Every Dippin' Dots Flavor Ranked Worst To Best
On a scorching summer day, what better way to cool yourself off than with an ice cold treat? Ice cream, popsicles, and anything else cold are the perfect sweet desserts to have after taking a trip to the pool, fair, or waterpark. There are many ways to have your cold treat, one of which is Dippin' Dots. Many amusement parks, pools and malls feature stands that sell the small, bead-shaped balls of flavored ice cream, which was created by microbiologist Curt June in 1988 (via Dippin' Dots), providing for a more enjoyable and interesting way to eat ice cream, with less of a mess but the same great flavor.
Though it might be difficult to wrap your head around ice cream that isn't served in a cone or scooped from a pint, Dippin' Dots come in a plethora of flavors to try and enjoy. As the company has grown, and the list of flavors that the brand features has expanded, it may be increasingly difficult to pick a favorite Dippin' Dots flavor. Fortunately, we've compiled a list of all of the ice cream flavors Dippin' Dots has on their website, and ranked them, from worst to best. So the next time you're out at the fair, and want to order a sweet serving of ice cream orbs, you'll know which flavor you'll want to pick.
Vanilla
It's hard to go wrong with a classic like vanilla. Though many scorn vanilla for its so-called "basic" taste, the light, sweet, and consistently solid flavor that it carries is delectable, and appreciated by many. Vanilla is the ice cream flavor that truly embodies simplicity at its finest. However, it's surprisingly very easy to mess up vanilla. As an ice cream company, it's unsurprising that Dippin' Dots would have a vanilla flavor of their beaded ice cream among their ice cream lineup.
Dippin' Dot's vanilla ice cream is exactly what you'd expect it to be: small vanilla balls of ice cream packed together in a neat bowl. This wasn't the worst vanilla ice cream product, but it's also far from the most flavorful vanilla ice cream. The vanilla flavoring wasn't as prevalent as we would have liked, and it was more like eating spoonfuls of sugar than spoonfuls of vanilla ice cream. What was there in terms of flavor was solid, but there isn't enough to justify putting Dippin' Dots' vanilla at any other position on this list.
Bubblegum
Bubblegum is an interesting flavor, especially when it comes to ice cream. Like cotton candy, sometimes the ice cream will be a bright pink color. Other times it's sold in blue, and occasionally, you'll find bubblegum-flavored ice cream as a swirled pattern of the two colors. Dippin' Dots' take on this flavor is a bit different, and is served in small orbs of blue, yellow, and a red that looks more pink than not, all flavored after the chewy and sweet candy. While this flavor won't last in your mouth as long as a piece of bubblegum, we aren't sure if it's something that we'd willingly go out of our way to get again.
Dippin' Dots' bubblegum flavored ice cream tastes exactly like bubblegum in ice cream form, and more so, because of the bead shape that the Dippin' Dots come in. It was solid for flavor, and definitely translates into Dippin' Dots form solidly. If you are an avid fan of bubblegum flavored ice cream, then you'll likely enjoy this Dippin' Dots flavor.
Frooty Cereal
There are many fun breakfast foods you can start your day off with, including a delicious bowl of milk and cereal. If you're not having Honey Nut Cheerios or Frosted Flakes, there's a good chance you've poured yourself a bowl of Froot Loops, Fruity Pebbles, or some other fruit-flavored cereal. Even though many of these cereals don't have any actual fruit in them, there's no denying that they taste great, and are twice as sweet as the fruit is. This makes it the perfect flavor for ice cream, and Dippin' Dots tries to take advantage of this with their Frooty Cereal ice cream.
The limited edition ice cream is a pink color, quite similar to the strawberry flavor that Dippin' Dots offers. However, this flavor is less fruity, and more sugar-y than flavorful, much like cereal. It does taste like a cereal-flavored ice cream, and it does have a nice fruity flavor to it, but it's less prevalent than other Dippin' Dots products. The result is more of a "fruit" than a "fruit cereal" ice cream. You wouldn't be too disappointed by this flavor, but you likely won't consider it the best, either.
Cotton Candy
Even if you've ever been to the circus, a fresh, sweet cloud of cotton candy is a great way to satisfy your sweet tooth while it melts on your tongue. Since ice cream does the exact same thing, cotton candy is the perfect sweet to try to replicate in ice cream form, especially because it's essentially just sugar. Dippin' Dots' cotton candy ice cream is a decent take on the flavor, and comes in pretty pastel pink and blue orbs.
The ice cream is solid, and captures the flavor of cotton candy pretty well. It's sweet, which is just about all you need. Other than that, however, there's not much to be said about this Dippin' Dots flavor. It tastes like cotton candy, but cotton candy is just "sweet," as is this product. It's great for what it is, but when put up against the other great flavors that Dippin Dots has on their menu, cotton candy wouldn't be our first pick, unless we were feeling nostalgic for the circus.
Birthday Cake
A nice frosted vanilla or chocolate cake is the perfect thing to have for a birthday celebration – and not just birthdays. Any day of the year is a good day to occasionally treat yourself to something sweet, and if you don't want to go through the hassle of getting yourself cake and ice cream, there's always cake flavored ice cream you can try. Though many frosted cakes you'll find are rectangular in shape, Dippin' Dot's birthday cake ice cream is made of the same perfectly round orbs that make up all of their other flavors.
Most birthday cake ice cream has chunks of birthday cake within the ice cream itself, but with Dippin' Dots, you don't actually get any cake. The ice cream itself tastes more like cake batter, though closer to vanilla in terms of flavor. This flavor reminded us of a birthday cake, but wasn't as spot on as others. If you're a fan of all things birthday cake flavor, then you'll probably be disappointed when comparing this Dippin' Dots flavor to other products, but in terms of Dippin' Dots, it isn't the worst.
Spookies 'N Cream
Halloween is arguably one of the best times for treats and sweets, and though ice cream might not be the first thing you think of, it's a chilling dessert to have on an autumn day. Many ice cream shops such as Dairy Queen and Baskin-Robbins offer a Halloween special when fall rolls around, often featuring a cute vampire, ghost, or Halloween-colored theme added to the treat. However, even in the spring, you can find an orange-colored, spooky sweet treat on Dippin' Dots' menu. It's a cookie-filled surprise, almost perfect for the cooler season.
Dippin' Dots' Spookies 'N Cream ice cream is a vanilla flavored ice cream with an orange color, with bits of Oreo cookie throughout. The addition of large Oreo chunks is a huge improvement from the sub-par vanilla flavor of the ice cream, and the orange color is much more fun to look at. Because it's still the same vanilla, it isn't as flavorful, but there's a good amount of Oreo in these Dippin' Dots, which improves the overall taste sensation. The only reason this isn't any higher is because of the tamer vanilla, but if not for that, Spookie 'N Cream could have been a pretty great Dippin' Dots flavor.
Strawberry
Dippin' Dots strawberry ice cream is described by the brand as being "as sweet as a summer's day and so berry, berry good!" (via Dippin' Dots). It comes in a pretty pink color that's almost exactly the same as the Frooty cereal flavor, and the usual Dippin' Dots bead shapes. Unlike the frooty cereal flavor, however, the strawberry ice cream that the brand sells has a lot more to offer, and is in our opinion, the superior pink Dippin' Dots flavor. While it's not the best, this would certainly make do for a summer treat at the pool.
Upon taking your first bite, you'll find the strawberry ice cream to be way more fruity and flavorful than any of the previous flavors on this list. It tastes sweet, and a lot like strawberry candy would. This already brings strawberry to a nice middle position on this list, and though there's nothing out of this world or shocking to say about this flavor, it's a decent choice to have as your fallback flavor if they happen to be out of your favorites. Overall, if you're offered a serving of Dippin' Dots' strawberry ice cream on a summer day, this is a great flavor to help cool you off in a fun, fruit-flavored way.
Chocolate
Chocolate, like vanilla, is a staple flavor, and if you go to any ice cream parlor, it's almost impossible that they wouldn't feature it in some form. In the grand debate between chocolate versus vanilla, many struggle to pick their preference between the two. Vanilla is light and sweet, while chocolate is more bold and rich in flavor. No matter how you spin it, though, there's no denying that chocolate is one of the most popular ice cream flavors, and Dippin' Dots steps up to the plate with its chocolate ice cream.
This ice cream is a milk chocolate-y delight, and is exactly what we'd want out of a chocolate flavored Dippin' Dots. It's just about as rich and flavorful as any other chocolate ice cream, and does an excellent job of delivering the goods. Like strawberry, there's nothing special to say about this flavor other than it does a great job, but don't let that take away from the experience (if you love chocolate). While the chocolate-or-vanilla debate that centers around regular ice cream is not going to be settled anytime soon, when it comes to Dippin' Dots, we would definitely recommend going for chocolate over vanilla.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Making cookies is always a fun way to pass the time, though it's always a challenge to restrain yourself from eating the cookie dough raw before you actually bake the cookies. Much debate has gone into whether or not you should actually eat raw cookie dough, but that hasn't stopped it from becoming an incredibly popular flavor of ice cream. A sweet vanilla base with chunks of chocolate chip cookie dough makes for a Dippin' Dots dessert reminiscent of homemade chocolate chip cookies.
Each serving of this ice cream comes with a base of vanilla, with a helpful amount of chocolate chip cookie dough throughout the ice cream itself. While we've complained about how average the vanilla ice cream is, it actually does this flavor a solid by allowing the cookie dough to stand out. Our one qualm would be that we wished there were more chocolate chips in the actual cookie dough, but other than that, we wouldn't describe our experience with this flavor as anything other than pleasant.
Banana Split
If you're split on a flavor of ice cream, why not just get more than one? Neapolitan consists of a combination of flavors, as are banana splits. A classic banana split is typically made with scoops of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice cream, along with chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and a banana. Unlike Neapolitan, it might be a bit overwhelming to try to consume an entire banana split on your own, so it's all the more fortunate that banana split-flavored ice creams exist, including a Dippin' Dots version.
The banana split ice cream that Dippin' Dot's sells blends chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and banana flavored beads in a single serving of ice cream. The vanilla is buried under the other flavors, though the banana and strawberry are great enough to make up for that. The chocolate balances out nicely with the fruit flavors, and though the vanilla part feels like filler, the rest of the dessert is an excellent take on a banana split, and perfect if you don't want to go out of your way to gather all of the ice cream and fruit needed to make a good banana split dessert.
Ultimate Brownie Batter
In the same vein as cookie dough or cake batter ice cream, brownie batter is a flavor that has more than just the creamy ice cream in each scoop, providing for a dynamic and fun treat. A brownie on its own is a great way to treat yourself, and when paired with a scoop of ice cream, it becomes twice as good. If you don't want to make a brownie sundae at home, many ice cream shops and sellers, including Dippin' Dots, have one on their menus. While it won't be as hot as a homemade brownie fresh out of the oven, brownie batter ice cream should be just as rich and chocolate-y as the actual treat.
Dippin' Dots' Ultimate Brownie Batter ice cream takes everything we enjoyed about the chocolate ice cream, and adds deliciously decadent and chocolate-y brownie batter bits. Though brownies are usually portrayed as being paired with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, the use of chocolate in this product gives you an incredible chocolate overload. It's a cool, creamy, and delicious Dippin' Dots flavor, and the added brownie gives it even more substance. We would definitely recommend this flavor to anyone who loves brownies and ice cream.
Cool Mint Crunch
Even if it isn't the middle of winter, there's something undeniably refreshing about a nice serving of something mint chocolate flavored. While mint might be what some feel is an acquired taste, the cool nature of the herb pairs perfectly with the rich, sweet taste of mint or dark chocolate. Most mint flavored ice creams you'll find in stores will be a light green color, with chocolate chips, and while its coloring might remind you of pistachio ice cream, it's still an incredible flavor, no matter how you spin it. What could be better than mint chocolate chips? Maybe mint chocolate cookies and cream, which is just what the top flavor of Dippin' Dots happens to be.
Dippin' Dots' Cool Mint Crunch ice cream comes in green and white pearls, and a helpful serving of crumbled Oreo bits throughout. The ice cream's mint flavor is light, yet noticeable and very refreshing compared to the rich, sweet, and incredible taste that we naturally get from a spoonful of Oreo cookie bits. This is an extremely well-balanced flavor, and if you are a fan of mint, then there's no denying that this Dippin' Dots flavor is delicious, and perhaps the best that the company has to offer.