The Healthiest Baskin-Robbins Menu Items—and 5 To Skip

Baskin-Robbins began in 1945 in Glendale, CA, when ice cream lovers Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins decided to offer 31 flavors instead of the usual vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. Their innovative thinking took off, and now, 75 years later, the company has introduced over 1,400 new ice cream flavors, including Cookie Monster, Icing on the Cake, Pink Bubblegum, and Mom's Makin' Cookies. The Baskin-Robbins menu includes scoops, sundaes, ice cream cakes, pies, smoothies, and shakes.

When you're trying to eat healthy, you can still visit an ice cream shop as long as you know what to order. Ice cream can be high in sugar and calories, but Baskin-Robbins offers some good choices for health-conscious diners—even those who want a zero-added-sugar or non-fat option. In this article, we examine the nutrition of the Baskin-Robbins menu and provide you with healthy options as selected by a dietitian.

If you're looking for a frosty treat that won't weigh you down, we've got the scoop on the seven best menu items and five to skip.

How We Chose the Healthiest Menu Items at Baskin-Robbins:

• Moderate in Calories: The healthiest Baskin-Robbins options are no more than 170 calories. Most of the ice cream flavors at Baskin-Robbins have 170-200 calories per scoop, with the more decadent flavors packing in more calories, fat, saturated fat, and sugar.

• Lower in Saturated Fat: Since saturated fat is harmful to your heart and linked to other metabolic conditions, the best bets at any ice cream shop would be lower in saturated fat. Our healthy limit is up to 10 grams of saturated fat.

• Lower in Sugars: Ice cream is craveable because it combines lots of sugar with fat, making it irresistible. Our healthy limit is no more than 20 grams (5 teaspoons) of sugar within your daily sugar limit.

• Scoops Over Sundaes: When ordering off the Baskin-Robbins menu, the best options are portion-controlled scoops over massive sundaes. Stick with the kids' scoop (60-190 calories) or single scoop (100-300 calories) rather than a double (200-600 calories) or triple scoop (300-900 calories).

Read on, and for more, don't miss I Tried 8 Low-Calorie Ice Creams & The Winner Was Creamy and Indulgent.

The Healthiest Baskin-Robbins Menu Options

Best: Lemon Sorbet

This refreshing sorbet is made with real lemon and makes our list of best bets because it is lower in calories, fat-free, and has just 4 teaspoons of sugar per scoop. If you're vegan or follow a dairy-free lifestyle, this Lemon Sorbet is a great choice for a chilly treat.

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Best: Daiquiri Ice

This non-dairy menu item is made with lime ice with a hint of rum flavor. It is one of the lower calorie choices and the sugars are keep in check to have just over four teaspoons of sugar. If you're looking for a refreshing way to cool off on a hot day, this is one of our favorites.

Best: Wild 'n Reckless Sherbet

Unlike sorbet which is a dairy-free choice this is made with fruit as its main ingredient, sherbet is made with a combination of fruit and dairy. This sherbet's main ingredients include water, sugar and nonfat milk. It's on our best bet due to its lower calorie count, fat, and sugar compared to most other options on the Baskin-Robbins menu.

Best: No Sugar Added Pineapple Coconut

This healthier option has at least 25% less fat than regular Baskin-Robbins ice cream flavors. It is relatively low in total fat and saturated fat for an ice cream. What's more this choice is low in sugars because it is sweetened with malitol, maltodextrin, polydextrin, and sucralose.

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Best: No Sugar Added Caramel Turtle Truffle

This decadent-tasting option is lower in fat and saturated fat and has no added sugar. It's made with nonfat milk to keep fat in check and calorie-free sweeteners to limit sugar to just 4 grams—just 1 teaspoon.

Best: Tropical Ticket

Nutrition (Per 2.5-oz Scoop):
Calories: 150
Fat: 6 g (Saturated fat: 4 g)
Sodium: 40 mg
Carbs: 21 g (Fiber: 1 g, Sugar: 17 g)
Protein: 2 g[/nutrinfo-black]

This flavor has notes of tropical fruits, including passion fruit, pineapple, and guava. The fresh-flavored ice cream is one of the lower-calorie and fat options on the ice cream shop's menu. It has just 4 grams of saturated fat and 17 grams of sugar, both of which can fit into a healthy, balanced diet.

Best: Non-Dairy Mint Chocochunk

This dairy-free choice has coconut water as its main ingredient. Coconut water provides the rich texture of full-fat dairy cream. Although coconut is the source of the saturated fat in this flavor, it can still be enjoyed without blowing up your daily saturated fat budget.

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The Unhealthiest Baskin-Robbins Menu Options

Worst: REESE'S Peanut Butter Cup Layered Sundae

This is absolutely one of the unhealthiest options at Baskin-Robbins. The sundae is made with three scoops of REESE'S Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream, chopped REESE'S Peanut Butter Cups, and hot fudge. The fat and saturated fat counts are in the stratosphere, not to mention that this sundae has 740 milligrams of sodium and nearly 22 teaspoons of sugar.

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Worst: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Layered Sundae

This is one of the highest-calorie choices on the entire Baskin-Robbins menu. It's made with three scoops of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream layered with hot fudge, cookie dough pieces, and caramel. It's more like two meals than a frosty treat. Not only does it have almost all the saturated fat you should have in a day, but it also provides nearly two days' worth of sugar—some 28 teaspoons.

Worst: Turtle Cappuccino Blast

This is a calorie, fat, and sugar bomb disguised as a frozen coffee drink. It's made with coffee blended with Praline's 'n Cream ice cream and caramel syrup. Not only does it provide about half of the daily calories most adults need in an entire day, but it also has the equivalent of 31 teaspoons of sugar or about three days' worth of added sugars.

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Worst: OREO Layered Sundae

When you're trying to level up your eating, a good rule of thumb is to avoid any of the sundaes on the Baskin-Robbins menu. This sundae is made with three scoops of OREO® Cookies 'n Cream Ice Cream, hot fudge, marshmallows, and OREO cookie pieces. It packs in excessive calories, fat, saturated fat, carbs, and sugar.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

Worst: Beach Day 3 Scoop Sundae

This sundae is another disaster for anyone trying to eat well. It has about half the calories most of us need in a day and more than a day's worth of saturated fat and added sugar. It has the sugar that you'd get in about 20 ounces of soda or more than 23 teaspoons of sugar.

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