Is there dairy in gelato?

True gelato is made with Milk. There are some places in Italy where fruit flavours are made with water instead. Although everyone commonly still refers to those as gelato, it'd be more appropriate to call them sorbetto (which looks much more like gelato, compared to granita - which is yet another, quite different thing). read more

The Italian law requires gelato to have a minimum of 3.5% butterfat. In the United States, there is no legal standard definition for gelato as there is for ice cream, which must contain at least 10% butterfat. Gelato can be served in any way that ice cream is, including cup, cone, sandwich, cake, pie, or on a stick. read more

Gelato, by comparison, uses more milk than cream, so it doesn't have nearly as much fat. Additionally, it usually—but not always—uses fewer (to the point of none) egg yolks, another source of fat in custard-based ice creams. read more