The Best (And Worst) Store-Bought Vanilla Ice Creams, Ranked

In the 1930s, the United States Food and Drug Administration encountered a problem. Food products were being sold using less than honest information regarding their ingredients. For example, shoppers may have been presented with a jam that was purported to contain fruit, but in actuality, very little fruit was present. Other products, like chocolates, breads, and peanut butters, were filled with cheaper bulking agents and alternatives, leaving the American public to consume lesser versions of the products they sought out. To combat the issue, the FDA created Standards of Identity for a wide range of foods, many of which are still in place today.

Once, such food that carries a standard of identity is ice cream. The definition outlines the requirements for the minimum required quantities of milk fats, milk solids, and weight specifications in the final product, which help to differentiate it from other frozen treats like custard. Of course, not everything in the ice cream aisle at your local grocer fits this Standard of Identity, which is why you'll see so many different frozen treats.

Despite the plethora of options, though, ice cream reigns as king of the freezer. With so many brands on the market, it can be hard to choose the right one. To make your next sundae night easier, I picked up a dozen different vanilla varieties and broke out my best spoon. Read on to find out which vanilla ice creams deserve a spot in your bowl and which should be left out in the cold.

Before we start, I want to note that I absolutely love ice cream. There are very few flavors on my no-fly list, and for a long time, a simple bowl of vanilla was my top choice, even if it was the little brother to chocolate. It's hard to find an ice cream I dislike, and yet, I can confidently say that Alden's Organic Vanilla Bean is the worst ice cream I've ever tried.

Visually, this ice cream is a bright white and speckled with vanilla bean dots throughout. It looks good, which is what makes the flavor so confusing. Simply put, it tastes like grass. With 12 grams of fat, 19 grams of sugar, and 200 calories, it's pretty standard nutritionally. Where it's super unique — and not in a good way — is the price. A 1.5-quart container retails for an eye-watering $12. I understand organic products are more expensive, but that's far more than I would ever spend on ice cream. Add in a taste that only a grazing herbivore could love and I recommend you back away from the Alden's.

So this is technically a frozen dairy dessert, but before you trade in your spoon for a pitchfork, hear me out. Blue Bunny is a well-known and, quite frankly, very good ice cream brand. However, my local grocery store only carried the brand's soft serve option and if you're perusing your freezer section trying to decide what to buy, this is a reasonable product to consider. After all, who doesn't love soft serve?

Unfortunately, the concept is better than the execution. Touted as a way to enjoy soft serve straight out of your freezer, this one misses the mark in the flavor department, even if it succeeds elsewhere. True to its billing, this stuff is soft. I would imagine it has something to do with the copious amount of air pumped into the product, leaving it with more of a frozen Cool Whip texture than a true ice cream. The 170 calories and 12 grams of fat don't quite speak to the lightness of this dessert, which tries to compensate with 19 grams of sugar. The result is an overly sweet frozen fluff that leaves you with an astringent aftertaste. If you're dying for soft serve, find the nearest Dairy Queen because, as good as it may sound, soft serve straight from your freezer is a misstep.

Price does not equate to taste in the world of vanilla ice creams. After Alden's disappointment despite a serious price tag, I had high hopes for the priciest option, Oberweis, which retails for just under $10 per quart. That's hardly a value for a vanilla ice cream and, unfortunately, it too fails to live up to the cost.

This ice cream isn't bad, it's just boring. With a fairly benign off-white color, the vanilla taste is muted and despite an initial creamy texture, it dissipates quickly on the tongue, leaving few traces behind. With 22 grams of sugar, 19 grams of fat, and 280 calories in a ¾ cup serving, Oberweis Vanilla is a sugary, fatty dessert that somehow severely lacks personality. My wife compared it to eating low-fat, frozen butter, and I'm sad to agree, especially since it contains vanilla extract. In a blind taste test, this ice cream would be towards the bottom of my list, but considering the price, this one might be the biggest disappointment.

We leave behind the lessers of the list and move into the "good, not great" section, kicking things off with the first store brand vanilla ice cream I tried, Kroger Vividly Vanilla. The packaging for this one stands out because it's so bright and kid-oriented. Whereas Oberweis and several others on the list opt for dark colors and golden accents to push a product meant to conjure images of black tie sundae parties, Kroger goes full rainbow to celebrate the fun of ice cream with Vividly Vanilla.

While the final product doesn't quite live up to the packaging, it's not a bad option. A price tag of $3.20 for 1.5 quarts makes this the least expensive on the list. The ice cream has an orange/yellow tint that's familiar in custards and French vanilla flavors that comes from annatto extract, a coloring agent found in most of the ice creams I sampled.

While creamy, Kroger Vividly Vanilla is similar to Oberweis in that it seems to disappear the moment it hits the warmth of your tongue. No lingering vanilla flavor or sweetness, and no creamy residue to savor. It's ice cream that's there one minute, and gone the next. With 9 grams of fat, 17 grams of sugar, and 170 calories in a ⅔ cup serving, Kroger's Vividy Vanilla is a pretty unassuming vanilla ice cream option.

While most of the ice creams have a slight orange tint, the Kemps Homemade Vanilla looks more like a sherbet than a vanilla ice cream. On one hand, I suppose it's unique, but there doesn't seem to be much reason to color a vanilla ice cream so aggressively. Hue aside, Kemps makes a decent vanilla ice cream.

Like many of the brands I sampled, Kemps offers more than a single vanilla. By my count, I saw seven varieties of vanilla Kemps, spanning ice cream, custard, and frozen yogurt. Given that vanilla is the most popular flavor, the diversity isn't surprising. Comparing inside the brand itself is an exercise for a different day, but the Homemade Vanilla is what I chose because it lined up with several other "homemade" options at the store.

Once again, this is a rather forgettable ice cream. It's definitely sweeter than anything that's come before it, with an almost sugar cookie-like flavor that puts sweetness ahead of the vanilla flavor. Meanwhile, a slight yolkiness that reminds me of custard. The consistency is creamy, but it melts fast, so while there are hints of custard in the color and flavor, the texture is hardly the same. A ⅔ cup serving contains 11 grams of fat, 24 grams of sugar, and 230 calories. The price, $4.50 for 1.5 quarts, is in the midrange, which is exactly where this ice cream on the whole belongs.

When I sample anything, I choose a random order, and this time, Blue Ribbon Homemade Vanilla was the first ice cream I dug into. The color is, at this point, the standard yellow/orange, and the consistency is also creamy, but not worth writing home about. A ⅔ cup serving will give you 5 grams of fat, 17 grams of sugar, and 140 calories.

You'll have to forgive a lack of enthusiasm for Blue Ribbon Classics because it's a perfectly fine vanilla ice cream that's a lot like the rest of the middle portion of this list. There's only so much variance in a food that has a standard of identity. One thing that did surprise me about this ice cream, and many others on the list, was the lack of one very important ingredient: vanilla.

Blue Ribbon Classics lists "Artificial and Natural Flavors" in the ingredient deck, but the word "vanilla" never makes an appearance. In fact, of the dozen options listed, only four list vanilla in one form or another as an ingredient, as opposed to natural and/or artificial flavors.

While some of the ice creams on this list have more muted vanilla flavors, Prairie Farms doesn't mess around; this is undeniably a vanilla ice cream. While the ingredient deck still only lists "natural flavor," there's no denying that this ice cream packs far more of a vanilla taste than Kemps or Blue Ribbon. While the other elements aren't that far off from the previous two entries on the list — mid-tier color, slightly yolky taste, and low melting point — there's no denying that Prairie Farms nails the flavor better than previous options.

A single ⅔ cup serving packs 11 grams of fat, 20 grams of sugar, and 200 calories. Those numbers aren't far from similar products, but the slimmed-down ingredient list does stand out. With only cream, milk, sugar, skim milk, whey, stabilizer, natural flavor, and annatto for color, Prairie Farms keeps its vanilla ice cream simple, and the results are all the better for that decision.

French onion dip or cottage cheese first spring to mind when I see the Dean's logo, but the dairy behemoth also makes plenty of ice creams. While no brand holds a candle to Kemps in terms of hilariously over-the-top coloring, Dean's Homemade Vanilla is definitely on the more tinted side. Still, it's smooth and has a nice vanilla kick that slots the flavor between Prairie Farms and Blue Ribbon.

I found this to be one of the sweeter options. A look at the ingredient list shows that in addition to sugar, Dean's uses corn syrup to add sweetness. While I prefer a more streamlined approach to ingredients, it's hard to argue with the results. Half a cup of this ice cream contains 8 grams of fat, 15 grams of sugar, and 150 calories. If the corn syrup is a turn-off, I understand, but on the whole, Dean's makes a tasty vanilla ice cream and if you're looking for the vanilla sampler, Dean's also offers a Vanilla Triple Play, which combines Vanilla, Vanilla Bean, and French Vanilla into the palest Neapolitan you've ever seen.

I tend to think of the different flavors of vanilla based on color. French and homemade vanilla have an orange/yellow hue, vanilla bean ice creams are lighter in color and speckled with bits of black vanilla beans, and a standard vanilla is, well, pretty vanilla in color. Breyers French Vanilla has no time for those preconceived notions, though. This is one of the lightest in color of my samples and it also contained the black vanilla specks more common to vanilla bean, despite vanilla not appearing on the ingredient list.

Appearance aside, this is a very good ice cream. The vanilla flavor is strong and every bite is creamy, thanks in part to the egg yolks that edge this ice cream closer to custard. Half a cup will run you 8 grams of fat, 15 grams of sugar, and 180 calories. Who cares what it looks like, this is one of the best ice creams on the list.

Private Selection is Kroger's premium brand. If the price tag wasn't evidence enough — it's nearly twice the price compared to the standard Kroger brand — then the packaging is a dead giveaway. While the Kroger Vividly Vanilla is bright and colorful, the Private Selection packaging opts for black and sleek golden lines. The photo on the front is of a bowl of ice cream on a dark wood surface, with a bottle of vanilla extract in the background next to fresh vanilla. The back of the package suggests serving the ice cream after a dinner party. In short, this is fancy ice cream, just ask Kroger.

Move beyond the self-important branding and you'll find a very thick, very creamy ice cream. The texture reminds me of the stickiness of Cold Stone Creamery. You can actually chew this ice cream, which means it also has some staying power, coating your mouth in a lovely layer of cream and sugar even after you've swallowed.

Of course, all good things come at a price, and the price here is excess in the nutrition department. A ⅔ cup serving contains 15 grams of fat, 25 grams of sugar, and 280 calories. Maybe it's the corn syrup, which shows up for the third straight entry, or maybe that's just what you get with such a thick ice cream, but either way, Private Selection is worth the extra calories and extra coin.

You're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but we all do it, right? Shopping for food is no different. Tillamook French Vanilla Ice Cream comes in a pale yellow carton, which certainly catches the eye, as does the thick blue band that runs along the lid. There's nothing wrong with the color scheme, but I can't help but wonder why the picture on the front is of a delicious-looking flan on a plate, rather than a bowl of ice cream. The description below the image says, "Silky smooth French custard ice cream," which kind of makes sense, but putting an entirely different dessert front and center is an odd approach.

Once I took a bite of the ice cream itself, my marketing concerns were quickly forgotten. Tillamook makes an exceptionally smooth, creamy, and thick ice cream. The coloring trends towards the yellow of the package, and the promise of custard is not misrepresented. The vanilla flavor is undeniable, if not quite as in-your-face as Breyers or Prairie Farms.

Egg yolks once again make an appearance, as does the ever-elusive vanilla as a flavoring agent. Two-thirds of a cup will cost you 12 grams of fat, 24 grams of sugar, and 220 calories. I will definitely be buying this one again. (That is, after I finally run out of ice cream sometime next year.)

This is exactly what vanilla ice cream is supposed to be. Hudsonville Creamery is smooth, very thick, and all-around excellent. The vanilla flavor is strong, but well-balanced with sweetness. The off-white color conjures images of pure cream and the texture does the same.

My wife sampled everything with me and we both agreed that Hudsonville Creamery offered the best balance of flavor and texture. This ice cream is flavored with "pure vanilla extract," and while it does contain high fructose corn syrup, it still has one of the slimmer ingredient decks on this list. A ½ cup contains 9 grams of fat, 15 grams of sugar, and 180 calories. If there's one complaint, it's that the shorter, squatter container only holds 1.42 ounces instead of the more standard 1.5. It definitely feels a bit underhanded to try to sneak in less ice cream for the same price as others — $5.29 for my container — but at least the quality makes up for the lower volume.

I feel like I hardly scratched the surface of vanilla ice cream options. Between multiple variations within individual brands and the number of national names I didn't get to, there is no reason to ever lack for vanilla ice cream options. Some are undoubtedly better than others, but there's a wide range of middle varieties that will satisfy the whole family without having to pay up for a premium brand.

I selected 12 ice creams based on what was available at my local grocery store. I tried to stick to homemade and French vanilla varieties because they tend to have similar flavor profiles. My ratings were based on taste, texture, appearance, and overall value. None of the brands were aware of this review.