Asheville Ice Cream, The Local Way
A Guide to the Independently Owned Shops That Made Me Fall in Love With a Scoop
I’ve never been a diehard ice cream person. Not a hater, just… indifferent. But something happens when you live in Asheville long enough: suddenly, you realize that ice cream isn’t just dessert here. It’s an art form. A flex. A full-on culinary experience.
This town is nationally recognized for its food scene — award-winning chefs, creative kitchens, and small-batch everything. So, of course, our ice cream is going to rise to that same level. What I didn’t expect was how personal it would feel. These aren’t just places that sell cones — they’re places that tell stories. Collaborate with farmers. Invent new flavor profiles. Show up in your family traditions. And somehow, they make even a lifelong ice cream skeptic fall in love with a scoop.
So I’m not giving you a list of “Top 10 Places to Cool Off This Summer.” This is a local’s take on the ice cream shops that actually matter — the ones that are independently owned, deeply creative, and rooted in the community. These are the spots we seek out, the ones our kids grow up on, the ones that turn dessert into something meaningful.
Let’s start with the ones that melted my heart.
Quick-View Icon Key
• 🍦💛 = Independently owned & operated — true local gems
• 🍦 = Franchise, but locally owned/operated
🍦💛 Handpicked Independents You Can’t Miss
🍦💛 Hilltop Ice Cream
Fairview • Woodfin • WNC Farmers Market
Known for farm-to-cone creativity, Hilltop crafts flavors that taste of all things WNC — lavender honey, cherry goat cheese, seasonal fruit blends. Their color-changing spoons are like a little magic trick for the kids. If you’re after a scoop that feels like summer itself, this is where to go. They’ve got an abundance of farm fresh produce at their fingertips and they are truly amazing with crafting new flavors of freshness.
🍦💛 The Hop Handcrafted Ice Cream
Merrimon • West Asheville • Downtown • Creamery
More than a scoop shop, The Hop is a community storyteller. They partner with local farms, bakeries, and makers — and their holiday Yule Logs and celebration cakes are staples in my family. It’s ice cream with a narrative, and once you taste it, you feel woven into the story.
🍦💛 Ultimate Ice Cream → The Mad Dipper
Tunnel Road • Charlotte Street
Formerly Ultimate Ice Cream, now Mad Dipper, this Asheville-born spot churns high-butterfat scoops using milk from farms within 150 miles. They are very proud of their dairy and that their milk is free of antibiotics and synthetic hormones. They run charity flavor programs, host surprise free-scoop days, and even landed features on Food Network. Cozy, local, and heartfelt.
🍦💛 Annie B’s Homemade Ice Cream
64 Long Shoals Rd, Arden
A local breakout from the former Howdy franchise, Annie B’s is pure velvet in a cone. Their chocolate-peanut-butter flavor is one of the silkiest scoops I’ve ever tasted. They hire and support folks with developmental disabilities, craft every batch thoughtfully, and serve ice cream that feels meaningful and unforgettable.
🍦💛 Sunshine Sammies
Downtown – 99 S Lexington Ave
Sunshine Sammies started as a solar-powered pushcart back in 2013, and today it’s one of Asheville’s most beloved small-batch dessert shops. Best known for their handcrafted ice cream sandwiches (yes, the cookies are made in-house too), they also serve scoops, milkshakes, and seasonal specials — all made with locally sourced ingredients. With creative flavors, nostalgic charm, and a serious commitment to quality, Sunshine Sammies is everything you want in a local treat. And their ice cream truck is the cutest!
🍦💛 AppalachCream
Downtown – Grove Arcade, 1 Page Ave, Suite 113, Asheville
Appalach Cream has been making ice cream for over 80 years, rooted in a three-generation family tradition they proudly call “grandma’s original ice cream.” Inspired by American, Italian, and Mexican flavors, every batch is made completely from scratch—no pre-made bases, no shortcuts. The result? A delicious and unique twist on a timeless treat. With both dairy and non-dairy options, Appalach Cream offers handcrafted scoops full of history, heart, and flavor.
🍦💛 A Special Shoutout to Sugar & Snow Gelato
🍦💛 Sugar & Snow Gelato
This guide wouldn’t be complete without a shoutout to one of the most resilient and values-driven ice cream makers in the region: Sugar & Snow Gelato.
Just before their third anniversary, their original scoop shop in the River Arts District was completely devastated by Hurricane Helene — floodwaters rose all the way to the roof. Most businesses wouldn’t survive that. But Sugar & Snow isn’t most businesses.
They’re rebuilding from the ground up, still crafting their small-batch gelato from organic sugar, milk and cream from small NC farms, and truly clean ingredients — no pre-made bases, no factory-farmed shortcuts. Every flavor is a love letter to Western North Carolina, and they’ve continued to collaborate with local partners to keep their gelato available even without a storefront.
You can now find their handmade gelato at:
Second Gear and Mary’s Mountain Cookies in Asheville, Sweet Cub and Baxley’s Chocolates in Sylva
Supporting them today means supporting a local business that’s been through the worst and is still showing up with joy, integrity, and some of the best gelato you’ll ever taste.
🍦💛 Pop-up Perfection
🍦💛 Sweet Cub Soft Serve
Asheville (mobile trailer – various pop-up locations)
Let’s just say it — this soft-serve trailer is freaking adorable. With its retro vibe, Pinterest-worthy aesthetic, Sweet Cub is serving serious joy-on-wheels energy. Founded by Nicole Wandtke after she left her corporate job in 2024, it’s a small-but-mighty tribute to chasing dreams (and really good soft serve). You’ll find chocolate, vanilla, swirl, and dairy-free gelato, plus whimsical creations like “ice cream nachos” and ice cream sandwiches made with Mary’s Mountain Cookies. And as if that weren’t sweet enough, she donates part of the proceeds to public-land conservation. Cutest trailer in town, full stop.
🍦💛 Found Ice Cream
Pop-ups & farmers markets around Asheville
Wild Appalachia. Found Ice Cream is a small-batch, locally owned treasure that infuses wilderness into every scoop. Born from a love of foraging wild plants and mushrooms, they craft hyper-local flavors like pawpaw, spicebush, chanterelle, and sassafras—rotating two new offerings each month. You can catch them at Asheville-area farmers markets or private events, and you won’t find a more inventive connection to our Appalachian roots. It’s wild ice cream at its most thoughtful and delicious.
Spotlight: Dolly’s Dairy Bar – Pisgah Forest / Brevard
If your adventures bring you near the Davidson River — tubing, hiking, or camping — make a pit stop at Dolly’s. This roadside icon has been a camp and local staple for generations, serving flavors tied to summer camps and creating sundaes that taste like pure summertime nostalgia. Worth every minute of the drive.
🍦 Franchises with Community Roots
🍦Whit’s Frozen Custard of Asheville
Asheville locations - Merrimon Ave and Hendersonville Rd, Black Mountain
Part of a small chain, but Asheville’s location is locally owned. What I adore? Their on-the-spot custom blending — choose vanilla, chocolate, or peanut butter custard and add anything you want (syrup, Reese’s, you name it). It turns every visit into your own creation.
🍦 The Dolly Llama – Arden
Waffle-and-ice-cream creations; part of a nationwide brand, run by local operators.
🍦 Kilwins – Asheville • Black Mountain • Hendersonville
Fudge, cones & chocolates — a nostalgic franchise run by WNC owners.
🍦 Jeremiah’s Italian Ice – Merrimon Ave
A franchise (based in Florida), locally owned by the Olson family. They bring Italian ice, soft-serve, and creative gelato to Asheville, with a community-first vibe.