It's true ... but that doesn't make it any less delicious
Dairy Queen’s Soft Serve Isn’t Technically Ice Cream—Here’s Why
Published on Jul. 24, 2025
Dairy Queen has been satisfying cravings for sweet, frozen treats for 85 years. In fact, we’d bet that you know at least one person whose favorite ice cream is a Blizzard. But even though the classic Blizzard and the other frozen desserts sold at Dairy Queen look, feel and taste like ice cream, it turns out that they are not, in fact, ice cream.
Wait, what? Has our whole life been a lie? We feel slightly betrayed and confused, we have to admit. But—deep breath—this inconvenient fact doesn’t make us love that Dairy Queen “ice cream” any less. Seriously, though, what gives?
We got to the bottom of why Dairy Queen’s soft serve dessert isn’t technically ice cream. Read on to find out the (still-delicious) details.
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What’s the official definition of ice cream?
“The legal definition of ice cream isn’t very sexy, but it keeps our ice cream to a higher standard of flavor and creaminess,” says pastry chef Dana Cree, author of Hello, My Name Is Ice Cream and founder of Pretty Cool Ice Cream in Chicago. “Legally, to be called ice cream, the frozen dessert has to have a minimum of 10% butterfat.”
This comes from the United States Department of Agriculture, which also specifies that ice cream must have at least 20% milk solids and that no more than 25% of these solids can be whey. “Whey is cheaper than dry milk,” explains Cree. “But an ice cream that is high in whey protein will taste a little graham crackery and feel sandy.”
How is soft serve different than ice cream?
Soft serve is different than ice cream in two key ways: how it’s served and how it’s made. “Soft serve is served freshly whipped, so it feels creamy in the mouth,” Cree says. “The way a soft serve machine works, it adds air through a series of very small holes in a tube, and as the liquid ice cream passes through on its way to the spout, it squeezes through these tiny holes and air is whipped in.”
Since a soft serve machine is meant to create a frozen treat that’s light and whipped, the recipe must be adjusted accordingly. “Soft serve is typically made with only 4% butterfat,” says Cree. “A high butterfat mixture runs the risk of turning into butter in those tiny holes and clogging them.”
Why isn’t Dairy Queen’s soft serve ice cream?
As Cree explains, most soft serve does not meet the legal requirements to be called ice cream since it tends to contain less than 10% butterfat. This is the case with Dairy Queen’s sweet and frozen desserts, which contain only about 5% butterfat.
Do any other fast-food restaurants also offer soft serve and not ice cream?
You bet. McDonald’s serves frozen treats like the McFlurry, Vanilla Cone and Chocolate Shake, all of which are made with soft serve. Burger King offers sundaes, shakes and a soft serve cup or cone. At Chick-fil-A, you can get an Icedream Cone (and yes, you read that right—it’s a trademarked name for their frozen dessert).
As a general rule, if your “ice cream” treat is being dispensed from a machine as opposed to being scooped from a freezer, it’s soft serve and technically not ice cream.
If it isn’t ice cream, what is it?
“To you and I, a swirl of soft serve on top of a cone certainly looks and feels like ice cream, so by those standards, I would say to most people: Yes, [you] are eating ice cream,” says Cree. “However, legally it doesn’t meet the requirement, so we have come up with other fun names to refer to it by.”
That’s why restaurants like Dairy Queen use terms such as Blizzard Treat, Vanilla Cone and Hot Fudge Sundae, conveniently leaving out the words ice cream, even though it’s understood to be the base of the dessert.
But honestly, even if it isn’t technically ice cream, do we really care? “Either way it’s delicious,” says Cree. “And it’s a great way to cool down every summer.”
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Sources:
- Dana Cree, author of Hello, My Name Is Ice Cream and founder of Pretty Cool Ice Cream; email interview, June 21, 2025
- U.S. Department of Agriculture: “Ice Cream Standard”
