10 Store-Bought Peppermint Ice Creams, Ranked

Every family has its own holiday traditions. Maybe yours makes lima bean garlands for the tree or puts out cracked corn for The Christmas Chicken, your religious sect's version of Santa Claus. In my house, mom buys a container of Friendly's Peppermint Stick ice cream for the first family meal after decorating the tree, and serves us each a single scoop under some Hershey's syrup. It's a nice, small way of marking the change from Thanksgiving — and also a clear path for me, formerly a growing boy, to eat a much less reserved mountain of ice cream the next day.

Chasing that high in my Sad Lonely Bachelor Pad, I knew it would take a heaping pile of peppermint to fill the void of family far away — perhaps far more peppermint-osity than any one brand could create on its own. The only way to make this holiday bright was to try all of the peppermint ice cream I could find and see who stood tall when it comes to both texture and balance of flavors. I hope somewhere in this ranking, whether it's my family's go-to or another ice cream brand, that you can find a flavor that just makes you feel like you've indulged in the holidays the right amount and return to that feeling each year that you scoop yourself a serving.

Reader, pull up a chair and grab your golden spoon. We have a lot of peppermint ice cream scoops to rank ... as a family!

Some recommendations are based on first-hand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer/distributor/etc.

There are no losers in this ranking — and not just because, yay, we're eating ice cream. I don't think a single scoop failed to delight with its approach to peppermint. For Blue Bunny's Peppermint Stick offering, there was a natural advantage: Visually and structurally, this flavor most resembles the halcyon Friendly's I recall from my youth. 

But there's also something here that's a little different from every other ice cream I tried for this article. While other flavors may have a grainy texture, Blue Bunny has a literal taste of grain underneath the peppermint. I cannot put my finger on this sub-flavor. One minute it's wheat, then grass, then corn, but there is something here that's playing combat sports to the peppermint's detri-mint. (Ha!) Still, the texture is very smooth, and while it's denser than I would describe as creamy, there's a butteriness that I quite like.

A little crispy candy texture would have boosted this ranking. As it is, the colored green and red candies vanish like illusions. I really enjoyed the Blue Bunny soft serve line that came out earlier in 2024, so I think it is just up against some real champions today. If you're looking for a good peppermint ice cream to use with hot sauce or fudge, I think you're probably looking at your candidate. You won't risk losing the peppermint, and you might bury this wheat-y aspect.

Perhaps it's due to the white chocolate, but Jeni's White Chocolate Peppermint ice cream presents a slightly saltier taste. This might be the only flavor where the mix-ins are competing with the peppermint for dominant flavor. That said, the peppermint also shows more reserve than some of the flavors I've tried. 

The white chocolate will provide lots of satisfying, snappy crunch, though I suspect it's also what's making the ice cream a little grainier than I'm used to with Jeni's flavors. It's a good buy for someone who doesn't like chocolate with mint or who wants a good dose of mintiness without getting intense. And kudos to this one for making a peppermint ice cream flavor that stands out. I don't think this will be everybody's top pick, but for a few people, it will be the only name in the game. Sometimes it pays to show up differently, provided you are good at what you do. Jeni's won't leave your mouth overwhelmed with peppermint or sugar, but it provides enough of both for the more moderate tastes that don't seek holiday excess.

Favorite Day is the Target house brand, a big box store whose very logo resembles a peppermint candy, so you like to hope for greatness. And with its peppermint bark flavor, this is where we arrive at the first classic peppermint ice cream profile. Favorite Day's very fluffy body glides into a fairly smooth texture as it melts. There's a little bit of a grittiness to it, which is probably inevitable when you're crushing up peppermint bark. It's not unpleasant, so I won't dock points for it, but just know that creamier peppermint ice creams exist.

It doesn't go too hard at the peppermint flavor compared to most of this list, sticking to a standard level of peppermint that's comparable to a stick of gum rather than Altoids' almost weapons-grade mintiness. There are also no dyes herein, so that might be a selling point for some of you. As a result, you might mistake this for chocolate chip ice cream at a distance, as — except for the little smattering of pinkish candy cane bits — it's almost indistinguishable.

Oh, but if you like a tactile, particularly crispy crunch, here is a peppermint ice cream for you. This is all about those big bits of peppermint bark that are mixed in. They are so satisfying. You don't need to put a thing on this ice cream flavor. I'm a big fan of hot fudge on a peppermint scoop in a mug, but I don't think I would do it here. I'm just going to let these peppermint bark chunks handle the chocolate more lightly.

It might seem like apples and oranges to compare these bite-sized little treats with a standard scoop, since they are halfway to something more like a frozen novelty. Still, we learned in our pumpkin ice creams roundup that MyMochi can go the distance, and these finger-foods land closer to a scoop of ice cream than a popsicle. So, the real question is whether the delightful gumminess of their tapioca shell can hang with a flavor associated with hard candy? Well, I am just so happy to report that, yes, it can. 

A charming chewiness gives way to a perfect bite-sized morsel of peppermint flavor that is right smack in the middle of what I've seen for intensity in this batch. There's a little bit of crunch somewhere but not so much to be discordant with the doughy outside or the dense, creamy inside. These are best nibbled; even though you could pop one in your mouth entirely, they tend to reward nibbling because then the textures warm up and mingle. It's a good way to get your peppermint fix in a pinned portion that still takes as long to eat as a single scoop of ice cream.

MyMochi's Cool Peppermint bites have just the right amount of everything. Like Jeni's, they take a risk in departing from the standard textures and flavors, but it pays off. I'm very happy with these, and you should know that this brand was a frontrunner for much of my writing this article. That's how competitive this ranking is!

Hood resembles my beloved childhood Friendly's experience to a degree so poignant that I wouldn't be stunned to find that these brands had some common production elements. Hood's take on peppermint ice cream has crunchy mix-ins, both green and red for visual appeal. The peppermint candy cane bits are a little bit bigger than most other ice cream brands, and they don't have that gummy exterior from how the sugar interacted with the ice cream's moisture. It seems as though the candy occurs more frequently, as well. 

All of which is to say, Hood's Peppermint Stick option is a real find for you lovers of a big, cracking crunch in your holiday ice cream flavor. If you chew ice, here's a safer and happier option for your excess masticatory energy. Its texture is a little softer but about the same density, maybe a little more slate or fine sand rather than anything truly gritty. Scooping it, it seems to naturally want to form a shelved structure. 

The ice cream itself has a much more intense peppermint flavor, and I would even say almost a little more fruitiness to it than Hood's brother brand, Brigham's. Hood is the more playfully marketed of the two, and I would not be surprised to find out it's deliberately more intended for kids versus my old man — who, now that I think about it, always has some Brigham's coffee ice cream in the freezer. Both were terrific, though Hood has lower sugar and fat per serving, if that's a mitigating factor for you one way or another.

Surprised Friendly's isn't the top-ranked ice cream? If this were strictly my shopping list, it would be, but I'm undertaking this heroic endeavor for you, the people. If I ranked this number one, I'd be a victim of my own nostalgia. If I ranked it any lower, I'd be a liar handicapping it in the maligned name of objectivity. It's Friendly's, and I love it on a level inextricable from childhood memories and third-space evenings with high school friends after the mall has closed. But you'll probably love it even without those affections.

So, let's wax fondly on Friendly's Peppermint Stick ice cream. Its pink, cloudlike folds and candy cane bits, both green and red, serve up a perfect scoop of yuletide joy, with each candy bit — the size of a piece of rock salt or caviar — crisping to sweet sand between your teeth. It's perfect on its own; it's somehow even better than that under hot fudge. Or maybe you take your time and use cold chocolate syrup. The combination is always great, but the balance here feels made for one another. 

Clementine's Peppermint Candy ice cream was the first flavor to arrive, and it somehow showed up on contender's legs for the best — and certainly one of the prettiest. The striations of candy cane and chocolate bark create a perfectly modeled landscape. This is probably the most photogenic ice cream in the batch. 

At first hit, the creaminess seems to minimize the peppermint, and you wonder if this isn't vanilla with a suggestion of mint. Then it rolls through powerfully as it starts to warm up on your tongue, and it is a deep mint. It's like a distillate of Junior Mints with the chocolate rolling in (or maybe I'm getting pretentious). Anyway, I love it. Clementine's success makes me want to write a sonnet to its sweetness, or at least a clerihew. Rather than a big crunch like you get from a few flavors on this list, the chocolate and peppermint mix-ins have more of a snappy crispiness that doesn't end up sticking to the teeth. It's all soft and lovely with just enough resistance for good texture. Clementine's delivers again.

A native New Englander, I've been eating Brigham's ice cream all my life. So, you would think I would be more prepared for how strong of a standing Brigham's Peppermint Stick flavor made here. The candy cane pieces offer just the right amount of crunch and a little chewiness from where the moisture has turned their exteriors gummy. The ice cream itself is rich and buttery. Though it looks dense, it really serves up a wonderful solidity that turns into luxurious cream.

I might have to reorder my priorities; Brigham's and Hood both come from the same producer, HP Hood, and for years now I've been demanding my folks to keep Hood's licensed Red Sox flavors in stock as part of my visiting-son rider. Yet, here I've been overlooking the perfection of Brigham's that makes it worth the hardy scooping — and even that obstacle might be because its butterfat takes longer to thaw from its pile of dry ice than a lot of flavors. Buying it in the store, you may find it easier going, but it will definitely be worth the labor if not.

Writing this, I noticed my dish was empty and almost instinctively went to refill it from the quart sitting on the counter. Rich flavor, smooth texture, and dense but resilient body make this a surprise forefront flavor. Despite more sugar, it actually tastes less sweet than Hood's offering, possibly because the greater fat content softens that impact.

Pricy at $12 a pint but also magnificently intense in its peppermint flavor, Van Leeuwen shows exactly why and how it helped kick off the ultra-luxe scoop that some people scoff at others for lining up to savor. But it's hard to deny that if you're paying premium, this is what you want to get for your dollar, as it's worth every penny of the price. The quality is evident from the absolute jump. The fattiness leaps off the spoon onto your tongue at first touch. Real cream is manifest here, including how fast it melts, owing to the purity of its ingredients list. Van Leeuwen isn't selling stabilizers, but rather classic, old-fashioned ice cream.

This is one to eat quickly and not with hot fudge. If you must put chocolate on it, use refrigerated chocolate syrup. Personally, I think you're gilding the lily with that. There's not much to change over here, and if you're buying Van Leeuwen, why are you eating a mug of chocolate syrup with ice cream added? It's like making a cocktail out of the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection: amazing but squandering some rare talent.

My lone criticism of Van Leeuwen's Peppermint Stick ice cream is that the balancing act here could use some more crunchy bits. But each element unto itself is unimpeachable.

Wow! Silky textured ice cream from the French pot process that is Graeter's hallmark. The first spoonful of Graeter's Peppermint Stick ice cream begs you to let it melt on your tongue, while the candy cane demands you gnash its huge chunks of sticky, then crispy, gravel. What starts off as part of a soft-and-crunchy combination melts away to leave you with a mouthful of absolutely primal satisfaction. The more you crunch into this, the more gratifying (Graetersfying?) it is on an almost animalistic level. You might think you're just finishing the bite in your mouth so you can take another spoonful with your spoon, but you may find chomping like a shark to be the top pleasure here. This peppermint ice cream is most definitely the pick among people who savor texture as much as flavor. 

As for that flavor, it's strong but not quite in the way a lot of these are. It has a long finish that continues to grow, so you may want to put this in your frostiest mug and see how long you can make one scoop last before it melts. It's a stronger peppermint flavor than about half on this list, but nowhere near the intensity of the other labels that exceed that threshold. So, it's a very happy medium that performs. 

Graeter's price exceeds Van Leeuwen's at $14 or so; but again, fair. And you only need a little bit of this peppermint stick ice cream to go a long way. Still ... don't be surprised if you schnarf the entire pint.

I've been eating peppermint stick ice cream every holiday season of my life, and I've done seasonal ice cream flavor roundups for Tasting Table before. I'm also something of a mint afficionado, even growing different varieties concurrently back in my gardening days. And I've made enough bad batches of ice cream (and three good ones) to appreciate the challenges and results of different techniques, such as when and how to incorporate a water-soluble mix-in like candy cane bits. 

With this background in mind, then, I based my peppermint ice cream rankings primarily on the interactions between texture and balance of flavors, rather than deciding that a certain level of mint would be ideal across the board. A strong peppermint flavor, for example, might benefit from large chocolate shards to affect how the flavors unroll, versus a more understated peppermint that can play well with others instead of crowding the landscape. Similarly, some flavors benefit from creaminess or silkiness, whereas others can actually prosper from a rougher, even gritty, distribution that lets the different tastes rise and fall as they melt at different particulate sizes.