I Tried 10 Popular Vanilla Ice Creams & the Best Was Dense and Rich
Everyone needs a go-to brand of ice cream to grab at the store. Whether you're scooping up a cold topping for freshly baked apple pie, hosting a do-it-yourself sundae night, or need a pint to relax with after a long week, vanilla ice cream is there for you.
It's a nostalgic, classic flavor that everyone can agree on. Except there's one disagreement: Which vanilla ice cream reigns supreme?
If you want to impress guests or your taste buds, it's important to pick up a pint of vanilla that's well-balanced in the sweetness department and has a rich, decadent texture to satisfy your taste buds.
There's much variety in the world of ice cream, and your average grocery store offers dozens of options. While you may want to sample each one for yourself—I don't blame you!—I already did the work for you. (Hey, someone had to!)
I recently sampled 10 of the most widely accessible, well-known ice cream brands. I included denser, pricier, and more premium pints and several airier, more conventional brands in family-sized containers. I even threw in one lighter ice cream alternative that's sweetened with allulose and erythritol instead of sugar. (Its placement on this list may surprise you.) I sampled each product on its own and took note of looks, texture, and flavor.
So, before your next sundae bar, you should see how these 10 vanilla ice creams stacked up, ranked in descending order from my least favorite to the absolute best.
Breyers Natural Vanilla Ice Cream
This ice cream comes in the iconic black 1.5-quart tub from beloved ice cream brand Breyers. The nutrition panel is notably lighter in fat, calories, and carbs than the other ice creams I sampled for this test.
The look: The ice cream is fluffy and light. It has visible air pockets and is easy to scoop, even straight from the freezer. There are tiny black specks of vanilla bean throughout, and when scooped, air-filled ridges form along the edges.
The taste: This ice cream is very sweet. It has a strong vanilla flavor but lacks the rich density of a higher-priced ice cream. I found it to be more icy than creamy, and the ice and air inside dilute the intensity of the flavor.
Turkey Hill Original Vanilla Ice Cream
With 16 grams of sugar, this ice cream has the lowest sugar content per serving of any of the standard ice creams I sampled. It's sweetened with sugar and corn syrup.
The look: This container held the brightest, whitest ice cream I tried. The brand also carries a vanilla bean flavor that's presumably more bean-speckled. The product contains annatto (a natural yellow dye) and caramel, but you can't see them in the final result.
The taste: I could barely taste vanilla in this ice cream. Though the texture was pleasant and rich, the flavor was bland.
Blue Bunny Soft Vanilla
This frozen dairy dessert is meant to replicate the soft-serve dispensed from an ice cream parlor machine. As a lifelong soft-serve fan, I had high hopes for this pint and was excited to see how well it mimicked my favorite ice cream order.
The look: This product has a softer, airier texture than the other products I tested. It feels almost semi-melted straight from the fridge, which I love. I opened the package top to reveal two pure white peaks resembling the soft-serve dispensed from a machine.
The taste: Though I liked the soft, on-the-edge-of-milkshake texture of this product from Blue Bunny, I couldn't get past the fake-tasting flavor. Several stabilizers and preservatives are included in the recipe to maintain that soft, fluffy texture. I checked the ingredient panel and found coconut oil and a couple of different gums, which could be the culprits.
Trader Joe's French Vanilla Ice Cream
This ice cream quart is sold at the cult-favorite grocery chain. It's made with sugared egg yolks and is flavored with natural vanilla.
The look: I needed to temper this container for longer than others, as it was frozen so solid that I struggled to get a scoop. Once softened, the texture is super dense and thick. The color is pure white, with no visible vanilla beans.
The taste: Despite the lack of real vanilla bean in this Trader Joe's ice cream, it has a strong vanilla flavor that almost hits you in the face. It's not icy or airy, and the flavor is highly concentrated. I preferred some of the more natural-tasting ice creams to this over-the-top version.
Alden's Organic Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
This 1.5-quart container of vanilla bean ice cream from Alden's Organic is a lighter dessert with fewer calories, less fat, and slightly less sugar than the more premium ice creams I sampled. It comes from Oregon, and the ingredients are all organic except for the xanthan gum, a texture-enhancer often used in ice creams.
The look: This light and fluffy ice cream contains the tiniest specs of vanilla beans. It develops the telltale ridges of an airier ice cream and scoops into nice round balls with ease.
The taste: This ice cream has a natural vanilla flavor that's neither overwhelming nor a background player. It's nice and flavorful but would be amplified by hot fudge or a slice of pie. This is a great standard lighter ice cream choice if you don't want to go the super-premium route.
Nick's Swedish Vanilj
I did not expect what's billed as Swedish-style light ice cream—with a fraction of the calories and fat as most of the other ice creams in this test—to mimic the classics so closely. This is a great choice to satisfy an ice cream craving without as much fat and an astounding 0 grams of added sugars, plus 7 grams of fiber. Of course, this is also the most complicated ingredient list of the desserts I sampled, as it contains a "diary protein blend" of milk and whey proteins, allulose, erythritol, and coconut oil.
The look: This ice cream needs a few more minutes to soften up than the others, but once it does, it has a light, soft texture that's all too easy to scoop–careful, and you might end up with the entire pint in your bowl. There are few vanilla beans visible.
The taste: I was surprised by how well-balanced and natural-tasting this ice cream was. I'm not a fan of sugar substitutes, but I couldn't detect that chemical aftertaste you often get from erythritol and stevia (there's a trace amount of stevia per serving). I found this dessert to be well flavored, just sweet enough, and once properly tempered, to have the ideal soft ice cream texture.
Häagen-Dazs Vanilla Ice Cream
This is a rich, dense, and creamy pint. Häagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream has five ingredients: cream, skim milk, cane sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla extract.
The look: There are no specks of vanilla bean in this smooth, purely white ice cream. It has a dense, firm texture without any air pockets or ridges.
The taste: I found the Haagen Dazs scoop to be lacking in vanilla flavor compared to the other ice creams in this test. It's a very mild ice cream that would work well in a milkshake or on top of a bolder treat, such as a rich chocolate cake. This is a high-quality ice cream, but if you want a stronger vanilla flavor, you'd be better off with the brand's vanilla bean flavor.
Tillamook Old-Fashioned Vanilla Ice Cream
Tillamook makes some of my favorite cheeses, particularly sharp cheddar, so I had high hopes for this family-sized container of old-fashioned vanilla ice cream. According to the label, it's made with a "special blend of the very best vanilla."
The look: There's nothing remarkable about how this ice cream looks. It has the classic off-white hue you expect from "old-fashioned" vanilla and no vanilla bean speckles. The texture is somewhere between dense and airy. It's not the richest ice cream I sampled, nor is it so light and fluffy that it contains mostly air.
The taste: I loved the scoopable, not-too-dense texture of this ice cream from Tillamook. It's made with egg yolks, which give it a natural custardy texture and flavor. I would have loved a touch more vanilla flavor, but overall, this would make a great pairing with other ice creams or toppings in a sundae.
Ben & Jerry's Vanilla Ice Cream
I'm a lifelong Ben & Jerry's fan, and this pint has been my go-to to serve alongside pie and under chocolate sauce for years.
The look: This ice cream is made with vanilla extract and real vanilla beans. It is pure white, with lots of black vanilla beans dispersed throughout. There are no air pockets or ridges in this intense, dense dessert. Scooping the ice cream was quite difficult. It needs to be tempered for several minutes out of the freezer. Even then, the ice cream had a gummy, almost sticky texture that adhered to my ice cream scoop. I needed a second spoon to separate my ice cream from the scoop.
The taste: This is one of the richest ice creams I sampled. The texture is super smooth and thick. It has a more natural, subtle vanilla flavor, and despite the 28 grams of sugar, I didn't think it tasted overly sweet. Rather, it strikes a nice balance between rich and sweet, so you're not overwhelmed by sugar or fat.
Van Leeuwen Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
This luscious vanilla bean ice cream from the cult-favorite scoop shop born in New York checks all the boxes. It's a richer, more premium ice cream, but you get what you pay for in the flavor and texture department.
The look: This ice cream has a yellowish tint and plenty of black vanilla bean bits. The pale yellow color and rich, dense texture come from egg yolks. This was one of the most jam-packed pints I tried. There's very little air inside this ice cream, clear from the hefty scoops and coat-your-mouth texture.
The taste: This pint from Van Leeuwen is made with both vanilla extract and real vanilla bean, which gives it the boldest, most satisfying vanilla flavor of any of the pints I have tried. It has a touch of sea salt that enhances the sweetness and warm vanilla notes, but the ice cream isn't overly sweet or cloying. It's just right.
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