The Debated Origins Of Fried Ice Cream

In many ways, America's culinary strength lies in its enthusiasm for breaking convention and tradition to create something entirely new. Why not mix honey and mustard together? Or cross donuts and croissants to create cronuts the way Dominique Ansel did? So, it's no surprise that at some point in the late 1800s, someone looked at ice cream and counterintuitively asked, "Why not fry it?" Unfortunately, who specifically asked that question to create the summertime favorite treat we have today — and where — remains a debate of history. Why fried ice cream doesn't melt, however, is certain. 

The idea of cooking ice cream goes back as far as the presidency of Thomas Jefferson, who, according to one guest in an 1802 letter (via Food Timeline) served ice cream "in the form of balls of the frozen material [enclosed] in covers of warm pastry, exhibiting a curious contrast, as if the ice had just been taken from the oven." But the fried ice cream we know today — hard frozen ice cream coated in a batter and deep fried — offers no clear origin story. 

One story says it first appeared at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, while an 1896 compilation of The Reporter's Nosegay points to a Philadelphia company that put out "A small, solid cake of ice cream enveloped in a thin sheet of pie crust" which was then "dipped in boiling lard or butter long enough to cook the outside covering to a crisp" the following year. Still others point to Japanese tempura restaurants in the 1960s as the source. There are also claims that the creation is Chinese, adding even more fog to the origin story. 

The first cooked ice cream to gain significant fame in the United States was the Baked Alaska — a cake with a frozen ice cream center and toasted meringue on top — which was invented by a pastry chef at Delmonico's restaurant in New York City in 1867, supposedly to celebrate (or diss) the acquisition of Alaska by the United States. Nevertheless, 100 years later, fried ice cream became more associated with Asian restaurants and reflective of those cooking traditions, particularly tempura. This began to change in the 1970s with the opening of the Chi-Chi's Restaurant chain, which helped popularize fried ice cream nationally with its Mexican fried ice cream. Indeed, the dish was so popular that many believed it was originally Mexican.

While the origins of fried ice cream remain hazy, the love does not — as demonstrated by the culinary mad scientists pushing the envelope both in the U.S. and abroad. One Texas restaurant topped a hamburger with fried ice cream. A South Carolina food truck came up with fried chicken ice cream, which looks like KFC pieces on the outside but is all ice cream inside. Bakery chain Crumbl Cookies released a Fried Ice Cream Cookie at one point. TikTokers are joining the experiments, too, as with one who created a fried version of an ice cream cone. And in Japan, a fried mochi ice cream ramen debuted in 2024. Even air fryers are taking on fried ice cream. The dessert of contrasts remains popular and may soon find its way onto our list of favorite ice cream recipes.