Non-Dairy Ice Cream Pints That You Should Definitely Try

We couldn’t tell that we weren’t eating the real thing.

non-dairy ice cream coolhaus oatly ben & jerry's vegan vegetarian plant based icecreams cashew butter oat almond milks
Design by Maitane Romagosa for Thrillist
Design by Maitane Romagosa for Thrillist

Human adults aren't supposed to drink milk. You'd never know it by the amount of yogurt, milk, coffee creamers, and other dairy-filled treats that fill our fridges, but scientists are pretty certain we should avoid it. It has something to do with enzymes and being old and not being able to digest it and other buzzkills like that. We could probably give up plain-old milk and yogurt, but ice cream? Haven't we suffered enough?

Luckily, there are some alternatives. You've probably seen non-dairy ice cream thanks to brands like Halo Top and Ben & Jerry's that have cashed in on the alternative milk trend. But between chalky or icy textures and too much nutty flavor from the base, there's a lot that can go wrong when trying to make cream-less ice cream.

So in the interest of helping our dairy-free friends, we cracked open dozens of pints to fill you in on the non-dairy ice cream that still actually tastes like ice cream. With most of them, we couldn’t even tell that we weren’t eating the real thing.

Ben & Jerry's non-dairy pb and cookies peanut butter
Design by Maitane Romagosa for Thrillist

There isn’t a better non-dairy flavor on the market. This vanilla "ice cream" with chocolate sandwich cookies and swirls of creamy peanut butter has everything fans love about Ben & Jerry’s (bold flavor, lots of mix-ins, ampersands) without any of the dairy. Serve this to us in a blind taste test and we’d never know it was dairy-free. “What?” you say. “One thousand one hundred and sixty calories in a pint of vegan ice cream? Surely this is some mistake?” But it’s not. This almond-milk-based frozen dessert comes from the same company that will sell you 20 scoops of ice cream, four bananas, hot fudge, and something like 74 toppings in a plastic bucket under a trademarked name (the Vermonster). So it kinda makes sense.

Coolhaus chocolate sandwich cookie crumb non dairy
Design by Maitane Romagosa for Thrillist

This brand is known for its wild flavor combinations. But the non-dairy ice creams they're able to pull off are even wilder than french fries or churro dough swirled into scoops. One bite of this chocolate ice cream with cookie swirl, and you'll understand. The folks at Coolhaus use pea and brown rice proteins to create a base for their non-dairy ice creams, so they don't have to fight the coconut, nut, or soy flavors that typically permeate through other alternatives.

Wildgood ice cream is made with extra virgin olive oil. Founder Sotiris Tsichlopoulos built one of the most well-loved ice cream brands in Greece, and he’s bringing a plant-based version to the U.S. The texture is undeniably creamy, and you can tell the ingredients, like Alphonso mango, Oregon hazelnuts—and in this case, organic ground coffee—are top quality. The coffee flavor is incredibly robust, and in case you were wondering, there are no hints of olive (though we wouldn’t be mad if there was).

NadaMoo! non-dairy ice cream cookies and cream creme plant based
Design by Maitane Romagosa for Thrillist

This ice cream purveyor employs coconut milk to replace cream and milk in it's base, but you'd never know. The scoops are intensely smooth and creamy with enough thick chunks of sweet chocolate cookie to satisfy even the most devoted dairy lover.

Oatly vanilla non dairy ice cream oat milk
Design by Maitane Romagosa for Thrillist

This cult favorite milk alternative just got a whole lot creamier. You have probably had Oatly in a latte or two at this point, but the brand's oat milk-based ice cream is next level. Keep it simple with a vanilla pint, and you'll taste the creamy oat milk flavor you love with a little extra body and sweetness.

Almond Dream non-dairy ice cream fudge
Design by Maitane Romagosa for Thrillist

Lactose-intolerant British grandmothers everywhere, rejoice! Now you can get your daily ration of toffee in a delicious non-dairy frozen dessert. Even if you're not a British grandmother, you'll love Almond Dream's non-dairy take on toffee ice cream. The almond milk flavor from the base naturally pairs well with nutty toffee and the hint of fudge in this version is a welcome addition.

New York City’s favorite ice cream shop is known for its other-worldly vegan offerings, and the Cookie Crumble Strawberry Jam is the perfect example of that. It features cold-ground Tahitian vanilla, jam from Oregon-grown strawberries, and crumbles of gluten-free oat cookies. It’s got everything you need for a well-rounded scoop: something creamy, something tart, and something crunchy.

So Delicious dairy free ice cream salted caramel cluster
Design by Maitane Romagosa for Thrillist

Gooey non-dairy caramel sauce. Chocolate-coated cashew. Real bits of sea salt. This flavor's got everything. And if you're a dairy avoider, chances are you already know and love So Delicious. This brand is perhaps the most well known in the non-dairy world, and you'll see why when you taste their expertly crafted cashew milk base.

Steve's Burnt Sugar Vanilla
Design by Maitane Romagosa for Thrillist

Brooklyn-based Steve’s Ice Cream makes a variety of Brooklyn-sounding, dairy-rich flavors (Small Batch Bourbon Vanilla, Wildflower Honey Pistachio, Thai Peanut Butter Pretzel) but it also shows some love to the dairy-less—again, with flavors that could only come from Brooklyn. We got our hands on Burnt Sugar Vanilla, which features rich, gooey veins of caramel-colored liquid sugar and tastes a lot like a mix between the caramel of a Twix and the vanilla ice cream inside an ice cream bar.

Sunscoop specializes in ice cream made from coconut cream. What it lacks in dairy, it makes up for in hidden superfoods. This variety includes organic moringa leaf powder, but you’d never know, because the earthy ingredient is overpowered by the decadent mint chip flavor that we know and love.

arctic zero non dairy hint of mint
Design by Maitane Romagosa for Thrillist

This sweet treat is weirdly... water-based. Don't ask me how that works, but just know that it does. This pint has a hint of herbaceous mint on a chocolate-flavored base. It may not be as creamy as some of the other options that use milk alternatives, but its vast availability at regular supermarkets and low calorie count make it a worthy pick.

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Liz Provencher is an editor at Thrillist.
Kenny Gould is a Pittsburgh-based writer and journalist currently on his sixth day of brain freeze. Follow him on Twitter at @kb_gould and on his website at KennyGould.com.