Justine Sterling
Even though safe-to-eat cookie dough exists (and we’ve ranked it!), the best cookie dough ice cream satisfies that universal desire to eat straight dough even more IMO. It allows you to still feel like you’re doing something a little bit naughty without fully giving in to your desires. You’re not just eating dough—you’re stumbling upon chunks of dough. And the ice cream element doesn’t hurt, either. Creamy ice cream plus sweet-salty cookie dough? Nothing better.
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What we looked for in the best chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream:
Not everyone is looking for the same thing in a cookie dough ice cream, which made this a challenging ranking. Here’s what we all definitely wanted:
- Enough cookie dough. Some folks wanted LOTS of cookie dough. Others wanted it more spread out throughout the pint. There should at least be a uniform amount of cookie dough and enough for your particular preference.
- Good-sized cookie dough chunks. Whether or not you want lots of them, we all agreed the cookie dough chunks should be big.
- Tender cookie dough. No powdery, dry, sandy cookie dough chunks. Only tender, doughy bites.
- Salt! The key to really good cookie dough is a little bit of salt. Without it, the dough doesn’t end up tasting much like real, homemade dough.
- Flavorful ice cream. Whether the ice cream is sweet cream, vanilla, or even chocolate, it should taste good. Yes, it’s mostly there to house the cookie dough, but it still better be enjoyable.
In the end, there was a pint for everyone. Read on to find where your particular chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream style falls in our ranking.
Best Cookie Dough Ice Cream, Ranked
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- Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert
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Is this the best cookie dough ice cream? No. But does it do a damn good job of holding its own without the help of dairy? You betcha. It’s made with almond milk and it’s certainly lighter than the other ice creams on this list, but it’s still creamy rather than icy. True to Ben & Jerry’s form, it’s packed with lots of dough, which tastes almost as good as the dough in the dairy-full B&J’s CCCD ice cream. If you don’t do dairy, you’ll be happy with this pick.
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
- Lactaid Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
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If you can’t do dairy because of lactose and you’re not interested in going full vegan, then this is the best cookie dough ice cream for you. We’ve enjoyed Lactaid ice cream in the past—they make a pretty good cookies and cream ice cream—but it’s still surprising that Lactaid makes good ice cream. You get pretty decent tasting vanilla ice cream and plenty of soft, doughy cookie dough bites. Totally good enough and, if you’re lactose intolerant, you’re going to enjoy it a whole lot more than any of the others simply because you won’t be worrying about the future of your stomach while you’re eating.
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Haagen-Dazs Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
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You know what’s really good? Haagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream. (It was the best vanilla ice cream in our ranking.) It puts other vanilla ice creams to shame. And opening up a pint of Haagen-Dazs still feels like a fancy treat from the ‘90s. When you throw in Toll House-quality cookie dough balls? That’s a whole-pint-in-one-night kind of thing for me. Sadly, we had to knock it down a few notches because there just wasn’t enough cookie dough in the mix. But, for me, this will still be the best cookie dough ice cream to eat by the pint-full.
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
- Toll House Cookie Dough
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Did you know that Toll House makes cookie dough ice cream? Of course they do! And of course the maker of the best tube of ready-to-bake cookie dough makes some of the best cookie dough ice cream. What a no-brainer! This extremely scoopable ice cream base is quite sweet. One taster commented that it tastes like ice cream sandwich ice cream. It’s sprinkled with lots of tiny, crunchy chocolate chips (a polarizing quality) and, of course, balls of the brand’s signature cookie dough, which taste pretty darn close to the brand’s premade cookie dough—though they could use a smidge more salt.
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Tillamook Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
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Tillamook’s chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream base is downright indulgent. It’s like frozen whipped cream dotted with chocolate shards (good chocolate shards) and good-sized chunks of cookie dough. There’s definitely not as much dough in this as the mix-in fiends might want. But some of us like ice cream—especially when it’s as creamy as this ice cream. We’ve touted Tillamook’s ice cream prowess in the past. It appeared in our best strawberry ice cream ranking, our best mint chocolate chip ice cream ranking, our best coffee ice cream ranking, and more. If you’re in it for the ice cream, this is the best cookie dough ice cream for you.
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
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If you think ice cream is purely a vehicle for mix-ins, then Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough is the best cookie dough ice cream for you. This pint is packed with hunks of dough. And the dough tastes great. It tastes real. It has that nice bite of salt on the finish and crunchy chocolate shingles for texture. It’s ice cream you can chew. If you truly are eating cookie dough ice cream because you are craving cookie dough but aren’t totally ready for ready-to-eat cookie dough, then this is the best cookie dough ice cream for you.
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
Best Non-Dairy
Best Lactose-Free
Best Vanilla Ice Cream
Best for Super Sweet Tooths
Best of the Best (for Ice Cream Lovers)
Best of the Best (for Dough Lovers)
Other chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream we tried:
365 Almond Milk, Baskin Robbins, So Delicious Coconut Milk, Dreyer’s Slow Churned Cookie Dough, 365, Signature Select, Van Leeuwen, Talenti, Thrifty, Ice Cream for Bears, Blue Bunny, Straus, Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Caramel (good for chocolate ice cream lovers! But not great for cookie dough enthusiasts!)
Jordan Myrick
Danny Palumbo
