19 Unconventional Toppings For Your Next Ice Cream Sundae

Rainbow sprinkles? Sigh. Whipped cream and a cherry? Snooze. Oreos and peanuts drowning in Midnight Moo? Delicious, but been there, done that. When you love ice cream — check that, love-love it — sometimes you need to ramp up the thrill factor. Bedazzle a favorite flavor. Go for something a little ... scintillating. We're showcasing toppings you can DIY with just about any flavor out there. Taste-test them at home in your stretchy pants, or make some special requests while out to dinner with friends. Love it? Add more. Hate it? LOL. That's obviously a trick question. No one hates ice cream.

We're fully in support of trying anything once. But, for the purposes of this scientific and very clinical, like, study or whatever, we would like to take a moment to acknowledge the following niche toppings that didn't make our cut: Heinz baked beans, jalapeños and coffee, pickles, salad dressing, olives, and lastly, the humble hamburger. May you rest in peace in someone else's ice cream bowl. As for ketchup topping lovers – Redditor: "What kind of monster puts ketchup on ice cream?!" Respect.

This is clearly a hypothetical scenario since old donuts don't exist because we eat them all. But if they were, in fact, a thing, you would definitely want to put them on ice cream. They're like sweet, doughy croutons that don't savagely destroy the roof of your mouth.

This is actually a hot tip for all day-old, stale, washed-up pastry, but particularly for those with a fondness for fossilized Krispy Kreme Original Glazed. Something about the crackle in that once warm, glossy sugar coating adds the perfect, chewy touch. Just rough chop your favorite to make it work — an apple fritter piled high atop salted caramel ice cream, a toasted coconut donut topping pineapple gelato, or a jelly donut over a scoop of peanut butter.

If you've ever tasted a donuts ice cream sandwich, an ice cream-filled donut, donut-flavored ice cream, or just ice cream and donuts not even close to touching each other, you're going to love this duo. But, best of luck on your journey to finding even one stale donut.

So you're saying you've been eating non-gilded ice cream sundaes this whole time? Allow us to offer a solution to your bling crisis: edible gold.

While gold-topped frozen treats are nothing new, they are typically found at some of the most over-the-top, Instagrammable restaurants around the world. That multi-carat whisper also commonly jacks up the price, so a regular hot fudge sundae costs $1000 and earns a Guinness World Record. But, with a little elbow grease and some ingenuity (ok, it's just Amazon Prime), you can make everything you touch turn to gold leaf.

It takes some concentration in the application, but even crumpled gold shines bright. And, getting to gently break through the shiny surface with a spoon and dive into an impossibly creamy scoop of rocky road is an experience in itself. Edible gold is, of course, all looks and zero flavor, plus it has a chemically "inert" substance, which travels straight through your system and out again, it's also safe to eat.

Hands up if you would put shredded cheddar cheese on everything if it were socially acceptable. Well, cheese heads, rejoice. It's now haute cuisine to sprinkle it on ice cream (points if you also go 15 seconds in the microwave for a cold, melty, cheesy spoonful). We're thinking vanilla ice cream, but apple cinnamon could be excellent. Like warm apple pie and a slice of cheddar, if you're into that.

This match-up plays off the sweet and savory combo we've come to love. And , while all types of cheese are dazzling menus for top brands — like Salt & Straw's Pear & Blue Cheese, or Van Leeuwen's Kraft Macaroni & Cheese — in some parts of the world, this flavor has been around since way back. In the Philippines, queso (or keso) ice cream has been a favorite since the early 1900s, according to The Cheese Professor. No limited editions here, this crowd-pleaser's here to stay.

While some adventurers suggest the addition of black olives or (hard swallow) beef chili to their shredded cheddar-topped ice cream, we'll just be over here with the Kraft, and our dignity.

They're the sweet tapioca pearls in bubble tea that you see people siphoning through extra fat straws and chewing with delight. While there's some discussion around who exactly invented boba, and when, we can say it happened in Taiwan, in 1980-something-ish, probably. And now that boba has gone mainstream, it's going on top of your ice cream.

Several big brands are mixing boba straight into their ice cream, with a variety of jam-packed pints and popsicle bars available all across the globe. But, for our purposes, we want to see those pearls front and center.

As a topping, boba retains its signature bouncy texture and syrupy slickness and can be found in a range of fresh flavors like lychee, strawberry, mango, yuzu, and kiwi. Some people make it from scratch, but you can easily find prepared boba ready to rock at Asian grocery stores and boba tea shops. Added to a cup of smooth passion fruit soft serve, the pearls are finally freed from their tasty prison at the bottom of a 20-ounce cup of taro milk tea. An insane amount of swirled whipped cream added to the top of your sundae is totally optional, but highly recommended.

If your eyeballs just caught on fire reading "chili," this is a friendly viral trend alert: If you're not putting chili crisp on your ice cream, you're doing it wrong. (JK, you and ice cream are perfect just the way you are.) But, this is definitely one topper that's destined for the regularly scheduled program.

Originally trending in Sichuan, China, the kicky, oily condiment packed with peppercorns, garlic, chiles, and other spices plays for keeps against the cool, rich dairy of soft-serve vanilla. But, fair warning, you'll be partaking in the underground art of "'hei an liao li,' which you could translate to 'dark cuisine,' and it's where amateur cooks make and post bizarre combinations of unappetizing foods," according to Chef Jenny Gao, founder of chili crisp company Fly By Jing (via Food & Wine). So ... where do we sign up with our evil overlords?

The versatile seasoning was even hailed by J. Kenji López-Alt in her article for the New York Times entitled, "Chile Crisp Is Even Good With Ice Cream." And, it also gets props on the people's platform, Reddit with one commenter claiming, "It's seriously good. Spoon it right on top." Just do what chiLi_krisSSSsp_oR_d!e says and no ice cream gets hurt.

Step aside, basic pumpkin spice latte. Your autumn routine is getting an upgrade. And, fortunately, this pairing works any time of the year. A delicious superfood gift from the pumpkin seed gods, cold-pressed pumpkin seed oil does wonders for your body and your dessert. It's chock-full of vitamins, minerals, healthy fatty acids, and antioxidants. And, who wouldn't want to look well-rested and youthful while digging into a big ol' bowl of Chubby Hubby?

Pumpkin seed oil went on the record all the way back in 1735. Often referred to as "green gold," it was even banned in 1773 because it was too valuable for this world. Thankfully, more sophisticated farming led to pumpkin seed oil appearing all over the place. Get the most nutritional bang for your buck by drizzling a tablespoon of cold-pressed Styrian pumpkin seed oil over a scoop of your choice (but vanilla's a solid pick), and enjoying all the gourdy goodness this powerful combo has to offer. Top your sundae with a few toasted pumpkin seeds for the full experience. 

No acquired taste needed here. This one's a home run no matter how you hit it. It's like eating breakfast ice cream pancakes and bacon, and it's perfect for brunch, lunch, dinner, and all the snack times in between.

Classic sweet and savory go high class or low-brow, depending on your tastes. Thick-cut, hickory smoked bacon with small batch, bourbon barrel aged maple syrup over a scoop of vanilla will absolutely do the trick. Or go full-fledged state fair by cooking up some diced SPAM with Hormel bacon, plus maple syrup, brown sugar and vanilla. Just let it all cool to room temp before you add it to your ice cream, unless you're feeling #soupvibes.

While candied bacon could also be used here — and candied anything is out of this world — we think this particular topping is a hundred times better with the saltiness that the savory variety brings to the table.

Now we're really picking sides. You're either team Lovin' Lavender, or team Gross This Tastes Like Soap. But, like it or hate it, ever since lavender started trending within the food industry in 2015, it's only gotten more popular. While your preference might have to do with your DNA, or the triggering memories of tragic lavenders past, its use on ice cream involves the culinary kind. And just a small amount of it. A really small amount.

Culinary lavender packs less oil than the lavender you'll find in soaps and candles. And, it's also the only variety that should find itself anywhere near your ice cream. As Curio Spice Co. founder, Claire Cheney, told Bon Appétit, "Maybe you always thought of it as an overly floral or soapy flavor, but it can be enchanting and forest-like." For the record, we're going for the second thing.

As a topping, source the dried tips of the plant, and sprinkle just a few of the flowers onto lavender ice cream, vanilla, or a tea-based flavor for a perfectly sweet and floral treat.

Not quite ready for straight-wasabi-paste-on-soft-serve level, but still want to dabble in some crunchy heat? We feel you. Allow us to introduce you to crushed, dried wasabi peas. And, since this topping packs both salt and fire, your best bet will be pairing it with a rich vanilla or white chocolate ice cream.

The Honestly Yum blog posted of the combo, "This surpassed all our expectations! This had a really mild wasabi flavor. There was a little of that wasabi heat in your nose as an aftertaste. Erica actually hates wasabi peas but loved this." Big Gay Ice Cream Shop was also crushing the spicy peas for customers all the way back in 2012.

The approach is simple: Gather wasabi peas, destroy, sprinkle surviving particles on top of ice cream. What you'll get is a zingy, herbaceous crunch. As Chef Ramael Scully described it to the The Guardian, "The plain flavor and creaminess of the vanilla works beautifully with exhilarating wasabi. Close your eyes and you could be eating cream and horseradish, one of my favorite flavor combos." You better believe we live for the burn.