The Beloved Vanilla Ice Cream That Only Contains 5 Ingredients

If you're looking for vanilla ice cream that uses the best ingredients, you may want to add Häagen-Dazs to the list as a highly worthy contender. This particular fan-favorite frozen treat only features five ingredients total: cream, skim milk, vanilla extract, cane sugar, and egg yolks to create a lusciously rich, sweet bowl of goodness. The attention to ingredients is what sets this ice cream brand apart.

For its vanilla ice cream, Häagen-Dazs uses bourbon vanilla beans. These particular beans come from the island of Madagascar and are known for their deep, buttery, sweet, aromatic, and intensely vanilla-rich flavor. This makes for a tasty base that never features artificial colors or palm oils. Another standout part of this brand's pints: Unlike many manufacturers, it does not add air to its ice cream during the packaging process. Leaving this step out makes for a thicker, denser, and creamier scoop of this high-quality chilled treat.

While vanilla is perfect as a simple go-to, every ice cream produced by Häagen-Dazs features the exact same base of eggs, milk, cream, and sugar. From there, each pint is flavored with its designated ingredients and featured mix-ins. It's for good reason, too, because while what the Häagen-Dazs name really means may be somewhat of a question, the quality of its ingredients is not.

If you can't find Häagen-Dazs, or you're simply looking to try something new, there are plenty of other store-bought vanilla ice creams made with high-quality ingredients available. First up is Van Leeuwen. This brand uses a blend of milk, cream, cane sugar, egg yolks, vanilla extract, salt, and Tahitian vanilla beans — known for their subtle fruitiness — for a unique taste in its Vanilla Bean French Ice Cream.

Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams does not offer a standard vanilla pint. Instead, it sells Honey Vanilla Bean for a touch of caramelized, complex flavor. As for the ingredient list, it has milk, cream, cane sugar, nonfat milk, tapioca syrup, honey, fair trade vanilla extract, sea salt, and vanilla bean specks.

Then there's Straus Family Creamery. This brand's Organic Vanilla Bean Ice Cream is made from all organic pasteurized cream, nonfat milk, cane sugar, egg yolks, vanilla extract, and ground vanilla bean. The extra attention to sourcing 100% organic ingredients provides a premium experience you can taste. 

If you want to get your hands on one of these lush frozen pints, Häagen-Dazs is available at many large retailers. Jeni's, Van Leeuwen, and Straus are at most Whole Foods Markets across the United States. These also have an online delivery service (you just may have to buy a few pints), so you get the most high-quality ice cream sent straight to your door for the ultimate indulgence.