What Is Ben & Jerry's Non-Dairy Ice Cream?
Ben & Jerry's has sold a dairy-free version of its ice cream since 2016, originally built on an almond milk base with a few flavors using sunflower butter for nut-free options. That's changed. The brand has spent the last few years quietly reformulating the entire Non-Dairy lineup onto an oat milk base, and as of 2026 the almond milk pints have effectively been phased out at most retailers in favor of the new recipe. The company markets the switch as "creamier-than-ever," which is exactly the kind of claim that deserves a second look before you spend $6 on a pint.
The lineup currently runs about 16 flavors in the Non-Dairy pint case, covering most of the brand's signature names: Cherry Garcia, Phish Food, Americone Dream, The Tonight Dough, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Chocolate Fudge Brownie, Karamel Sutra, P.B. & Cookies, Peanut Butter Half Baked, Mint Chocolate Cookie, "Milk" & Cookies, Colin Kaepernick's Change the Whirled, Lights! Caramel! Action!, Oatmeal Dream Pie, and Strawberry Cheezecake, alongside a rotating scoop-shop exclusive or two. It's a genuinely large lineup compared to most dairy-free ice cream brands, which usually top out at 8-10 flavors.
This isn't Ben & Jerry's first attempt at a dairy-free line, and it's worth understanding the history to know what you're actually buying. The original 2016 launch used almond milk as the base, with a handful of flavors swapped to sunflower butter for shoppers avoiding tree nuts. That formula stuck around for roughly seven years before the company began quietly rolling out an oat milk-based recipe, flavor by flavor, rather than switching the whole line overnight. By the time the transition finished, almost every Non-Dairy pint on shelf had moved to oat milk, and the almond and sunflower-butter versions were phased out of regular production. If you loved (or hated) the old almond milk pints, know that what you're buying today is a genuinely different formula, not just new packaging on the same product.
Ingredients
The base of every Non-Dairy pint starts with oat milk (water and oats), liquid sugar, and corn syrup, thickened with coconut oil for richness and stabilized with gums like guar gum and locust bean gum — the same class of thickeners used across most dairy-free ice cream, vegan or not. From there, ingredients diverge by flavor: cookie dough pieces, fudge swirls, peanut butter swirl, chocolatey coating, and so on, each with its own sub-list.
A few things worth flagging before you buy:
- Corn syrup and liquid sugar are near the front of the ingredient list on most flavors, which is part of why these run sweeter than a lot of competing dairy-free pints.
- Coconut oil is the fat doing most of the work for mouthfeel, not the oats themselves — oat milk alone doesn't get you "creamy," the added fat does.
- Allergens vary widely by flavor. Almonds, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, and soy all show up depending on the mix-ins, so this isn't a universally allergy-friendly line the way the base ingredient might suggest. Always check the specific flavor's label, not just the base.
If you're checking a specific flavor against your own restrictions, running the exact ingredient panel through the spvegan.com ingredient checker is faster than parsing the fine print on the lid yourself.
It's also worth noting what's not in the ingredient list, since this is where a lot of "accidentally vegan" or "accidentally not vegan" mistakes happen with ice cream specifically. There's no dairy-derived whey protein concentrate, no casein, and no gelatin used as a stabilizer — all common non-vegan additives in conventional ice cream that some dairy-free brands still sneak in through mix-ins like fudge swirls or cookie pieces. Ben & Jerry's cookie dough chunks, fudge swirls, and chocolatey coatings across the Non-Dairy line are formulated separately from the dairy versions specifically to avoid this, which is part of why the line can carry a clean vegan certification across every flavor rather than flavor-by-flavor caveats.
Is Ben & Jerry's Non-Dairy Ice Cream Vegan?
Yes — the entire Non-Dairy line is Certified Vegan. Ben & Jerry's carries third-party Certified Vegan status on these pints, on top of Non-GMO Project Verification, and the products are also certified kosher. There's no dairy, no egg, and no honey anywhere in the current formulation across any flavor in the line.
The one caveat worth knowing: Ben & Jerry's also makes conventional dairy ice cream in large volume, and its Non-Dairy line is manufactured as a genuinely separate product with its own certification rather than a shared-line afterthought — but if you're the type of strict vegan who avoids products made by companies that also process dairy elsewhere in the same facility network, that's a personal-comfort question the vegan certification doesn't resolve for you. For the vast majority of vegans, the Certified Vegan seal is the relevant answer, and it's a clean yes.
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition swings a lot by flavor because of mix-ins, but here's how a few popular Non-Dairy flavors compare to two other widely available vegan ice cream brands, per roughly a 2/3-cup serving:
| Product | Base | Calories | Fat | Sugar | Price/Pint |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B&J's Non-Dairy Chocolate Fudge Brownie | Oat milk | 260 | 9g | 25g | ~$5.49–$6.99 |
| B&J's Non-Dairy Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough | Oat milk | 340 | 13g | 33g | ~$5.49–$6.99 |
| B&J's Non-Dairy P.B. & Cookies | Oat milk | 380 | 22g | 26g | ~$5.49–$6.99 |
| NadaMoo (avg. flavor) | Coconut milk | 120–180 | 7–11g | 7–17g | ~$5.49–$6.49 |
| Van Leeuwen Vegan (cashew line) | Cashew milk + coconut | ~250–300 | varies | ~20–30g | ~$6.99+ |
The pattern is clear: Ben & Jerry's Non-Dairy sits closer to a full-fat, full-sugar indulgence than to a "lighter" dairy-free option. NadaMoo's coconut-based line runs noticeably lower in calories and sugar per serving because it leans less on corn syrup and mix-in density. If you're choosing a dairy-free ice cream specifically to cut calories or sugar, Ben & Jerry's Non-Dairy isn't the pick — it's built to taste like the full-dairy version, sugar content included.
Protein is also worth flagging for anyone tracking macros: none of these brands are meaningful protein sources. Oat milk and coconut-based ice creams typically land around 2-6 grams of protein per serving regardless of brand, since the base liquids themselves aren't protein-dense the way dairy or soy milk are. If you're eating ice cream for protein, none of the options on this list — Ben & Jerry's included — are the right tool for that job.
Taste and Texture
This is where the oat milk reformulation actually earns its marketing. The old almond milk base had a real problem: it iced up in the freezer and never fully shook the faint almond aftertaste, which clashed with flavors like mint or coffee. The oat milk version scoops noticeably softer straight from the freezer and carries a more neutral base flavor, so the actual flavor add-ins — fudge, cookie dough, peanut butter — come through cleaner instead of fighting a nutty undertone.
It's still not a 1:1 match for the dairy originals. The texture is a touch less dense, and it melts faster once it's out of the pint, which is typical of oat- and coconut-oil-based ice creams generally. But side by side with other dairy-free brands, it's genuinely one of the creamier options on shelf, and the mix-in-to-base ratio Ben & Jerry's is known for (chunks of cookie dough, thick fudge swirls, whole peanut butter cups) survives the vegan conversion better than most competitors manage. The sweetness level is high — some reviewers and customers have found the reformulated recipe noticeably sweeter than the discontinued almond version, so if you found the old version already plenty sweet, expect this one to push further in that direction.
Ben & Jerry's Non-Dairy vs Other Vegan Ice Cream Brands
| Brand | Base | Flavor Count | Best For | Price/Pint |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ben & Jerry's Non-Dairy | Oat milk + coconut oil | ~16 flavors | Chunky, indulgent, familiar flavors | ~$5.49–$6.99 |
| NadaMoo | Organic coconut milk | ~18 flavors | Lower calorie/sugar, cleaner label | ~$5.49–$6.49 |
| Van Leeuwen Vegan | Cashew milk / coconut cream | ~11 cashew flavors | Premium, artisan flavor profiles | ~$6.99+ |
| So Delicious | Coconut milk / oat milk / cashew milk (varies by line) | Wide range across multiple bases | Widest grocery-store availability | ~$4.99–$5.99 |
Ben & Jerry's biggest edge is availability and name recognition — you can find a Non-Dairy pint in nearly any grocery store's freezer aisle, which isn't true of Van Leeuwen or even NadaMoo in a lot of regions. Its biggest weakness is that it's playing the same "as rich and sweet as the real thing" game the dairy version plays, which means it's not the choice for anyone trying to eat lighter.
Who Should Buy It
Ben & Jerry's Non-Dairy makes sense if you want an indulgent, mix-in-heavy pint that tastes close to the dairy original and you're not watching sugar or calories closely. It's also a solid pick for mixed households — vegan and non-vegan eaters splitting a pint — since the flavor gap with the dairy versions has narrowed since the oat milk switch. It's a weaker pick if you're specifically avoiding corn syrup, want a lower-sugar treat, or if you were a fan of the old almond milk base's lighter mouthfeel; NadaMoo or a coconut-based alternative will serve those goals better.
New vegans coming off a dairy ice cream habit are probably the best-fit audience here. One of the harder parts of cutting out dairy is that the substitute usually tastes noticeably different, which makes the transition feel like a downgrade. Ben & Jerry's Non-Dairy is one of the few widely available options where that gap has genuinely closed — the chunk-to-base ratio, the swirl thickness, and the overall sweetness are close enough to the original recipes that it doesn't feel like a consolation prize. That's worth the slightly higher sugar count for a lot of people, even if it's not the most "clean" option on the shelf.
Final Verdict
The oat milk reformulation is a real improvement — softer scoop, less iciness, no lingering almond aftertaste — and the flavor lineup is deep enough that almost anyone can find something familiar. It loses points for leaning hard on corn syrup and running sweeter than most of its dairy-free competitors, and it's not the brand to reach for if nutrition, not indulgence, is the goal.
Rating: 7.8/10 — a genuinely improved, widely available vegan ice cream that prioritizes taste and nostalgia over nutrition, and delivers on that trade fairly well.
