Aussies have rated Golden North as the coolest pick in Canstar Blue’s latest ice cream tub ratings, with five-star reviews in all categories. These include taste, variety & range, packaging convenience, texture & consistency, value for money, and overall satisfaction.
Our review compares ice cream tubs on customer satisfaction, so you can find out what other Aussies think about the compared brands before you go ahead with a purchase. Think of it as like asking hundreds of your closest mates which ice cream tub they think is best!
Canstar Blue surveyed 2,874 Australians for their feedback on the ice cream tub(s) they’ve purchased and consumed from a supermarket or grocer in the last six months.
The winning brand is the one that receives the highest Overall satisfaction rating once all the scores from the Overall satisfaction criteria are combined and averaged.
Find more detailed information on our Most Satisfied Customer methodology.
Golden North is proudly South-Australian made and owned, producing ice cream for almost 100 years. Its products are boasted for being 100% palm oil-free and nut-free, with most of its range also being gluten-free. Its range includes flavours like classic vanilla, salted caramel, boysenberry, chocolate as well as some sorbet flavours including lemon and mango. Flavours also come in a number of tub sizes, including 1L, 2L and 5L, allowing you to choose how much you want to stock up on.
From Drumsticks and Life Savers to Icy Poles and the classic ice cream party cake, Peters is behind some of the biggest ice cream hits in the world. Its Original ice cream tub range is no exception, with 2L tubs available in multiple flavours including vanilla, Neapolitan, Chocopolitan, Triple Delight and Rainbow.
Bulla has a varied range of ice cream tubs including its Creamy Classics range, Murray Street Ice Creamery collection and Real Dairy line-up. Bulla’s Creamy Classics tubs offer flavours including mint choc, vanilla & boysenberry, cookies & cream, choc chip and vanilla & boysenberry. More unique alternatives can be found in the Murray Street Ice Creamery tubs, with options such as caramel maple & macadamias and blackberry swirl & brownie pieces.
For a wallet-friendly sweet fix, German supermarket discount chain ALDI has its own line of homebrand ice cream tubs for a lick of the price of pints from other brands. The Indulge range includes flavours such as Vanilla Opulence and Triple Mudcake, and generally come in a 1L tub.
Connoisseur is known for its extravagant and varied range of ice cream tubs with flavours like vanilla caramel brownie, raspberry and white chocolate and green tea with white choc to name a few. The brand offers several collections such as Plant-Based, Connoisseur X Koko Black and Crafted By Australia. Aside from tubs, Connoisseur also sells ice cream cookies and sticks, with its tub range coming in multiple sizes, allowing you to pick something for the family, or just you.
Blue Ribbon is a Streets brand that has held a spot in hearts for many years with its Classics collection as well as new additions including Blue Ribbon Crafted Ice Cream and Blue Ribbon 308-372 Calorie Tubs. You can find flavours like neapolitan, cookies and cream and classic vanilla, with most flavours coming in a 2L tub.
Compared to other supermarket chains, Coles has a wide variety of ice cream flavours and sizes to choose from in its own range. There are a few unique combos like ultimate peanut butter cups, choc honeycomb, rum & raisin, honey caramel & macadamia, salted caramel fudge and cookie dough chocolate ripple. Flavours are available in multiple tub sizes, ranging from 500ml to 4L containers.
As one of the most well-known and popular brands of ice cream around the world, it seems people can’t scoop up enough of Ben & Jerry’s creative concoctions like Netflix & Chill’d and Half Baked. It has several ranges to choose from, including its regular ice cream pints and core pints, a non-dairy range, and a ‘Topped’ line-up. However, Ben & Jerry’s doesn’t have the largest containers available, but for some, that’s well worth it for the flavours.
Woolworths is another supermarket to offer its own homebrand line of budget-friendly ice creams. It has a couple of flavours to choose from, including Hokey Pokey and peanut butter & salted chocolate, with tubs of 1L or 2L available, depending on the flavour. Woolworths also has a Plantitude range for those craving plant-based or dairy free ice cream.
‘Try me once, love me forever’ is a pretty fitting motto for Häagen-Dazs, a popular go-to pick for sweet tooths around the world. The brand says its range of ice creams always starts with four simple ingredients, namely real cream, milk, eggs and sugar. Rather than large tubs, the brand offers several 475ml pints in flavours such as cookie dough, mango and raspberry, strawberry cheesecake and Belgian chocolate.
Cadbury may be the king of the chocolate bar aisle, but did you know they’ve got a stake in the freezer section too? The range includes ice cream versions of Aussie favourites such as Cadbury Crunchie, Cadbury Dairy Milk Caramello and Cadbury Dairy Milk Marble, with most flavours coming in a 1.2L tub.
Ice cream is a dairy based confectionery treat or dessert that comes in a number of flavours. The earliest records of ice cream being enjoyed date back to ancient China but the dessert was popularised in Paris and has since become a much loved dessert across the world. Ice cream is also enjoyed alongside other frozen desserts like gelato and sorbet which are a dairy free alternative frozen confectionery.
In technical terms, ice cream is a colloidal emulsion made with milk fat, ice, water, milk protein, sugar and air. A batch of ice cream is homogenised to get that smooth consistency, is pasteurised by heating at 82 to 85 degrees celsius for 15 seconds and then is quickly cooled to kill bacteria. Although a majority of ice cream comes from milk, other ingredients like chocolate, fruits and nuts to name a few make up the rest of the recipe. Many people nowadays use ice cream makers to create their favourite flavour of ice cream at home, with the machine doing the majority of the heavy lifting.
This report was written by Canstar Blue’s Home & Lifestyle Content Producer Kate King. Kate holds a Bachelor of Creative Industries from QUT majoring in Journalism and Media and Communications, and has written for a number of publications over the past five years.
Samantha Howse is Canstar Blue’s Consumer Research Specialist, coordinating the consumer research program behind our customer satisfaction awards across Canstar and Canstar Blue in Australia and New Zealand. Sam has earned a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) from Griffith University and, with seven years in market research and 2 years in marketing, she is experienced in survey design, implementation and analysis, coupled with an understanding of marketing principles and best practice.
Here are the brands that previously rated best in Canstar Blue’s ice cream tubs ratings:
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