Best Dairy-Free Ice Creams: A Vanilla Taste Test (2026)

Introduction

As a teen with allergies to dairy and eggs, it is always really hard to watch everybody enjoy classic ice cream flavors while I eat the same fruit-flavored sorbets over and over again.

Often, dairy-free ice creams will have too strong a coconut flavor (due to the coconut base) or a lack of richness. However, I believe I found some very solid options.

I tested these on vanilla, because vanilla is the honest test. There's no chocolate or caramel to cover up a thin texture or a coconut aftertaste, so how a brand handles vanilla tells you most of what you need to know about the rest of its lineup. After trying dozens of the most popular pints, here are the best dairy-free ice creams I found.

The best dairy-free ice creams at a glance

Best overall flavor: Double Rainbow Vanilla Bean Soy. The strongest vanilla flavor, creamy texture, no coconut aftertaste. Hardest to find and the most expensive.

Best widely available: Oatly Frozen Dessert Vanilla. Oat base, no coconut aftertaste, in most large grocery stores, cheaper than Double Rainbow. Less creamy.

Easiest to find: So Delicious Vanilla Bean. Good creamy texture and stocked almost everywhere, but a noticeable coconut aftertaste.

Best value when in stock: Trader Joe's Non-Dairy Vanilla, at about $4.29 a pint. Coconut aftertaste, and often out of stock.

If you dislike coconut, the short version is: go soy or oat, not coconut.

Best overall flavor: Double Rainbow Vanilla Bean Soy

For the last four or five years, the Double Rainbow Vanilla Bean Soy has been my go-to vanilla ice cream. In my opinion, this soy-based ice cream offers the strongest vanilla flavor and does not have the strong coconut taste that many other dairy-free options have.

It also offers a very soft and creamy texture, similar to its dairy counterparts. If you are like me and do not like the coconut taste, then this is a great option.

Unfortunately, Double Rainbow is a smaller business and is not available as widely as other brands like Oatly. You can often find this vanilla ice cream at stores like Sprouts or Draeger's (in California).

Sadly, the Double Rainbow ice cream often comes at a pretty steep price compared to other options. Double Rainbow offers pints directly from their site for $14.50, while Instacart offers the same pint for about $7.50.

Runner-up: Oatly Frozen Dessert Vanilla

Oatly has played a large role in the oat milk-based desserts that have grown in popularity due to their healthiness and allergen-friendliness. Alongside their vanilla flavor, Oatly also offers a wide variety of other specialty flavors, including chocolate, mint chip, salted caramel, and more.

Adding to the appeal, Oatly is widely available throughout the United States and can be found in most stores like Safeway, and runs for a much lower cost than Double Rainbow's offerings.

However, Oatly's vanilla ice cream does not quite have the same creamy texture that I enjoy in Double Rainbow's offerings. I often use Oatly in milkshakes where I do not care as much for the texture or flavor of the ice cream.

Another bonus to the Oatly vanilla ice cream is that it does not have the coconut aftertaste that many of the coconut ice creams have.

Easy to find: So Delicious Vanilla Bean Dairy Free Coconut Milk Frozen Dessert

For the longest time, So Delicious has been one of the leaders in providing dairy-free desserts. For a while, they made a soy-based vanilla and chocolate ice cream; however, once things started to shift from soy to coconut, their desserts really only feature a coconut or cashew milk base.

The So Delicious Vanilla Bean offers a pretty solid creamy texture, but it definitely has a strong coconut aftertaste that detracts from the vanilla bean flavor.

However, because of the texture and the widespread availability of the So Delicious Vanilla Bean ice cream, it remains a top option for those looking for dairy-free alternatives.

Honorable mention: Trader Joe's Dairy Free Vanilla Ice Cream

For a limited time, Trader Joe's was selling a coconut-based dairy-free vanilla ice cream. However, in recent months it has been hard to find this vanilla ice cream in stock.

This was another option that I would often use in milkshakes since it was very easy to get. Trader Joe's also offered this pint for a very reasonable price of $4.29 per container, about half the price of Double Rainbow.

As with most coconut-based ice creams, though, there was a fair bit of coconut aftertaste with these ice creams.

Wrap up

Over the last few years, we have seen a lot of new companies offering really good dairy-free options. However, we have also seen some of the best options slowly disappear. In my opinion, the So Delicious soy-based ice creams were among them.

The category also seems to be shifting more toward oat milk bases, with Oatly being the most popular dairy-free option.

If you have any other recommendations that I should check out, please reach out using the contact form.

One practical note if you're eating out rather than shopping: dairy-free frozen desserts are frequently scooped with shared utensils. If that's a concern, a food allergy card is a quick way to ask staff about cross-contamination without a long conversation.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best dairy-free ice cream?

For flavor, Double Rainbow Vanilla Bean Soy was the best of everything I tried: the strongest vanilla, a creamy texture close to dairy ice cream, and no coconut aftertaste. It's the hardest to find and the most expensive. Oatly Frozen Dessert Vanilla is the best pick if you want something good that's actually in your local store.

Which dairy-free ice cream does not taste like coconut?

Soy-based and oat-based ice creams. Double Rainbow (soy) and Oatly (oat) both avoid the coconut aftertaste entirely. Coconut-milk brands like So Delicious and the Trader Joe's non-dairy pints all carry some coconut flavor, which is more noticeable in vanilla than in chocolate or caramel flavors.

Is dairy-free ice cream safe for a milk allergy?

Dairy-free ice cream contains no milk, but it is not automatically safe if you have a milk allergy. Some brands are made on shared equipment, so always read the label for milk in the ingredients and for a 'may contain milk' advisory statement. Also check for other allergens: soy-based pints contain soy, oat bases may carry gluten cross-contact, and coconut and cashew bases matter if you have a tree nut allergy.

Is dairy-free ice cream also egg-free?

Usually yes. Most plant-based frozen desserts skip eggs, which is why they work for people like me with both a dairy and an egg allergy, but it's still worth checking the label since some premium non-dairy products use egg for richness.

Is oat milk or soy ice cream creamier?

In my testing, soy was creamier. Double Rainbow's soy base had a softer, richer texture much closer to dairy ice cream, while Oatly's oat base was a little icier. Oatly works well in milkshakes, where texture matters less.