A playful German ice cream creation made to look like a plate of spaghetti: vanilla ice cream pressed through a ricer into noodle-like strands over whipped cream, topped with strawberry sauce as the tomato sauce and white chocolate or coconut as the parmesan. Invented in Mannheim, it is a fixture of every German Eisdiele.
An Italo-German invention created by Dario Fontanella in Mannheim around 1969, Spaghettieis is made by extruding vanilla ice cream through a press to resemble spaghetti.
Cold strands of vanilla ice cream tangle with airy cream and bright strawberry sauce, the whole thing a delicious optical trick. Sweet, creamy, and undeniably fun to eat.
Forcing softened ice cream through a fine ricer reshapes it into thin strands that read instantly as spaghetti, while the contrasting strawberry sauce and white shavings complete the savory-dish illusion.
Variations
With chocolate or hazelnut ice cream, Spaghetti-Carbonara style with egg-liqueur, mango sauce version
On the Palate
Where Spaghettieis sits in the German flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 2How it's made
8 steps · 15 min
- 15 min
Soften vanilla ice cream slightly so it can be pressed without melting.
Watch outSoften the ice cream just until it gives to the press but still holds its cold — too hard it won't extrude, too melty and the strands sag into mush.
- 22 min
Spread a layer of sweetened whipped cream in the bottom of a shallow bowl.
- 32 min
Load the ice cream into a potato ricer or Spätzle press.
- 43 min
Press the ice cream directly over the cream to form spaghetti-like strands.
Watch outPress it through in one steady push so the strands come out long and even like real spaghetti — stopping and starting gives short broken bits.
- 52 min
Spoon strawberry sauce over the noodles to mimic tomato sauce.
- 61 min
Grate white chocolate or sprinkle coconut flakes on top as the parmesan.
- 71 min
Optionally add a strawberry as a meatball garnish.
- 81 min
Serve immediately before the strands begin to melt.
Watch outServe it the instant it's plated — this dessert waits for no one; the strands start slumping within a minute or two.
