This article is perfect if you want to find the top non-dairy ice cream. We tried some different brands and ranked them from the best to the worst. Keep reading to discover our most-liked dairy-free ice cream flavours.
Tally has many good traits but does not enjoy dairy products.
For the past six weeks, I stopped eating my usual bowls of yoghurt with granola, cereal with milk, and smoothies with yoghurt or milk.
Honestly, it has not been very difficult because she can handle a bit of butter and cheese and foods baked with buttermilk or plain milk, like pancakes or waffles.
About a week after I stopped eating dairy, we got some ice cream on Saturday evening. I was not thinking about the dairy, so I ate a large bowl. I only realized it four hours later when we went to sleep, and the baby stayed awake the whole night.
That is when I decided to try out non-dairy ice cream.
THE BEST DAIRY-FREE ICE CREAM
Chocolate Cashew Milk Cookies N Cream (A+):
We began with this non-dairy ice cream. In the end, everyone (but me) tried a scoop of Tillamook Mud Slide ice cream from our freezer and then a scoop of this one. Everyone agreed they could barely tell them apart regarding smoothness or chocolate taste.
It was outstanding. It had many cookie pieces, a wonderful chocolate taste, and a nice smoothness. Cashew milk is a winner, for sure. We all thought it was the top choice for non-dairy ice cream.
Soy Milk Butter Peanut Zig Zag (A):
This was a soy milk ice cream (possibly the only soy milk variety we sampled) and it tasted great. It was not as smooth as the cashew milk ice cream but still very tasty. It had a strong chocolate taste and nice peanut butter stripes. We began believing that all the ice creams would get an A.
Fudge Brownie of Ben & Jerry (C)
We were all excited about this ice cream because it is from Ben & Jerry’s, and we are big fans of their brand. However, this particular flavour turned out to be a disappointment. The chocolate tasted quite artificial, having an icy texture. Also, she liked it when I shared some with my neighbour, who cannot eat regular ice cream. Although I did not send her the other two chocolate ice creams for comparison, she still found this one her favourite.
Almond Toffee Dream Almond Fudge (B)
Unlike Ben & Jerry’s, I was not too keen on this lactose-free ice cream. It is made with almond milk, which tends to be quite icy in my experience. However, despite the slight iciness, this was an excellent flavour. It did not completely put me off.
Cashew Caramel Milk Salted Cluster (B):
When I talked about searching for non-dairy ice cream on Instagram, many people said this was their top pick. I thought it would be fantastic. It turned out to be just okay. To me, the taste was too strong. Even when I tried it again a few days later by itself, not compared to the others, I still was not wowed by it. However, it is important to note that this lactose-free ice cream is a favourite for many.
Chunky Monkey of Ben & Jerry (D):
This flavour was the first big disappointment among the non-dairy ice creams. The banana taste did not seem natural at all. My daughters did not like their small servings, and Bart disliked it the most he even threw away his bite.
New Barn Chocolate and Banana Chip AlmondCreme
It (rated F) was even worse than the Chunky Monkey. It lacked almost any flavour, had a poor texture, and contained very little chocolate. We served it with a mini scoop of cookie dough (about 1 tablespoon). My freezer is quite small and always packed, so we tossed the entire pint except for the six small scoops.
Sprouts Mango (A)
This fruit-flavored ice cream was surprisingly good, even for a chocolate-loving family like ours. It had a real fresh mango taste, and it was not too expensive either (just $3.99). The texture was similar to gelato, making it the best choice among the non-chocolate options.
Trader Joe’s Strawberry (A-)
I got this ice cream before our taste test and ate half. It is really tasty. I often add chocolate chips, granola, and cashews to make it last longer, but it is smooth, and the taste is just right – not too overpowering or mild. It is a good pick and does not cost too much. Next time I go shopping, I plan to try more flavours from this brand.
Cherry Garcia of Ben & Jerry (B)
We were cautious about this one because the last two non-dairy ice creams of Ben & Jerry’s were not good, but this was the best among them. It had a good cherry taste and plenty of chocolate pieces.
The texture was not as good as some other ice creams, but it was not too bad.
Pistachio Nut Nada Moo! (D)
A lot of people said Nada Moo! was their favourite, so I tried it first. Unfortunately, this almond milk ice cream did not taste good. We all rated it poorly. It barely had any flavour or nuts.
I thought maybe it was just the pistachio flavour that was bad, so I bought two other flavours from Nada Moo!, which were much better. Ultimately, we threw away the pistachio ice cream because no one liked it.
Milk Cookie Coconut Dough (B):
I bought this one before the taste test & quite enjoyed it. However, there were not enough cookie dough chunks, and the texture was not perfect. Trader Joe’s coconut milk ice cream had a better texture.
Cookies & Creme Nada Moo! (B):
This lactose free ice cream was pretty good. It had lots of cookie chunks adding to a nice flavor. The only downside was that the cookie texture felt slightly gritty.
Organic Coconut Bliss Luna & Larry Mint Galactica (C)
This ice cream was labelled “exhilarating mint,” but the flavour was so weak it was hard to notice any mint taste. There weren’t many chocolate pieces either. We all thought it was just okay. People usually like this brand, but it is quite pricey at $5.99 per pint, so I might keep buying from always good brands. However, I am really curious about trying their Ginger Cookie Caramel flavour.
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