I'd Love to Compare Cookie Dough Ice Creams

06/13/2026

Overview - Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

This makes our list of "common flavors" mostly because it is one of this author's favorites, but also because it is a flavor that is made by many brands and it is a flavor which has a lot of mix-ins. It is interesting to compare the quantity and quality of the mix-ins across different brands.

Table 1. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream Ingredient Comparison

Individual Cookie Dough Ice Cream Reviews

Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough

Flavor Rating

Density Rating

Ingredient Rating

Serving Weight (gm.)

Calories/Serving

Fat/Serving (gm.)

138

380

Density: Ben and Jerry's ice creams are generally very dense, and this flavor is no different, falling into the Ultra Premium category.

Flavor: To this reviewer, the flavor of this ice cream is very close to, if not the top-rated, chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. The vanilla base is very creamy and has a rich, distinctive cream-and-vanilla flavor. The cookie dough and chocolate chips are plentiful, and the dough balls add a brown-sugar flavor and a doughy texture to each mouthful.

Bethlehem Dairy Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Flavor Rating

Density Rating

Ingredient Rating

Serving Weight (gm.)

Calories/Serving

Fat/Serving (gm.)

135

Density:

Flavor:

Blue Bell Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Flavor Rating

Density Rating

Ingredient Rating

Serving Weight (gm.)

Calories/Serving

Fat/Serving (gm.)

250

Density:

Flavor:

Breyer's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Flavor Rating

Density Rating

Ingredient Rating

Serving Weight (gm.)

Calories/Serving

Fat/Serving (gm.)

190

This flavor does not qualify as an ice cream. It is a frozen dessert and therefore should not really be on this list, but we had to try this chocolate chip cookie dough to see how it compares to real ice cream.

Density: Part of why this is a frozen dessert is its high overrun. This "ice cream" is one of the least dense desserts on this list, and it comes across as light and airy, not as rich and creamy as the more premium ice creams.

Flavor: Overall, the ice cream's flavor is "middle-of-the-road." The base is sweet, light, and slightly creamy but has little character. The texture is nice and smooth, but (not surprisingly) lacks the creamy vanilla flavor of the more premium ice creams. There is a good amount of cookie dough pellets and chocolate-flavored bits, both of which taste very good and are a plus.

Graeter's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Chocolate Chip

Flavor Rating

Density Rating

Ingredient Rating

Serving Weight (gm.)

Calories/Serving

Fat/Serving (gm.)

144

420

Density:

Flavor:

Haagen-Dazs Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Flavor Rating

Density Rating

Ingredient Rating

Serving Weight (gm.)

Calories/Serving

Fat/Serving (gm.)

133

380

Density:

Flavor:

Jeni's Double Dough

Flavor Rating

Density Rating

Ingredient Rating

Serving Weight (gm.)

Calories/Serving

Fat/Serving (gm.)

127

330

Density: While perhaps not the very densest ice cream, it remains quite dense and yet creamy, still falling into the super-premium category. My measured weight per serving is about 5 grams more than the package indicates (as shown above).

Flavor: This ice cream features a smooth, creamy texture free of icy crystals, as expected. Although technically a Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough flavor, it offers a distinctive taste, primarily due to its molasses-like brown sugar base. It contains numerous small cookie-dough pellet mix-ins. The brown sugar flavor is prominent, which I see as a positive, while the mix-ins mainly provide texture rather than flavor. The flavor of this version differs significantly from other cookie-dough ice creams due to the brown-sugar base and the lack of chocolate chips. However, I believe that this unique recipe tastes great and is what makes it stand out.

Tillamook Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Flavor Rating

Density Rating

Ingredient Rating

Serving Weight (gm.)

Calories/Serving

Fat/Serving (gm.)

240

Tillamook, as a brand, appears to target a slightly upscale ice cream in terms of flavor, mouthfeel, and density.

Density:

Flavor:

Turkey Hill Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Flavor Rating

Density Rating

Ingredient Rating

Serving Weight (gm.)

Calories/Serving

Fat/Serving (gm.)

160

Density:

Flavor:

Van Leeuwen Brown Sugar Cookie Dough

Flavor Rating

Density Rating

Ingredient Rating

Serving Weight (gm.)

Calories/Serving

Fat/Serving (gm.)

117

340

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.