Sundae Shoppe Light Ice Cream

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We all like ice cream in my house. It’s easily my favorite dessert, ranking higher than cheesecake, pie, or cookies. The problem is that dessert is not healthy. It’s usually loaded with sugar, fat, and calories. Aldi sells some ice cream that attempts to make my favorite dessert have a little less impact.

The Aldi light ice cream product line is advertised as having fewer calories and less fat than “leading ice cream brands.” (It does not specify what brands exactly.) This ice cream also doesn’t contain artificial sweeteners or sugar alternatives.

Sundae Shoppe Light Ice Cream is a Regular Buy or a Seasonal Item, depending on which flavor you buy. Vanilla and sea salt caramel are Regular Buys available all year. Black cherry and peaches & cream are Seasonal Items that are available only during the spring and summer months.

At the time of writing, these had different prices at my local store depending on what flavor I bought. The vanilla and sea salt caramel flavors cost $2.49 for a 48-ounce container, or about 5 cents per ounce. The black cherry and peaches & cream flavors cost $3.19 for a 48-ounce container, or about 7 cents per ounce. I’m guessing the black cherry and peaches & cream flavors cost a little more because they contain real fruit, but I don’t know for certain if that’s the reason.

For comparison, a 48-ounce container of Edy’s Slow Churned light ice cream cost $4.84, or about 10 cents per ounce, at Walmart at the time of writing. That makes the Aldi light ice cream the better deal.

This Aldi light ice cream is sold under the Sundae Shoppe brand. There is no company called Sundae Shoppe. Instead, that’s the name Aldi uses for some of its ice cream products that are sourced from various suppliers. Sundae Shoppe is not the only ice cream private label at Aldi, as you’ll also see ice cream under the Belmont and Specially Selected store brands.

This light ice cream tastes like normal store-bought ice cream. It does seem like it has more air whipped into it — referred to as overrun — than some other ice cream varieties or brands, which is probably one of the ways it reduces the calories and fat.

Something to be aware of is that these light ice cream flavors appear to be ultra-processed and have long ingredients lists that include (depending on the flavor) corn syrup, natural and artificial flavors, dextrose, carrageenan, and assorted gums. That makes them very different from, say, the Specially Selected Super Premium Ice Cream that Aldi sells that contains just five simple ingredients (cream, skim milk, sugar, pasteurized egg yolk, and vanilla extract or cocoa). Depending on what flavors you get, the Aldi light ice cream is not always that far off in terms of calories and sugar compared to another ice cream line at Aldi, Belmont Ice Cream, which also contains a lot of processed ingredients.

Whether you prefer ice cream with simple, easily identifiable ingredients with more calories, fat, and sugar or whether you prefer ice cream with a lengthy processed ingredients list but fewer calories, fat, and sugar may be a personal choice.

Below is a brief comparison of the calories, fat, and sugar among the major ice cream product lines and their different flavors at Aldi.

• Specially Selected Super Premium Ice Cream: Available in vanilla or chocolate. This ice cream contains 340 calories per serving, with 22 grams of total fat, 15 grams of saturated fat, and 23 grams of added sugars.
• Belmont Ice Cream: Available in vanilla, chocolate, chocolate chip cookie dough, Moose Tracks, cookies & cream, mint chip, and possibly a few other flavors. This ice cream contains 180-240 calories per serving, with 9-14 grams of total fat, 6-8 grams of saturated fat, and 13-18 grams of added sugars. Vanilla and chocolate have the fewest calories, while Moose Tracks and chocolate chip cookie dough have the most calories.
• Sundae Shoppe Light Ice Cream: Available in vanilla, sea salt caramel, black cherry, and peaches & cream. This contains 140-160 calories per serving, with 3-4.5 grams of total fat, 2-3 grams of saturated fat, and 12-17 grams of added sugars.

Keep reading for more information and our taste testers’ thoughts about each light ice cream flavor.

Sundae Shoppe Vanilla Light Ice Cream:

This is a classic vanilla ice cream. It’s not as creamy as some other vanilla ice creams we’ve had, but that’s not surprising. However, it tastes fine and has a decent texture if you want vanilla ice cream, and it works well as a base for sundae toppings or homemade Blizzards or concretes. It contains vanilla flavoring, and it doesn’t have any visible vanilla bean specks.

 

The label states this has 50% less fat and 17% fewer calories than “leading ice cream brands,” with the fat reduced from 5 grams to 4.5 grams and the calories reduced from 189 to 150 per serving. One 2/3-cup serving has 150 calories, 4.5 grams of total fat (6% DV), 3 grams of saturated fat (15% DV), 50 mg of sodium (2% DV), 22 grams of total carbohydrates (8% DV), no dietary fiber, 17 grams of total sugars, 13 grams of added sugars (26% DV), and 3 grams of protein.

The first three ingredients are skim milk, sugar, and cream. This also contains corn syrup, mono- and diglycerides, guar gum, dextrose, carrageenan, and locust bean gum.

If you’re looking out for allergens, this contains milk. It may contain peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, soy, and eggs.

Sundae Shoppe Sea Salt Caramel Light Ice Cream:

This was a popular flavor among our taste testers. It has a nice balance of sweet and mildly salty, with a good amount of soft, salted caramel swirl mixed in. Again, it’s not the creamiest ice cream, but it’s fine in terms of texture.

 

The label states this has 57% less fat and 21% fewer calories and the “leading ice cream brand,” with fat reduced from 9.3 to 4 grams and calories reduced from 203 to 160 per serving. A 2/3-cup serving has 160 calories, 4 grams of total fat (5% DV), 3 grams of saturated fat (15% DV), 210 mg of sodium (5% DV), 28 grams of total carbohydrates (10% DV), no dietary fiber, 21 grams of total sugars, 17 grams of added sugars (34%), and 3 grams of protein.

This is made with skim milk and sugar. It also contains corn syrup, xanthan gum, natural flavors, potassium sorbate (preservative), mono- and diglycerides, guar gum, dextrose, carrageenan, and locust bean gum.

If you’re looking out for allergens, this contains milk. It may contain peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, soy, and eggs.

Sundae Shoppe Black Cherry Light Ice Cream:

This is one of my favorite flavors in the light ice cream lineup at Aldi. It has a generous amount of real cherry halves. I also found one tiny cherry stem piece in my ice cream serving, but that didn’t bother me because it means this is made with real cherries. This ice cream has a delicious cherry flavor.

 

The label states this has 78% less fat and 50% fewer calories than the “leading ice cream brands,” with fat reduced from 16 grams to 3.5 grams and calories reduced from 280 to 140. A 2/3-cup serving has 140 calories, 3.5 grams of total fat (4% DV), 2 grams of saturated fat (10% DV), 60 mg of sodium (3% DV), 25 grams of total carbohydrates (9% DV), no dietary fiber, 20 grams of total sugars, 12 grams of added sugars (24% DV), and 3 grams of protein.

This is made with milkfat and nonfat milk, and it has dark sweet cherry halves. It also includes corn syrup, natural and artificial flavor, mono- and diglycerides, carob bean gum, guar gum, tara gum, carrageenan, cellulose gel, cellulose gum, xanthan gum, and polysorbate 80.

If you’re looking out for allergens, this contains milk.

Sundae Shoppe Peaches & Cream Light Ice Cream:

This is as good as the cherry ice cream above. It has real pieces of diced peaches, and the ice cream itself has a good peach flavor. It’s smooth, creamy, and reminiscent of summer.

The label states this has 66% less fat 30% fewer calories than the “leading ice cream brands,” with fat reduced from 9 grams to 3 grams and calories reduced from 240 to 140 per serving. One 2/3-cup serving has 140 calories, 3 grams of total fat (4% DV), 2 grams of saturated fat (10% DV), 55 mg of sodium (2% DV), 24 grams of total carbohydrates (9% DV), no dietary fiber, 19 grams of total sugars, 14 grams of added sugars (28% DV), and 3 grams of protein.

This has real peaches and a small amount of peach puree. It also contains corn syrup, natural flavors, mono- and diglycerides, carob bean gum, tara gum, guar gum, carrageenan, cellulose gel, cellulose gum, xanthan gum, and polysorbate 80.

If you’re looking out for allergens, this contains milk.

The Verdict:

Sundae Shoppe Light Ice Cream comes in four flavors: vanilla and sea salt caramel (which are sold year round), and black cherry and peaches & cream (which are only sold during the spring and summer). This ice cream looks like it might be comparable to Edy’s Slow Churned light ice cream, but with a lower price tag. It has slightly fewer calories and fat compared to the Belmont brand of ice cream Aldi also sells, and it has significantly fewer calories and fat than the five-ingredient Specially Selected brand of ice cream Aldi sells. The light ice cream tastes great and has a decent texture, probably with some air whipped into it to help reduce calories and fat. We liked all the flavors but were especially fond of the black cherry.

All of the light flavors contain some processed ingredients, so you’ll have to decide whether you prefer that over a higher-calorie, higher-fat ice cream made with a simple, short ingredients list.