The Worst Strawberry Ice Cream Brand We Tried Lacks Fruity Flavor

Strawberry ice cream has a reputation as a kiddie flavor that many of us grow out of, but lifelong fans know that a fruity scoop of berry bliss can be a truly sophisticated treat. You just have to skip the cloying stuff that gives the flavor a bad name. In our ranking of strawberry ice creams from popular brands, we found some delectable options, but Blue Bell's version landed in dead last.

Blue Bell's strawberry ice cream has a quaint package design and vivid pink color on its side, but that's about all of its merits. It doesn't taste bad, per se, but shows a serious lack of berry flavor. Even the big chunks of real strawberries sprinkled throughout the tub are lackluster. This dessert is pretty much 100% bland sweetness — it might please little kids, but not anyone looking for an ice cream that screams "strawberry."

This isn't to say that Blue Bell is a bad brand. In business for 118 years and counting, it has long been called the most iconic ice cream brand in its home state of Texas. In addition to its best-selling homemade vanilla flavor, Blue Bell's cookie-centric pints like cookies n' cream and cookie dough are beloved far and wide. It also sells some of the best winter ice cream flavors ever, including Christmas cookies and eggnog. Still, every brand has its duds, and other ice cream lovers have also been disappointed by Blue Bell's strawberry.

Blue Bell is one of those regional brands with a fiercely loyal following, and its strawberry flavor has plenty of defenders. However, some reviews tell a different story. One group of taste testers put strawberry at the very bottom of their Blue Bell flavor tier list, saying they couldn't even finish the pint. A Blue Bell fan on Reddit also ranked the fruity flavor lowly, describing it as "Just really not very special, almost tastes like a smoothie or [sherbet]."

The ice cream's ingredients may explain its unimpressive taste. Strawberries are the fifth ingredient by amount, which isn't the worst, but skim milk and sugar come before them. The treat also contains two types of corn syrup. This might be why our taster found it so sweet and one-dimensional in flavor.

Blue Bell actually makes a berry flavor with much better reviews: strawberry cheesecake. This ice cream earns high praise across the web, as customers love the swirl of authentic-tasting strawberry sauce paired with generous chunks of real cheesecake. For classic strawberry ice cream, though, spring for Häagen-Dazs, the winner in our taste test. If you're stuck with Blue Bell's plain strawberry flavor, drizzle on some strawberry sauce or make roasted strawberries for an elegant topping that adds some much-needed fruitiness.