Ice cream shops in Cincinnati, OH with vegetarian and vegan options

Graeter's Ice Cream (Fountain Square)

Cincinnati's best known ice cream, made since 1870 in two-and-a-half gallon French pots, one batch at a time, which is what gives it the dense texture and the boulder-sized chocolate chunks in Black Raspberry Chip. The Fountain Square shop is the downtown flagship: small, quick, and best enjoyed on a bench outside on the square. For anyone skipping dairy the answer here is sorbet rather than ice cream, in lemon, raspberry, strawberry and mango. The vegan Perfect Indulgence line Graeter's launched in 2020 no longer appears anywhere on its site, so do not count on finding a non-dairy scoop.

Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams (Norwood)

An Ohio company (Columbus, not Cincinnati) whose local shop sits in the Factory 52 development on Park Avenue in Norwood, with a patio and, unusually for this list, easy parking. Jeni's runs the deepest dairy-free range of any shop here: a coconut-cream line that includes Texas Sheet Cake, Dark Chocolate Truffle and Cold Brew with Coconut Cream, treated as full flavors rather than a consolation. Every scoop comes with a piece of waffle cookie. Prices are the highest on this list, and weekend evenings get busy.

Dojo Gelato (Findlay Market)

The Findlay Market stand is Dojo's original, and everything in the case is made by hand in five-gallon batches at its Northside kitchen. Flavors rotate constantly, so it is worth asking what is in today rather than arriving with a plan. This is the most dependable stop on the list for anyone avoiding dairy: there are always at least three dairy-free, vegan sorbetti next to the gelato. The espresso is taken as seriously as the gelato, which makes it a good market breakfast as well as a dessert stop.

Hello Honey (Downtown)

A downtown shop making everything on site since 2012, waffle cones included, which you can usually smell before you get to the door. The rotation runs to honey lavender, banana honeycomb and brown butter caramel, and three of the current flavors are non-dairy: a vegan cookies and cream plus mango lemon and strawberry sorbets. Staff are generous with samples, which helps when the board changes. Hello Honey has two other shops, on Madison Road and Ridge Avenue, but Race Street is the one to aim for on a downtown evening.

Simply Rolled Ice Cream (Over-the-Rhine)

Ice cream poured onto a frozen plate, chopped together with your mix-ins and scraped into rolls while you watch, which makes it as much a small performance as a dessert. The two vegan bases are the real draw for dairy-free visitors: a vanilla built on organic cashew milk and coconut cream, and a newer dark chocolate blending cocoa, cashew and coconut cream. It is a bright, sit-down room a block off Washington Park, good with kids. Worth knowing that the shop is too small to keep separate equipment, so it cannot promise an allergen-free preparation.

Aglamesis Bro's (Oakley)

The Oakley Square parlor opened in 1913, built with Portuguese marble and hung with Tiffany lamps, and it is the closest thing Cincinnati has to a preserved turn-of-the-century ice cream room. The family has been making ice cream and chocolates to the same recipes since 1908. The dairy-free option here is Italian ice rather than a non-dairy ice cream: lemon, lime, red raspberry, strawberry, champagne, cranberry, peach and pineapple, each described on the menu as a dairy-free frozen dessert. It is a small room with a handful of tables, so a big group will be standing.

uGOgelato (Findlay Market)

A few steps from Findlay Market, run by a second-generation Sicilian gelatiera who makes every batch on site, with the recipe list changing weekly in winter and daily through summer. The shop puts plant-based gelato on equal billing with the traditional kind rather than tucking it into a corner of the case, and regulars single out the vegan flavors for texture as much as taste. Expect to be offered tastes before you choose. Opening hours are short and it closes on Mondays, so check before making the trip.