Cookout Desserts (2026): Beyond the Milkshakes

When people talk about cookout desserts, the conversation usually starts and ends with the famous lineup of more than 40 milkshake flavors. Fair enough, but the shakes are only part of the story. Beyond the milkshake machine sits a short, sweet, and seriously underrated dessert lineup: thick slices of cheesecake, fizzy floats built on vanilla soft serve, and a few dessert-inspired surprises hiding in plain sight.

This guide covers every non-shake dessert Cook Out actually sells, with real dessert prices, calorie counts, and honest answers about what is worth ordering. The milkshakes get their own full breakdown elsewhere on this site, so here we focus on the rest of the sweet menu, the items most first-time visitors walk right past.

Cookout Desserts: The Full Lineup at a Glance

Cook Out keeps its dessert board refreshingly simple. There is no sprawling bakery case, just a handful of classics done well and priced the way Cook Out prices everything: low. The official in-store board lists the section as Floats and Cheesecake, and that is genuinely the whole list.

Prices are drawn from public menu sources and the in-store board, and they may vary by location. Some older menu boards show slightly lower figures like $2.24, so consider $2.45 the current typical price and expect small regional differences.

Cheesecake: Flavors, Toppings, and the Slice Itself

The cheesecake is the closest thing Cook Out has to a traditional plated dessert, and it is quietly one of the best values on the entire menu. You get a proper slice of creamy, New York-style cheesecake with a graham cracker crust, served plain or finished with a topping. The most common options reported across locations are classic plain, strawberry, and chocolate.

• Ask for a fruit or chocolate topping if your location offers them, some spots add hot fudge or strawberry syrup for a small extra charge of around $0.25 to $0.50.
• The slice is rich enough to split, which makes it an easy $1.25-per-person dessert for two.
• Cheesecake lovers should also know about the cheesecake milkshake flavors, like cherry cheesecake and blueberry cheesecake, which blend an actual slice into a shake.
• If you are ordering for a group, call ahead, since some smaller locations keep only a limited number of slices on hand.

The Cheerwine Float: A Southern Legend

The Cheerwine float is the dessert Cook Out is most famous for after its shakes. Cheerwine is a wild-cherry soda invented in Salisbury, North Carolina, back in 1917, and pouring it over vanilla soft serve creates a maroon, foamy, sweet-and-tart treat that tastes like the South in a cup. At about $2.45 for a 16 oz serving with roughly 400 calories, it is also one of the cheapest floats in fast food.

• Order it as your combo tray drink. Cook Out lets you take a float in place of a regular fountain drink with a tray, turning your whole meal into dinner plus dessert.
• Drink it sooner rather than later. The foam head is the best part, and it settles if the float sits.
• First-timers visiting the South often call it a must-try, and honestly, they are right.
• Pair it with something salty like Cajun fries. The sweet cherry fizz against the spice is a combination regulars swear by.

Other Floats: Coke and Root Beer

If Cheerwine is not your thing, the Coke float is the timeless diner classic: Coca-Cola poured over the same creamy vanilla soft serve, landing at about 399 calories for the 16 oz cup. Some locations also list a root beer float, which tastes like a proper old-fashioned ice cream shop treat and usually runs a touch cheaper or the same price depending on the store. For every other soda, tea, and lemonade on the board, see the Cookout drinks menu.

• Coke float for the traditionalist, Cheerwine float for the adventurer, root beer float when you want pure nostalgia.
• All floats use the same vanilla soft serve base, so the difference is entirely in the soda.
• Like the Cheerwine float, the Coke float can typically be ordered as the drink in a combo tray.

Brownie Lovers, Take Note

Here is an honest answer to a common question: Cook Out does not sell brownies. There is no brownie, blondie, or warm chocolate cake on the menu, and no cookie sandwich either at most locations. The dessert board is floats and cheesecake, full stop.

If what you really want is that deep chocolate hit, your best move is the shake menu rather than the dessert board. Flavors like double chocolate, hot fudge, and chocolate malt scratch the same itch, and a chocolate shake paired with a plain cheesecake slice gets you surprisingly close to a brownie-and-ice-cream situation for under six dollars. For the full frozen lineup, see our Cookout ice cream menu.

Cookout Dessert Prices and Tray Ordering Tips

Dessert prices at Cook Out are almost suspiciously low, and that is by design. Everything on the dessert board sits in the $2.24 to $2.99 range depending on the location, which means you can add a real dessert to a tray meal for less than the cost of a fancy coffee elsewhere. Remember that prices may vary by location, with some Florida and out-of-region stores running slightly higher.

• The smartest order is a combo tray with a float as your drink. You get a full meal plus dessert in one price.
• Adding a shake to a tray as an upgrade usually costs about a dollar more than the standard drink, while a float often slots in as the tray drink itself.
• Tax adds a small amount on top, so a $2.45 dessert typically rings up just under $2.65 depending on your local rate.
• Availability is not identical everywhere. Floats and cheesecake are core items, but the root beer float and specific cheesecake toppings come and go by location.

Tips for Getting the Best Cookout Desserts

• Eat in or eat fast. Floats are at their best in the first few minutes, so drive-thru floats are a race against the melt.
• Ask what is on the board before you order. The dessert section is small, but seasonal shake flavors like watermelon in summer or eggnog in winter can double as dessert.
• The cheesecake slice travels better than any float, making it the right pick for takeout or delivery orders.
• If you have a dairy allergy, skip the dessert board entirely. Every item is built on milk, cream, or soft serve with no dairy-free alternatives.
• Late-night sweet tooth? Most Cook Out locations serve desserts until close, which can be 3:00 AM or later.

Cookout desserts will never compete with the shake list for fame, and that is exactly why they are worth knowing about. For about two and a half dollars you can finish a tray meal with a proper cheesecake slice or a fizzy Cheerwine float, which is a better dessert deal than almost anything else in fast food. Next time you roll through the drive-thru, look past the shake board for a moment. The quiet little floats-and-cheesecake section has been sitting there all along, waiting for its moment. And if you’re ordering for kids, those milkshakes pair perfectly with the smaller portions on the kids menu.