Ice cream is THE dessert of summer. Every freezer section of every American grocery store is stockpiled with tons of flavors, brands and ice cream products from gelato to popsicles. It’s common knowledge that ice cream is not the healthiest dessert when considering calories, fat, and sugar. But it’s important to keep in mind that not all store-brands are created equally when it comes to ice cream nutrition.
I wanted to find out how popular ice cream brands stack up against each other in the nutrition department, and so decided on six of the most well-known. For this article, I compared ½ cup servings of vanilla ice cream and ranked them based on their fat and sugar content as well as how natural their ingredients are. Here they are, from least to most healthiest.
6. Häagen-Dazs
Photo courtesy of @haagendazs_us on Instagram
Calories: 250
Total Fat: 17g
Saturated Fat: 10g
Trans Fat: .5g
Sugars: 19g
Are you surprised? Though it boasts the most “natural” ingredient list (there are only five), Häagen-Dazs takes the cake (or shall we say ice cream) for the highest amount of fat out of all the ice cream brands considered. Somehow, it manages to be the only ice cream brand I investigated without calcium and contains .5 grams of trans fat. Let’s just say, you might want to pass next time you get offered a scoop of Häagen-Dazs.
5. Ben & Jerry’s
Photo courtesy of @benandjerrys on Instagram
Calories: 250
Total Fat: 16g
Saturated Fat: 10g
Trans Fat: .5g
Sugars: 20g
In at a close second-to-last place is Ben & Jerry’s. With 20 grams of sugar in a single serving, it hits almost the full amount an adult is supposed to eat in an entire day while also containing the infamous trans fat. Looks like you might want to consider passing on this one too.
4. Baskin-Robbins
Photo courtesy of @baskinrobbins on Instagram
Calories: 150
Total Fat: 10g
Saturated Fat: 6g
Trans Fat: 0g
Sugars: 11g
Oh Baskin-Robins, why do you do this to us? Things aren’t looking good with corn syrup as the fourth ingredient listed on each pint. Anyone care for some mono and diglycerides?
3. Blue Bunny
Courtesy of @blue_bunny on Instagram
Calories: 130
Total Fat: 7g
Saturated Fat: 4g
Trans Fat: 0g
Sugars: 14g
Blue Bunny’s nutrition matches that of #2, but watch out for the ingredients. They include corn syrup, mono and diglycerides, cellulose gel and gum—cellulose is a cheap filler made from wood pulp or cotton, gross!—and artificial flavorings.
2. Breyer’s
Photo courtesy of @lovemybootyfoodie on Instagram
Calories: 130
Total Fat: 7g
Saturated Fat: 4g
Trans Fat: 0g
Sugars: 14g
Breyer’s takes their vanilla ice cream VERY seriously. In fact, they have four different varieties of it. Their natural vanilla is no joke and consists of only seven ingredients.
1. Edy’s
Photo courtesy @edys on Instagram
Calories: 100
Total Fat: 3g
Saturated Fat: 2g
Trans Fat: 0g
Sugars: 13g
We have a winner! Edy’s (or Dreyer’s depending on where you live) keeps it real with only real ingredients in their vanilla and low numbers all around. Next time you crave some ice cream, reach for Edy’s first. But don’t forget, ice cream is still ice cream—a dessert through and through.