Best Frozen Yogurt and Ice Cream

Our testers tasted vanilla and butter pecan treats

Consumer Reports magazine: June 2013

In tasting 12 vanilla frozen yogurts and nine butter-pecan ice creams, our experts found some very tasty choices, including three CR Best Buys. They also noted a few hot trends in frozen desserts:

Sizes vary. Blue Bell is the only tested product still sold in a half-gallon tub. For the best deal, check package sizes and compare prices per ounce.
Descriptions are changing. Breyers calls some products "frozen dairy dessert." They don't meet the government standard for ice cream. For more definitions, see Talk the Talk on the facing page.
Greek frozen yogurt is coming on strong. You'll find more of it in stores, but none of the four we tested was very good.

The Ratings nutrition figures and scores for the Very Good products and name the also-rans, which include some big brands. Nutrition scores are based on a range of numbers that include fat, calcium, calories, and sugars.

Taste. The best frozen yogurts have a slightly eggy taste, a bit like vanilla custard. Häagen-Dazs tastes of real vanilla and has a slight fresh-dairy flavor; Blue Bunny has a touch of sour-dairy flavor. Although TCBY is very good overall, it feels a bit gummy and slick in the mouth.

The also-rans tend to have more flaws, including a foamy or airy texture or slight bitterness. The Greek frozen yogurts are less sweet than most of the others, with a big sour-dairy flavor.

Among the butter-pecan ice creams, Häagen-Dazs, Great Value, and Blue Bunny taste rich and have pieces of flavorful roasted nuts. Per serving, Häagen-Dazs had more nuts by weight than the others. It tastes more like a high-quality vanilla nut than a butter pecan; in the others, the ice cream has an appropriate butterscotch taste. Friendly's and Turkey Hill have slightly bitter nut pieces. The also-ran butter pecans taste as though they have artificial flavors, and they're gummy.

Nutrition. Most of the frozen yogurts rated Very Good for nutrition. They tend to have less fat, fewer calories, and more calcium than ice cream. (Häagen-Dazs vanilla is highest in calories but is also the most dense.) The Greek frozen yogurts contain 6 to 9 grams of protein compared with 2 to 4 grams in the regular frozen yogurts.

Most of the ice creams rated Good for nutrition. The exception, Häagen-Dazs, rated Poor: A mere half-cup has 300 calories and 10 grams of saturated fat.

Bottom line. Frozen yogurt fans might like Blue Bunny or TCBY Classic, which provide slightly better nutrition than Häagen-Dazs and cost far less. Fans of butter-pecan ice cream should try Great Value (Walmart), which is about one-fourth the price of Häagen-Dazs and (if this can be said about ice cream) is more healthful. Keep in mind that an official half-cup serving of these frozen desserts is almost mythical.

What’s that icy treat?

Ice cream. It's a mix of dairy ingredients, sweeteners, and flavors, often with stabilizers and emulsifiers. By federal law, it must generally be at least 10 percent milkfat by weight (8 percent with a mix-in) and weigh at least 4.5 pounds per gallon. Light has at least one-third fewer calories or half the fat of the full-fat version. Low-fat has 3 grams of fat or less per serving. "Premium" is a marketing term, with no federal definition. But premium ice cream tends to contain more fat and less air than others.

Frozen yogurt. It tends to have less fat and fewer calories than ice cream. Unlike regular yogurt, frozen is not subject to an official government "standard of identity." Some frozen yogurts contain live and active bacteria (look for an "LAC" seal), which may provide health benefits.

Sherbet. It's pasteurized, weighs at least 6 pounds per gallon, and has less fat than ice cream (1 to 2 percent). Total milk solids (no cream allowed) are 2 to 5 percent by weight. If fruit is included, a certain level of acidity is required. FYI, the word comes from "sharbat," Arabic for "drink."

Sorbet. Sherbet minus dairy ingredients.

Gelato. It has an intense flavor and is served semi-frozen. Italian-style gelato is denser than ice cream, with less air. Typically, gelato has more milk than cream and contains sweeteners, egg yolks, and flavoring, according to the International Dairy Foods Association.

Water ice (aka Italian ice). It has no milk ingredients and no egg ingredients other than egg white. It has a flaky texture, is often fat-free, and tends to be lowest in calories among frozen desserts.