8 Fast Food Chains Serving The Highest Quality Ice Cream

When it comes to the ice cream served at fast food chain restaurants, not all are created equal — in fact, many of them do not even meet the technical standards of ice cream. For something to be considered "real" ice cream, it must meet a few different benchmarks. 

The the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires that a scoop of real ice cream to contain no less than 10% milkfat (which measures the proportion of fat by weight in milk). Additionally, the agency requires that real ice cream contain no more than 100% overrun (which measures proportion of air by weight in a product). Both standards help to ensure consistency and quality in ice cream, ensuring that products officially labeled as "real ice cream" in the U.S. always contains a creamy, rich texture.

A significant amount of fast food chains — including Chick-fil-A, Wendy's, and, in a surprising twist, Dairy Queen — actually sell products defined as "frozen dairy dessert" not "real ice cream." Although they might be sweet, creamy, and an apt complement to a side of fries, they fall short of the real thing.

So, which chains serve ice cream that actually fits the bill? The list of quick service restaurants offering high-quality ice cream is small, but mighty. Keep reading to discover our guide to the best ice creams sold at fast food chains.

This nearly 40-year-old chain was born in Wisconsin, so the savvy dairy consumer might already be able to surmise that the ice cream offered at Culver's is high-quality — and it is. Technically, Culver's frozen dairy dessert is classified as frozen custard, a subset of ice cream that also must have a minimum of 10% butterfat and a maximum of 100% overrun. Also, according to the United States Code of Federal Regulations, it also needs to contain egg yolks.

At Culver's, frozen custard is made in small batches throughout the day, with farm-fresh dairy and an impressively simple first four ingredients: pasteurized milk, cream, skim milk, and sugar, followed by corn syrup and pasteurized egg yolks. 

The flagship dessert is available in both vanilla and chocolate flavors, and can be ordered as simple scoops, shakes, sundaes, soda floats, and Concrete Mixers with a laundry list of toppings. Each location also offers a unique Flavor of the Day, with highlights including Double Strawberry, Caramel Pecan, and Crazy for Cookie Dough.

A secret menu burger and an order of Animal Style French fries are not the only things worth grabbing from this West Coast-dominant fast food chain. In-N-Out Burger's milkshakes are made with real ice cream — and "that's the only way we'll ever make them," the chain's website boasts. The first three ingredients in In-N-Out's milkshake ice cream are pasteurized milk, cream, and sugar, with corn syrup solids and condensed skim milk directly following.

Like everything else at In-N-Out, the milkshakes are made with the goal of preserving the old-fashioned techniques of classic American burger stands. Milkshake flavors are simple — a guest's choice of Chocolate, Vanilla, or Strawberry. The vanilla one is made with the simplest and fewest number of ingredients, while the chocolate and strawberry flavors include chocolate and strawberry syrups, respectively. 

Whatever flavor you opt for, you can expect it to come in a white cup lined with red palm tree graphics — a design so quintessential that In-N-Out sells it on everything from mugs and tumblers to notepads, beach towels, and socks.

As its name suggests, you will find excellent frozen custard at this underrated fast food chain with more than 500 locations across the country. The Freddy's chain's loyalty to frozen custard, rather than standard ice cream, began when two of the brand's founders, Randy Simon and Scott Redler, each became regulars at their local frozen custard shops. Their desire to share this lesser-known treat with the rest of the country is what led to the extensive list of frozen custard options on the Freddy's menu today.

Freddy's frozen custard starts with a vanilla or chocolate base, and, from there, the options are plentiful. Sundaes, concretes, and shakes are on the menu, as are Frosts — frozen beverages topped with a swirl of the custard. For an even heartier bite, the Freddy's menu offers frozen custard sandwiched between chocolate chip or OREO cookies, as well as classic cones and root beer floats.

This smaller fast food restaurant and market chain that combines dining and shopping like no other, and is known for selling "Premium" ice cream. That adjective is not just a marketing tactic developed by the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA). In order for a scoop to qualify as Premium, according to the group, it must have a notably higher butterfat content and a lower overrun percentage than regular ice cream.

Braum's takes its dairy procurement process incredibly seriously — and it shows in the quality of its ice cream. To ensure quality and freshness, the chain has its own private dairy farm, where milk can take only 36 hours to get from cow to local store. 

The Braum's website describes the A2 milk from its dairy farm as "naturally sweet," and it is "churned to perfection the old-fashioned way" to make the chain's vast selection of ice cream flavors. Highlights from the menu of Premium scoops include German Chocolate, Bordeaux Cherry Amaretto, and bright blue Birthday Cake flavors.

Established in 1934 by Illinois fried chicken vendor Augustus "Gus" H. Belt, Steak n' Shake is no stranger to making milkshakes with high-quality ice cream. Alongside an extensive menu of thin, lacy-edged Steakburgers and French fries now cooked in 100% beef tallow, the restaurant's shake menu is the longest on this list. Try not to get dizzy when choosing between more than 19 Steak n' Shake milkshakes, including fruit flavors such as Banana, Strawberry, and Orange Cream; chocolatey concoctions including Nutella, Kit-Kat, and Snickers; and bakery-inspired selections like Biscoff, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, and Birthday Cake. 

In 2022, the milkshake from Steak n' Shake made headlines when Taste of Home named it as a "Best Fast-Food Milkshake You Can Order" — in part because it was, at the time, the only fast food chain the publication surveyed that offered paper straws (for a more environmentally friendly choice when shake-sipping).

At this ubiquitous East Coast burger chain, simple scoops, soda floats, and hand-spun milkshakes are made with egg-containing frozen custard. Shake Shack's custard contains 10% milkfat and 1.4% egg yolk solids. It also includes milk, cream, and a sweetener, and is churned with very little air. 

In every Shack, frozen custard is being churned every day in both chocolate and vanilla flavors. Mainstays on the Shake Shack menu include milkshakes blended with chocolate and strawberry syrups, coffee, and crushed OREO cookies, as well as floats made with root beer and orange soda. The chain has also offered a series of limited-time seasonal flavors, such as the Dubai Chocolate Pistachio Shake, Key Lime Pie Shake, and Chocolate Toasted Marshmallow S'mores Shake. 

Notably, Shake Shack also used to serve concretes with a guest's choice of mix-ins, but these were discontinued in 2020. Now, customers interested in tasting the chain's high-quality ice cream will have to do so with a straw or a short spoon instead.

As its name suggests, Smashburger is known best for its smashed beef patties on split-top, butter-toasted buns. But the fast food chain also serves milkshakes almost always made with some of the best ice cream in this list.

At Smashburger, every shake starts with a base of ice cream from renowned Häagen-Dazs. This ice cream brand's output is classified as "Super Premium" — a step above Premium ice cream, boasting the highest butterfat, lowest overrun, and highest quality ingredients out of the three classes, according to the International Dairy Foods Association. Several of the core Häagen-Dazs flavors are made with remarkably simple ingredients, such as cream, milk, eggs, and sugar.

Hand-spun milkshakes at Smashburger come in four different flavors: Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry, and OREO Cookies & Cream. Each of the drinks is made with the corresponding flavor of Häagen-Dazs for an ultra-rich sip. What could be a better condiment for the restaurant's rosemary, garlic, and olive oil tossed Smash Fries?

Although it is the smallest fast food chain on this list, with around 60 locations across 13 states, BurgerFi's ice cream can hold its own next to any of the big guys. This burger spot sets the bar for its beef a little higher than some of its competitors. It specializes in Custard Shakes, which, as their name suggests, contain a base of luxurious frozen custard. BurgerFi's is made with whole milk, cream, sweetener, egg yolks, and a pinch of salt, and, on its website, the business claims that it "has to be one of the most indulgent dessert recipes out there."

At BurgerFi, signature Custard Shake flavors include Vanilla topped with rainbow sprinkles, Chocolate layered with swirls of syrup, OREO with finely crumbled cookie bits, and Strawberry with this list's only strawberry-flavored custard. Depending on when you visit, you might also catch a limited-time Chef's Seasonal Select flavor, such as a shake with vanilla and birthday cake-flavored custard mixed with rainbow sprinkles. 

In order to discern which fast-food chains serve the highest quality ice cream, it was important to define some parameters. To begin with, any ice cream considered "high quality" should certainly be technically classified as "real ice cream." As such, each of the fast food chain restaurants on this list either explicitly states that it serves real ice cream, or it shares that its formulas contain at least 10% milkfat and less than 100% overrun. Frozen custard clears these standards by a good measure, as it is inherently made with more fat and less air than standard ice cream.

This list also prioritizes fast food restaurant chains with ingredient transparency and complete ingredient lists, as well as those in which simple ingredients — such as milk, cream, eggs, and sugar — were listed first. Fast food chain restaurants are defined on this list as establishments that have locations in more than 10 states, and that prepare affordable food in counter-service or drive-thru settings, rather than those with sit-down business models.