Don't All Chocolates Taste the Same?

Updated: 08/30/2026

Overview - Chocolate

Initially, I "kinda" thought so, but nope. While many (but not all) brands offer a simple chocolate flavor, there is a wide variety of chocolate ice creams, including milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and chocolate in different intensities, as well as chocolate with mix-ins like chocolate chips, cookies, brownies, fudge, and more.

The wide variety of chocolate ice cream recipes makes a like-for-like comparison difficult. Nevertheless, on this page, we attempt to discuss, taste, and rank some of these ice creams.

This page is divided into three main sections. This top section summarizes and compares the non-flavor aspects of different chocolate ice cream brands, including ingredients, quality, and price, using a couple of easy-to-compare tables. The second section contains individual flavor "reviews" and taste tests. The bottom section is common to all the flavor review pages and details our review methodology.

As mentioned elsewhere, the individual ice cream reviews don't lend themselves to comparing brands' ingredients or each brand's "premium-ness". To simplify this comparison, the tables below and the accompanying text consolidate information on each ice cream's ingredients, premium category rating, serving weight, and costs. A few caveats with these tables to note:

Not all brands in the tables appear in the review section. Some ice creams haven't been reviewed yet, and others aren't available locally.
We focused on basic chocolate, but some brands don't offer it, so we chose a chocolate-based flavor instead. In the summary tables, the ice cream flavor is listed on the second row and indicates which brands lack a simple chocolate option.
Many ingredient names were shortened (by removing descriptive words) to improve the table's formatting. For example, "Cocoa processed with Alkali" is called Cocoa.
We included some relative price information at the bottom of the table. At the end of the rating methods section, we describe how this data was obtained.

Table 1. Chocolate Ice Cream Ingredient Comparison Tables.

(Clicking on a Table will pop up a larger version.)

Some observations and comparisons from the tables are:

All the ice creams listed in Table 1 have at least some cream. (Good news! ) This ingredient is highlighted in green. The most premium ice creams usually list cream as their first ingredient.
Blue Bunny lists the most ingredients (not usually a good sign) at a whopping 21. There are many emulsifiers and preservatives on the list.
The ice creams with the fewest ingredients are Häagen-Dazs (5), followed by Jeni's and Straus with 6.
Blue Bell's price is based on a half-gallon container.
Tillamook and Blue Bell (in the half-gallon size) seem to position themselves as higher-quality than regular ice cream brands, at a slightly higher price point but much less expensive than super- or ultra-premium ice creams.
Breyers is a regular ice cream with surprisingly only 7 ingredients. Many of Breyer's other flavors (mostly frozen desserts) use many more ingredients. Based on serving weight, they add more overrun (air).
For all of Alden's ice creams' "organic" labeling, based on ingredients and weight, it otherwise looks like other regular ice creams, like Breyer's, Edy's, and Turkey Hill.
Straus and Bassetts ice creams, on paper, don't appear to be quite as premium as their packaging might suggest; hopefully, their flavors compensate.
The price per pint varies by up to 8-to-1 between brands. (Although comparing by weight reduces the variation to 6-to-1. )

Any other interesting observations? Let us know.

Obviously, the above does not directly indicate how good/bad an ice cream will taste. Still, by comparing the ingredients (especially the additives), weight, and price, one can gain a good indication of the ice cream's overall quality.

Below are the mini-reviews, which include some info from the tables, our exceedingly non-professional opinion on taste and texture, and a few more bits of ice cream info. At the top of each short review are ratings for flavor, quality, and ingredient quality.

(See Note 3 regarding ice creams that we have not yet reviewed)

Note 1: Since retail prices vary widely, this lists the non-sale prices as of 05/2026, mostly at a local grocery, Giant, Whole Foods, Wegman's, and a couple of random Midwest supermarkets for ice creams not available locally.

Note 2: Pint pricing was used where possible; otherwise, pricing was scaled. Some brands offer the same ice cream in both pint and half-gallon sizes. In this case, the larger container price was used and scaled to a pint equivalent.

Note 3: For ice creams, we have not yet reviewed them but intend to; we have given them a placeholder rating of 20 so they appear at the bottom of the list.

Individual Chocolate Ice Cream Reviews

Graeter's Double Chocolate Chip

Flavor Rating

Density Rating

Ingredient Rating

Serving Weight (gm.)

Calories/Serving

Fat/Serving (gm.)

145

430

Graeter's makes a Dutch Chocolate flavor, which would have been ideal for this comparison, but we could not find it in-store, so we settled on this flavor.

Density: Graeter's consistently makes very dense, rich ice cream, and this flavor continues that trend. The serving weight is probably a little heavier than pure chocolate without mix-ins, as the mix-ins add some weight.

Flavor: Graeter's has a thick, creamy consistency that nicely combines with its rich, chocolatey, sweet flavor. This simple combination of a strong (but not too strong) chocolate flavor combined with the sweet creaminess of the ice cream base tastes excellent. Add to this a reasonable amount (but not so much as to obscure the ice cream base) of chocolate mix-ins, which add their semi-sweet chocolatiness, and the result is that we have to place it high on our list.

Jeni's Darkest Chocolate

Flavor Rating

Density Rating

Ingredient Rating

Serving Weight (gm.)

Calories/Serving

Fat/Serving (gm.)

130

310

Jeni's Splendid was founded more than 20 years ago by Jeni Britton. For this review, we would have preferred to use Jeni's Milkiest Chocolate, as it might more closely resemble a typical chocolate, but it has not been available locally.

Density: Jeni's Darkest Chocolate is a very dense buttercream ice cream that feels substantial, with lingering creaminess as it melts in your mouth.

Flavor: The name says it all. To make this ice cream, Jeni's must have experimented with how much cocoa they can add to their sweet, buttery cream base and still make it taste great. This ice cream is not made for milk chocolate lovers; it is perfect for sweet dark chocolate lovers (of which I am one). In chocolate bar terms, this ice cream is very dark chocolate, whereas some other chocolate brands (e.g., Häagen-Dazs) are closer to a semisweet or even a milk chocolate.

Haagen-Dazs Chocolate

Flavor Rating

Density Rating

Ingredient Rating

Serving Weight (gm.)

Calories/Serving

Fat/Serving (gm.)

129

310

Density: As is typical of Häagen-Dazs, this ice cream is nice and thick, placing it in the ultra-premium category and should yield a creamy, rich texture.

Flavor: Not surprisingly, this ice cream nicely balances a strong chocolate flavor with the sweet base. As expected, the ice cream is very smooth and creamy, and, coupled with the rich, dense (and buttery-sweet) base, it creates one of the best simple chocolate ice creams.

Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie

Flavor Rating

Density Rating

Ingredient Rating

Serving Weight (gm.)

Calories/Serving

Fat/Serving (gm.)

140

350

Ben and Jerry's do not seem to sell a straight chocolate in stores. This ice cream was the closest to plain chocolate, so it's not entirely fair, but we'll attempt to focus on the ice cream.

Density: Having mix-ins could make the serving weight slightly heavier than plain ice cream. Even so, the base is very thick and creamy. Even if we assume the mix-ins add 10g, the base at 130g/serving is still quite thick and rich.

Flavor: This is a dark chocolate ice cream base, as we would expect from B & J: rich, sweet, and dense, with a dark chocolate flavor. Then fudge brownie chunks are mixed in, adding a doughy-fudgey burst of chocolate fudge flavor. There are not a lot of mix-ins (but enough), which allows the nice, rich ice cream flavor to dominate.

Van Leeuwen Chocolate

Flavor Rating

Density Rating

Ingredient Rating

Serving Weight (gm.)

Calories/Serving

Fat/Serving (gm.)

108

280

Density: This ice cream density falls into the top end of the Premium grade. This seems typical of Van Leeuwen's ice creams and is a very noticeable step up in richness compared to regular ice creams, but noticeably a little "airier" than the Ultra-Premium brands.

Flavor: This ice cream has an excellent, strong, sweet, and rich dark chocolate flavor. The texture is generally smooth, very slightly crumbly, and made without emulsifiers, but (obviously) not quite as rich and creamy as the denser ultra-premium brands. Many may prefer the excellent flavor component coupled with a less rich base, but for me, I'd prefer a slightly richer base to go along with the overall excellent chocolate flavor.

Alec's Triple Chocolate

Flavor Rating

Density Rating

Ingredient Rating

Serving Weight (gm.)

Calories/Serving

Fat/Serving (gm.)

122

300

Alex's also does not sell a straight chocolate in stores, and this one is the closest one to use for comparison.

Density: With all the mix-ins, it's a little hard to gauge the weight of the ice cream on its own, but it seems/feels a little more substantial than plain chocolate premium ice creams and slightly less butter-creamy than ultra-premium ones.

Flavor: This Alec's ice cream consists of chocolate wafer cookies, chips, and ice cream. The ice cream itself is creamy, sweet, and chocolaty in the right amounts, a bit lighter than ultra-premium ice creams, yet still smooth. Additionally, the cookie pieces are plentiful and add a unique chocolate flavor (think Oreos without the filling), which dominates the overall flavor, making it difficult to compare to a straight chocolate base. However, ice cream by itself appears to be a flavorful chocolate.

Straus Dutch Chocolate

Flavor Rating

Density Rating

Ingredient Rating

Serving Weight (gm.)

Calories/Serving

Fat/Serving (gm.)

104

270

Straus is an organic, environmentally friendly creamery in Northern California that began making ice cream in 2003.

Density: This ice cream falls solidly into the premium category, so not super-rich, but still more substantial than regular grade.

Flavor: This Dutch chocolate has a strong, sweet medium chocolate flavor, perhaps not quite as strong or as dark as other makers, but very flavorful and nicely balanced with the sweet base. The ice cream has a very slightly crumbly texture; this may be due to a very simple, healthy recipe, which contains no additives or emulsifiers. Again, it nicely balances the sweet base and the chocolate flavor.

Tillamook Chocolate

Flavor Rating

Density Rating

Ingredient Rating

Serving Weight (gm.)

Calories/Serving

Fat/Serving (gm.)

220

Density: Similar to other Tillamook flavors, this ice cream is lighter; its density barely creeps into the premium category.

Flavor: Most Tillamook flavors we have tried have been smooth and creamy, albeit lighter than ultra-premium ice creams. Initially, the texture of this ice cream was disappointingly icy. Thinking it might be due to melting/refreezing, we bought another package. This second one was much better, smooth and creamy like other flavors of Tillamook. Beyond the texture, the medium chocolate flavor paired nicely with the sweet base, resulting in a sweet, chocolatey flavor.

Turkey Hill Simply Natural Belgian Style Chocolate

Flavor Rating

Density Rating

Ingredient Rating

Serving Weight (gm.)

Calories/Serving

Fat/Serving (gm.)

220

Density: As expected from the numbers, this ice cream straddles between regular and premium. This ice cream is on the lighter side compared to super- or ultra-premium ice creams, but still has some substance.

Flavor: This ice cream has a strong, bittersweet chocolate flavor. It does not seem quite as sweet as most other chocolate ice creams, so the chocolate flavor is more pronounced. The texture is excellent, with a smooth, creamy consistency, not icy or crumbly at all. As expected for a lighter ice cream, it does not have as rich a flavor, but overall, it is a solid, distinctive chocolate ice cream.

Bassett's Chocolate

Flavor Rating

Density Rating

Ingredient Rating

Serving Weight (gm.)

Calories/Serving

Fat/Serving (gm.)

102

270

Bassetts began selling in Philadelphia and is a family-owned business founded by Lewis Dubois Bassett in 1861.

Density: This flavor falls into the Premium category for ice cream density and is only slightly denser than ice cream from brands like Tillamook.

Flavor: The first thing we noticed about this ice cream was that it was very crumbly, and not surprisingly, the texture in the mouth is a bit icy. The chocolate flavor, while nice and sweet, is noticeably milder than some of the other brands tested. The iciness may be due to the ice cream melting/refreezing during transport, and this texture was the factor in its lower score.

365 (Whole Foods) Chocolate

Flavor Rating

Density Rating

Ingredient Rating

Serving Weight (gm.)

Calories/Serving

Fat/Serving (gm.)

200

This is not the organic premium line of Whole Foods ice cream; instead, this is the mainstream 48 oz. packaged ice cream.

Density:

Flavor:

Blue Bell Dutch Chocolate

Flavor Rating

Density Rating

Ingredient Rating

Serving Weight (gm.)

Calories/Serving

Fat/Serving (gm.)

210

Blue Bell is a Midwestern brand that is not available locally in the Mid-Atlantic region, so at some point we'll have to order it from their website and try it.

Density:

Flavor:

Breyer's Chocolate

Flavor Rating

Density Rating

Ingredient Rating

Serving Weight (gm.)

Calories/Serving

Fat/Serving (gm.)

180

Will start working on trying this one soon.

Density:

Flavor:

Giant Real Chocolate

Flavor Rating

Density Rating

Ingredient Rating

Serving Weight (gm.)

Calories/Serving

Fat/Serving (gm.)

170

Finally got around to buying a package. Now just need to get around it trying it.

Density:

Flavor:

Jeni's Milkiest Chocolate

Flavor Rating

Density Rating

Ingredient Rating

Serving Weight (gm.)

Calories/Serving

Fat/Serving (gm.)

128

330

We haven't been able to purchase this flavor, even though many places in our area sell Jeni's, just not this flavor.

Density:

Flavor:

Turkey Hill Dutch Chocolate

Flavor Rating

Density Rating

Ingredient Rating

Serving Weight (gm.)

Calories/Serving

Fat/Serving (gm.)

190

There is no shortage of Turkey Hill ice creams in local markets, but we just have not gotten around to buying it.

Density:

Flavor:

Last Updated: 05/31/2026

Ice Cream Rating Methods

Regarding the ratings, three main ratings are used. Most ice cream comparisons base their rankings solely on the reviewer's opinion of the ice cream's flavor and texture. In addition to our qualitative flavor rating, we also add a density rating and a ranking based on the ice cream's ingredients. For fun, rate the ice cream's density and flavor using a one-to-five ice cream cup rating scale.

Before jumping into the details of how we rated ice creams on this site, it is interesting to see how the government defines ice cream. The FDA requirements for "ice cream" labeling (21 CFR Part 135):

Milkfat: Minimum 10% by weight (some variants with bulky flavors like nuts/fruit allow slightly lower)
Milk solids: Minimum 20% total milk solids by weight
Weight: Minimum 4.5 lbs. per gallon (limits overrun, excludes high-air products)
Must be pasteurized

Density Rating

The density (weight) rating in the mini-reviews is defined as the single-serving weight. The rating for each ice cream is between 2 and 5 cups, as shown in Table 2 below. This was added to document how much air is mixed into each ice cream. It may also suggest that a manufacturer is making efforts to cut costs. Another more course rating is similar to the terms used by ice cream makers. It is the "Quality Category" shown in Table 3.

Table 2. Density Ice Cream Cup Rating

Table 3. Ice Cream Quality Category

Flavor Rating

The flavor rating is really just an opinion, not a specific metric, but it combines our views on the ice cream's flavor and texture into a single qualitative rating. For common flavors (vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry), the flavor rating attempts to include comparisons between brands of the same flavor. Taste testing across brands isn't usually done at the same time, so this comparison may not be very accurate. (But as I said in the page title, this is a random flavor comparison.) Our reviewers' flavor preferences tend to color the ratings.

In general, we favor more substantial (less airy) ice creams. Any hint of ice crystals is a negative.
Ice creams were served directly from the freezer and eaten (individually) over time (so they warmed as we ate).
This testing was not done blind; thus, the cognitive bias of the brand or container was in full effect.
For vanilla bean ice creams, we prefer some flavor complexity beyond just cream, sugar, and vanilla, so noticeable custardy-egg ice creams rate higher.
For strawberry ice creams, we want a strong, fresh fruit flavor, not syrupy, and a base that adds creamy sweetness without overpowering the berry.
For chocolate, we are looking for a strong chocolate-and-sweet ice cream combination. Usually, a stronger chocolate flavor is better.

Ingredient Rating

The ingredient rating looks at the list of ingredients for each ice cream and ranks them based on having fewer, higher-quality, healthier ingredients and fewer preservatives and emulsifiers. This is a partially subjective rating depending on one's feelings about food additives. The rough guidelines were:

The higher on the ingredient list that cream is, the better.
The more ingredients beyond the required basics (Cream, Milk, Sugar, Flavoring) were present, the lower the score.
Several ice creams describe themselves as containing "Organic" ingredients. This rating completely ignores this.
Having emulsifier and preservative ingredients lowers the score. In the list below, higher-ranking ingredients were considered worse than lower-ranking ones.

1) Mono- & Diglycerides; 2) Xanthan Gum; 3) Guar Gum; 4) Locust Bean / Carob Bean Gum; 5) Tapioca Starch; 6) Tara Gum

Why Not Include Cost? (OK, decided to add to the tables)

Ideally, we would have included cost in the individual ratings, but ice cream prices at the supermarket can vary widely, even over the course of a few weeks and from store to store, also depending on promotions. In addition, people's individual opinions on the importance of price vary as widely as opinions on ice cream taste. So originally, we were going to exclude pricing but included in the summary tables.