Who Makes the Best Chocolate Ice Cream? Our Test Kitchen Found Out.
Updated: Apr. 20, 2023
Seven brands and plenty of brain freezes later, our Test Kitchen found the best chocolate ice cream brands to satisfy your sweet tooth.
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Making an ice cream sundae at home? We know that chocoholics are skipping that pint of vanilla and going right for the best chocolate ice cream to fill their dishes.
When you get to the bottom of your next tub, though, you might just want to think twice about what brand you’re adding to your shopping list next time. Is it really the best option for your sweet tooth? What if you want something a bit deeper, something with more dark chocolate flavor? What if there’s something better than your go-to brand?
To make sure you’re getting the right ice cream to satisfy your cravings, our Test Kitchen made a few grocery runs and conducted a delicious test.
How We Found the Best Chocolate Ice Cream
Our Test Kitchen team snagged the seven most popular brands of chocolate ice cream out there and put them head-to-head in a test. Our testers tasted each brand blindly and judged them with these qualities in mind:
- Flavor:Â How does the ice cream taste? Is it chocolate-forward (not just sweet)? Does it taste more like dark chocolate? Milk? Somewhere in between?
- Texture:Â Is the ice cream perfectly smooth and creamy? Is it dense? Light? Are there ice crystals?
- Appearance:Â Does the ice cream look rich and inviting?
Our Test Kitchen-Preferred Chocolate Ice Cream Brands
After diving into pint after pint of ice cream, our Test Kitchen crew named their favorite brands. We’re confident our picks will suit any chocolate fanatic’s taste.
Creamiest Ice Cream: Kemps Old Fashioned Chocolate Ice Cream
What makes ice cream such a decadent treat is that ultra-creamy texture. And achieving that smoothness can be a challenge (especially when making homemade ice cream)—but not for Kemps Old Fashioned chocolate ice cream.
This ice cream was smooth, smooth, smooth. It had the creamiest mouthfeel of any sample and the lush texture was perfect—not too airy and not too dense. Kemps really satisfied our testers in terms of texture and flavor. As it melted on our tongues, we got a great sweet, milk chocolate flavor that reminded us of treats from our local ice cream shop.
And this recipe made Kemps easy to scoop. Our go-to ice cream scoops glided right through without any trouble—a real feat.
Best Chocolate Ice Cream for Dark Chocolate Lovers: Breyers Chocolate Ice Cream
For an exceptionally indulgent scoop, grab a tub of Breyers chocolate ice cream.
This brand above all others delivered a perfectly rich and decadent dark chocolate flavor reminiscent of our favorite dark chocolate brands. Scooping into this sample, our testers noted the intense chocolate flavor and the right amount of sweetness. This brand really let the dark chocolate shine.
But Breyers was more than just great flavor. Testers compared the velvety texture to homemade chocolate ice cream. Is there any better comparison than that?
Best Chocolate Ice Cream for Milk Chocolate Fans: Blue Bunny Chocolate Ice Cream
If you prefer a sweeter variety of chocolate, opt for Blue Bunny chocolate ice cream. This brand was full of tasty milk chocolate flavor.
Testers described this ice cream as being rich, dense and creamy—precisely what a great scoop of ice cream should be. As for the chocolate taste, it was the perfect level of sweet milk chocolate and so satisfying that several testers admitted that they could put a pretty sizeable dent in this tub of ice cream.
Our Test Kitchen also thinks that the milder flavor of Blue Bunny is ideal for serving on top of desserts like this fudgy peanut butter cake. So next time you want to serve pie a la mode, try Blue Bunny chocolate instead of your go-to vanilla.
Best Pint: Häagen-Dazs Chocolate Ice Cream
We get it: You don’t always want a half-gallon of ice cream filling up your freezer. For a smaller dose of indulgence, our Test Kitchen recommends a pint of Häagen-Dazs chocolate ice cream.
This ice cream was exceptionally creamy and light—almost like frozen custard. And the chocolate flavor was delicious without being overly sweet or bitter. Walking this line can be a challenge, but Häagen-Dazs does it well.
If you want your ice cream a touch sweeter, load on the sprinkles and caramel sauce. For a more bitter chocolate flavor, add some dark chocolate curls.
The Best Ways to Enjoy the Best Chocolate Ice Cream
There’s nothing wrong with enjoying a few scoops of ice cream right out of the tub covered in a few ice cream toppings. In fact, this might just be the best way to enjoy your favorite ice cream flavor.
But you can branch out a bit with your favorite pint. A couple of scoops of chocolate ice cream is all you need to make some pretty tasty sweets, like in a homemade ice cream sandwich, ice cream cake or milkshake.
Originally Published: July 18, 2021
