4 Trader Joe's Ice Creams That Are Worth Every Penny And 3 To Avoid

Trader Joe's frozen section is a treasure trove of some of the chain's best items, and one of the absolute highlights is the ice cream section. As with all Trader Joe's products, there are new flavors being introduced regularly, seasonal editions that come and go, and tried-and-true standards. As a regular Trader Joe's shopper, I've tasted a lot of the store's ice cream offerings and have enjoyed most of them, but I wanted to dig a little deeper.

After scouring the freezers at a few of my local TJs' locations, I procured all of the cartons I could find. I focused on dairy-based products, so this list doesn't include sorbets or other similar options. Once I had my hands on the final lineup, I scooped them up and tasted them one by one, evaluating their taste, texture, and quality. I'm putting each flavor to the test: Which ones are worth buying, and which ones should you leave behind?

I'll admit, coffee is my number one favorite ice cream flavor. When it's at its best, it's sweet and bitter, comforting and invigorating, just like an exceptionally brewed cup of joe (and packs a similar caffeine punch). Trader Joe's coffee bean blast ice cream ticks every single one of those boxes. The coffee flavor is punchy and complex, with a combination of brewed coffee and bits of ground beans. While it's very rich and creamy, it's not overly sweet, which can sometimes happen with this flavor. The coffee itself is the star here, shining in all of its roasted glory.

Oftentimes, with coffee ice cream, I find it a little bit one-dimensional and feel the need to add toppings or mix-ins like whipped cream or chocolate chips. With Trader Joe's, though, it stands on its own. This is a coffee lover's coffee ice cream that unapologetically celebrates the beverage's bold flavor rather than trying to dilute or diminish it.

The first thing you need to know about Trader Joe's pistachio & Fior di latte gelato style frozen dessert (whew, that's a mouthful) is that I found it to be absolutely delicious. The second thing you need to know, unfortunately, is that it's not gelato. Not even close, in fact — hence why it bears the comically clunky label. One look at the ingredients list and I was stunned. Coconut oil? Nonfat dry milk? Guar gum? I can only imagine the outrage this item would unleash from the internet's various Italians Mad at Food accounts (seriously, Google that phrase for a good laugh). 

Now, I'm not Italian, but I am an ardent lover of the country, its culture, and its cuisine. I have a favorite gelateria in just about every neighborhood in Rome. One of them, Gelateria del Teatro, has a massive window looking into the production area, so that you can watch the entire gelato-crafting process unfold. I guarantee you there's no coconut oil or guar gum in that kitchen. Obviously, making gelato daily by hand and selling it on-site is a completely different situation than mass-producing it for worldwide distribution, but the fact that there's not even real milk or cream in this concoction is absolutely wild to me. The pistachio flavor is intense and pleasantly toasty, and the Fior di latte is soft and light. Do yourself a favor, though, and find yourself some real gelato instead.

Speculoos is a type of traditional Belgian cookie with a caramelly, spicy character that Trader Joe's sells its own version of. Take that cookie and pulverize it into a paste, and you've got speculoos cookie butter, another product that Trader Joe's sells. Now, take that butter and mix it into vanilla ice cream, along with some crumbled cookies, and voila — you've got an incredibly delicious dessert. It's something akin to cookie dough ice cream, but with a silkier texture and a rich brown sugar flavor that melts into caramel on your tongue.

The swirl of cookie butter throughout the ice cream makes each bite a different experience. Whether you get just a hint of the stuff or a mouthful, it's hard not to dive right back in for more. The crumbled speculoos cookies offer another layer of texture and amp up the cinnamon spice that's so strong in the butter. This is definitely the sweetest of all the ice creams I tried, but rather than being heavy or cloying, it was perfectly decadent.

As the only fruit flavor on this list, I was really looking forward to enjoying Trader Joe's strawberry ice cream as a welcome change of pace from the other flavors. I did, in fact, find it enjoyable, but as much as I liked the first few bites, it didn't excite me as much as a lot of the other offerings. While this ice cream contains chunks of real strawberries, it also contains "natural flavors," which could mean just about anything. The strawberry flavor of the ice cream itself tastes a little candied, a little too sweet, especially when compared to the real strawberry bits. I found myself wishing it tasted less like strawberry candy and more like a real ripe, juicy berry.

While I found the flavor unbalanced and somewhat underwhelming, the texture of this ice cream was wonderful, as is the case with most of Trader Joe's offerings. You may notice the designation "Super Premium" that graces these cartons — that means the ice cream has a very low amount of air churned into it, making it denser and creamier. While this is not a bad product by any means, there are a lot of strawberry ice creams out there that have a more dimensional flavor, so I'll likely skip this one and shop for one of those brands instead next time.

Chocolate ice cream can be hit or miss for me. Sometimes it's way too rich and heavy, sometimes it tastes like it has no dimension whatsoever and reminds me of the cheap tubs you'd get at kids' birthday parties. Trader Joe's manages to thread that needle with its Ultra Chocolate super premium ice cream. The flavor is dimensional, sophisticated, and balanced, and the texture is just fudgy enough to feel decadent, but has a pillowy softness that keeps it from being too thick and weighty.

There's an intriguing boozy note to this ice cream that reminds me of chocolate liqueur, and a tinge of cocoa bitterness that keeps it from being overly sweet. Compared to other chocolate ice creams I've had, Trader Joe's offering is right up there with some that are twice the price. If you're a chocolate lover seeking an affordable luxury, definitely add this to your Trader Joe's shopping list.

Like my experience with the strawberry ice cream, I couldn't help but compare Trader Joe's french vanilla with other brands of vanilla ice cream I've had in my life, and there were definitely a few that came to mind that I preferred to this one. Granted, they may not be as affordable as this option, and there's nothing particularly wrong with this, making it an appealing choice on a budget. But that's where things get interesting.

When comparing Trader Joe's french vanilla ice cream to the Kirkland brand from Costco, I couldn't help but prefer the Costco version slightly — in my memory, it was richer and had a stronger vanilla flavor. I did a little digging, and it seems that these two ice creams may come from the same source: Humboldt Creamery. While the ingredient lists are similar, they're not precisely the same, accounting for the subtle differences between the two. If you've got the freezer space, the Kirkland vanilla ice cream is a much more economical option, and in my opinion, slightly better tasting.

As a kid, mint chocolate chip was my favorite flavor of ice cream. I never understood why people found it unpleasant and compared it to toothpaste, and I still don't. I mean, who doesn't love Junior Mints, Peppermint Patties, and Andes? Mint and chocolate are a fabulous pairing, brisk and invigorating while also rich and decadent. It's a beautiful balance of sensations, and Trader Joe's mint chip ice cream offers this combination in just about as perfect a way as you could imagine.

While it's called mint chip, the chocolate bits in this ice cream are more like shards, cracked into different thicknesses and sizes, which makes each bite unique. You could get a good, crunchy, chocolatey mouthfeel, followed by a refreshing, creamy bite that cleanses your palate and primes it for more chocolate. This never-ending cycle of richness and freshness makes this ice cream really hard to stop eating. I had to muster all of the self-control I'm capable of to stop myself from taking it down in one sitting. This is good stuff.

I judged each ice cream first and foremost on its taste — how eager am I to go back for more? The second element I took into account was texture, which was assessed right out of the container as well as after coming up a bit in temperature. Both gelato and ice cream become more flavorful and aromatic when they're a little warmed up, so I wanted to give these all a chance to fully express themselves. I also considered the quality of ingredients. In the end, it came down to which ones I'll enthusiastically buy again, and which ones I'll likely avoid on future shopping trips.