These grocery store ice cream brands use real cream and premium ingredients.
There is a big difference between real ice cream, the creamy, high-quality ingredient variety, and the other kind, filled with lots of artificial flavors, colors, and filler ingredients. Your local grocery store likely has both. If you want to experience the deliciousness of fresh-from-a-creamery style ice cream, there are a few that come highly recommended. Here are the 6 best “real cream” ice creams at leading grocery stores.
Häagen-Dazs
Häagen-Dazs is always a reliable real-deal ice cream option. Shoppers are super loyal to the brand. “Haagen Dazs is still number one for me,” one says. “I haven’t found a better vanilla than Haagen daaz but am open to being corrected,” another agrees. “I haven’t found a better Rocky Road and I’ve looked,” a third says.
Jeni’s Splendid
Jeni’s
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams is a newer brand that packages up the purist ice cream, made without the bad stuff. It’s “Darkest Chocolate,” which is deeply intense, made with real dark chocolate flavor, and features a velvety texture. Jeni’s sources real bean‑to‑bar chocolate from Askinosie for its artisan flavors, rooted in authentic cocoa craftsmanship. “Nothing hides in ice cream. If you cut corners on ingredients, it shows,” the chain writes.
Van Leeuwen
VanLeeuwen
Van Leeuwen Artisan is another premium brand popping up in cities and stores. “Van Leeuwen, hands down,” is the best gourmet ice cream brand, one Redditor says. They only use the best ingredients. The Van Leeuwen Vanilla Bean French Ice Cream brings out vanilla’s more “non-vanilla-ey traits by using Tahitian vanilla beans, cold-ground whole,” the brand writes on its website description. And for its “rich, decadent” chocolate flavor, “we use only the highest-quality chocolate from Republica del Cacao, a chocolate supplier in Ecuador where the world’s best cacao is produced,” they say.
Tillamook
Tillamook
When I was a kid, we went on a field trip to the Tillamook creamery on the Oregon Coast and watched the creamy, amazing ice cream being made. It’s still one of the best choices at the store, if you can find it. “Tillamook’s Chocolate Peanut Butter. (Although I do wish there were more peanut butter swirl in it.),” writes one person. “I’d give my dog away for some Tillamook,” another chimes in. “Almost can’t go wrong with any Tillamook flavor,” another says.
Graeter’s
Graeter’s has been handcrafting ice cream for 150 years using the French pot process. “I’ve never had someone complain when I recommend Graeter’s,” writes a Redditor. “Graeter’s peppermint ice cream with chunks of peppermints is incredible,” another says.
Alden’s Organic
Alden’s
According to my own children, Alden’s Organic is “the best ice cream in the world.” The brand’s Vanilla Bean, which uses all USDA Organic ingredients, including dairy sourced from family farms in Oregon, and ethically sourced ground vanilla beans and extract, is the best and most powerful we have ever tasted and the most unboring vanilla on the market. “Alden’s is pretty great,” one Redditor says.
Leah Groth
Leah Groth is an experienced shopping editor and journalist for Best Life and Eat This, Not That! bringing readers the best new finds, trends, and deals each week. Read more about Leah
