Gelato and ice cream are creamy, frozen desserts made from ingredients including dairy and sugar.

Gelato and ice cream share three main ingredients — dairy, sugar, and air. The difference lies in their proportions.

The overrun is a measure of how much air is added into the ice cream or gelato during production. Gelato has low overrun, whereas ice cream has high overrun.

Ice cream is churned fast, which folds in lots of air, making its texture soft and light, thus,its volume increases by a large percentage. Although, it has more butterfat than gelato, which means it may not be as flavorful.

Gelato is much silkier in texture and a bit denser than ice cream. This denseness allows gelato to pack much more flavor than traditional ice cream. Gelato also usually takes its flavors from natural sources.

In addition to containing more air than gelato, ice cream also packs more cream, which translates to a high fat content. What’s more, ice cream typically includes egg yolks, whereas gelato rarely will. Instead, gelato usually contains more milk.

Gelato is traditionally served about 10–15°F (6–8°C) warmer than ice cream. This helps the flavors in gelato bloom, as your tongue isn’t as numb as it is when eating ice cream.

Meanwhile, ice cream is typically scooped with a deeply rounded spoon, with its higher fat content allowing it to be shaped into firm, round balls.