The Best Keto Ice Cream Brands

We tested all the best keto ice cream brands on the market. Which brands of sugar free ice cream taste the best? Which ones are truly keto friendly? Which ones stay soft in the freezer? Read on to find out!

 

I scream, you scream, we all scream for keto ice cream. Yet again, I find myself updating this review of keto ice cream brands. This is the third time in 4 years, for heaven’s sake!

In my opinion, nothing can compare to my homemade keto ice cream. It’s creamier, more flavorful, and you can scoop it straight from the freezer. And I have tons of great ice cream recipes in so many wonderful flavors.

But you also have to spend time making it yourself, which isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Or everyone’s scoop of ice cream, maybe? Which is why store-bought keto ice cream is so popular.

Keep in mind, however, that anybody can slap the word keto on their product. Sometimes it truly is, but sometimes it really not. And sometimes it really is keto but it doesn’t taste very good.

You deserve ice cream that tastes good and doesn’t blow your macros or spike your blood sugar. Am I right?

Taste testing keto ice cream

My family and I decided to review every brand of low carb ice cream we could get our hands on. We spent a whole afternoon, tasting and reviewing, grading each on a range of variables:

• Flavor
• Scoopability (how hard it is straight out of the freezer)
• Mouthfeel/Consistency (how creamy it is)
• Variety (how many flavors)
• Ingredients (how clean and truly keto are they)
• Carb count (total carbs and net carbs per serving)

Then we gave them a final overall grade. Curious which recipes made the grade? I know you are!

Calculating net carbs

Before we begin, I want to clarify one of our parameters. One of the biggest concerns I have with many keto products is their reliance on net carbs to achieve a keto friendly carb count.

Net carbs is a valid concept, but it’s been badly abused and bastardized by many companies in the low carb and keto space. What exactly do I mean by that?

Well, have you ever flipped a keto energy bar and seen 25g of total carbs and been shocked? And then you see 17g of fiber and 6g of sugar alcohols, and you realize that’s how they arrive at 2g of net carbs.

These brands are adding fiber to a product that probably doesn’t need it, in order to lower the net carbs. And since we really don’t know much of that fiber is absorbed by the bloodstream, it can be very misleading and not particularly trustworthy.

In my rather experienced opinion, the only things you can reliably subtract from total carbs is a handful of sweeteners, including erythritol and allulose. They have zero carb impact and shouldn’t even really be treated as a carbohydrate.

For the purposes of this article, we calculate our own net carbs, which is simply total carbohydrate minus erythritol and allulose.

Keto Ice Cream Brands Review

Ready to get started? Grab a spoon and dig in!

Please note that brands are listed in alphabetical order.

Enlightened Keto

When I last updated this ice cream review, Enlightened only carried a low fat, low sugar line and I gave it a failing grade. Now they carry a wide array of keto friendly ice cream. My kids love it.

Flavor: Very good all around flavor. A
Scoopability: Not great right out of the freezer, needs a few minutes to warm up. C
Mouthfeel: Mostly creamy but some flavors are a bit chalky. B
Variety: Lots of fun, interesting flavors but no basics like vanilla or chocolate. B
Ingredients: Pretty decent ingredients. Contains soluble corn fiber which some people object to (I do not see any spikes or issues from this). B
Carb count: Average of 16g TOTAL CARBS and 7.5g NET CARBS (total minus erythritiol and allulose only). C+ 

Overall grade: B. Good choice for a treat and my kids love it. If you are diabetic, please test it on yourself carefully.

Halo Top Keto

Halo Top has flipped back and forth a number of times now. The original line was pretty low carb and acceptable as a treat. Then they changed their formula and went for lower fat and higher carbs. Now they have introduced a full keto line.

Flavor: We tried a couple of their more interesting flavors (Jelly Donut and White Chocolate Macadamia). I personally found them too sweet and artificial tasting but the kids loved them. B-
Scoopability: Easy to scoop right out of the freezer. A
Mouthfeel: One flavor was creamy, the other was a bit chalky. B
Variety: Lots of interesting flavors, not too many basics but they do have vanilla bean. B+
Ingredients: Some flavors are cleaner than others! Vanilla is good but some of the crazier ones contain cornstarch, maltitol, and even wheat. C-
Carb count: Average of 15g TOTAL CARBS and 6.5g NET CARBS (total minus erythritol only). A-

Overall Grade: B-. Some flavors are better than others! Read your labels and proceed with caution.

Keto Pint

Full disclosure: this is a local brand and I love the people behind it. But we approached this review with absolute objectivity.

Flavor: Good but tends to be subtle and less sweet than other brands. B
Scoopability: Rock hard out of the freezer, needs 15 to 20 minutes on the counter. D
Mouthfeel: Seems crumbly on the spoon but ends up creamy in the mouth. B
Variety: Nothing too wild and crazy but good solid choices. But they don’t carry vanilla. B
Ingredients: Pretty clean, nothing questionable. A few flavors have added starches so read your labels. B+
Carb count: Average of 16g TOTAL CARBS and 6.25g NET CARBS (total – erythritol only). A-

Overall Grade: B. Most flavors are truly keto friendly, we just wish it was more scoopable and that the flavors were more intense.

Killer Creamery

I first got a chance to try this brand at KetoCon 2019. It’s now much more widely available and we see it frequently at Whole Foods and New Seasons.

Flavor: We were split. My husband and I liked them, but the kids did not. I honestly can’t say why, I think the flavors are terrific.
Scoopability: Pretty hard out of the freezer, and it needs 10 minutes to soften. C
Mouthfeel: It seems a bit crumbly and chalky but gets creamy as it softens. B
Variety: Pretty basic, nothing too fancy but covers the usual favorites. B
Ingredients: Pretty clean, even in their jazzed up Whale Tales flavor. They do contain soluble corn fiber, which some people find objectionable. B+
Carb Count: Average of 15g TOTAL CARBS. Net carbs are a bit unclear, since the grams of allulose aren’t listed anywhere near the nutrition label. On the website it says that net carbs are calculated with 4g of allulose so I have to assume that is for ALL varieties. If that’s the case, net carbs = 7g. B+

Overall grade:  B. A good choice for keto, I just wish the amount of allulose was more clearly called out.

Rebel Creamery

This was the FIRST truly keto ice cream on the market. At first, I had to order it online but now it’s been picked up by major grocery chains like Krogers. Hooray!

Flavor: Enjoyed by all! My kids love the cookies and cream flavor. A-
Scoopability: Easy enough to scoop straight out of the freezer. In the past I’ve had some trouble with that so perhaps they’ve changed their formula? A-
Mouthfeel: Seems a bit crumbly at first but has a creamy finish. B+
Variety: A great line up of both basic and interesting flavors. A
Ingredients: Pretty clean, nothing questionable in any of their flavors. A-
Carb Count: Average of 16.5g TOTAL CARBS and 6.25g NET CARBS (total – erythritol only). A-

Overall Grade: A-. A great choice for all keto dieters. I highly recommend.

Simple Truth Keto

Kroger has now developed their own brand of keto ice cream!

Flavor: Great flavor all around. A
Scoopability: It is not scoopable straight out of the freezer, needs 10 minutes to soften. C
Mouthfeel: Pretty creamy. B+
Variety: Very limited, only 4 flavors and has none of the basics. C
Ingredients: Pretty clean for most flavors but the Butter Pecan does contain corn syrup. B-
Carb count: Average of 15.5g TOTAL carbs and 7.5g NET (total – erythritol only). C

Overall grade: B-. A decent choice but use sparingly and read your labels.

A few other brands to mention

Mammoth Creamery 

We did not actually test this one this time around, because it’s not widely available in our area. I have had it before and it’s good and VERY clean ingredients. They simply use cream, butter, xylitol, salt and whatever flavorings the varieties include.

My only concern with this brand is that it’s sweetened with xylitol and many diabetics find that this spikes them at least a little bit. But the total carb count is so low and the xylitol is usually 5g per serving. 

Overall grade – NA, more testing needed if I can get my hands on some.

Nick’s Ice Cream

Readers have asked me about this brand, but the jury is still out. The only varieties available in my area are not definitely too high carb to be considered keto.

They do have a few of their more plain flavors (vanilla, caramel, birthday cake, etc.) that they call keto friendly. But their website is not particularly forthcoming on how many grams of allulose they contain so it’s hard for me to determent a true net carb count. And since they use mostly skim milk and contain things like cornstarch and xylitol, I am skeptical on how “keto” they can really be.

So Delicious

So Delicious is the only dairy-free brand on the market that’s making no-sugar-added ice cream. Sadly, it’s not really that low carb and it’s rock hard coming out of the freezer. We purchased some for this review and we left it out for 20 minutes and still had trouble scooping it!