The best vegan ice cream list

We loved the appetizing light pink color and restrained, fresh strawberry flavor of Ben & Jerry’s Non-Dairy Strawberry Cheezecake Frozen Dessert. Unlike other vegan strawberry flavors we’ve tasted, which can lean artificial and medicinal, this ice cream tasted sweet and tart, with the brightness of fresh strawberries.

The strawberry base is paired with a graham cracker swirl. The swirl has the salty, warm flavor of crushed graham crackers and offers a textural mix of crunch and doughiness. Some tasters found the texture a bit sandy, but it didn’t take away from their enjoyment of the pint. Strawberry chunks are mixed throughout, bringing the slight crunch of frozen fruit. There are no cheesecake pieces in this pint, but the creamy tartness of the strawberry base evokes cheesecake well enough.

Ben & Jerry’s used to offer two non-dairy ice cream bases, almond milk and sunflower butter, but they recently overhauled their recipe and are transitioning all of their flavors into one oat-milk-based formula, which contains oat milk, liquid sugar, corn syrup, and coconut oil. When it comes to their chocolate and vanilla base flavors, the new oat milk recipe is texturally successful—rich and creamy—but has the cardboardy aftertaste common among vegan ice creams. We did not detect any of those off flavors in this pint, with fresh strawberry and salty graham cracker stealing the show.

Base: oat milk
Allergens: soy, wheat

This McConnell’s pint wowed us with its bright flavor and a tangy, jammy lemon swirl. Refreshing, balanced, and sherbet-like, a scoop (or two) would be just the thing on a hot day.

We didn’t detect any odd flavors or textures, something that was not true of other oat-milk-based ice creams we tried . For our tasters, the bracing lemon swirl was the highlight—a sharp cut through the sweeter passion fruit base. This is one of the few vegan ice creams we tried that claim to be nut- and gluten-free. It does contain coconut oil, but, according to a McConnell’s representative, the oil is highly refined and free of any of the eight major allergens. (Highly refined oils are exempt from FDA allergen-labeling requirements for this reason. But if you have any concerns about potential allergens, talk to your medical provider).

Base: oat milk

This Van Leeuwen peanut butter flavor was one of the richest we tried. The dense ice cream—a blend of peanut butter, coconut cream, cashew milk, coconut oil, and cocoa butter mixed with brownie and honeycomb bits, plus a peanut butter swirl—had a hearty, almost wholesome vibe. Each bite was laced with mix-ins; occasionally when spooning through the pint, we hit a solid wall of sweet-salty peanut butter.

The promised honeycomb pieces were sparse, and the brownie bits were dry and lacking in chocolate flavor. But overall, this was still an enjoyable pint, perfect for a peanut butter lover. And it’s gluten-free.

Though this is the only Van Leeuwen offering we tested, we have enjoyed some of the company’s other vegan flavors. It’s worthwhile to taste the whole plant-based line to see which flavor you like best.

Base: coconut cream, cashew milk, coconut oil, cocoa butter
Allergens: peanuts, cashews, coconut