American
Root Beer Floats
Cold root beer is poured over vanilla ice cream so the foam rises up the glass. A pinch of salt, a little vanilla, whipped cream, and a cherry finish each float.
- Prep
- 10 min
- Cook
- 0 min
- Total
- 10 min
- Servings
- 4
- Difficulty
- Easy
Why you’ll love it
- Chilling the glasses keeps the ice cream from melting the second the root beer hits it.
- A pinch of salt on the ice cream makes the vanilla taste stronger.
- Pouring the root beer down the side of the glass, not straight onto the scoop, controls the foam.
- Very cold root beer foams higher and stays bubbly.
Ingredients
Ingredient amounts scale. Oven temperature and cook time do not. Salt, spices, and leaveners are a starting point after you scale. Taste and adjust.
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Instructions
- 1
Fill four tall glasses with the ice and let them stand 2 minutes. Dump the ice and shake the glasses dry.
- 2
Place one large scoop of vanilla ice cream in each chilled glass.
- 3
Sprinkle a tiny bit of the kosher salt over each scoop.
- 4
Stir the vanilla extract into the cold root beer.
- 5
Tilt each glass and pour the root beer slowly down the inside wall until the foam rises near the rim.
- 6
Top each float with sweetened whipped cream and a maraschino cherry.
- 7
Serve immediately with a spoon and a straw.
Pro tips
- If the foam threatens to overflow, pause the pour and let the bubbles settle.
- Use ice cream that is firm, not soft from the freezer door. Soft scoops collapse into the soda.
- Open the root beer just before pouring so it is still carbonated.
Easy substitutions
- Root beer
- Cream soda or a cola
- Vanilla ice cream
- Chocolate ice cream
- Whipped cream
- An extra small scoop of ice cream
Storage and reheating
Storage
Serve as soon as you pour. A made float turns flat and watery within about 20 minutes, so do not store it.
Reheating
Do not reheat. Build a fresh float.
Nutrition
Estimates per serving, using standard ingredient averages and rounded to the nearest gram. This is not a lab analysis, and it shifts if you change brands or add sides.
- Calories
- 284
- Protein
- 3 g
- Carbs
- 50 g
- Fat
- 8 g
- Fiber
- 0 g
Budget friendly · No Cook
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