The 35 Best Dessert Shops in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston
2. The Infatuation The Best Ice Cream Shops In Houston

A converted ice cream truck that traded wheels for a walk-up window on Washington Avenue, this scoop shop keeps a short, rotating roster of flavors that leans well past vanilla, think black sesame, cookie butter, and vegan mango sticky rice. The Dough Boy, a scoop pressed between a warm powdered-sugar doughnut, is the order that ends up in everyone's photos. Call ahead to confirm your flavor is in stock, or risk making choices you weren't prepared for.

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston
2. The Infatuation The Best Ice Cream Shops In Houston

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston
2. The Infatuation The Best Ice Cream Shops In Houston

An ice cream shop that partners with local breweries and roasters to build flavors you won't find in a freezer aisle, Fat Cat Creamery scoops things like milk chocolate stout made with a local oatmeal stout and a cold brew cream tied to a specific Houston roaster's seasonal batch. One brick-and-mortar location in the city, plus a spot at Hobby Airport, with scoops popping up at bars and coffee shops around town.

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston
2. The Infatuation The Best Ice Cream Shops In Houston

Flower & Cream is a modern ice cream shop on West Holcombe where pink is less a color scheme than a commitment, right down to the waffle cones. About fifteen flavors rotate through the case, including a few vegan ones with names like unicorn tracks. Half scoops are allowed, which is how undecided people get two flavors without the guilt of a second full scoop. Expect strollers, sugar, and a lot of photos of cones.

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston
2. The Infatuation The Best Ice Cream Shops In Houston

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston
2. The Infatuation The Best Ice Cream Shops In Houston

The pandan-and-chrysanthemum swirl was added hesitantly and sold out immediately, which tells you most of what you need to know about this ice cream shop. Milk + Sugar keeps 16 flavors in rotation, built around a simple premise: take desserts people already love and churn them into scoops. The brown sugar waffle cone is worth the upgrade. Additional locations in the Heights and West University.

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston
2. The Infatuation The Best Ice Cream Shops In Houston

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston
2. The Infatuation The Best Ice Cream Shops In Houston

Tiny's is an ice cream shack with a seaside look that somehow got built in the middle of Houston, nowhere near any sea. The line runs long and heavy with strollers until about 4:30, when everyone leaves for dinner. The metal benches outside turn into griddles in summer, so plan to walk with your cone. The namesake flavor comes with freshly baked cookies blended in, and the pistachio neapolitan covers three flavors at once.

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston
2. The Infatuation The Best Ice Cream Shops In Houston

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston
2. The Infatuation The Best Ice Cream Shops In Houston

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston

Cheaters Creamery is an ice cream truck that has the nerve to make you drive to it, which feels like a bait and switch until you're at the window deciding between black sesame and vegan mango sticky rice. You can get three scoops with a cherry on top, a milkshake blending up to three flavors, or a scoop pressed between a warm powdered-sugar doughnut. Call ahead, since the freezer's lineup shifts.

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston

An ice cream shop that names a flavor after Lady Bird Johnson's favorite wildflower is telling you something about itself. Lick keeps things small-batch and seasonal, pulling milk and cream from Texas dairies and swapping flavors as ingredients hit their peak. Honey vanilla and horchata sit alongside roasted beets and fish mint, which is either a very brave move or a very confident one, depending on how you feel about beets.

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston

This is an ice cream shop on Bellaire Boulevard, an outpost of the Austin-born chain that buys its milk and cream from Texas dairies and rotates flavors with the seasons. The scoop menu runs from honey vanilla bean and horchata to roasted beets and fish mint, which is the one a certain kind of person orders just to tell the table about it. Houstonia put it on its list of the city's ice cream shops, and the sundae-in-a-cup crowd seems content.

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston

Milk + Sugar is an ice cream shop built on the premise that your favorite desserts would be even better frozen, which is how strawberry almond cheesecake and a dulce de horchata end up in the same case. There are sixteen flavors, a quarter of them seasonal, plus a pandan-and-chrysanthemum swirl the owner added nervously and now can't keep stocked. Order it in the brown sugar waffle cone and expect a short line.

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston

Milk + Sugar is an ice cream shop built on a simple premise: take desserts people already love and turn them into scoops. The case holds sixteen flavors, twelve permanent and four that rotate, with cheesecake and horchata among them. There's also a pandan-and-chrysanthemum swirl the owner added nervously and then couldn't keep stocked. Order it in a brown sugar waffle cone. Houstonia put it on its list of the city's best ice cream shops.

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston

An ice cream brand built around the flavors of the African diaspora, PLK1848 sells its pints online with pickup in the Heights, the address arriving by email after you order. The caramel Buckshot comes loaded with Ethiopian praline and chocolate stracciatella; the Zobo hibiscus sorbet pulls from West African tradition. Every pint doubles as a history lesson, which is a thing you can say about very few freezer items.

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston

1. Houstonia Best Ice Cream Shops in Houston