Sure, we all scream for ice cream, but we really holler our heads off for the best ice cream—especially the best store bought ice cream. The Sporked team has tasted a lot of ice cream, and here we’ve compiled all the best ice cream we’ve tried so far. Get your spoons and your vocal cords ready and read on for the best store bought vanilla ice cream, the best keto ice cream, and more.
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- Häagen-Dazs Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
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Sporked senior staff writer Jordan Myrick isn’t one for hyperbole, so believe them when they say that this vanilla ice cream is “absolutely perfect.” The texture is creamy but firm, so it doesn’t immediately turn into soup. The flecks of vanilla beans let you know you’re in for some real vanilla flavor. “This would be great with sprinkles and hot fudge, slapped onto a piece of warm apple pie, or eaten completely alone in a cup,” they wrote. Haagen-Dazs makes a vanilla bean ice cream that is anything but plain.
Read the full ranking of the best store bought vanilla ice cream
Credit: Ryan Martin / Walmart
- Straus Family Creamery Organic Dutch Chocolate Ice Cream
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This chocolate ice cream had managing editor Gwynedd Stuart looking into buying tickets to the Netherlands. The Dutch chocolate is just that good. For Sporked editor-in-chief Justine, it sparked a Proustian sense memory. She was Anton Ego and this was her plate of ratatouille. “I’m back at the county fair and a man gives me an ice cream cone and I’m off to the races,” she said, praising its almost fluffy texture. “It tastes like childhood.” A great chocolate ice cream is creamy, light, and has good chocolate vibes, just like this one from Straus.
Read the full ranking of the best store bought chocolate ice cream
Ryan Martin / Instacart
- Tillamook Oregon Strawberry Ice Cream
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Danny called this the “type of ice cream you can savor longingly with a spoon in your mouth and your eyes shut like a true food pervert.” He loved the balance of sweet creaminess, tang, and chunks of strawberry. Tillamook swept us all off our feet with their Oregon Strawberry ice cream, consider us woo’ed.
Read the full ranking of the best strawberry ice cream
Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Target
- Dreyer’s / Edy’s Cookies ‘N Cream Ice Cream
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“For some reason, I would never think to buy Dreyer’s ice cream. The carton looks so plain compared to some of the other, flashier brands on the market,” Jordan admitted in their review. “This is a great example of how you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, though. Dreyer’s Cookies ‘N Cream ice cream was better than any other cookies and cream ice cream we tried. It’s creamy, there are plenty of cookie chunks, and it’s affordable!” Cheap and delicious? That’s what we’re really looking for in the best store bought ice cream.
Read the full ranking of the best cookies and cream ice cream
Credit: Paula Kunatee / Vons
- Straus Organic Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
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Straus knows chocolate ice cream, and it’s the king of mint chocolate chip, too. “If you’re looking for a high-quality, well-made, impressive mint chip ice cream, look no further than Straus Organic Mint Chocolate Chip. It is so nice that I firmly believe you could serve it at a dinner party. It just feels fancy,” Jordan wrote in their review. They praised the even distribution of chocolate chips and the bright and fresh mint flavor. “The real star of the show is obviously the dairy,” they wrote. “Straus does dairy well and this ice cream base is just so creamy and luscious.” Straus, thank you for just being you!
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Credit: Merc / Instacart
- Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
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Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough is simply packed with hunks of dough. “And the dough tastes great,” wrote Sporked editor-in-chief Justine Sterling in her review. “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.”
Read the full ranking of the best cookie dough ice cream
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Ben & Jerry’s Coffee, Coffee BuzzBuzzBuzz!
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And keep up the good work they did as Ben & Jerry’s continues to shine with its coffee ice cream. “As far as straight-up coffee ice cream goes, this one does everything right,” Danny wrote in his review. He loved the strong coffee flavor balanced by the high-fat ice cream base. And the big chunks of fudge didn’t hurt, either!
Read the full ranking of the best coffee ice cream
Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Albertsons
- Raspberry Cheesecake
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Justine was shocked by this swirly Talenti flavor. “I would never have thought this would be one of the best Talenti flavors, let alone the best,” she wrote in her review. “The raspberry is tart and tangy and fresh. The cheesecake flavor is like genuine cheesecake…We fought over who would get to bring this pint home. It’s just such a balance of harmonious flavors, that you cannot stop yourself from going back for bite after bite.”
Read the full ranking of the best Talenti flavors
Credit: Merc / Talenti
- Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert
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Jordan had nothing but praise for Ben & Jerry regarding their Phish Food Non-Dairy frozen dessert in our vegan ice cream ranking. “This tastes so shockingly close to Ben & Jerry’s regular Phish Food that I was shaken to my core,” they wrote. “It’s creamy and chocolatey and there are plenty of mix-ins. In all honesty, this ice cream has no flaws and I wouldn’t change a thing. Good job, Ben and Jerry!”
Read the full ranking of the best vegan ice cream
Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Target
- Trader Joe’s Sublime Ice Cream Sandwiches
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These ice cream sandwiches from Trader Joe’s really live up to their name. They are sublime. “These might be one of the best products I’ve tried from Trader Joe’s,” wrote Jordan. “The cookie is soft without being mushy, the ice cream is creamy, and the chocolate chips along the sides provide the perfect texture. Go buy these.” For the love of ice cream sandwiches, you absolutely need this one in your freezer.
Read the full ranking of the best ice cream sandwiches
Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Trader Joe’s
- The Original Klondike Bar
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Sometimes originals just can’t be beat. “The original Klondike Bar is 100% perfect,” Jordan wrote in their review. “It’s like a cloud that melts in your mouth. The signature chocolate coating is so thin and crispy, like a sheet of chocolate glass. I can’t deny that they knew what they were doing when they invented the Klondike Bar.” OG Klondike Bar for the win, baby!!
Read the full ranking of the best Kondike Bar flavors
Credit: Merc / Klondike
- Halo Top Sea Salt Caramel Keto Pops
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These ice cream pops are the way to go if you are looking to get a keto-approved ice cream fix. “Halo Top’s Sea Salt Caramel ice cream pop has a lovely, smooth-ish (for keto ice cream) texture, and a delightful salted caramel taste,” Sporked contributor Danny Palumbo wrote. It’s so good, it can stand up to non-keto ice cream bars.
Read the full ranking of the best keto ice cream
Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Instacart
- Van Leeuwen Sweet Potato Marshmallow Casserole
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“It has a stretchy swirl of marshmallow in the sweet potato base,” Justine wrote in our roundup of Van Leeuwen’s fall flavors. “It’s very sweet, with a slight hint of sweet potato earthiness. The texture is incredible—wonderfully creamy. It’s ice cream you can chew if it’s cold enough. Give me this over a casserole any day. I’ll eat it right alongside the turkey.” Van Leeuwen is making us change our minds about casseroles for the better.
Best Vanilla
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Best Chocolate
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Best Strawberry
Rating:
9.5/10
Sporks
Best Cookies & Cream
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Best Mint Chocolate Chip
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Best Cookie Dough
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Best Coffee
Rating:
9.5/10
Sporks
Best Talenti
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Best Dairy-Free
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Best Ice Cream Sandwich
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Best Klondike Bar
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Best Keto
Rating:
8.5/10
Sporks
Best Seasonal
Rating:
7.5/10
Sporks
You should try the mini vanilla with chocolate coating magnum bars. They are above all other grocery store ice cream products
What’s the best cookie dough ice cream??
An ice cream taste test can’t be accurately done without Graeters, especially their cookies and cream. They make B&J and Haagen-Daz taste cheap.
Couldn’t agree more with this comment!! Graeters is miles above the rest
I would love to see a more of a ranking with the coffee icecream. I personally dont like fudge nuts in my coffee icecream so more of a ranking of coffee icecream would be awesome
Did you try Umpqua ice cream? Another Oregon delight! Especially their Mt. Blackberry Revel flavor. Yum!
I know it’s regional, but if your local Grocery Outlet store happens to have any again, I suggest Hudsonville ice cream out of Michigan. Their cookie dough and their triple peanut butter are 2 of the very best there are.