Just about every poll or consumer survey shows ice cream as America’s favorite and most ordered dessert, while a 2025 survey by the International Dairy Foods Association found a stunning 97% of respondents said they “like” or “love” ice cream. I am firmly in the latter group, have always loved it, and when I’m feeling decadent, I make my own very high quality batches. Outside of my kitchen, I am constantly searching out the best and have written on mail order gourmet foods and regional specialties for decades, so I have a pretty deep knowledge of the American ice cream scene. While there are a lot of great one-off independent spots from coast to coast, if you want easy access to the best frozen desserts, even delivered right to your door, these are my well researched picks for America’s most delicious ice cream that is easily available by mail order (or in person).
Earlier this year I wrote a Forbes guide to the Best Gourmet Food Subscriptions & Clubs For Foodies, and a Mail Order Meat and Seafood Guide for Summer Grilling & BBQ.
Graeter’s Ice Cream: The Best Chocolate Chips On The Market
“Old-fashioned” is an adjective that gets thrown around a lot in ice cream marketing, but when it comes to Graeter’s it’s spot on—the Ohio company has been doing what it does so well for more than 150 years, since 1870. The still make their incredible pints the laborious old fashioned way but have expanded in the brick and mortar world of retail and now have around 60 stores across every major city in Ohio, plus Chicago, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Louisville and Lexington. It seems like everyone I meet from the Midwest knows and loves Graeter’s, but the rest of the country has been sadly ignorant. That’s a shame because Graeter’s is some of the best ice cream you can buy anywhere, has the best chocolate chips in the industry, and is a great value proposition, a world class dessert “best buy.”
Graeter’s started out making ice cream using the French Pot process, a time consuming small scale method of traditional artisan production that yields just 2.5 gallons in each batch. Guess what? 155 years later they still churn out French Pot 2.5 gallon batches, by far the smallest production of any major ice cream makers and a throwback to a time before factories and mass-production. This method makes the ice cream denser and richer, starting with high butterfat milk (better) with less air whipped in.
Let’s take a second to digest this little known part of the ice cream world. Because air does not have to be listed on the ingredient panel, most consumers do not realize just how much air they are paying for in supermarket ice cream. FDA rules allow up to half—yes 50%—of the container to be added air before it can no longer be called ice cream (it then transitions to “frozen dessert”). Talk about literally getting nothing (expect less taste) for your money. Ultra-premium ice creams like Graeter’s have far less air and far more flavor.
But let’s talk chips.
It was the second generation of Graeter’s family owners, Paul, the son of the founders, who invented the process that has forever set the ice cream apart. Instead of adding chips, chunks or nuggets, he poured a blend of liquidy chocolate into the freezing contents of the French Pots, and this forms soft, melt in your mouth ribbons of chocolate, but solid ribbons, not fudge ripples, that offer an unmatched decadence and mouthfeel. It seems insulting to even call them chocolate chips because they bear no relationships whatsoever to the small, hard, frozen industry norm, but Graeter’s sells its flavors as chocolate chip (I’d call them ribbons of chocolate ecstasy) and while all their ice cream is very high quality, it is these chippy flavors that crush the competition. For example, a longtime company signature and the favorite of many customers is Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip. Now I am not a big fan of black raspberry ice cream and would never order it as my first choice from anyone else, but I could eat this Graeter’s version for the rest of my days, it’s that good.
But then I would have to forego Banana Chocolate Chip, Black Cherry Chocolate Chip, plain old Chocolate Chip, Coconut Chocolate Chip, Cookie Dough Chocolate Chip, Mint Chocolate Chip, Double Chocolate Chocolate Chip, Mocha Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip, Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip, and the sinfully delicious Toffee Chocolate Chip. You get the idea, it’s the chocolate chip flavors that rule, and don’t forget the Ohio special signature, Buckeye Blitz Chocolate Chip. The same year Graeter’s opened for business, so did The Ohio State University, and this flavor recreates the signature regional Buckeye candy, with chocolate peanut butter ice cream, peanut butter cookie dough, and those crazy chips. They also do frequent seasonal special flavors and regional partner collaborations, like one with Cincinnati’s famous Skyline Chili.
Graeter’s buys the raw material for its famous chips from Peter’s Chocolate, another 150 year old company, and Peter’s says of its client: “Big things in small batches. Graeter’s is, as far as we know, the last remaining commercial ice cream manufacturer in the world to use French Pot freezers. Its two-gallon batches are the smallest, and most artisan, in the industry.”
Graeter’s is the most widely available of the ice cream featured in this story. In addition to the five dozen stores, they have spread to better supermarket nationwide, and I can even buy it locally in New Hampshire, though flavors are limited. When you do see it at the supermarket, it runs about the same price as premium national brands like Ben & Jerry’s and Haagen-Dazs, making it one of the best grocery store bargains out there. But if you can’t get it in your freezer aisle, fire up your keyboard, as Graeter’s ships nationally and they do it on their own. I’m not a big fan of third party food shipping and repackaging services that charge 2-3 times what the foods sell for in their hometowns plus egregious shipping. Graeter’s ships 6-packs and 12-packs of pints, you pick the flavors, for around $11 a pint with $10 flat rate shipping, which is less than pretty much any other ice cream this good you can order by mail. Worth every penny.
Zingerman’s Ingredient Driven Ice Cream & Gelato
Another Midwestern food legend, Zingerman’s is one of the most famous delicatessens in the world, making legendarily delicious sandwiches in Ann Arbor, MI for 43 years. That simple premise of making everything from scratch, curing first rate pastrami, baking their own breads and meticulous attention to quality control, sourcing and favor combinations, has built a gourmet empire. Today Zingerman’s has one of the best mail-order gourmet food catalogs, curating everything from exceptional olive oils and cheeses to dry aged meats, and it is the best place in the country for bacon lovers. They have a separate bakery that is world-class, you could easily confuse it for Paris, they have other restaurants, roast their own coffee, even make their own candy bars.
Zingerman’s is well-known among food lovers, but perhaps the most underappreciated segment of its gourmet business is the ice cream and gelato, made in cooperation with three local partners. Sanilac Creamery, which also makes cheese and such, produces the private label Zingerman’s gelati, with milk from one of the last farmstead dairies in Michigan, Calder Dairy. The ice creams are made at Blank State Ice Cream in Ann Arbor and Cold Comfort in nearby Ypsilanti, using milk from local Guernsey cows.
The good news is that you can try these all in Ann Arbor, a charming place to visit, and if you don’t get there, Zingerman’s will ship to you. The mainstay is a customizable ice cream and/or gelato 5-pack, from flavors like Peppermint Bark and Spiced Pecan Ice Cream or gelati such as vanilla, dark chocolate or Sour cream coffee cake, from the classic to the quirky. What they all have in common is exceptional quality ingredients, like made from scratch gingerbread, Indonesian cinnamon and vanilla beans and local Michigan raspberries.
Among all categories of ice cream styles, gelato is a personal favorite of mine, and I have traveled extensively throughout Italy tasting the best. There are some decent gelato shops in the U.S., but they are few and far between, and other than Zingerman’s I’ve never had an exceptional pre-packaged pint here, especially since gelato is typically stored at a different temperature than French or American-style ice creams but that is not the case at our supermarkets.
The Zingerman’s offerings are reliably delicious across the board, cover interesting flavors, and showcase standout ingredients, but are pricey, at $135 for the 5-pack, or $27 a pint, though 2-day express shipping is included.
Salt & Straw Sells Quirky Flavors Nationwide
While the other companies above have long, rich histories, Salt & Straw is a relative newcomer, but one that has been moving fast. Its original shop in Portland, OR opened in 2011, and in the less than 15 years since, it has expanded to numerous major cities including New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Miami, San Diego, Orlando, Las Vegas and Phoenix (coming soon), making its ice creams readily available at retail storefronts to tens of millions of Americans from coast to coast. Hollywood action star Dwayne Johnson, “The Rock,” liked the ice cream so much that he bought a stake in the company.
Salt & Straw is made from milk sourced from fifth-generation family farmers, Scott Brothers Dairy, who in turn raise grass-fed cows without antibiotics or growth hormones, quite unusual in the cattle industry.
But what really sets Salt & Straw apart is its quirky, almost experimental flavors, including a rotating slate of seasonally inspired offerings that change monthly. Current Halloween- specials include Pumpkin Bread and “Double Bubble Toil and Trouble,” a blue ice cream with bubble gum flavor blending pineapple, banana and pear in coconut cream with cinnamon. “Regular” full-time favors include some you will not find anyplace else, like Arbequina Olive Oil, Salty Donut Guava and Cheese, and Pear and Bleu Cheese. To give you an idea how serious they are about ingredients, the latter uses bleu cheese from Oregon’s famed Rogue Creamery and local Bartlett pears. They also have “normal” flavors like Cinnamon Snickerdoodle and Chocolate Gooey Brownie, a bestseller.
For those with special diets, they also make an impressive lineup of non-dairy pints. Just about everything sells for $15 a pint and they ship 5-packs. I priced shipping to my home in Vermont, a very reasonable $19, so you are looking at around $19 a pint delivered, and they offer discounts for recurring subscriptions, which can be given as gits in monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly shipments.
America’s Most Delicious Ice Cream For You Or For Gifts
Between these three great companies, you will be able to taste test many flavors of America’s most delicious ice cream, even if you never want to leave home. They also can be a huge timesaver when it comes to dessert for holiday entertaining and make great gifts for the holiday season.