When you think of classic Dairy Queen treats, a few iconic items likely come to mind – the Blizzard, the ice cream cake, and of course, the Dilly Bar. This simple yet irresistible frozen dessert on a stick has been satisfying sweet tooths for nearly 70 years. But what exactly is a Dilly Bar?
Whether you‘re a lifelong fan or have never tried this DQ staple, we‘ll take a deep dive into everything you need to know about Dilly Bars. From its humble Minnesota beginnings to the different flavors and varieties available today, consider this your ultimate Dilly Bar guide.
The Birth of the Dilly Bar
Our story begins way back in 1955 in Moorhead, Minnesota. Brothers Lester and Roy Oltz, who supplied ice cream mix to the local Dairy Queen, had an idea for a new frozen novelty. They poured DQ‘s signature soft serve into circular molds, froze the disks on sticks, and dipped them in a chocolate coating.
Legend has it that after sampling the creation, one of the brothers exclaimed "Now that‘s a dilly!", referring to the slang term of the era for something outstanding or delightful. The name stuck, and the Dilly Bar was born.
The treat was an instant hit at the Moorhead Dairy Queen. Word spread to other DQ locations, and soon Dilly Bars were being sold across the country. Today, that original Moorhead store still makes thousands of hand-dipped Dilly Bars each week using the same recipe from 1955, in addition to the pre-packaged version sold nationwide. It‘s a tasty piece of fast food history still going strong in the 21st century.
Anatomy of a Dilly Bar
At its core, a Dilly Bar is elegantly simple – a disk of Dairy Queen‘s famous soft serve ice cream on a stick, enrobed in a chocolatey coating that hardens into a crisp shell. Let‘s break it down further:
Description
A typical Dilly Bar measures around 3 inches in diameter and is about an inch thick, weighing in at 2.5 ounces (70 grams). The ice cream disk has a slight curvature to it, and the stick protrudes straight out from the edge.
When you bite into a Dilly Bar, you get the satisfying snap of the chocolate coating giving way to the smooth, creamy soft serve within. It‘s a perfectly balanced duo of textures and flavors in every bite.
Ingredients
The ice cream in a Dilly Bar is Dairy Queen‘s classic vanilla soft serve, made with milkfat and nonfat milk, sugar, corn syrup, whey, mono and diglycerides, artificial flavor, guar gum, polysorbate 80, and carrageenan.
The chocolate coating consists of coconut oil, sugar, chocolate, cocoa, nonfat milk, lactose, milk fat, soy lecithin, and artificial flavor. These are the standard ingredients, though there may be slight variations with different flavors.
Nutrition Facts
A single chocolate Dilly Bar contains 190 calories, 11 grams of fat (8 grams saturated), 20 grams of carbohydrates (16 grams of sugar), and 3 grams of protein. It also provides 6% of your daily calcium needs.
While not exactly health food, a Dilly Bar can be an occasional treat as part of a balanced diet. At under 200 calories, it‘s a relatively modest indulgence compared to many other fast food desserts.
Flavors and Varieties
The original chocolate Dilly Bar is still the most common and popular variety, but DQ has introduced several other flavor options over the years:
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Cherry: The soft serve is dipped in a vibrant red cherry coating for a fruity twist.
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Butterscotch: A sweet butterscotch coating lends a deeper caramel-like flavor.
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Heath: Bits of crunchy Heath toffee are embedded in the chocolate shell.
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Mint: The soft serve is coated in refreshing minty green chocolate.
More recently, Dairy Queen has also launched No Sugar Added and Non-Dairy versions of the Dilly Bar, made with a coconut milk-based vegan soft serve, to accommodate different dietary needs and preferences. Not all flavors are available in these varieties.
While chocolate remains the signature Dilly Bar experience, it‘s fun to change it up with these alternative flavors from time to time. Limited-time or seasonal offerings like cotton candy also pop up at certain DQ locations.
How Dilly Bars Are Made
Dilly Bars are made via two methods: hand-dipped in-store and mass-produced for DQ‘s pre-packaged novelty line. Here‘s how each process works:
In-Store Process
At DQ locations that make Dilly Bars fresh, the process begins with filling stainless steel circular molds with soft serve from the restaurant‘s ice cream machines. Sticks are inserted into each mold before they are placed in a freezer to harden.
Once fully frozen, the ice cream disks are popped out of the molds and hand-dipped into vats of liquid chocolate coating. The chocolate solidifies quickly upon hitting the frozen treat, creating a crunchy shell.
Employees then place the finished Dilly Bars on wax paper-lined trays to set completely before serving them to eager customers. Freshly made Dilly Bars are identifiable by their unique curlicue markings from the hand-dipping process, and are usually served in white paper bags.
Pre-Packaged Manufacturing
The majority of Dairy Queen locations don‘t make Dilly Bars in-store, but rather sell a packaged novelty version made in large-scale production facilities. These are the Dilly Bars you‘ll find in the restaurant‘s freezer case, individually wrapped in plastic or boxed by the half-dozen.
The industrial manufacturing follows the same basic steps as the in-store method, just on a much larger automated scale. Soft serve mix is poured into bar-shaped molds on a conveyor belt and flash-frozen. The hardened bars are then mechanically dipped into a chocolate coating and sent through a cooling tunnel to set the shell.
From there, the Dilly Bars are packaged, cased, and shipped out in refrigerated trucks to Dairy Queen locations across the country, ready to be grabbed and enjoyed.
Dilly Bars vs. Other Dairy Queen Treats
Dairy Queen has a full menu of signature frozen treats. So how does the Dilly Bar stack up to some of its DQ peers? Let‘s compare:
Dilly Bar vs. Buster Bar
The Buster Bar is like the Dilly Bar‘s bigger, more decadent older sibling. Instead of just ice cream and chocolate coating, a Buster Bar features a thick layer of soft serve topped with a fudge and peanut center before being dipped in chocolate. At 430 calories, it‘s a more substantial treat.
Dilly Bar vs. Blizzard
The Blizzard is arguably Dairy Queen‘s most famous creation, a customizable cup of soft serve blended with mix-ins like candy, cookies, or fruit. Dilly Bars offer a neater, more portable snacking experience and won‘t melt as quickly. But if you‘re looking for more mix-in flavor options, Blizzards reign supreme.
Dilly Bar vs. Ice Cream Sandwich
Dairy Queen‘s ice cream sandwiches feature a scoop of soft serve between two chocolate wafers. They provide an added textural contrast with the crunchy cookies, compared to the relative uniformity of a Dilly Bar. But the Dilly Bar‘s chocolate coating lends a more satisfying snap.
Where to Find Dilly Bars and Cost
You can find Dilly Bars at participating Dairy Queen locations worldwide, including both full-service restaurants and special treat-only DQ stores. Use the store locator on the DQ website to find the location nearest you.
A single, freshly made Dilly Bar from Dairy Queen usually costs around $1.69, though prices may vary slightly by location. Pre-packaged Dilly Bars typically cost $4.69 for a box of 6 or $7.99 for a box of 12.
Some locations may offer discounts for larger quantities or have special Dilly Bar promotions from time to time, so be sure to check your local DQ‘s deals. You can also find DQ coupons online or through the Dairy Queen mobile app.
Dilly Bar Fun Facts and Trivia
We‘ve covered a lot of ground on the beloved Dilly Bar. To wrap up, here are some fun facts and bits of trivia about this DQ icon:
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The Moorhead Dairy Queen that invented the Dilly Bar still uses the original hand-dipped recipe and sells an average of 57,000 Dilly Bars each season!
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In 2015, to celebrate the Dilly Bar‘s 60th anniversary, Dairy Queen gave away over 1 million Dilly Bars on July 25th – Miracle Treat Day – with proceeds going to Children‘s Miracle Network Hospitals.
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Some of the more unique Dilly Bar flavors that have popped up over the years include Dreamsicle, Lime, and Caramel Cheesecake.
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The chocolate coating on a Dilly Bar is specifically formulated to be harder than DQ‘s regular dip cones so it doesn‘t crack and fall off the ice cream.
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While most people eat Dilly Bars as-is, some like to get creative and use them in recipes like Dilly Bar pie, milkshakes, or ice cream sandwiches.
The Last Lick
From a simple experiment in a Minnesota DQ to a nationally beloved treat, the Dilly Bar has firmly cemented its place in the ice cream history books. Its straightforward yet irresistible combination of creamy soft serve and snappy chocolate shell makes it easy to understand the Dilly Bar‘s enduring appeal.
Whether you prefer the original chocolate or like to mix it up with cherry or butterscotch, enjoy your Dilly Bar however you see fit – nibbling the coating first, licking the soft serve, or just taking a big satisfying bite.
There‘s a reason Dairy Queen still sells millions of Dilly Bars each year, almost 70 years after its invention. This "dilly" of a treat is a true DQ icon that‘s stood the test of time – and our collective taste buds.
