Of all the many ice cream flavors you’ll find at the grocery store, mint chocolate chip is probably one of the most polarizing. You either love it or hate it.
Those who dislike peppermint compare it to eating toothpaste, while lovers of the herb rave about its refreshing qualities. For the fans, that icy cool menthol effect can make almost anything taste better, whether they’re noshing on a peppermint patty, sipping on a mojito, or just lapping up their favorite frosty treat.
I, for one, am firmly in the love category, having been converted to the reviving nature of mint chocolate chip ice cream by many visits to Baskin Robbins as a kid. Georgia gets really hot in the summer, and my usual excuse for digging into this sweet, often green-tinted dessert is the heat relief it provides on a 100-degree day. Nothing will make you love a food more.
As a fan who’s consumed countless scoops of minty, chocolaty goodness over the years, I didn’t expect to find much difference between the various brands on the market, even though some versions are low-sugar or keto-friendly. But after eating my way through 10 different takes on the same classic flavor, I actually encountered many distinctions. Though I wasn’t surprised by which type won my heart, I certainly learned more about my own preferences as I tasted.
Take a read through the products below, ranked in order from my least to my most favorite, and see which one you’d like to try. This article isn’t just for those who love the flavor. Even if you’re not a fan, a few of these brands are so good that they might just change your opinion.
Nick’s Mint Chokladchip
Calories: 90
Fat: 6 g (Saturated Fat: 4.5 g)
Sodium: 150 mg
Carbs: 19 g (Fiber: 7 g, Sugar: 0 g)
Protein: 3 g
Nick’s comes in a pint container, with a unique name to reflect its Swedish approach to ice cream. It’s low in calories and has zero added sugar, making it fit well into many sugar-free diets.
The look: The actual product is a pleasant light green and seems very creamy and rich.
The taste: I wasn’t familiar with Swedish-style ice cream until I bought this container of Nick’s. The approach is to replace dairy fats with plant-based fats, which seemed like a great idea. Unfortunately, I didn’t really like what I tasted. While Nick’s is diet-friendly, I really found the flavor of mint strange. It was reminiscent of schnapps or spearmint mixed with vanilla coffee creamer. I think if you’re dieting, this ice cream will appeal to those who want to soothe a craving for sweets. A pint is only 270 calories and the dessert is keto-friendly and gluten-free.
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Light Halo Top Mint Chip
Calories: 11o
Fat: 2.5 g (Saturated Fat: 1.5 g)
Sodium: 95 mg
Carbs: 23 g (Fiber: 6 g, Sugar: 10 g)
Protein: 5 g
Halo Top was the innovator for light, tasty ice cream that tastes like the full-calorie version. With 330 calories in this whole pint, it’s a great option for those watching their weight.
The look: The ice cream was white, creamy ice cream with flecks of chocolate. The pint container was green to reflect the mint flavor with a smart nutrition label QR code for more information.
The taste: I expected Halo Top to excel with mint chocolate chip. I’ve tasted other flavors, enjoying the creaminess and benefit of not feeling overstuffed and guilty after eating. Also, mint is a powerful flavor, covering up ingredients that are missing. I was surprised that I wasn’t impressed with this diet version either. Somehow, mint chip must be a hard flavor to cut calories. While Halo Top does taste like ice cream, it was grainy instead of smooth.
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Oreo Mint
Calories: 19o
Fat: 7 g (Saturated Fat: 4.5 g)
Sodium: 90 mg
Carbs: 29 g (Fiber: 0 g, Sugar: 20 g)
Protein: 2 g
With the same branding as the popular sandwich cookies, Oreo Mint catches your eye in the frozen foods case. There are quite a few versions of Oreo ice cream, but the scoop of green ice cream on the packaging makes this one stand out. With it’s sweet taste, I was super surprised that it was lower in calories than most other brands.
The look: The ice cream is green with large and small pieces of Oreo’s in every scoop. It looks cool and refreshing.
The taste: While this tasted good, it was more about the Oreo than it was about the ice cream. The mint flavor was secondary to the chipped up cookie. I would recommend this to Oreo aficionados. In some bites, you’ll get cookie pieces and in others you can identify sections of that signature Oreo filling.
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Blue Bell Mint Chocolate Chip
Calories: 230
Fat: 14 g (Saturated Fat: 9 g)
Sodium: 65 mg
Carbs: 26 g (Fiber: 1 g, Sugar: 24 g)
Protein: 5 g
The Blue Bell company has been making ice cream for over 100 years. It’s made in Texas and not distributed everywhere, but slowly growing in presence across the U.S. Blue Bell’s chocolate chip cookie dough is one of my absolute favorites, so I was excited to taste the brand’s version of mint chocolate chip.
The look: Blue Bell’s mint chip is an almost disconcertingly bright shade of green. It comes in a generous half-gallon container and is highly scoopable and creamy.
The taste: Rich with big hunks of chocolate suspended in the creamy dessert, but visually the bright green color dropped it down a notch in my list. This one was tasty, but the mint chip didn’t quite the brand’s cookie dough flavor in my book.
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Rebel Mint Chip
Calories: 210
Fat: 19 g (Saturated Fat: 13 g)
Sodium: 75 mg
Carbs: 16 g (Fiber: 3 g, Sugar: 0 g)
Protein: 2 g
Rebel is absolutely sugar-free, offering dairy ice cream without the extra calories of traditional sweetener. The company uses monk fruit and doesn’t remove any fat from its dairy products to make a silky diet-friendly version of mint chocolate chip ice cream.
The look: The white ice cream looks smooth and rich with chocolate pieces studded through the pint. The light green container gives a feeling of cool mint and the graphics are simple, making the label readable and modern.
The taste: Rebel felt less dense than conventional ice cream and melted pretty fast. It was still smooth, probably due to the presence of that dairy fat. The chocolate and mint combination was mild but satisfying. Even if you don’t enjoy mint, this sugar-free ice cream would still taste pretty good. The chocolate pieces have a flavor profile reminiscent of Dutch chocolate.
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Publix Mint Chocolate Chip
Calories: 220
Fat: 14 g (Saturated Fat: 9 g)
Sodium: 50 mg
Carbs: 21 g (Fiber: 1 g, Sugar: 18 g)
Protein: 4 g
As far as grocery store ice creams go, Publix is loved for it’s creamy taste and generous portions. For this minty variety, shoppers get quite a lot of bang for their buck. I purchased the ice cream during a promotional 2 for $10 sale, allowing me to by the mint ice cream for me and something else for my husband, who isn’t a fan.
The look: Publix has that traditional green color and plenty of chocolate pieces scattered in the ice cream. The black carton holds a half gallon of ice cream, offering mint lovers plenty of snacking for their purchase.
The taste: The mint flavor is milder than other brands, making for a broader audience appeal. There’s plenty of chocolate and the ice cream itself tastes great.
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Baskin Robbins Mint Chocolate Chip
Calories: 250
Fat: 15 g (Saturated Fat: 9 g)
Sodium: 80 mg
Carbs: 27 g (Fiber: 1 g, Sugar: 21 g)
Protein: 4 g
So many ice cream lovers remember stopping in to their local Baskin Robbins store back in the day to get a frozen treat with friends or family. The one closest to my family was next to the movie theater and I looked forward to a cone of mint chocolate chip every time we ventured out for a movie. The pink container has the logo and displays the familiar brand colors of the stores. It’s nice to sample nostalgia at home.
The look: Similar in color to the green Publix version, you know you’re eating a mint treat as soon as you see the ice cream. You can smell the mint, but not overwhelmingly. It’s refreshing.
The taste: Baskin Robbins has tons of semi-sweet chocolate pieces in every bite. There’s an equal mix of mint and chocolate, making each bite a balanced treat.
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Tillamook Mint Chocolate Chip
Calories: 240
Fat: 14 g (Saturated Fat: 9 g)
Sodium: 50 mg
Carbs: 25 g (Fiber: 1 g, Sugar: 24 g)
Protein: 4 g
As a dairy farmer cooperative, Tillamook produces a ton of dairy products have extra cream, and this ice cream is no different. It’s the first ingredient listed on the back. This 1.5-quart container.
The look: Tillamook’s white ice cream just looks creamier, and that’s also reflected in the taste. It has bigger chocolate pieces than other brands, too, which are highly visible within the rich ice cream.
The taste: The premium ingredients in Tillamook make this ice cream super satisfying. The chocolate pieces are big and fudgy and the mint is lighter. The chocolate and mint flavors are well blended together, rather than mint alone with chocolate pieces added. It’s delicious.
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Häagen-Dazs Mint Chip
Calories: 360
Fat: 23 g (Saturated Fat: 16 g)
Sodium: 110 mg
Carbs: 33 g (Fiber: 1 g, Sugar: 29 g)
Protein: 6 g
Founded in New York in 1960, the Häagen-Dazs brand was created to be luxurious, using super-premium ingredients to make its ice cream flavors. The mix starts with real cream, milk, eggs, and sugar. A pint of its mint chip flavor cost me TK.
The look: Häagen-Dazs only comes in smaller containers, which makes it feel like indulgent treat. The ice cream is a creamy white color, relying on the actual mint itself rather than food coloring to give this flavor its identity.
The taste: The ice cream is really rich, but also cool and refreshing from the mint. The label doesn’t claim any special kind of chocolate, but the big chips taste so smooth that they are almost like high-end Belgian chocolate. This ice cream is truly indulgent.
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Ben & Jerry’s Topped Thick Mint
Calories: 440
Fat: 27 g (Saturated Fat: 13 g)
Sodium: 110 mg
Carbs: 45 g (Fiber: 2 g, Sugar: 38 g)
Protein: 6 g
This amazing ice cream was my overwhelming favorite. Ben & Jerry’s always takes regular ice cream flavors up a notch, but this topped version was extravagant. As a bonus, the company focuses on purchasing ingredients from small, quality purveyors while being concerned about preserving the environment.
The look: The signature Ben & Jerry’s small container is on the path to be petroleum-free and totally compostable by next year. This ice cream package could hardly hold all the names of the added ingredients, which gives you a clue why it became my huge favorite. When you popped the lid, the round chocolate pieces and ganache made a crust over the white ice cream inside.
The taste: While I’d call myself a traditional mint chocolate chip ice cream lover, the added textures and pieces in this ice cream made it stand above all the rest. It’s “topped” with mint chocolate chip cookie balls, chocolate cookies, and chocolate ganache. More of those are mixed in the ice cream along with swirls of chocolate. It was minty fresh, but had more chocolate than other brands. You really felt like you were eating a dessert after a serving of this ice cream.
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The post I Tried 10 Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Creams & the Most Chocolaty Flavor Won appeared first on Eat This Not That.