Ben and Jerry’s Vegan Ice-cream Review: What’s the Best Flavour?

April 22, 2018

Ben & Jerry’s Vegan Ice-cream launched September 2017 but because it was never available in Australia, so we’ve only now tried it when we relocated to London.

Although it is marketed to our Vegan friends it’s also awesome us Lactose intolerant buddies! This means that tasty delicious creamy ice-cream can be eaten again! This post is going to go through 3 aspects. 1. What is Ben & Jerry’s Vegan ice-cream made of? 2. How does it compare to the other non-dairy ice-cream and 3. What is the best flavour in the Vegan Ice-cream range (so that you don’t have to buy all three!)

What is Ben & Jerry’s Vegan Ice-cream made of?

The main base ingredient is Almonds. So although it is okay for vegans and lactose intolerant people, it is not okay for people with a nut allergy. Some ingredients I found interesting were:

Locust Bean Gum: This is the same ingredient used in Veganista’s gelato based in Vienna
Pea Protein: This is probably not enough protein to feed your muscles after a workout but it is definitely an interesting addition

Flavour	Ingredients
Chocolate Fudge Brownie	Water, Sugar, Vegetable Oils (Coconut, Fully Refined Soybean), Cocoa Powder (4%), WHEAT Flour, ALMOND Paste (3%), Glucose Syrup, Pea Protein, Fat Reduced Cocoa Powder , Emulsifiers (Sunflower Lecithin, SOY Lecithin), Flavourings, Corn Starch, Stabilisers (Guar Gum, Locust Bean Gum), Vanilla Extract, Salt, Raising Agent (Sodium Bicarbonate), Malted BARLEY, Sugar, Almonds, Cocoa, Vanilla: traded in compliance with Fairtrade Standards, total 25 %
Chunky Monkey	Water, Sugar, Coconut Oil, WALNUTS , Banana Puree (5%), Glucose Syrup, ALMOND Paste (2%), Fat Reduced Cocoa Powder, Pea Protein, Emulsifiers (Sunflower Lecithin, SOY Lecithin), Lemon Juice Concentrate, Stabilisers (Guar Gum, Locust Bean Gum), Vanilla Extract, Banana Flavouring, Natural Flavouring, Sugar, Almonds, Cocoa, Bananas, Vanilla: traded in compliance with Fairtrade Standards, total 31%
Peanut Butter and Cookies	Water, Sugar, Vegetable Oils (Coconut, PEANUT, Sunflower), PEANUT Paste and Pieces (9%) , Glucose Syrup, WHEAT Flour, ALMOND Paste (2%), Cocoa Powder , Pea Protein , Vanilla Extract, Emulsifiers (Sunflower Lecithin, SOY Lecithin), Salt, Raising Agent (Sodium Bicarbonate), Stabilisers (Guar Gum, Locust Bean Gum), Natural Flavouring, Sugar, Almonds, Cocoa, Vanilla: traded in compliance with Fairtrade Standards, total 22%

How much will this Vegan Ice-cream set me back?

A 500ml tub of these is worth £5.50 RRP. We could never bring ourselves to pay more than £5 for a take home ice-cream. So we waited for an ice-cream sale. Finally, after 4 months of waiting…. £4 a tub at Waitrose! SCORE!

How does it compare to other Non-dairy Ice-cream?

If you’ve been trying to find a good non-dairy ice-cream, your prayers have been answered. We’ve tried soy-based, cashew-based, almond-based and hazelnut-based ice-cream from brands like Booja Booja, Alpro and Almond Dream.

Ben & Jerry’s vegan ice-cream range topped the charts for us. Seriously heavenly. It takes you to the ice-cream clouds and back to the rich dense regions of goodness. You will not be disappointed with this ice-cream.

What is the best flavour in the Ben & Jerry’s Vegan Ice-cream range?

In order to review these ice-creams, we are going to go through the nitty gritties of Texture, Sweetness, Nuttiness, Extra goody bits and Overall satisfaction

Chocolate Brownie Fudge: My Favourite

This is amazing. The brownie is just divine. I could eat it all day if I could. The richness in the chocolate and creaminess in the ice-cream makes me feel like I’m eating the real deal.

The fabulously fudgy brownies in the non-dairy version of this fan favourite come from New York’s Greyston Bakery, where producing great baked goods is part of their greater-good mission to provide jobs and training to low-income city residents. Isn’t that just a great story?

Aspects	Rating out of 5
Texture	5
Sweetness	5
Nuttiness	5
Extra goody bits	5
Overall Satisfaction	20/20

Chunky Monkey: Pretty Good – Not Bad

This is a Banana flavour non-dairy ice cream with loads of chocolatey chunks & walnuts. It is on the sweeter side of the 3 vegan ice-cream but it still is delicious if you like walnuts and choc chips. The chocolate chips in the ice-cream are very chocolatey, melt and taste just the same as regular choc-chips. The walnuts are still so crunchy despite been soaked in the ice-cream which really surprised us.

Aspects	Rating out of 5
Texture	4
Sweetness	3
Nuttiness	5
Extra goody bits	5
Overall Satisfaction	17/20

Peanut Butter and Cookies: No Thanks.

I love peanut butter and I love cookies BUT I think they did something wrong here. Personally, the peanut butter does not go with the ice-cream and cookies. It is a very strange combination that just makes me cringe every time I take a spoon. Each spoonful, I’m hoping it would be better tasting than the previous but it’s just a cringing experience. It was more salty than sweet. The peanut butter component was salty. Wasn’t enjoyable for me. There’s peanut blobs everywhere in this tub. Definitely tick the nutty box. Giving it a 3 and not a 5 because it didn’t taste like fresh peanut butter, its more on the oiler and saltier side. The peanut butter is definitely more prominent than the cookies. The cookies is sort of dissolved into the ice-cream rather than chunks of cookies.