Dairy Free Ice Cream Brands, and the One That Is Not Frozen

The vegan frozen aisle got good fast. Almost every serious ice cream brand now runs a dairy free line, and a few of them are excellent. Here is where each one actually stands, using what the brands say about themselves, followed by the option most people have not considered.

Salt & Straw

Small batch, chef driven ice cream handmade with local ingredients, sold through their scoop shops and shipped nationwide. They run a dedicated vegan collection and describe it as numerous vegan options, built on a dairy free base rather than as a token flavor or two.

Best for: people who want the adventurous flavor work without the dairy. Trade-off: it is frozen, it is premium priced, and shipping ice cream across the country is its own project.

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams

Jeni’s runs a dairy free line alongside its dairy range, sold online, in scoop shops and in grocery. Their own framing is that these flavors changed the dairy free game.

Best for: grocery availability. Trade-off: same as any pint. Freezer space, and a container you keep going back to.

Van Leeuwen

Ice cream with a real vegan line, over fifty scoop shops, pints in grocery stores and nationwide shipping. Their vanilla has been called the best by Wirecutter, and their vegan flavors get searched almost as often as the dairy ones.

Best for: the widest vegan flavor range in a pint. Trade-off: frozen, and the shipping minimum is real.

Alec’s Ice Cream

Worth being clear about this one, because it gets grouped in wrongly. Alec’s makes ice cream with A2 dairy and thoughtfully sourced ingredients, and some products carry live probiotics and prebiotic fiber. A2 is still cow’s milk. It is easier on some people who react to standard dairy, but it is not dairy free and it is not vegan.

Best for: people avoiding A1 dairy specifically. Not for: anyone vegan or fully dairy free.

The Coconut Cult

Not ice cream. Organic probiotic coconut yogurt in glass jars, tangy and mousse like. Plant based and refrigerated, but it is a fermented food, so it scratches a different itch than dessert.

The thing none of them solve

Every option above except Coconut Cult is frozen. That means freezer space you have to negotiate, a pint that melts on the drive home, and a portion you decide on repeatedly with a spoon in your hand.

KOKONUT is the refrigerated version of the same craving. Coconut pudding in a sealed 11 oz jar, set with agar agar from seaweed rather than gelatin, so it holds its texture at fridge temperature and travels in a cooler for an afternoon. Nine flavors, all plant based, dairy free, gluten free and soy free.

It is not trying to be ice cream. It is what you keep in the fridge so that at 10pm you are not standing in front of a freezer that does not have anything in it.

Shop bundles or browse all nine flavors.

How to read a dairy free label properly

Non dairy is not dairy free. Sodium caseinate is a milk protein and it is legal to call a product non dairy while it is in there.
Sherbet contains milk. Sorbet usually does not. They are one letter apart and people get caught constantly.
Check the base. Oat, coconut, cashew and almond bases behave differently. Coconut carries fat, so it is usually the creamiest.
Gelatin hides in texture. Anything jelly, mousse or marshmallow textured is worth checking.

Questions people ask

Which ice cream brands have vegan options?

Salt & Straw, Jeni’s and Van Leeuwen all run dedicated dairy free lines. Alec’s does not, because it is made with A2 dairy.

Is Alec’s Ice Cream dairy free?

No. It is made with A2 dairy, which is still cow’s milk.

What can I eat instead of ice cream if I am dairy free?

Vegan pints from the brands above, sorbet, coconut yogurt, or a refrigerated set dessert like coconut pudding if you would rather skip the freezer entirely.

What is the creamiest dairy free base?

Coconut, usually, because of the fat content. Oat is softer and more neutral, cashew sits in between.