Pint-sized obsessions: America's favorite ice cream flavors and brands, according to Instacart data
Just in time for National Ice Cream Day on July 19, Instacart dug into a year of ice cream orders to find the flavors and brands filling America's carts, along with the delightfully regional tastes that make every state unique.
Ice cream occupies a rare sweet spot in the grocery aisle: It’s nearly universal in appeal yet deeply individual in taste. Ask 10 people their favorite flavor, and you'll get 10 different answers.
In order to map the country's sweet tooth, Instacart purchase data from 2025 was used to see how Americans stocked their pints and tubs, tracking which classics held the line, which newer brands surged, and which scoop each state reaches for more than anyone else.
Key Takeaways
- Vanilla is untouchable. It's America's most-ordered flavor, accounting for about 21% of all ice cream orders, and the single most popular pick in every one of the 50 states and D.C.
- Häagen-Dazs tops the brands. At roughly 24% of orders, it edges out Ben & Jerry's, with Breyers rounding out the top three.
- Every region has a signature scoop: rocky road out West, coffee across New England, and butter pecan in the South.
- Hometown dairies win locally. Tillamook is the brand the West favors most, Blue Bell rules the South, and Blue Bunny owns the Plains.
- Better-for-you is booming. The fastest-growing brands are premium, better-for-you pints, led by Alec's Ice Cream, Rebel, and Van Leeuwen.
Vanilla still rules
Some things never melt. Vanilla remains the country's runaway favorite, representing over one-fifth of ice cream purchases, the dependable base for every sundae, float, and à la mode. Behind it, chocolate (7.9%) and cookie dough (6.9%) round out the podium — proof that when it comes to ice cream, comfort beats novelty almost every time.
The rest of the top 10 leans nostalgic and crowd-pleasing faves: cookies and cream (5.8%), chocolate fudge/brownie (5.1%), and peanut butter (4.7%) all earn their spots, while mint chocolate chip (4.7%) and coffee (4.5%) keep their loyal followings. The list rounds out with two fruity flavors, strawberry (3.7%) and cherry (3.1%), taking the #9 and #10 spots. Adventurous flavors exist, but Americans mostly want the hits.
A 2-pint race at the top
Within the freezer aisle, we have a duel. Häagen-Dazs takes the national crown, with Ben & Jerry's close behind. Between them, they stake out the two great camps of American ice cream: the velvety-premium and the chunk-loaded-indulgent. Breyers holds a comfortable spot in third as the everyday family favorite.
From there, the list turns into a tour of beloved names: Pacific Northwest favorite Tillamook, better-for-you pioneer Halo Top, and regional institutions like Turkey Hill and Blue Bell that inspire fierce hometown loyalty. It's a top 10 that rewards both the splurge and the staple.
Every state's signature scoop
Vanilla is the most popular flavor in every state hands down, so to find each state's true personality, Instacart asked a different question: Which flavor is unique to each state, claiming a bigger share of local orders than it does nationally?
The answer draws a surprisingly tidy map. The West runs on rocky road, while coffee percolates across New England, Oregon, New Mexico, and Hawai‘i. The South has a soft spot for butter pecan, the mid-Atlantic reaches for mint chocolate chip, and the Heartland stays loyal to good old vanilla.
The real fun, though, is in the one-off favorites.
- Wisconsin, true to its dairy-state roots, goes all in on Moose Tracks, the fudge-and-peanut-butter-cup classic with Midwestern origins.
- Tennessee has a singular soft spot for cheesecake, the only state where the dessert-in-a-tub tops the list.
- And out in the Mountain West, cherry reigns in both Colorado and Wyoming, a pairing that hints at a shared regional taste for something bright and a little old-fashioned.
None of these would crack a national top 10, yet each one quietly defines the state that loves it.
America's regional loyalties
Few groceries are as local as the ice cream brand in your freezer. Measured by which brand each state favors most compared with the country overall, the map becomes a portrait of America's great regional creameries.
Tillamook blankets the West, dominating a dozen states. Blue Bell reigns across the South, Blue Bunny owns the Plains, and New England stays faithful to Friendly's. Even the national champ shows up, with Häagen-Dazs standing out most in dense coastal markets like New York and New Jersey.
The rising stars scooping it up
The freezer aisle's old guard remains steady, but the energy in 2025 came from ice cream’s rising stars. Better-for-you and premium pints like Alec’s Ice Cream (+50%), Rebel (+39%), Straus Family Creamery (+38%), Van Leeuwen (+37%), and Graeter’s Ice Cream (+31%) posted some of the strongest growth year over year.
To keep it honest, Instacart measured how much each brand's share of ice cream orders grew from 2024 to 2025, looking only at brands that already had a real foothold the year before. The result is a snapshot of who truly gained momentum.
The last scoop
For all our regional pride, America's ice cream story is one about comfort first. Vanilla, chocolate, and cookie dough anchor nearly every freezer in the country, and the biggest brands keep getting bigger.
But underneath the classics, flavor preferences are gloriously local, and the next generation of premium and better-for-you pints is melting its way into the mainstream.
This story was produced by Instacart and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
