This is the most popular ice cream flavor among Americans (2024)

FAQs

This is the most popular ice cream flavor among Americans? ›

Ice cream expert and IDFA Vice President, Cary Frye, explains, "Vanilla has long been the best-selling ice cream flavor not only because it is creamy and delicious, but also because of its ability to enhance so many other desserts and treats.

Westerners are among the most likely to like vanilla ice cream overall (64%) and the least likely to choose chocolate ice cream (43%) as a flavor they like. When asked to choose between chocolate and vanilla ice cream, Americans prefer vanilla over chocolate by 49% to 43%.

With unit sales of approximately 176 million, Ben & Jerry's was the leading brand of ice cream in the United States in 2023. While Ben & Jerry's was the leading brand, private labels sold a total of over 401 million units that year.

First things first, the survey found that 97% of Americans love or like ice cream. Traditional flavors seem to dominate their list, with vanilla being the top flavor. Following behind is chocolate and strawberry.

The World's Favorite Flavor

According to Datassential, 81% of consumers love or like vanilla and 94% have tried it. Consumer affinity for the spice remains so great that it is estimated there are at least 18,000 products on the market today that contain vanilla flavor.

Birthday cake ice cream is an ice cream made with birthday cake batter and flavorings, including sprinkles. However, it comes in as the joint least favorite flavor for Americans, with only 2 percent choosing it as their top flavor.

A fifth-generation family business in Philadelphia, Bassetts Ice Cream is proudly known as America's oldest ice cream company.

The poll results consistently show chocolate is the favorite ice cream flavor of Americans but only by a slight margin in most cases. A few outlier surveys showed a bigger gap between chocolate and vanilla or had vanilla as the favorite.

California is the nation's largest ice cream producer. The most popular ice cream flavors in the nation are Vanilla, Chocolate, Neapolitan and Strawberry.

What are the top 3 most popular ice cream Flavours? ›

Vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry are three of the most popular ice cream flavors so it only makes sense to combine them in this creamy mash-up known as Neapolitan ice cream.

Vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream are the three most popular ice creams.

Flavors. According to IDFA's 2024 Ice Cream & Frozen Novelty Trends Survey, Vanilla is America's flavor of choice in ice cream, followed by Chocolate and Strawberry.

1. Vanilla. Above all types of ice cream flavors, vanilla is America's favorite for a reason: it's simple and it goes with everything.

With 21 states favoring vanilla, this classic, reliable flavor holds true. According to Laurentia Romaniuk, Instacart's trends expert, “It's no surprise most states in the country are partial to vanilla ice cream because it's arguably the most versatile of them all.

If you're a fan of Ben & Jerry's, you like ice cream with low overrun. A low overrun means less air content and more room for butterfat (the fat from milk and dairy products), leaving you with richer, denser ice cream.

In addition to genetics, other factors like age, sex, and ancestry can also influence your chances. Of people with genetics and other factors like yours, we predict: 63% prefer vanilla ice cream. 37% prefer chocolate ice cream.