Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Soda

I didn’t realize it when I was a child in Brooklyn, but my hometown was one of the last places with a strong soda fountain culture. Whenever we went to a deli, my dad would get one of his beloved egg creams—a combo of chocolate syrup, whole milk and seltzer—and I would struggle to choose between a chocolate malted and an old-fashioned ice cream soda.

Soda shops are rare these days, though you can sometimes find retro-modern versions in hip urban neighborhoods. However, the ingredients for an ice cream soda are readily available at nearly any store, so you can easily make them at home. Recipe contributor Anna Erickson of Terrebonne, Oregon, even likes to keep the ingredients on hand for quick, easy desserts.

Ice cream sodas are especially nice in the summer, served as a special treat or to finish off a meal of cold lunch dishes and quick barbecue recipes. And make-your-own soda bars are fun at parties for teens, baby showers, or bridal shower brunches.

What is ice cream soda?

An ice cream soda is a fizzy, creamy fountain drink made with ice cream, flavored syrup and carbonated water. It’s an early version of an ice cream float, and the two are often confused. The main difference is that an ice cream soda is made with carbonated water and flavored syrup, while a float is made with soda (like root beer).

Ice cream sodas emerged in the late 19th century, when pharmacies and soda fountains proliferated across America. Like many great American food inventions, it was most likely an accident. One of the most widely accepted stories is that Robert McCay Green, who was running a soda fountain in Philadelphia in 1874, ran out of sweet cream and used ice cream with flavored syrup and carbonated water. Boom! A brand new treat. Ice cream sodas were especially popular during the sock-hop heyday of the 1950s, and they remain popular today. The combination of sweet syrup, bubbles and ice cream is undeniably delicious.

Ingredients for Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Sodas

• Chocolate syrup: It’s easy to use store-bought chocolate syrup, but you can also whip up a DIY version with this easy chocolate syrup recipe.
• Milk: Whole milk is traditional in ice cream sodas. Why use milk when you’re adding ice cream, you might ask? It helps bring the chocolate syrup and sparkling water together so the mixture is nice and smooth when the ice cream hits the glass.
• Carbonated water: Did you know that seltzer and club soda aren’t the same thing? Both are carbonated, but seltzer is just plain water, whereas club soda has added minerals. Sparkling mineral water (a similar beverage) generally contains natural minerals from its source, and may taste even stronger than club soda. Any of these work for making ice cream sodas, so use whatever you enjoy the most.
• Ice cream: Get your favorite brand of chocolate ice cream from the store, or mix up a batch of easy chocolate ice cream and take all the credit!
• Whipped cream: Make sodas quickly and easily with store-bought canned whipped cream, which can keep in the fridge for weeks or even months. Or, if you like, you can also use homemade sweetened whipped cream, which is safe to store for a couple of days (though it might need to be whipped again). A fun alternative is to pipe homemade whipped cream onto a baking sheet, freeze the dollops, and move them to a freezer-safe bag once completely set. They’ll last for a couple of months in the freezer.

Directions

Step 1: Mix the syrup and soda

Place 3 tablespoons of chocolate syrup in each of four 16-ounce glasses. Add 1/4 cup of milk and 1 cup of carbonated water to each, and stir them until they’re foamy.

Step 2: Add the ice cream

Add two scoops of ice cream to each glass.

Editor’s Tip: Make sure you’re using a tall glass, and add that ice cream gently! You don’t want carbonated liquid to foam up and spill over.

Step 3: Add whipped cream

Top them with whipped cream.

Ice Cream Soda Variations

• Change the ice cream flavor: You can make an ice cream soda with any kind of ice cream (although you may also want to swap out the chocolate syrup, depending on your choice). Vanilla ice cream and strawberry ice cream are delightfully classic, but you could also try coffee, lemon, blueberry, pumpkin or peppermint ice creams. If you want to drink your soda through a straw, avoid chunky flavors.
• Swap the soda: The base recipe calls for seltzer or sparkling water, but you can use any carbonated beverage that pairs well with your ice cream, whether that’s fancy ginger beer, cola, root beer, cream soda, orange soda or grape soda.
• Use another syrup: Chocolate syrup pairs well with chocolate, vanilla or coffee ice cream, but if you’re using a different flavor, you might want to try another syrup. Any syrup used for coffee drinks works for ice cream drinks, but you can also use maple syrup or homemade simple syrup. Imagine rose syrup with pistachio ice cream, lemon peel syrup with blueberry ice cream, or basil syrup with strawberry ice cream.

Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Soda Tips

Is there a trick to avoiding the glass from overflowing when stirring?

To avoid an overflowing ice cream soda, the most important thing is to stir gently. The fat from the milk and chocolate syrup should help keep the glass from bubbling over, as long as you’re not too vigorous. Use a long spoon so that you don’t churn the liquid around as you try to mix up the syrup. Finally, give the liquid a minute to settle before adding the ice cream.

What can you serve with ice cream sodas?

Since ice cream sodas are a celebration of a particular era, I like to go full-on 1950s and serve them with cheeseburger sliders, hot dogs with the works or buttermilk-fried chicken—with some crisp french fries and creamy coleslaw on the side.

Watch How to Make Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Sodas

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