I Tried the New Ben & Jerry's Vegan Flavors — This Is Why They Were Sold Out at 5 Stores

Updated on March 11, 2019 at 2:27 PM

Ben & Jerry's now offers a total of 11 non-dairy pints, and the newest flavors are Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Chocolate Caramel Cluster. Living in Vermont (where Ben & Jerry's all began) and being dairy-free, it was my civic duty to get my hands on these pints to try them out.

I'll tell you, they were not easy to find. I called six different grocery and health food stores to find them, and five were sold out! On a side note, I must have sounded a little crazy calling specifically to see if they had these two flavors; they must have thought I was newly broken up with, or pregnant, or maybe both?.

And poor me, I had the difficult task of doing a taste test with these delicious pints. It was hard, but I did it for you. Here's what I thought of these two exciting new flavors. I've also included the nutritional info, not as a buzzkill, but just so you know that while these pints are dairy-free, they're definitely not low in calories. Now, on to the tasting!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough — How Does It Taste?

Ben & Jerry's Non-Dairy Frozen Desserts tend to be rock hard when they come right out of the freezer (my bent spoon speaks for itself). So you have to exhibit the most patience ever by allowing the pint to thaw on the counter for at least 10 to 15 minutes. It's hard to wait, but trust me and follow this advice: it's worth it.

The first thing I noticed when scooping into this creamy vanilla ice cream is that there were tons of chunks of cookie dough; I mean, at least two per spoonful! So if you love cookie dough, this will not disappoint.

The cookie dough bits were perfectly chewy, but I wish the chocolate chips throughout the ice cream were bigger. You can see that they are more like flecks than chips or chunks.

I know the star of this dessert should be the cookie dough, and that part was great, but I wish the vanilla ice cream had a stronger vanilla flavor. All in all, Ben & Jerry's gets a thumbs up for creating this classic for all us non-dairy folks.

Ben & Jerry's Non-Dairy Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Nutritional Info

Calories: 260
Total fat: 12 grams
Carbs: 37 grams
Fiber: less than 1 gram
Sugar: 25 grams
Protein: 2 grams

OK, so this is dairy-free, but it's definitely not healthy! But it does have 20 fewer calories and less fat per half-cup serving when compared to Ben & Jerry's original Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream, so that's a bonus. What I'm trying to say is that like regular ice cream, you may not want to inhale an entire pint in one sitting if you're watching your waistline (that's 1,040 total calories!).

It's important to note that not only is this non-dairy dessert free of milk, but it's also egg-free, which could be important to someone with egg allergies.

Chocolate Caramel Cluster — How Does It Taste?

This Chocolate Caramel Cluster Frozen Dessert was especially hard, so I had to wait even longer to spoon into it. The creaminess was outstanding, and although I'm not usually a chocolate ice cream fan, after just a few bites, I was already thinking about how I'd buy this again.

Inside the perfectly sweet chocolate ice cream were peanuts, fudge chunks, and swirls of salted caramel. The peanuts and chocolate chunks added a satisfying crunch, but I'll admit, I was expecting a little more caramel. But it wasn't that upsetting. Like I said, I'll definitely pick this up again.

Ben & Jerry's Non-Dairy Chocolate Caramel Cluster Nutritional Info

Calories: 290
Total fat: 17 grams
Carbs: 30 grams
Fiber: 3 grams
Sugar: 20 grams
Protein: 5 grams

This Chocolate Caramel Cluster Frozen Dessert was also not the picture of health and had more calories than the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, with 290 calories per half-cup serving. It has less sugar and way more protein though, so that's worth noting.

There isn't an identical dairy version of this flavor offered by Ben & Jerry's, but if I had to compare the nutritional info, Phish Food is pretty similar — it has marshmallow swirls instead of peanuts. It's also basically the same amount of calories and sugar, and like the Dairy-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Chocolate Caramel Cluster is egg-free.

Which Is the Best?

I'm 100 percent always a vanilla kind of gal, but I have to say, the Chocolate Caramel Cluster was the winner in these two. It tasted more decadent, and I was satisfied with just a few spoonfuls. Because I wished the vanilla ice cream in the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough had a stronger flavor, I just kept going back for more to satisfy that craving for vanilla. But to be honest, cookie dough ice cream in general was never really my thing.

Overall, these two flavors are pretty damn good. But to offer my two cents, if you're looking for other non-dairy Ben & Jerry's pints to pick up, I highly recommend Coconut Seven Layer, Coffee Caramel Fudge, P.B. & Cookies, and of course, Cherry Garcia.