Your guide to Raleigh's best local ice cream and frozen custard shops, from chef-driven small batches to a 300-cow dairy farm on NC State's campus, for National Ice Cream Day and every hot week after it.

Inside this guide: the Triangle's standout ice cream shops by neighborhood, the surprising NC State history behind Howling Cow, and answers to the ice cream questions Raleigh searches every summer.

National Ice Cream Day lands on Sunday, July 19, 2026, the third Sunday in July, exactly when Raleigh needs it most. By mid-July the City of Oaks is deep in its stickiest stretch of summer, and the only sane response is to go find something cold.

The good news is that Raleigh does not have a shortage of places to do that. What it has instead is variety: a chef-driven brand that has become the city's signature scoop, a downtown creamery with an eleven-year head start on the artisan trend, a frozen custard chain pushing 40 years, and a working dairy farm on a college campus that has been making ice cream since before most of the shops on this list existed. Here is where to go, and why each one earns the trip.

Quick Answers

When is National Ice Cream Day 2026? Sunday, July 19, 2026. The holiday always falls on the third Sunday of July.

What is the best local ice cream shop in Raleigh? Two Roosters Ice Cream, with locations on Lake Boone Trail and Lead Mine Road, is widely considered Raleigh's signature chef-driven ice cream brand.

What is Howling Cow ice cream? Howling Cow is NC State University's own ice cream, made on campus from milk produced by more than 300 dairy cows on the university's Raleigh Dairy Farm.

Where is the oldest ice cream tradition in Raleigh? Howling Cow. NC State's dairy research program dates to the 1940s, decades before any of Raleigh's storefront shops opened.

What is Goodberry's known for? Frozen custard and a rotating "Flavor of the Day," served from its original Spring Forest Road location since September 1988.

Is there rolled ice cream in Raleigh? Yes. Raleigh Rolls, on West Morgan Street downtown, makes rolled ice cream fresh on a frozen plate with mix-ins of your choice.

What Raleigh ice cream shop has won national recognition? Andia's Homemade Ice Cream, with a Raleigh location at Iron Works, has been named to USA Today's Top 10 Ice Cream Shops in the US multiple years running.

1. The Best Chef-Driven and Small-Batch Ice Cream in Raleigh

Two Roosters Ice Cream is the name locals reach for first. It launched in 2020 and quickly became Raleigh's most talked-about scoop shop, known for rotating, chef-driven flavors built on North Carolina ingredients. Regulars come back for Sea Salt Cookie Dough, Strawberry Buttermilk, and Coffee Bourbon, alongside seasonal flavors that change monthly. Locations: 4025 Lake Boone Trail Ste 130, Raleigh, NC 27607; 7713 Lead Mine Rd, Raleigh, NC; plus locations in Durham, Cary, and Wake Forest.

Andia's Homemade Ice Cream started in Cary and has since built a following well beyond it, with USA Today, Good Morning America, and Southern Living all giving it a look. The draw is flavors most shops will not attempt: Baklava, Vietnamese Coffee, Cookie Monster, and Banana Pudding among them. Raleigh location: 2201 Iron Works Dr, Suite 129, Raleigh, NC 27604.

FRESH. Local Ice Cream opened in Raleigh in 2011, early enough to help set the tone for the city's modern artisan ice cream scene. It sources its dairy locally and rotates its flavor board regularly, with Carolina Crunch, Sweet Cream, seasonal fruit flavors, and vegan options all in the mix. Address: 6033 Glenwood Ave, Raleigh, NC 27612.

Our pick: Two Roosters, for the flavor rotation and the fact that it has become Raleigh's most recognizable local ice cream name in just a few years.

2. Howling Cow: Raleigh's Oldest Ice Cream Tradition

Before any storefront on this list existed, NC State was already making ice cream. The university's dairy research program dates to the 1940s, and by the 1970s its ice cream had become a fixture at the North Carolina State Fair. In 1980, a small cafe inside D.H. Hill Library started selling cones for 30 cents each. The name "Howling Cow" did not arrive until a 2008 branding project, but the ice cream behind it had already been a campus tradition for more than 60 years by that point.

What makes Howling Cow different from every other shop in this guide is where the milk comes from. It is made at the Feldmeier Dairy Processing Lab, part of NC State's Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences, using milk and cream from more than 300 dairy cows on the university's own Dairy Research and Teaching Farm, representing all seven major dairy breeds. The herd includes descendants of the historic Randleigh Dairy herd assembled by philanthropist William Rand Kenan Jr., a lineage the university now preserves and explains through tours at the Randleigh Dairy Heritage Museum on-site.

Howling Cow is also a working piece of NC State's land-grant mission: students in the university's Dairy Enterprise System help raise the herd, process the milk, and run the Creamery itself, turning every scoop into a hands-on lesson in food science and agriculture. Address: 100 Dairy Lane, Raleigh, NC 27603.

Our pick: Howling Cow, for the history alone. It is the rare ice cream shop that can trace its ingredients to the exact herd standing beside the counter.

3. Frozen Custard Since 1988: Goodberry's

Goodberry's Frozen Custard opened its first location at the corner of Spring Forest Road and Atlantic Avenue in September 1988 and has been a Raleigh tradition ever since. It is technically frozen custard rather than ice cream, but that distinction has never slowed down the line for its rotating "Flavor of the Day" or its concrete mixers. Original location: 2421 Spring Forest Rd, Raleigh, NC 27615, with additional locations across the Triangle.

Our pick: The classic vanilla custard with a daily specialty flavor mixed in. It is the simplest order on this list and still the most consistent.

4. Sweet Stops Near North Hills

North Hills has become its own small ice cream destination. Kilwins, at 200 Park at N Hills St, Suite 110, Raleigh, NC 27609, is a franchise known as much for its homemade waffle cones and fudge as its ice cream, with Toasted Coconut and Sea Salt Caramel among the favorites. A few steps away, Ben & Jerry's keeps a scoop shop at 4160 Main St, Raleigh, NC 27609, a reliable stop for the classic pints and flavors the brand is known for nationally.

Our pick: Kilwins, for the waffle cone made in front of you.

5. Rolled Ice Cream Downtown: Raleigh Rolls

For something different, Raleigh Rolls makes rolled ice cream fresh to order: the base is poured onto a frozen plate, blended with mix-ins of your choice, and scraped into rolls right in front of you. It is a fun, interactive option for a downtown Raleigh evening. Address: 411 W. Morgan St, Raleigh, NC 27603.

Our pick: Build your own roll with fresh fruit and a cookie crumble mix-in.

6. Worth the Drive: Triangle Ice Cream Beyond Raleigh

If you are willing to leave Raleigh proper, three shops make the drive worth it.

Maple View Farm Ice Cream in Hillsborough began as a dairy farm in the early 1900s before opening its ice cream shop in the 1990s, and it remains one of North Carolina's most iconic dairy destinations, known for farm-fresh ice cream made from its own Jersey herd's milk. Address: 6900 Rocky Ridge Rd, Hillsborough, NC 27278.

Sunni Sky's Homemade Ice Cream in Angier has been family-owned since 2003, when Scott and Stacey Wilson opened the shop and named it after their two kids, Sunni and Sky. It has built a following well past Angier's town limits on the strength of more than 130 homemade flavors and free samples for the indecisive. Address: 8617 NC Hwy 55 S, Angier, NC 27501.

Lumpy's Ice Cream has been serving all-natural, homemade ice cream in Wake Forest since 2012, with rotating flavors like Sam's Strawberry Chip and Grilled Pineapple alongside year-round regulars. Address: 216 E Roosevelt Ave, Wake Forest, NC 27587.

Our pick: Sunni Sky's, for the flavor count alone. Free samples make it easy to work your way through the list.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is National Ice Cream Day and why is it celebrated in July? A 1984 congressional resolution and a proclamation from President Reagan designated the third Sunday in July as National Ice Cream Day and all of July as National Ice Cream Month. In 2026, that Sunday falls on July 19.

Is Howling Cow ice cream sold outside NC State's campus? It is sold at the Howling Cow Dairy Education Center and Creamery at 100 Dairy Lane and at dining locations around NC State, and it has made appearances at the North Carolina State Fair since the 1970s.

What makes Andia's different from other Raleigh ice cream shops? It leans into internationally inspired, handcrafted flavors like Baklava and Vietnamese Coffee rather than traditional American ones, which is part of why it has repeatedly landed on USA Today's national Top 10 ice cream shop lists.

Does Two Roosters change its menu often? Yes. It rotates seasonal flavors monthly on top of its core lineup, which is part of why locals keep coming back to see what is new.

Is Goodberry's ice cream or frozen custard? Frozen custard, made with egg yolks and churned slower than traditional ice cream for a denser texture. Goodberry's has built its identity around that difference since 1988.

Where is the closest ice cream stop to downtown Raleigh? Raleigh Rolls, at 411 W. Morgan St, sits right in the downtown core. FRESH. Local Ice Cream on Glenwood Avenue is a short drive away.

Are there vegan or dairy-free ice cream options in Raleigh? Yes. FRESH. Local Ice Cream includes vegan options on its rotating flavor board, and several other shops on this list offer dairy-free selections on request.

Why It Matters

Raleigh never developed the century-old ice cream parlor culture you find in cities like Savannah or Richmond. What it built instead is arguably more interesting: an ice cream identity rooted in agriculture, through NC State's dairy program, and then layered with waves of family-owned and chef-driven shops starting in the late 1980s and accelerating in the last decade.

That is why a single National Ice Cream Day list in this city can include a 2020 chef-driven startup and a dairy farm that has been teaching students to milk cows since the 1940s. Both are telling the same story about Raleigh: a place that takes its food seriously enough to keep building on what came before it, one scoop at a time.

Save this guide. Pick one shop you have not tried yet and go before the summer is over. Then come back and tell us how it went.

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