I Tried 12 Cookie Dough Ice Creams & Only One Hit All the Right Notes

Cookie dough ice cream is one of my favorite ice cream flavors because it combines two of my favorite things: cookie dough and vanilla ice cream. While I will admit that I usually add extra chocolate chips and extra cookie dough to a bowl of cookie dough ice cream—because no brand sufficiently adds enough of either—plenty of ice creams in the freezer aisle have a delicious formula for this rather simple dessert.

Beyond the two main components, many ice cream makers also add chocolate chips or chunks to the ice cream base for some extra flair. Nowadays, brands are getting even snazzier with more bells and whistles added to the flavor profile, which gives customers the option to go bold or keep it classic when deciding what to have for dessert.

Several ice cream brands have a cookie dough variety in their portfolio these days, and I tried as many of them as I could find—a full dozen, in fact. I have to say, they're all really nailing it. Again, with such a classic flavor profile, it's hard to go wrong. And whether you want to keep it timeless with a simple vanilla and cookie dough combo or throw in something fun like a sea salt fudge swirl, there's an ice cream out there for you.

Here are 12 popular cookie dough ice creams, ranked in descending order from my least favorite to the absolute best.

Great Value Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream

I will always love that Walmart's store brand keeps prices low and allows you to stock your kitchen with delicious food for a good deal. This pint of ice cream cost me just $1.78. Yes, it was the last one on the shelf, very dented, and looked like it had been kicked across the store floor, but it was still sealed!

The look: As with any Great Value ice creams I've tried, the texture is more icy than creamy. It did have some chocolate bits scattered throughout, and it was dotted with cookie dough, though not quite enough for my liking.

The taste: The vanilla flavor is much more vanilla bean than straight-up vanilla or french vanilla. The cookie dough also tastes very floury, which is interesting, because cookie dough that won't be baked shouldn't have dry flour in it at all. It has a very doughy flavor to it, though, and while it isn't wholly unpleasant, it doesn't necessarily taste good.

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Turkey Hill Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream

Turkey Hill is a perennial winner for me because it's just that good. The Pennsylvania-based dairy really knows its stuff, so I was ready to dig into this cookie dough ice cream that I grabbed from Walmart for $3.52. When I opened the container, however, I was surprised by what I found.

The look: If you had told me this was a cookies and cream ice cream, I would have believed you. I actually thought maybe I had grabbed the wrong container. But no! Turkey Hill's cookie dough ice cream base is flecked with chocolate pieces, so it does resemble cookies and cream.

The taste: Lo and behold, it tastes like cookies and cream, too. Because of this, the cookie dough barely comes through. Even when you bite into just a cookie dough piece with hardly any ice cream, it's hard to taste much of anything. Sadly, this one was a miss for me because it just didn't taste like it's supposed to.

Favorite Day Cookie Dough Ice Cream

Target's store brand ice cream comes in half-gallon or pint-size offerings, and I picked up the former in the cookie dough flavor for $3.49 at my local store. Grabbing the store brand option keeps the price down, but we all know it's hard to make a trip to Target without spending plenty (there's so much to buy there).

The look: At first glance, I could hardly find the cookie dough in this ice cream, but after some searching, I uncovered it. There were also some chocolate chunks scattered throughout.

The taste: The vanilla ice cream base is very rich, so the hint of salt in the cookie dough helps cut through that. However, there just isn't enough cookie dough to really fill out how rich and creamy the ice cream is.

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Edy's Slow-Churned Cookie Dough Ice Cream

Edy's has a few different varieties from classics to slow-churned, and the latter is where you'll find the cookie dough flavor. (You'll also find it under the Dreyer's brand, depending on your location.) The grocery store staple brand can be found in many freezer sections, and I picked mine up at Acme for $6.79.

The look: I had to search high and low in the vanilla ice cream to find the cookie dough pieces. Edy's was so stingy with the cookie dough! The chocolate pieces sprinkled throughout were a nice touch, though.

The taste: Though there wasn't a lot of cookie dough, it was flavorful with just a kick of salt. The vanilla ice cream was fine, but honestly didn't have a lot of vanilla flavor to it.

Tillamook Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream

I've been sleeping on Tillamook's ice cream. I should have known that the ice cream would be tasty, considering the cheese from the brand is so rich and flavorful, but I've actually never tried the ice cream before. I picked up this container for $6.39 at my local Acme.

The look: At first glance, I couldn't even see any cookie dough. It just looked like vanilla ice cream with some chocolate flecks. After digging in, I found the cookie dough, but there was way too little in there.

The taste: Unsurprisingly, the ice cream base is really rich and creamy. It has a strong vanilla flavor and a velvety texture. The cookie dough was forgettable. It didn't have a lot of flavor to it, neither sweet nor salty.

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Nestle Toll House Cookie Dough Ice Cream

Nestle Toll House makes arguably the best chocolate chips on the market, but did you know the brand also makes an ice cream with cookie dough in it? So technically, the ice cream comes from Edy's/Dreyer's (both brands come from the same company), but this treat is the perfect marriage of ice cream from a brand you love and cookies and chocolate chips from another brand you love. I picked up this ice cream for $9.99 at Morton Williams.

The look: Unsurprisingly, this ice cream looked exactly like the Edy's ice cream—probably because it is essentially the same ice cream. The difference in appearance is that there are chocolate chips in this one, not chunks.

The taste: The star of the show is the cookie dough. The ice cream is fine if forgettable, but the cookie dough tastes exactly like it would if you made it yourself from the recipe on a Nestle Toll House bag. It's perfectly salty and doughy. The chocolate chips in the ice cream also add a different texture from the other bases, which I preferred.

Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream

Ben & Jerry's is usually a top contender in any ice cream ranking, because the brand just really knows what it's doing. Though Ben & Jerry's really knocks it out of the park with its more off-the-wall flavor combos, the real question is whether or not it can do a more classic and simple flavor. I picked up this pint for $5.99 at my local Whole Foods.

The look: The chunks of cookie dough in this ice cream are really large. It's like Ben & Jerry's took actual cookie-sized pieces of dough and dropped them in the ice cream container. Maybe not quite that large, but they're larger than any of the other ice creams. I'd venture to say they're actually a bit too large.

The taste: The taste is spot-on, though. The cookie dough has just enough saltiness to it to cut through how creamy the vanilla ice cream is. And the ice cream is very rich and creamy with a lot of vanilla flavor to it. Though the cookie dough pieces are large, they do ensure there is plenty of cookie dough throughout.

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Graeter's Cookie Dough Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Graeter's is a brand that I don't feel like I see on store shelves very often, but when I do, I'm happy to snatch it up. The popular East Coast grocer Wegmans came in clutch with having this pint in stock for $7.99, and it was well worth the spend.

The look: Graeter's has some huge chocolate chunks in it, which is honestly so exciting. None of the other ice creams had that, so I loved that it was a little bit different. It also had a healthy amount of cookie dough pieces!

The taste: Talk about a rich vanilla flavor. This was so velvety smooth, and the chocolate chunks complemented the rich vanilla flavor beautifully. There wasn't too much chocolate to the point that it overpowered the french vanilla, and the cookie dough still stood on its own as well. All three flavor profiles held their own really well.

Talenti Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Gelato

You know you're in for a treat when you pop open the lid on Talenti Gelato. This brand always comes with a slightly higher price tag than most other pints (this one was $6.59 at Acme), but Talenti treats are high-quality desserts that will always make your taste buds happy.

The look: I got nervous when I first started scooping this pint, because I didn't see any cookie dough. While this isn't one of Talenti's layered gelatos, the cookie dough wasn't immediately on top, however, it was buried down in the container.

The taste: The flavor swirls were really delightful and added a uniqueness to this ice cream. They also made for a bit of a different texture, which is really saying something, because the gelato is already so creamy and smooth. What I really love most here, though, is how small the cookie dough pieces are. Whereas most cookie dough pieces are pebble-sized, these are even smaller. They're not so small that you lose the flavor, but just a tiny bit smaller (mini M&M size!) so that they can spread out more in the ice cream.

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365 by Whole Foods Cookie Dough Ice Cream

Whole Foods' in-house brand makes its own cookie dough ice cream, which I purchased for $5.49. If you're loyal to Whole Foods but don't want that extra spend for some of the fancier brands that the store carries, this is the perfect way to get your cookie dough fix. The best part is that the ice cream is actually really good.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

The look: This ice cream was the most yellow of the bunch. I always associate a yellow vanilla ice cream with french vanilla, so as soon as I saw this, my taste buds anticipated a rich french flavor.

The taste: Fortunately, I wasn't steered in the wrong direction. The ice cream base here was really rich and creamy with the vanilla flavor. This may have been my favorite ice cream base, and if the cookie dough had more flavor (and there was more of the dough itself), this probably would have taken the top spot. Alas, the cookie dough was a little bit bland and forgettable.

Häagen-Dazs Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream

Eating Häagen-Dazs ice cream always reminds me of summer vacation when I would find myself in a scoop shop, because this ice cream inherently reminds me of a beach town in Florida. While I didn't pick up this pint at the beach (I actually got it for $3.79 at Target.), it still transported me back to a Florida scoop shop in the best way.

The look: The Häagen-Dazs ice cream was so perfectly distributed in terms of dough to chocolate chunks to ice cream ratio. While I do wish there was a little more dough, it was spread quite evenly.

The taste: You can't go wrong with Häagen-Dazs' ice cream. It has a really pleasant vanilla flavor that's just comforting. It complements the salty cookie dough and lets it shine through, and the chocolate chunks add some extra crunch to the formula. For a classic cookie dough ice cream, this is ideal.

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Trader Joe's Fudgy Cookie Dough Ice Cream

Finding this cookie dough ice cream tucked away in the freezer section at Trader Joe's for $3.79 was a pleasant surprise. I've actually never purchased ice cream at TJ's before, despite how much I love the store's freezer aisle. After trying this pint, I will not skip the ice cream section ever again.

The look: There's so much fudginess swirling through this ice cream, along with the cookie dough and chocolate chunks. The fudge swirl really makes it stand out in appearance (and in taste) in a lineup of standard vanilla ice creams with cookie dough chunks.

The taste: The sea salt in the fudge swirl is the real winner here. Everything about the flavor combo in this ice cream works. The fudge swirl brings a different texture and flavor profile to the vanilla ice cream, and the sea salt brings just enough extra pizzazz to the little bit of salt in the cookie dough. The fudge actually tastes a little bit like brownie batter, making this almost like a brookie ice cream. Add in the chocolate chunks, and you have a bit of a flavor explosion, but it doesn't feel like too much—it actually feels perfect. None of the extra bells and whistles overshadow the cookie dough, they make it shine.