We Tasted 12 Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Creams, These Are the Best

It’s entirely possible mint chocolate chip ice cream is the most divisive flavor ever created. Should its base be pastel green or a soft ecru? Should it be flecked with standard chocolate chips, bigger chocolate chunks, or lithe flakes? Is mint chip ice cream even good? These questions and more were hotly debated just moments before our latest blind tasting began.

The flavor is at least 80 years old. One of Baskin-Robbins’ original 31 flavors, “Chocolate Mint” made its debut in 1945 in Glendale, California, at Irv Robbins’s Snowbird Ice Cream before Robbins merged concepts with brother-in-law Burt Baskin to create the frozen dessert juggernaut we know today. Now codified in most people’s minds as “mint chocolate chip,” the combo is the seventh most popular ice cream flavor in the United States, according to a 2024 study from the International Dairy Foods Association, ranking ahead of chocolate chip, rocky road, and peanut butter cup.

These days mint chocolate as a flavor concept has gone international, particularly in South Korea, where it has gained popularity in recent years. You can find the combination in cookies and ice cream, of course, but the duo has also joined forces in savory dishes, such as fried chicken and steamed buns.

Not ready to dive into the wider world of minted-chocolate treats? Stick around. We’ll be focusing on ice cream from here on. In our latest blind taste test, we sampled 12 brands of mint chocolate chip ice cream to find our favorites. What we found out is that one pint won’t suit all.

How we picked the products

We began our search for the best mint chocolate chip ice cream by soliciting recommendations from the Bon Appétit staff. We combed through our vanilla ice cream taste test and cookies and cream ice cream taste test for tried-and-true favorite brands. We also scoured mint chocolate chip ice cream roundups across the web and kept an eye out for lesser-known brands when shopping, like Alec’s Ice Cream, a relative newcomer.

Just as important are the brands we chose not to test. We excluded some brands with limited distribution that could be difficult for many of our readers to find. We also eliminated any brands that included nontraditional chocolate elements (such as Oreo cookies or fudge swirls) and avoided any plant-based formulations.

Are you a green girlie or a white ice cream queen?

Courtesy of McConnell’s

How we set up our blind taste test

About 30 minutes before testing, we scooped the ice creams one by one into individual bowls and returned them to the freezer in turn. When our testers were ready, we presented one sample at a time for tasting. Each taster tried a spoonful of ice cream before discussing its pros and cons. In the end, our panel named three favorite mint chip pints—each with their own merits—as well as one ice cream deserving of an honorable mention.

How our editors evaluated

Our tasters had strong opinions on the proper color for mint chocolate chip ice cream, but not all shared the same opinion. Some insisted it should be green. (“That’s just how things are; how they have always been!” being the implied takeaway.) Others thought a more natural white hue was the better option. On other facets our panel was more aligned. A great mint chocolate chip ice cream should be creamy and rich with a robust, refreshingly minty flavor. Ice creams deemed too saccharine or that veered too into toothpaste territory weren’t welcome.