What's the best vanilla ice cream? We taste-tested 12 to find out

Yahoo

4 days ago

Eat enough vanilla ice cream, and you'll realize that this flavor is far from, well, vanilla. Tons of nuances exist between the different brands (to say nothing of homemade ice cream): Some taste like rich cream, others taste sharply sweet and yet others taste more mellow, like whipped cream. The best vanilla ice cream falls pleasantly between all three descriptions, with a deeply vanilla flavor that's hard to resist. And it comes from a popular grocery store chain! How do I know? To celebrate National Ice Cream Month, I planned one very cool taste test at Yahoo's New York City office, starring 12 of the most popular store-bought vanilla ice creams from the likes of Häagen-Dazs, Ben & Jerry's and Breyer's. I rounded up 16 ice cream lovers from our staff, including a professional baker-turned-writer, a former producer at Food Network and a pregnant woman, who, and I quote, considers "ice cream a main food group right now." In the end, one winner creamed the competition, but we found a few runners-up for satisfying every vanilla ice cream craving, whether you like yours icy and fluffy or eggy and rich — or all you care about is seeing those flecks of vanilla bean.
Table of contents
Best vanilla ice creams of 2025
How we tested vanilla ice cream
Other vanilla ice creams we tested
Vanilla ice cream FAQs
Editor-approved scoops, bowls and more
Best vanilla ice creams of 2025
How we tested vanilla ice cream
I gathered a group of 16 Yahoo staffers who are self-professed ice cream snobs, including a former pro baker and someone who worked as a producer for the Food Network. Yahoo's kitchen writer (a culinary school grad) and I (a former food-magazine editor) ran the taste test. Using our go-to ice cream scoops, we dished out servings in bowls labeled only with a letter to prevent brand loyalty from coming into play.
Then came the fun part! The testers sampled each bowl in random order and filled out a rubric rating the flavor, texture/mouthfeel, appearance and their overall enjoyment from one to five. We also asked the testers to jot down any thoughts they had about the samples.
Ice cream preferences varied among our panelists. What some testers found too sweet, others found bland. But there were some obvious favorites, and when we averaged the scores, it was easy to see which vanilla ice creams were best. We also checked shopper comments and ratings, and availability of our picks to make sure they had fans all over the country.
Other vanilla ice creams we tested
Breyer's Natural Vanilla: Breyer's nabbed fourth, thanks mostly to its appearance. "I like the vanilla bean specks. Felt authentic," noted one tester.
Ben & Jerry's Vanilla: This pick has earned high marks in other stories about the best vanilla ice creams, so I was surprised that it didn't do better in our taste test. Though some loved the very vanilla flavor, others thought it had a strange aftertaste.
Häagen-Dazs Vanilla Bean: Considering how well the brand's plain vanilla ice cream did, this version was an unexpected dud. It scored lowest in flavor, likely because the majority of our testers thought it was too sweet. A few said it reminded them of other foods entirely, including bubblegum, a root beer float and ... flavored oatmeal!
Tillamook Old-Fashioned Vanilla: This ice cream, from a century-old Oregon dairy company, landed in the middle of our testing pool. Several testers described it as "icy," whereas others appreciated the subtle vanilla flavoring.
365 Whole Foods Vanilla: Whole Foods' house brand ice cream was almost orange in color, which threw off a lot of our testers and led to some pretty odd comparisons. "Not appealing! Looks like a Creamsicle," noted one. Another said the color was reminiscent of a hard-boiled egg yolk.
Favorite Day Vanilla Bean: Another middle-of-the-pack ice cream, this one, from Target's house brand, scored high for flavor but did just so-so in all other categories. Almost every tester called it "fluffy" or "icy," which proved polarizing.
Edy's Vanilla: The flavor scores for this pick were all over the place. "Subtle but sweet," enthused a fan who awarded it four points; "Has a weird, chalky aftertaste," wrote a far less happy tester, who gave it zero. FYI, if you live in the western U.S., you'll know this brand as Dreyer's.
Turkey Hill French Vanilla: Most testers thought this vanilla ice cream was too sweet and artificial tasting. It also struck out on appearance: "Good scoop but weird khaki yellow color," as one panelist put it.
Vanilla ice cream FAQs
What brand is the best vanilla ice cream?
If you believe our taste-test — and you should! — the best vanilla ice cream comes from Trader Joe's. But if you don't live near one of these cult-favorite grocery stores, the best vanilla ice creams from the supermarket are Häagen-Dazs Vanilla and Van Leeuwen Vanilla Bean.
What type of vanilla ice cream has the most vanilla flavor?
Look for ice cream that includes natural vanilla flavor and/or real vanilla extract in its ingredients list. For vanilla ice cream that's rich and custardy, make sure it also includes egg yolks, which is a hallmark of French vanilla.
Editor-approved scoops, bowls and more