What Makes Trader Joe’s Ice Cream Special?

From pints of the limited-edition Horchata Ice Cream and a vivid purple ube frozen dessert to the currently trending banana pudding-flavored treat, Trader Joe’s ice cream selection keeps you on your toes. 

In the latest episode of the Inside Trader Joe's podcast, hosts Tara Miller and Matt Sloan decided to take one for the team by sampling a variety of ice creams produced by the popular supermarket to answer the question, “Why is Trader Joe’s ice cream so good?” 

Just like other snacks and ready-to-eat items from the affordable grocery chain, customers love the various flavors of its in-house ice cream. According to the Trader Joe’s podcast, there are scientific reasons why shoppers might prefer its ice cream over other national brands.

According to Sloan, Trader Joe’s ice cream distinguishes itself from other American brands because of “how much of it you get.” Although this podcast is admittedly biased, Miller and Sloan present compelling evidence for why you should give the store’s ice cream a try.

To determine what makes the beloved grocery chain’s ice cream unique, Miller purchased three quarts from Trader Joe’s in three different flavors — French Vanilla Ice Cream, Mint Chip Ice Cream, and Coffee Bean Blast Ice Cream — referring to them as “three of our most popular flavors.” 

She also went to another grocery store to buy an anonymous major ice cream brand’s renditions of vanilla, mint chip, and coffee flavors. (As Miller explains, there were no quart-sized containers of this unnamed national brand available in the store, so she purchased one-and-a-half quarts of ice cream instead.) From there, the experimentation began.

Ice cream is sold by volume, not by weight

The hosts note that, as mandated by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), ice cream must be sold by volume rather than weight in the U.S. This is because air is introduced into ice cream during production, which enhances the dessert’s volume without affecting its weight. (The percentage of air in a given ice cream is referred to as “overrun.”) 

Here’s what that means for customers: A gallon of milk will weigh the same as another gallon of milk. However, because air can increase the volume of ice cream without adding weight, one gallon of ice cream may weigh less than another if it has a higher overrun.

Ice cream with higher air content helps producers reduce costs—they’re selling a larger volume for a lower total ingredient cost—but overrun is also crucial for determining the textures of various types of ice cream. For example, gelato typically has a very low overrun (meaning it has less air incorporated into it), whereas American ice cream has a higher overrun.

As Miller and Sloan explain, “With ice cream, depending on how you make the ice cream, what's inside will weigh vastly different amounts,” and they proceed to test this by comparing the weight of ice cream from a generic brand with that from Trader Joe’s.

Using a food scale, the two hosts compare Trader Joe’s one-quart French Vanilla Ice Cream, which weighs one pound and 14.5 ounces, to another brand’s one-and-a-half quarts of vanilla ice cream, weighing one pound and 13 ounces. Although the national brand’s vanilla ice cream comes in a larger container and, as noted by the hosts, costs more, the ice cream itself weighs less.

This is because Trader Joe's ice cream has a lower overrun, making each container significantly heavier. TJ's French Vanilla Ice Cream reportedly has an overrun of 26%, while some commercial ice creams can reach an overrun of nearly 100%.

How does overrun affect your ice cream?

According to the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), overrun is an important step in manufacturing ice cream that “keeps the mixture from becoming an inedible frozen mass.” An ice cream with a higher overrun will be softer and easier to scoop while frozen, while one with a lower overrun will feel creamier in your mouth but may be more difficult to scoop immediately out of the freezer.

According to Miller, the amount of air in ice cream impacts how quickly it melts — although external factors like freezer settings or flavor can also affect the speed of melting. To confirm this, the podcast host recommends buying vanilla ice cream from Trader Joe’s, purchasing the same product from a different brand, scooping a couple of servings of each into bowls, and observing which one melts faster. 

“The one with the higher overrun, the one with more air whipped into it, melts so fast,” the host says. As for the Trader Joe’s ice cream, she details, “Ours, it takes a while. It sits in that bowl, and it holds its shape. It holds its consistency for a pretty good long time.” 

What makes Trader Joe's ice cream special?

Both hosts claim that when an ice cream has more volume due to higher air content, it likely means it’s lacking in all the “good things.” With less space taken up by air, the ice cream becomes creamier and richer, similar to gelato. It may also taste more flavorful because you’ll have less air and more ice cream in each bite.

According to Sloan, “If you have a heavier, denser product with less air in it, it has more of the good things, the great ingredients in it, and you can really tell when you eat it.” Sloan also notes that, despite being smaller, “There is so much more actual ice cream inside of the Trader Joe’s containers, and yet, our prices, they're all $4.49,” while “the national brand in a supermarket” is significantly more expensive.

Of course, this is a Trader Joe’s podcast, so it’s important to note that some people may prefer an ice cream with a higher overrun. If you want a more American-style frozen dessert that’s super easy to scoop, that could be what you’re looking for.

But if you like your ice cream dense, rich, and flavorful — and don’t mind the challenge of getting a perfect scoop — then grab a pint (or quart) from Trader Joe’s. Given the extensive fan base for the ice cream aisle at this grocery store, it seems that other customers are looking for the same qualities.