Not Quite Ice Cream: The rise of frozen dairy dessert

Ice cream is more than just a simple treat to me. I eat a little most evenings and, like most ice cream lovers, I have strong opinions on which brands are best.

That makes me a particularly beady-eyed customer whenever I find myself in a freezer aisle. Over the past few years, I have been puzzled by the influx of tubs labeled “frozen dairy dessert,” often from the same brands as the ice cream next to them. As it turns out, many of you have shared my curiosity. This investigation won October’s member poll with 62 of 212 votes.

“Frozen dairy dessert” is the name for a product that does not meet the federal definition of ice cream. US sales of frozen dairy dessert doubled from $319 million in 2022 to $652 million in the year to November 2025.

Frozen dairy dessert now accounts for 1 in every 11 tubs sold, up from 1 in 17 two years ago. Most of the big mainstream brands sell it, including Breyers, Edy’s, Blue Bunny and Turkey Hill.

They do so in a tub that resembles their normal ice cream almost exactly. They often sell it at the same price, with the legal name in small print. It is no lighter or healthier than the same brand’s light ice cream.

By my estimate, it costs 10 to 40 cents less a tub to make, depending on the brand and the price of butterfat. In a tight-margin environment, those savings make up a large share of the profit per tub. Most of the switches happened while butterfat was expensive. The price of butterfat has since fallen by more than half, yet none of the switches have been reversed.

I suspect that most people buying these tubs would be surprised to learn that they are not ice cream.

Today’s article covers what makes ice cream ice cream, and how to tell an honest alternative from a look-alike. I’ll run the numbers on what the swap is worth to the companies that make it, and share which common brands make the creamiest scoop.

Ice cream is one of the few foods with a federal definition. Under the FDA’s standard, it must contain at least 10% milkfat and 20% milk solids, and a gallon must weigh at least 4.5 pounds. Flavors with heavy add-ins, chocolate included, can drop to 8% milkfat.

The weight rule polices how much air a maker can add. Air is whipped into the mix as it freezes, and even real ice cream can be up to about half air. By USDA’s production figures, ice cream made in the US averaged about 49% air in both 2000 and 2024. The weight floor allows up to roughly 51%.

A product with less fat can still call itself ice cream, as long as its name says so. "Reduced fat," "light" and "low fat" ice cream each have to meet a set limit on fat.

The FDA rule that allows these lighter versions also bars a maker from swapping a required ingredient for another. Its own example is: "vegetable oil shall not replace milkfat in light sour cream." So a light ice cream can still be ice cream, if the fat comes from milk.

Frozen dairy dessert does not need to conform to any standard. It has no minimum fat or weight, so there is no limit on air, and a maker can use vegetable fat in place of milkfat. The word “creamy” has no legal definition and does not indicate that the product contains cream.

There are good reasons to buy a frozen dessert that is not ice cream, and the products made for those reasons clearly say so.

Ben & Jerry's dairy-free pints are labeled "Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert" and "certified vegan." Lactaid's tub reads "Lactose free ice cream." Breyers' CarbSmart, a frozen dairy dessert, leads with "4 g net carbs." For less fat there is light ice cream. Edy's Slow Churned carries "1/2 the fat" on the front, and Halo Top is sold as light ice cream too.

These products serve a genuine need. As such, they are not the focus of this article. I want to focus instead on the group of “frozen dairy desserts” made for no special diet. They, like regular ice cream, contain milk and lactose, and nothing on the packaging indicates that they are lighter. They are sold as a brand’s standard or richer option, in a tub that looks almost exactly like its ice cream. Breyers Extra Creamy Vanilla, Edy’s Vanilla and Blue Bunny Homemade Vanilla are all in this group.

The Breyers and Edy’s vanilla shelves show how these desserts compare with the same brand’s light ice cream.

Breyers sells three vanillas at one price, $5.49 regular and $3.99 on sale at King Soopers (click through the options on this link and you can see both "ice cream” and “Frozen Dairy Dessert” sold on the same listing). Natural Vanilla is ice cream. Lactose Free Vanilla is a light ice cream. Extra Creamy Vanilla is a frozen dairy dessert. Per serving, Extra Creamy matches the light ice cream on fat (4.5 g), saturated fat (3 g) and added sugar (14 g).

Extra Creamy actually gives you less food for the same money. A serving of Natural Vanilla weighs 88 g, and a serving of Extra Creamy weighs 81 g. Across a 48-ounce tub, that is 781 g of Natural Vanilla against 719 g of Extra Creamy, with half the fat. At $5.49, Natural Vanilla works out to $3.19 a pound and Extra Creamy to $3.47.

Real ice cream isn’t always the more expensive option. In Kroger's stores, its own 1883 Vanilla is legally ice cream and costs $3.19 a tub, or $1.87 a pound. It can be had at about half the price per pound of Breyers Extra Creamy Frozen Dairy Dessert.

Breyers packages its ice cream and its frozen dairy dessert in practically identical cartons. Natural Vanilla and Extra Creamy Vanilla share the same black design and both read “100% Grade A Milk + Cream” across the top.

The legal name is visible only in a small band at the bottom of each, in the same small type as the volume. One reads "ICE CREAM 1.5 QUART," and the other "FROZEN DAIRY DESSERT 1.5 QUART." The large type on the dessert reads "Extra Creamy Vanilla," with "velvety smooth, deliciously creamy" underneath.

Online, the legal name is even easier to miss. On Kroger’s website, the main photo of Extra Creamy shows a “48 OZ” badge where the legal name would be. Kroger files it under Frozen Foods, then Ice Cream. It does the same with Edy’s dessert, which it lists simply as “Edy’s/Dreyer’s Vanilla”.

When the NY Post covered the Edy's change in March 2025, it ran a shopper's photo of a Dreyer's vanilla bean carton with the legal name circled. It was a line of tiny print at the bottom left.

In 2024, when Breyers still belonged to Unilever, a Unilever spokeswoman explained the label to The Dispatch:

Breyers’ FAQ makes the case for the dessert’s texture:

The same FAQ page says frozen dairy dessert "tends to have less fat than ice cream" and is priced "consistent with" Breyers' ice cream. It directs lactose-intolerant customers to Lactose Free Vanilla, which is light ice cream.

How many shoppers actually know the difference? In June 2026, Talker Research surveyed 2,000 Americans for the dairy co-op Tillamook, which sells ice cream. Of those surveyed, 60% did not know ice cream has a legal definition. Once it was explained, 29% said they were surprised there was any difference, and 70% said they were likely to check the label in future.