shops in New Jersey that you may not know about.

Let’s explore.

Here are 14 of the best ice cream shops in New Jersey

There are three very popular shops that our 101.5 listeners raved about when we asked where the best ice cream shops are in the state.

Jersey Freeze

120 Manalapan Ave, Freehold

Jersey Freeze in Freehold (with a second location in Holmdel), was founded in 1952. When it first opened, it was mainly an ice cream shop. But by the 1970s, it became a go-to spot for fast food and ice cream. It’s also Bruce Springsteen’s favorite ice cream joint. The Boss often tells the story on stage during concerts about when he was a kid, he would go to Jersey Freeze and instead of ordering ice cream, he would just munch on the broken pieces of cones to satisfy his sweet tooth.

But he later told AARP Magazine in 2020 that when the COVID-19 pandemic was over, he couldn’t wait to return to his favorite ice cream place. “When this is over, I want t get an ice cream cone at the Jersey Freeze – to walk inside, step up to the counter, and say, ‘Soft vanilla dipped in chocolate,” please. That’s apparently the Boss’ favorite.

But there are so many flavors to choose from at Jersey Freeze from the basic vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, to flavors like cake batter, butter pecan, oatmeal cookie crumble, sea salt caramel, blueberry and so many more. Choose from soft-serve, hard, and non-dairy. They also have milkshakes, cakes, and cupcakes.

Try Jersey Freeze boats. One popular boat is The Strawberry Pound Cake (loads of strawberries over pound cake). Another is the Oreo Obsession (hot fudge, marshmallow, and crushed Oreos).

Hoffman’s

800 Richmond Avenue, Point Pleasant Beach

Another popular ice cream store our listeners love is Hoffman’s.

In 1955, Hoffman’s started out as one of the first Carvel’s in New Jersey. In 1976, it made the switch from Carvel to Hoffman’s. They opened a second location in Spring Lake in 1986. Hoffman’s thrives on that hometown taste and feel, according to its website. It was even featured on an episode of “Man vs. Food.”

Hoffman’s offers about 40 unique flavors of ice cream such as black raspberry, coconut joy, cherry vanilla, espresso mocha crunch, and Jersey Monkey (banana ice cream with peanut butter swirl and chocolate chips).

Just in time for summer, flavors like Dole Whip, and pineapple and cherry are back, too.
Ice cream cakes are available, and now Hoffman’s even has an ice cream truck.

Sundaes

Four locations in Aberdeen, Manasquan, Point Pleasant, and Toms River

Sundaes is the third most popular ice cream choice spot for our listeners with four locations to visit.

With nearly 40 flavors, there’s something for everyone to enjoy. Some unique ones include Grandma’s Apple Pie (apple pie ice cream with apple swirl and pie pieces), Peppermint Patty (peppermint ice cream with chocolate cone dip), Devil Dog (Devil’s Food ice cream cake with chocolate cake pieces and vanilla icing), and Sticky Fingers (vanilla ice cream with fudge, caramel, and chocolate cake crunch).

Sundaes offer tons of toppings for the ice cream like hot fudge, wet walnuts, sprinkles, chips, candy pieces, and more.

There are also shakes, floats, banana splits, egg creams, pineapple freezes, flying saucers, cakes, and more.

Now, let’s check out some other cool New Jersey spots for ice cream.

Scoop to My Lou

59 Main St, East Brunswick

Owner Lou wanted to create a sweet-tooth sanctuary for his neighborhood. So, he created a vision of a garden-like setting so everyone could meet up in a safe place with friends, family, and teammates, according to the website. When he presented this career idea to his wife, she replied, “I’ll scoop for you, Lou.”

Scoop to My Lou has about 38 flavors of ice cream from the classics to the interesting including Salty Caramel Pretzel (caramel sweet cream, chocolate-covered pretzels, and ribbons of sweet caramel), Pistachio Cherry (pistachio sweet cream and black cherries), PB&J (grape ice cream with peanut butter swirl), and Lemon Poppy (citrus lemon sweet cream with poppy seeds).

The store offers ready homemade chocolate/vanilla cakes in stock, and other take-home treats, too.

Yellow Brick Road

754 Mantoloking Road, Brick

Family-owned and operated since 1995, Yellow Brook Road offers a variety of ice creams, yogurts, and Italian ice. Besides cups and cones, YBR offers custom cakes, grab-and-go cases with ice cream sandwiches, brownie pizzas, and other novelty desserts.

YBR has more than 40 flavors of ice cream, and patrons rave about the lemon bar ice cream. Other favorites include Play Doh (looks like play-doh but tastes like fruity pebbles), Brookie Dough, Philly Graham Slam (graham cracker ice cream with chocolate-covered marshmallows and graham swirls), and Coconut Castaway (coconut ice cream with dark chocolate pieces, almonds, and a light rum sauce).

Scoops

2014 US-22, Scotch Plains

Homemade ice cream is offered year-round at this family-oriented ice cream shop with over 60 flavors changing daily. Customer love the area inside and the nice benches outside to enjoy their cones and cups. They also offer no-sugar options like strawberry, cherry vanilla, and lactose-free offerings as well.

Word of warning: Cash only at this place.

Flavors are broken down into categories like vanilla flavors, chocolate flavors, fruit flavors, and coffee flavors.

Enjoy other desserts at Scoops like Italian ice, shakes, ice cream sodas, ice cream pies, ice cream sandwiches, and more.

Polar Cub

380 US-22, Whitehouse Station

Polar Cub offers ice cream in a variety of soft and hard flavors and even vegan options. Enjoy flurries (soft serve with candies blended throughout), sundaes, shakes, floats, ice cream sodas, egg creams, Italian ice, slushies, ice cream sandwiches, dipped bananas, cakes, and more.

Nasto’s Ice Cream Company

236 Jefferson St, Newark

Located in the Ironbound section of Newark, Nasto’s has evolved from a quaint neighborhood mom-and-pop shop into a leading manufacturer of premium ice cream and frozen dessert specialties. Nasto’s has a complete line of ice cream, gelato, sorbet, and Italian Ice, all rooted in recipes from the owner’s hometown of Nocera, Italy.

Choose from a variety of ice cream flavors including almond butter crunch, cappuccino, blueberry, amaretto, banana cream pie, avocado (yes, avocado), and more.

Das’ Creamery

100 US-46, Budd Lake

“Long before we opened our doors at Das’ Creamery in 2014, ice cream has been a major food group for the Das family. Every vacation has a memorable ice cream highlight from maple ice cream in Quebec, Canada to gelato of every flavor in Florence and Rome, Italy. We enjoy drawing from our travels and imaginations when we create our unique flavor combinations,” according to the website.

Das’ serves small batch gourmet ice cream. With more than 30 flavors, there are the classics and some very unique ones. There is the Grahamsterdam (marshmallow and graham mixed throughout the vanilla ice cream.

Top it off with some hot fudge and whipped cream to create your own s'mores sundae), Kulfi, Toasted Coconut Almond (a caramelized coconut ice cream with toasted coconut flakes and almonds. Kulfi is a traditional style of making ice cream in India), Ghost Chocolate (smoky meets chocolatey and a hint of spice in our chocolate ice cream infused with smoked chilis), and Fig (A delightful combination of creamy vanilla ice cream and caramel swirls with real figs).

Confectionately Yours

3391 NJ-27, Franklin Park

While it is now a restaurant offering lunch and dinner, ice cream and chocolates are the roots of Confectionately Yours, dating back to 1981.

Customers love the cake batter ice cream. It’s like licking the bowl. Their strawberry ice cream has chunks of strawberry mixed in, and the coffee chip features coffee ice cream with dark chocolate chips.

Curly’s Ice Cream

30 NJ-23, Riverdale

A favorite spot on a hot, summer day or any time of the year is Curly’s, Riverdale’s go-to-ice cream shop.

Curly’s has nearly 50 ice cream flavors to choose from, one more unique than the other. Try Almond Joy (coconut ice cream, chocolate-covered almonds, chocolate flakes with a fudge ripple), blueberry pie (blueberry ice cream, pie crust nuggets, and blueberries), S’mores (graham-based ice cream, Honey Maid graham crackers with fudge ripple and a marshmallow swirl), and vanilla raspberry truffle (vanilla ice cream, dark chocolate raspberry mini-truffles with a raspberry sauce ripple).

Curly’s has a variety of Italian Ices, cakes to-go treats, sundaes, frozen yogurt, egg creams, milkshakes, ice cream sodas, and more.

Jeffreeze Old-Fashioned Ice Cream

381 Main St #9314, West Creek

Jeffreeze soft and hard ice cream cups are bigger than you think. A baby cup is 2 scoops of ice cream. A small is three scoops, a medium cup is four scoops of ice cream and a large is five scoops. Get a sundae with traditional hot fudge, or get creative and mix it up.
Jeffreeze is known for its specialty sundaes. These are crazy concoctions created by employees and customers.

Their best seller is the Salty Dog (vanilla soft serve, caramel, peanuts, sea salt, hard chocolate dip, whipped cream, and a cherry). The Cookie Castle specialty sundae is vanilla soft serve topped with hot fudge, chocolate chips, cookie dough bites, whipped cream, and a cherry. The Chunky Jeff is another popular choice (chocolate soft serve topped with sliced banana, hot peanut butter, peanuts, whipped cream and a cherry).

Try Jeffreeze’s blizzards, shakes, and floats, too.

Don't forget your four-legged friend. Treat your pup to a vanilla soft serve topped with a dog bone!

Gabriel’s Fountain

1948 Washington Valley Rd, Martinsville

Gabriel’s has been serving up homemade ice cream to its customers for the past 60 years using natural flavorings, most of which are made from scratch like real fruit, herbs, nuts, vanilla, and caramel. Most of their mix-ins are colorings from natural resources like plants, flowers, and fruit.

Gabriel’s serves up about 30 unique flavors of ice cream. Try coconut almond chip, good morning coffee, strawberry buttermilk, and muddy nutty.

Seasonal flavors include watermelon garden mint mojito ice cream, as well as, sour cream and bourbon cherry, lemon lavender blueberry, roasty-toasty s’mores, jelly donut, and sweet Jersey cornbread.

There are also several flavors of vegan ice cream, too. Plus, sorbets, shakes, sodas, and more.

Try their ice cream sammies. Scratch-made chocolate chip cookies, loaded with Madagascar vanilla, rolled in sprinkles and dipped in Belgian chocolate.

Petrucci’s

474 S Washington Ave, Piscataway

Petrucci’s is a long standing, window-serve outfit offering ice cream, sundaes, floats, smoothies, shakes, sherbet, and more.

Fan favorites include the cookies n’ cream and churros, sweet n’ salty caramel pretzel, the classic chocolate and vanilla swirl, spectacular sundaes, and banana splits.

There are tons of toppings to choose from for your ice cream whether it’s in a cup or on a cone.

Try Petrucci’s new Choco Taco. It’s vanilla-based, with fudge-coated waffle pieces, caramel swirl, and a fudge weave.

Whether you like to lick the cone, bite the bottom point of the cone off and suck the ice cream out, or eat it in a cup with a spoon, there are plenty of ice cream places to visit in New Jersey on a hot, summer day.

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