Best Store Bought Ice Cream: Best Ice Cream from Our Taste Tests

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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best vanilla ice cream

Best Vanilla

Häagen-Dazs Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

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

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Best Chocolate

Straus Family Creamery Organic Dutch Chocolate Ice Cream

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

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

best strawberry ice cream

Best Strawberry

Tillamook Oregon Strawberry Ice Cream

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

Rating:

9.5/10

Sporks

best cookies and cream ice cream

Best Cookies & Cream

Dreyer’s / Edy’s Cookies ‘N Cream Ice Cream

“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

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Best Mint Chocolate Chip

Straus Organic Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

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!

Read the full ranking of the best mint chocolate chip ice cream

Credit: Merc / Instacart

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Best Cookie Dough

Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

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

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

best coffee ice cream

Best Coffee

Ben & Jerry’s Coffee, Coffee BuzzBuzzBuzz!

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

Rating:

9.5/10

Sporks

Talenti Raspberry Cheesecake

Best Talenti

Raspberry Cheesecake

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

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

best vegan ice cream

Best Dairy-Free

Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert

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

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

best ice cream sandwich

Best Ice Cream Sandwich

Trader Joe’s Sublime Ice Cream Sandwiches

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

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

best klondike bar flavors

Best Klondike Bar

The Original Klondike Bar

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

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Halo Top Sea Salt Caramel Keto Pops

Best Keto

Halo Top Sea Salt Caramel Keto Pops

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

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

Van Leeuwen Sweet Potato Casserole

Best Seasonal

Van Leeuwen Sweet Potato Marshmallow Casserole

“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.

Rating:

7.5/10

Sporks


About the Author

Sporked Staff

The Sporked Staff tastes everything and anything. They are obsessive about groceries and finding the best of any type of food or drink, from frozen fried shrimp to Dijon mustard to gummy candy. And they're always on a hunt for the best new products. When they aren't eating professionally, they're eating recreationally. And often they're browsing grocery store aisles, just for fun.

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  • I just tried the Haagen-Dasz Dulce De Leche Churro Ice cream bars and they are absolutely amazing! Possibly the best ice cream bar I’ve ever had.

    Reply
  • 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.

    Reply
  • Did you try Umpqua ice cream? Another Oregon delight! Especially their Mt. Blackberry Revel flavor. Yum!

    Reply
  • 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

    Reply
  • 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.

    Reply
    • Couldn’t agree more with this comment!! Graeters is miles above the rest

      Reply
  • What’s the best cookie dough ice cream??

    Reply
  • You should try the mini vanilla with chocolate coating magnum bars. They are above all other grocery store ice cream products

    Reply