The Highest And Lowest Quality Vanilla Ice Cream You Can Find In The Store

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Surveys from the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) have consistently found that vanilla is America's favorite ice cream flavor, and the plethora of vanilla ice cream varieties available in any grocery store only further emphasizes this national fervor. Personal preferences aside, there are some objective factors which determine ice cream quality. For starters, there's overrun, or the percentage of air mixed in while making the ice cream, as well as butterfat content, or the natural fat in the milk which provides for a texture that's thick and creamy versus flaky and icy. The highest quality ice creams on the market have a low overrun and a high butterfat content, which means they contain less air and more ice cream. These higher quality desserts, labelled as premium or super premium, are physically denser than lower quality, air-filled ice creams. Inevitably, this means premium ice creams also come with an augmented calorie content, and typically also an elevated price.

In addition to a low overrun and high butterfat content, the highest quality vanilla ice creams on this list contain minimal, natural ingredients and pure flavors. The lowest quality brands we've gathered are full of air, artificial flavors, additives, and stabilizers. Many consumers still prefer these lighter brands for their airier textures and lower-calorie contents, and there are many brands that fall between the extremes of low-grade and crème de la crème. Here are six of the highest and six of the lowest quality vanilla ice creams you can find in stores.

Häagen Dazs is considered a premium ice cream brand for its dense, creamy decadence, which is largely the result of its low overrun (i.e. air content). The way the calculations work, a higher overrun results in a lower density product — 100% overrun means that air makes up virtually 50% of a batch of ice cream, hence why tubs of lower quality feel lighter and cost much less. High quality overrun percentages are significantly lower — around 50% or less. Häagen Dazs has a decadently low overrun, clocking in at around 20%. A pint of this vanilla ice cream is physically dense — you can simply feel the difference by weighing it against other ice cream brands in the frozen section. 

The lower the overrun percentage, the higher the butterfat content and generally the higher the quality of ice cream. Häagen Dazs also has one of the higher butterfat percentages on the market as well. With the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) stipulating that 10% butterfat is the minimum requirement for proper ice cream, most brands range from 10-18%, and Häagen Dazs's butterfat content falls around 16%. The brand also uses a mere five pure ingredients in its vanilla ice cream: cream, skim milk, sugar, egg yolk, and Madagascar vanilla extract and/or vanilla beans depending on the variety — the brand offers both vanilla and vanilla bean. Rich, creamy, and certifiably sumptuous, Häagen-Dazs vanilla is available in most grocery stores nation-wide. 

Edy's is a fairly standard brand available in most grocery stores and at a lower price point, but it shares a commonality with many lower quality ice creams — they don't always contain egg yolks among their ingredients. While egg yolks are not explicitly necessary for making ice cream, the product tends to have a shorter shelf life and lack of texture without them, requiring the addition of emulsifiers and stabilizers to ensure a sufficiently creamy product. In addition to guar gum, a fiber derived from guar beans, Edy's Classic Vanilla includes carob/locust bean gum, derived from the carob tree, and monoglycerides, a naturally occurring fatty acid. All of these ingredients are used to emulsify, stabilize, and preserve the ice cream. 

In lieu of true vanilla extract, Edy's Classic Vanilla comes from merely "natural flavor," which is only sometimes derived from a natural source. One such truly natural flavor is vanillin, which, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, comes from vanilla extract. But natural flavor sources like Edy's are not required to be specified and rarely are. Edy's ice cream has further unnatural enhancement with the addition of annatto color, a dark yellow food dye extracted from the tropical annatto tree native to South America. Though many of these additives are derived from natural sources, their use means that Edy's ice cream is a much more processed product. Furthermore, it has a higher overrun, with a final composition that contains a lot of air.

An exceptionally high butterfat content contributes to the many reasons why Van Leeuwen's vanilla ice cream is so delicious – the brand contains a record high 18%. This determination to go all the way is a quality important to the artisanal brand, which purposely avoids any trends towards low-fat ice cream. Though due in part to the high butterfat content, Van Leeuwen's ice cream texture is also exceptionally thick and decadent because of a larger quantity of egg yolks. These are not a mandatory ingredient when making ice cream, but they do eliminate iciness from texture, add creaminess, and contribute natural emulsifying properties for a thick and decadent frozen treat, as is indisputably the case with Van Leeuwen's artisanal vanilla ice cream.

Van Leeuwen is not the most budget-friendly option, as its low-batch production and specialty ingredients make it difficult to keep costs down. But the brand has done everything in its power to mitigate prices in order to keep its premium pints within reason. The ingredients list is reliably short as well. Van Leeuwen's Vanilla Bean French Ice Cream contains milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks, vanilla extract, salt, and vanilla bean for a full vanilla flavor and a dense creaminess. The touch of saltiness adds a little something extra special too. Van Leeuwen's is available in most states, and has an online store which ships to other states where it is not already stocked in stores. 

While there is a higher quality homemade Turkey Hill vanilla ice cream which is made from just four natural ingredients — milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla — there's another version of the brand which is of a much lower quality, the Original Vanilla. This flavor is distinguishable by the subheading disclaimer "vanilla flavored ice cream," a subtle clue to the many unnatural additives which make up the Original Vanilla's composition.

The ingredients list reveals that Turkey Hill's Original Vanilla is indeed only vanilla-flavored, containing no actual real vanilla extract. Though the Pennsylvania-based brand touts its use of milk from local cows, the Original Vanilla is still highly processed. There are a slew of stabilizers and emulsifiers amongst the long ingredient list, including cellulose gel and cellulose gum (both chemically modified forms of cellulose) mono and diglycerides, and carrageenan. There is not enough research to determine whether these stabilizers, despite their natural origins, might have health consequences when consistently consumed, but their inclusion in Turkey Hill Original Vanilla ice cream substantially decreases the product's quality. There are also two colorants, annatto color and caramel color, used to give this ice cream its soft yellow hue. The many artificial additives in this brand's Original Vanilla make Turkey Hill's all-natural Homemade Vanilla a better choice from a quality standpoint, if you're sticking to the same brand. Both can be found in grocery stores throughout the United States. 

Tillamook ice cream has three vanilla varieties, Vanilla Bean, French Vanilla, and Old-Fashioned Vanilla, and these variations have distinct differences. Classic vanilla ice cream is typically flavored with vanilla extract.The ingredient that makes French vanilla different is simply the addition of more egg yolks than usual, which contribute the slightly golden color, the rich texture, and a flavor slightly similar to frozen custard. Vanilla bean is commonly considered a most luxurious vanilla, being flavored directly and speckled with flecks of vanilla bean. Tillamook recommends suggests using its Old-Fashioned Vanilla for milkshakes and root beer floats, its Vanilla Bean for desserts à la mode, and its French Vanilla for fall favorites like pumpkin and pecan pie.

Though not the highest percentage on the market, the 13.5% vanilla butterfat content is a secret to Tillamook's creaminess, and the brand's signature texture is further heightened by the addition of extra cream. The ingredients list is slightly longer than other high quality brands, containing guar gum as a stabilizer as well as the vaguely defined natural flavor. But Tillamook and its commitment to using local milk still ranks among the top quality ice creams on our list. Sold in 48oz tubs for the same price as other premium pints, it's also a quality ice cream at a more manageable price point. Though especially prominent in the Pacific Northwest, Tillamook is available in grocery stores nationwide.

Available at most grocery and convenience stores, Blue Bunny is another lower-tier ice cream brand in terms of quality. With its nutrition label revealing a lower fat content, this generally suggests lower butterfat and much more air, which contributes in part to a fluffier texture. Blue Bunny's fluffiness, however, is also achieved by the inclusion of many additives.

Excluding the brand's Vanilla Bean ice cream, which contains egg yolks as a natural stabilizer, other Blue Bunny vanilla ice cream products — Vanilla, Homemade Vanilla, and Soft Vanilla — include color additives and contain a disconcertingly long list of emulsifiers and stabilizers. Among the list are mono and diglycerides, carob bean gum, cellulose gum and cellulose gel, carrageenan, tara gum, xanthan gum, guar gum, and maltodextrin. These processed ingredients are responsible for Blue Bunny's ice cream's somewhat artificial taste, revealing, in addition to an unnaturally fluffy texture, that the brand is of lower quality on a flavor level as well.

Labeled as super premium, Straus Family Creamery's Vanilla Bean ice cream belongs to the highest tier of quality ice creams, which has the highest butterfat content and the lowest overrun. The brand's high fat content proves the density of its composition, and its premium price point reflects quality ingredients, putting Straus ice cream in a category above what many grocery stores typically sell. This is why Straus Family Creamery' Vanilla Bean is most commonly available at specialty retailers and grocers with a large selection of organic products, such as Sprouts Farmers Market and Whole Foods.

Northern California-based, Straus Family Creamery is committed to using only natural ingredients in its ice cream, and relies on no preservatives or colorants. Certified organic and non-GMO, a pint or quart of Straus's take on vanilla bean is sumptuously dense and creamy — for many, it is well worth the extra bucks. For now, Straus's ice cream is predominantly available in western states, but the brand is gradually expanding to other regions across the country.

The Target brand Favorite Day offers an economic but particularly low quality vanilla ice cream. Though the brand's Vanilla Bean claims to have natural flavoring, the Vanilla and Homemade Vanilla tubs distinctly state that they contain a merely vanilla-flavored ice cream with artificial flavors added. Favorite Day's vanillas across the board have a low fat content, which hints to a low butterfat content. These vanilla ice creams all contain a long list of additives too — despite the inclusion of egg yolks, this brand relies on numerous emulsifiers and annatto for added color.

Additionally, Favorite Day ice cream is sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. A common additive in processed sweets, HFCS is an effective sweetener used plentifully because it is cheap. Though comparing high fructose corn syrup versus sugar doesn't seem to have a huge difference in nutritional value, and most people aren't consuming ice cream for dietary benefits, studies have begun hypothesizing whether regularly consuming HFCS may lead to health concerns, such as insulin resistance and hypertension. In any case, it is omnipresent in many products as a means of bypassing quality for the sake of economy, as is the case with Favorite Day's vanilla ice creams.

Despite the huge number of flavors suggested to Ben & Jerry's every year, the Vermont-based brand's good old vanilla is classic choice and a premium ice cream in its own right. Boasting a higher butterfat content and pints that aren't full of air, Ben & Jerry's Vanilla is among the denser ice creams sold at a reasonable price point, and is more widely available in grocery stores than some other higher quality brands. With fair trade vanilla beans and locally-sourced non-GMO milk, the brand has been vocal about maintaining quality for every aspect of the ingredients in its ice cream.

Ben and Jerry's Vanilla does rely on guar gum and carrageenan as stabilizers in addition to the egg yolks among its ingredients. The brand revealed it uses carrageenan specifically to limit ice crystals during the temperature fluctuations inevitable with ice cream transport, and that this additive's natural origin does not disparage the quality of the ice cream. Nevertheless, the dense creaminess of Ben & Jerry's Vanilla still speaks for itself, and it is sold nationwide, available in most mainstream grocery retailers.

Another Target brand, tubs of Market Pantry ice cream are budget friendly but low quality, and distinctly labelled as containing artificial flavoring. The Vanilla Light Ice Cream may be very low in fat, but this also suggests that the product contains a particularly high quantity of air. The absence of fat in Market Pantry's Vanilla Light Ice Cream is also what necessitates another long list of additives and stabilizers in order to assure a consistent and vaguely creamy texture. Proof of this shows up with the additional inclusion of sodium bicarbonate, which is a natural substance used to improve the ability to whip all other ingredients together. This Market Pantry ice cream additionally contains Vitamin A palmitate, also called retinyl palmitate, a compound added to low-fat dairy products to replace the vitamins lost from the elimination of fat.

Though these additives are a feat of science that enable the possibility for a Light Ice Cream, they contribute to an unnatural overall product reliant on supplementary, processed ingredients in order to maintain a cohesive texture. With all these emulsifiers, colorants, and artificial flavors added, Market Pantry's Vanilla Light Ice Cream does not have a natural consistency, nor a particularly natural flavor.

Founded in Columbus, Ohio, Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream has become known for its vibrant flavor combinations, and even the brand's take on vanilla has a characteristic bold touch. Jeni's Honey Vanilla Bean stands out from more conventional vanilla ice creams, eliminating any suspicions of this being a boring flavor. A super premium brand, Jeni's Honey Vanilla Bean ice cream is flavored with local Ohio honey and churned from local Ohio milk from grass-fed cows, the latter being a key secret ingredient. According to the University of Minnesota, cows left to graze rather than fed with grain produce a healthier, more nutrient-rich milk, with balanced but elevated levels of fatty acids. This higher fat content makes for superior ice cream, and may be why Jeni's Honey Vanilla Bean achieves a remarkably creamy consistency even though it is made without egg yolks. As founder Jeni Britton Bauer herself wrote for Dairy Foods Magazine, "Butterfat is sexy." The sumptuous butterfat of Jeni's ice creams alone makes them a high quality product, but the artisanal brand is also committed to local sourcing and ingredients prepared in-house.

There's good reason behind why Jeni's ice creams are some of the most expensive available in stores, but with carefully-selected ingredients and every pint packed by hand, it is indisputably an ice cream of the highest quality. The hint of honey makes Jeni's Honey Vanilla Bean special, and it is available nationwide, in both mainstream chain grocery stores and specialty markets.

Available at many Kroger supermarkets across the country, such as Ralphs and Harris Teeter, Kroger Deluxe's various vanilla ice creams are budget brands substantially lacking in quality ingredients. The Artisan Vanilla Bean is another light ice cream which requires a long list of additives in order to have a decent consistency, and the Vividly Vanilla, in both a 1.5 quart and a gallon size, clearly lists that these vanillas are artificially flavored. These ice creams are sweetened with high fructose corn syrup and have the tell-tale low fat content that reveals there's a lot of air whipped in. Despite the larger size, these Kroger Deluxe tubs do not feel especially dense when you take them off the freezer shelf, another indication that they have a high overrun.

But sometimes price is the more important factor, and as a very budget-friendly option, Kroger Deluxe vanilla ice creams may be ideal for serving up desserts à la mode to a larger crowd. Nevertheless, the processed additives and unnatural flavors reveal Kroger Deluxe ice creams to be a low quality ice cream brand.

For the purposes of compiling this list, high versus low quality vanilla ice creams were judged based on the length and purity of their ingredient lists, the amount of air mixed in with their ingredients, and their butterfat content. High quality vanilla ice creams were additionally selected based on their emphasis of minimal, natural ingredients, and in the case of many quality brands, these are entirely non-GMO or organic. Density also played a factor in selecting higher quality ice creams, as this translates to a higher butterfat and overall higher fat content that promises products comprised of more cream and less air. 

Lower quality vanilla ice creams were selected for their long ingredients lists which frequently included high fructose corn syrup and artificial flavorings. Whereas high quality vanilla brands do not require many or any stabilizers added, lower quality ice creams rely on numerous stabilizers and emulsifiers to generate the same creamy texture that higher quality brands are capable of achieving with natural ingredients.