31 flavors of ice cream, ranked from worst to best (2023)

You can get your sorbets, ice creams, granitas and sherbet on sunny days. Nine times out of 10, I prefer real ice cream. With this iconic base of fat, protein and sugar with a veritable smorgasbord of possible additional flavors and textures, you could have a different kind of ice cream every day for a year, but that's not always a good thing. Some flavors are better left in the dustbin of culinary history. When you're standing in front of the cold case, it can be so hard to pick just one perfect scoop! Let's talk about the most common varieties. It happens to be thirty-one, like a certain famous ice cream parlor, but that's completely coincidental.

31. Chewing gum/Kamamaki

I know there is someone out there who claims these are two different flavors, and I'm sorry to inform you that you are woefully mistaken. These taste exactly the same, and it's bad. Too sweet, too flat and hopelessly boring. Whoever said, "Even bad ice cream is pretty good," never tasted this. You can also eat the cardboard. And the very common color blue? Injury offense.

30. Neapolitan

A combination of three flavors is supposed to mean everyone is happy, but in practice it means no one is. If strawberry is your favorite, you are especially out of luck, because the Neapolitan strawberry is objectively the worst strawberry. The city of Naples should sue for defamation.

29. Birthday Cake / Cake Batter

I like cake and I like ice cream, but somehow birthday cake tastes like the worst of both worlds: the often soggy cake undercuts the ice cream and the ice cream overwhelms the cake. To make matters worse, the flavors of cake and ice cream are usually indistinguishable. The flavor of cake batter, which has no cake stuck to it but a fake cake flavor that permeates the entire ball, is similarly affected by too much of a good thing.

Also, I hate sparks. I said it there.

28. cherry

I've had a few homemade cherry ice creams that used a lot of black cherry puree or tart cherry, but usually cherry ice cream uses varieties that aren't very interesting, like they're left over after the harvest. formalschino purposes. Or worse, they use the deadly sin of fake cherry flavoring. When cooled, some of the tannic and woody flavors that make a cherry pie such a delight are so muted as to be imperceptible. The only acceptable version is with cherry chocolate chips, and even then, it's objectively the worst chocolate ever.

27. Rum with raisins

I know, I know! Hate the idea, but have you ever tried it? I don't like raisins, but I still like this, and a little bickering over trivial things is what makes life worth living. The raisins are soaked in literal rum, so they're smoother than you'd think they would be, and their strong raisin flavor is held back by the fat in the cream. Additionally, it is the focus of the best scene in 1991's fifth highest-grossing film, City Slickers. Sauteed sea bass, potatoes and asparagus for dinner? Don't forget a pint of it.

26. Cookie Dough

While I implore you not to risk the food poisoning possible from eating actual raw cookie dough, I understand its delicious allure. However, that's not what's in cookie dough ice cream. The supposed cookie dough pieces are too hard, without the sweet texture of the real thing, and the chocolate chips just can't melt into a bite of ice cream. It's a great concept, but the execution deserves the ax.

25. Key File

This is my favorite pie flavor, but I have yet to find a Key Lime ice cream that I thought really worked. The best ones have graham cracker bits, but they never reach the top of the cake. The cream overshadows the zesty freshness of the lime, dooming it to be a mere shadow of its pie-shaped greatness, a forever disappointment. If you go for the lime, go for the sorbet.

24. cinnamon

The warmth of real cinnamon is a nice complement to cold cream, as long as it's real ground cinnamon. If it's just cinnamon oil, it's like eating frozen Red Hots and belongs at the bottom of the list. On the other hand, if it is sweetened with maple syrup, it can rise a bit.

23. lemon

Like Key lime, lemon ice cream is best served with cookie pieces. It's much more successful than lime, but if I'm looking for citrus of any kind, I usually skip the dairy and go for ice cream or granita.

22. Matcha / green tea

This flavor is perfect for someone who prefers complex and bitter to flat and sweet. Matcha is a green tea powder, quite strong and tannic. Even if you don't like it neat, you might appreciate it when mixed with sweet cream. the edges are rounded, but it maintains a solid astringent finish. Some brands add a lot more matcha than others, and that can be a very good thing. If the green color overpowers the cream color, it's like being punched in the face with a bag of mulch.

21. strawberry

Most Strawberry Flowers is a serious fragrance, with a flavor best described as unfortunate pink and an artificial color to match. If it's real strawberry, it's fine, but not as good as vanilla with strawberries on top. Like citrus, strawberry is best served in sherbets or flavor mixes that have some bitterness or risk drowning in syrupy oblivion.

20. cup peanut butter

If you pick it up at an ice cream shop where they have a full size Reese's cup and cut it into your ice cream of choice, you'll sing, but the grocery store variety usually uses mini cups with the wrong chocolate. -peanut butter ratio, and they're also frozen, which makes for an unpleasant biting experience. But it's better than cookie dough.

19. peach

The best version has pieces of ripe peaches with a slight pink tint where the inner pit was. Unfortunately, most peach ice creams use concentrated peach juice and end up tasting canned.

18. Chocolate ice cream swirl

Don't get me wrong, it's delicious and sometimes just what I want. Most of the time, though, it's too much of a note. OK, also two notes. It needs a touch of crunch and chocolate syrup isn't as interesting as a thicker fudge or caramel. It should be considered a good start at best.

17. coconut

Coconut milk ice cream is the closest dairy-free approach to cow's milk ice cream and has a freshness that can't be replicated with real dairy. Toasted coconut milk ice cream tastes almost different than coconut milk ice cream, with much more depth and complexity, and I prefer it, but it's so different that I don't crave it often. Every bite screams "COCO!" so you better be in the mood for that alone.

16. Rocky road

Let's face it: frozen marshmallows are weird. It was one of my childhood favorites, but these days I can't put gum down. Other flavors use your overall flavor profile to better effect.

15. banana nut

Don't bother with plain plantain? In real banana puree ice cream, the nuts are the perfect textural accompaniment, with just the right amount of buttery, crunchy umami and sour contrast to put the banana in its best light. Speaking of light, don't go for light banana ice cream—this is one place where the milk fat's effect on the banana's natural flavors is worth more than the calories, even though banana sorbet is one of the tastiest home-made ice creams out there. next to . candies

14. Peanut

I don't approve of the ones with too much unnatural green color added, but the flavor itself is great. The best varieties have a mixture of coarse pieces, chopped pieces and fine peanut powder.

13. Dulce de Leche

There's no better apple pie accompaniment than a scoop of dulce de leche. Some brands are smooth, blend into the cream base, and some have swirls or even little chunks. Each has its own delicious role to play, but the swirl is my favorite. Sure it's very sweet, but it has unfathomable complexity: an evolution of toasty and golden flavors. The juxtaposition of cold cream with caramel from milk and sugar at a long boil is enchanting. If you've ever made fried no-fry ice cream, where you cook corn flakes in butter and cinnamon sugar before rolling them into a ball, this flavor is tailor-made for use in this recipe.

12. Butter pecans

In some ways, the pistachio has a more interesting nutty flavor, but the crunchy bits give it an edge over both that and the dulce de leche. He is also nostalgic. Especially in the South, you'll also find cream 'n' pralines, in which the brittle sits as a coating around the nuts, and there's usually a ripple of caramel. In both, the layers of fresh cream and brown butter flavors make the dairy the stars in a way that not all ice creams can.

11. in vain

Half of you think vanilla is too high on this list and the other half think it's too low. It is one of the great ironies of the modern age that a fragrance made from the seed pod of an increasingly rare rainforest orchid is synonymous with simple and bland. Next time you try it, buy an expensive one, preferably with real vanilla beans. Close your eyes. See if you can catch the scent first. Let a small bite melt in your mouth slowly. As it heats up, so will the flavor. Vanilla actually has many layers, like the facets of a jewel. However, orchid is more fun to accessorize, and that keeps it at the bottom end of the top 10.

10. Strawberry cheesecake

The graham cracker pieces and cheesecake flavor elevate the strawberry flavor to its highest purpose. The strawberry swirl kind, instead of blending into the base, keeps the summer berry front and center instead of drowning it in too much cream and sugar.

9. Cookies and cream

The crunchy cookies withstand the moisture of the ice cream without falling apart like a cake, but also without freezing into tooth-shattering rocky clumps. Whether ground to a large powder or left in chunks, this flavor is good enough to partially make up for the lack of vanilla flavor. If you're throwing a half-gallon of a cheaper brand in the shopping cart, that's a good bet.

8. chocolate

I love chocolate ice cream, but I also think it's overrated. Like the ice cream swirl, I use it as a base for a wide variety of toppings rather than enjoying it on its own. The best ones have a hint of malt or lots of dark chocolate. Ironically, the best chocolate ice cream I've ever had isn't ice cream, it's oneChocolate Sorbet by David Lebovitz. Every chocolate ice cream I've had since I first made it has been a disappointment.

7. Coffee / Mocha

There are many challenges to making a good coffee ice cream. You can't just add brewed coffee to the creamer and call it a day. you will get a watery taste and unpleasantly large crystals. And, if they're not prime arabica beans brewed at the right time, you can get a sour or burnt flavor that's enhanced by chilling. Done right though, a ball of coffee is transcendent and the chip repeat makes for a fantastic shake. Although the mocha version that adds a bit of chocolate has a synergy of flavors, bringing out the coffee and cocoa flavors, the black coffee is a real treat on its own.

6. Chocolate chips

Far superior to the chocolate ice cream swirl, although it has the same basic flavors, the best chocolate chip version uses the textural advantage of thin, crunchy dark chocolate pieces instead of mini chips and combines them with good quality vanilla. Chocolate chip chocolate always sounds tempting to me, the greatest chocolate in the world, but I find there isn't enough contrast between the flavors in this case.

5. Black raspberry

This is the best fruit based ice cream. Raspberries are much stronger than other berry flavors that can be combined with heavy cream, so whether blended or swirled, the balance between tart and sweet is perfect as long as enough berries are added. You can practically enjoy the long afternoon sun. The color is also lovely: a natural pink-purple like violets or lavender. If you want to blow your mind, pair a scoop of this with one of the best peaches. Beloved.

4. Moose tracks

This flavor sometimes has those mini peanut butter cups that are so problematic, but the best ones use bigger pieces and adding the other elements (chocolate swirl and vanilla ice cream) puts it higher in the top 10. The only thing missing is the palate. to me it's a little more contrast of textures. Throw some chopped peanuts on top and I think it's a contender for the #1 spot.

3. Baked almond fudge

This flavor takes chocolate ice cream to its highest purpose, but some versions use vanilla with a fudge ripple for some success. The bitterness from the cocoa meets the golden Maillard and the touch of salt in the roasted almond to create a landscape of complex texture and just the right harmony of flavors to keep it interesting without muddying the waters or creams. As important as what's there is what's not there: marshmallows a la Rocky Road. There is a mocha version of this which is a personal favourite.

2. Mint chips

Is it cheating to put the mint in a separate category from the regular chip? I do not mind. Crunchy, cool mint lightens the heavy cream in a way unlike any other flavor on this list. Some brands are very strict about green food dyes, but on a hot day when snacking seems as important as indulgence, there's no other custard-based frozen treat for me. A mint chip milkshake with a couple of Oreos is a regular at my house.

1. Tortoise/Pecan Caramel

This ice cream combines some of the other best flavors into a winning combination. When made with premium vanilla, equal amounts of chocolate and caramel, and crunchy pecans toasted to perfection, it's the pinnacle of creamy achievement. Nothing against almonds and peanut butter that features as prominently elsewhere in the top 10, but walnuts in particular resonate and enhance the buttery notes and oiliness of real milk like a dairy choir in a frozen Grand Canyon. And the audience goes crazy!

In the end, taste doesn't count, so maybe my favorite flavor on my list is last for you. Quality also plays a role - you could go for a really great ice cream with a microcrystalline pie crust instead of a thin, frozen slice of mint.

However, if you choose gum, let's just say you can have mine. I couldn't eat another bite.