Nothing says summer like a towering double scoop of ice cream perched atop the cone or dish of your choice.
Ben & Jerry’s has been a staple in the premium ice cream department since lifelong best friends Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield started their first ice cream shop in Burlington, Vermont back in 1978. Many of their original flavors continue to be bestsellers today, but they’ve also added new concoctions (with clever new names) to reflect our changing times.
With all of the delicious options available in our freezer sections today, it can be difficult to pick a favorite. Below you’ll find the definitive ranking of the best and most popular Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavors, ending with the variety that fans agree is the best of the best.
10. Milk & Cookies
This delectable option starts with vanilla ice cream, then adds a swirl of chocolate cookies. But wait, there’s more! Chocolate chip and chocolate chocolate chip cookies are then crushed up and added to the mix, giving the ice cream that distinctive crunchy mouthfeel that is Ben & Jerry’s calling card.
9. Chunky Monkey
Okay, normally we’d turn our nose up at banana-flavored ice cream, but somehow it tastes amazing when you add dark chocolate fudge chunks and walnuts to the mix. Chunky Monkey has been a favorite flavor since it first hit the market, and fans insist it tastes like banana cream pie and banana nut bread all mixed together.
8. Americone Dream
Stephen Colbert, host of The Late Show, agreed to collaborate with Ben & Jerry’s in 2006. The company sent Colbert three new varieties of ice cream and he and his family tasted them all before selecting their favorite: a vanilla with fudge-covered waffle cone chunks and a caramel swirl. That ice cream was named Americone Dream, and it’s now one of the top choices in scoop shops around the nation.
Not only is this a delicious flavor, but proceeds from sales of this variety benefit The Stephen Colbert AmeriCone Dream Fund, a charity that supports environmental causes and provides medical assistance, food, and other necessary services to disadvantaged children and veterans.
7. The Tonight Dough
Another late-night host is behind this flavor of B & J’s. Jimmy Fallon selected this wacky combination of caramel and chocolate ice creams mixed together with chocolate cookie swirls and chocolate chip cookie dough and peanut butter cookie dough to commemorate taking over as host of The Tonight Show. Despite the potentially overloaded flavor profile, it has been one of the most popular flavors since its invention in 2015.
Sweetening the deal is the fact that proceeds from the sale of The Tonight Dough are donated to the SeriousFun Children’s Network, a charity that helps children with serious illnesses.
6. Phish Food
Ben & Jerry’s might be one of the most famous things to ever come out of Burlington, but the band Phish has to be up there on the list as well. Phish Food was created in 1995 to celebrate their “shared Vermont roots,” with royalties benefitting the WaterWheel Foundation, a non-profit organization created by Phish to oversee their charitable activities. A fan favorite for decades, Phish Food starts with chocolate ice cream and adds marshmallow swirls, caramel swirls, and fudge fish.
5. Chocolate Fudge Brownie
Chocolate Fudge Brown is exactly what it sounds like: chocolate ice cream with chunks of fudge brownies mixed in. It’s a simple yet effective original flavor, making it a favorite since its inception. The brownies in this variety come from Greyston Bakery in New York, an organization with a focus on inclusive hiring practices for low-income city residents.
4. Strawberry Cheesecake
Not all ice cream has to involve chocolate or caramel! Strawberry Cheesecake is for all of the cheesecake lovers out there, and it truly hits the spot. The ice cream itself tastes like strawberries and cheesecake, and then chunks of actual strawberries and thick graham cracker crust are swirled in. Decadent!
3. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Is there a more classic flavor than Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough? It’s simple, just vanilla ice cream with big chunks of cookie dough mixed in. This flavor started off as an anonymous fan suggestion in 1984. It’s been in the top 5 flavors ever since—that’s forty years, in case you’re keeping track!
2. Cherry Garcia
Cherry ice cream with cherries and fudge flakes … om nom nom! Cherry Garcia, named after the late Jerry Garcia from The Grateful Dead, is one of the original Ben & Jerry’s flavors that just never gets old. This was the first of the brand’s flavors to honor a musician, and it’s consistently ranked in the top 3 flavors of all time. It’s also certified gluten-free!
1. Half Baked
Half Baked is one of the newer flavors, yet it’s held the number 1 slot among fans for the past two years. Chocolate and vanilla ice cream are mixed together with chocolate chip cookie dough and fudge brownies, basically mixing up all of the best flavors into one scrumptious scoop. Like Chocolate Fudge Brownie, the brownies from Half Baked are sourced from the socially-responsible Greyson’s Bakery. The chocolate chip cookie dough comes from Rhino Foods, a company with a similar ethos.
Raise your hand if you’re suddenly craving ice cream! Life is short—treat yourself!
(featured image: Ben & Jerry’s)
