Satisfy your sweet tooth anytime at NH’s top year-round ice cream stands

When I first moved to New Hampshire from another Northeastern state many years ago, I was surprised that people went out for ice cream in the winter—out as in outside. Apparently, it’s such a thing here, that some ice cream stands stay open year round, through freezing temps and knee-high snow.

I stopped at Hayward’s Homemade Ice Cream in Nashua the other day, and a customer huddled inside a pink puffer was peeling off her mitten to grab a nice, cold Totally Turtle Frappe. Behind her were some tweens stamping their frozen feet while scanning the selection of cones and sundaes. Brrrrr! Granite Staters are so devoted to this frozen confection that it has its own ice cream trail map, created by Granite State Dairy Promotion. Each year more and more ice cream stands in the Granite State stay open in the winter. Here are just a few. 

Super Secret Ice Cream, 2213 Main St., Bethlehem. Come in all year round for tiny-batch, homemade ice cream from milk and cream from local farms. They promise their customers “no weird stuff” goes into their sweet treats. They should know. The shop’s founder and owner, Kristina Zontini, is a nominee for a prestigious 2024 James Beard Award for outstanding pastry chef or baker.

M n M Scoops, 67 Main St, Plymouth, is not only open year round, they’re offering a Soup & Scoop winter special, which allows you to chase your hot bowl of soup with a scoop of your favorite ice cream. The shop also offers customers a licker license—a card that gives you your 10th scoop of the year free.

Puritan Ice Cream,  245 Hooksett Rd, Manchester. For 106 years ice cream lovers come from all over the state to this local favorite that’s open year round. We love the baklava ice cream which, reflects the Greek heritage of the owners.

Kellerhaus, 259 Endicott St N, Laconia, has been serving ice cream all year long for over a century. The original ice cream was made from ice harvested from Lake Winnipesaukee and tons of rock salt. 

Red Rover Creamery, 150 State St., Portsmouth is open all winter on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Delightful flavors like chocolate Amarena cherry, eggnog, and peppermint stick chocolate swirl, are just some of their winter offerings. Too cold? They are also offering mulled cider during the holidays.

Hayward’s Ice Cream, 7 D.W. Highway, Nashua and 364 D.W. Highway, Merrimack.
This 83-year-old ice cream icon offers 60 flavors of ice cream year round. At holiday time that includes eggnog, peppermint stick, and reindeer trax ice cream. It also has hot dogs, grilled cheese, and grilled mac-and-cheese sandwiches if you want to warm up after you cool down.

Dairy Queen, 119 Ferry St., Hudson. Even on the coldest day you can get a wicked craving for peanut buster parfait or an oreo blizzard. Good thing this DQ serves year round. 

READ MORE: Bethlehem’s Super Secret Ice Cream owner named 2024 James Beard semifinalist