The 5 Best Ice Cream Flavors To Grab At Casey's

On a hot day, few things hit quite like ice cream. No matter how old you get, every time your tongue makes contact with the iconic frozen dessert, you are instantly flooded with memories of care-free childhood summers, time spent chasing ice cream trucks, and enjoying a cone after a day at the pool. There is also endless versatility to how you consume ice cream, from eating it straight from the carton to using it as a delicious coffee creamer.

There are just as many ways to use ice cream as there are places to find it. If you live near a place that sells food and has freezers, then you probably live near a place that sells ice cream. And if you live in the Midwest like I do, then you probably aren't far from a Casey's gas station, which sells its own line of pints and quarts in addition to popular, name-branded ice creams.

Here are my favorite flavors of Casey's-branded ice cream, perfect for folks who want to try new flavors and see how good gas station ice cream can be. While I'll dig more into what makes each one great individually, they are all smooth and creamy, have a generous amount of mix-ins, and feel worthy of their slightly premium price tag. 

There are a few different ways to go with the base flavor of a s'mores ice cream; Casey's opts for a marshmallow-flavored one — which I love. Marshmallows are the stars of traditional s'mores, so that should be the prevailing flavor of a s'mores ice cream. The marshmallow base does a great job of replicating the taste of marshmallows without feeling overly artificial. Some might prefer the toasted marshmallow notes used by other brands, like Ben & Jerry's Gimme S'More. But since this is a cold ice cream and not a warm treat, I think doing away with the toasted element is a smart move.

The chocolate component comes by way of an appropriately rich fudge swirl, which runs throughout the ice cream. The graham cracker pieces are the pièce de résistance. They're what you'd expect from a s'mores ice cream, though these are coated in chocolate, which is an interesting twist that elevates the whole flavor profile of this fantastic ice cream. Like the most effective s'mores-flavored treats, a few spoons of Casey's s'mores ice cream will have you nostalgic for your last bonfire party — and eager to plan your next one. 

To be honest, I have complicated feelings about salted caramel in general. So the fact that I love Casey's Sea Salt Caramel Ice Cream says a lot about how well-executed its components are. The caramel ribbon that swims through this ice cream isn't overly sweet — a smart decision that allows it to complement the sweetness of the vanilla base without overpowering it.

There is a very identifiable grittiness to the caramel, which might not be everyone's cup of tea. But since this is sea salt caramel, I do like that the savory ingredient shows up like this. Staying true to the sea salt label, there are also sea salt chocolate truffles dotting the ice cream, which, like the caramel, have an appropriately toned-down sweetness that supports, rather than competes with, the other components.

If you're looking for an ice cream that is creamy and satisfying but doesn't hit you over the head with sweetness, Casey's Sea Salt Caramel might be your best bet. The saltiness — and its associated grit — also makes this an ice cream that you'll want to scoop into the cone of your choice and lick rather than eat it by the spoonful.

Cheesecake ice creams often use either cheesecake-flavored ice cream or cheesecake pieces, but rarely both. The fact that Casey's Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream includes both is one of the things that makes it super tasty. The strawberry swirl is actually pretty subdued, but I personally think it works. An actual slice of strawberry cheesecake isn't typically half-cheesecake and half-strawberry, so a strawberry cheesecake ice cream with these proportions doesn't do the dessert justice. I also often find seeds in the strawberry swirl, so I know it's made with real strawberries — which is always a plus.

As for the ice cream's interpretation of cheesecake crust, it uses graham cracker cookie pieces rather than standard graham crackers. It might seem like a trivial difference, but it lends just a touch more sweetness to the ice cream and a more chewable texture to the cookie pieces.

While not a truly adequate substitute for a bakery cheesecake or even a frozen store-bought cheesecake, Casey's Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream should still scratch that cheesecake itch. Once you open the lid to this ice cream and stab it with your spoon, you won't be stopping until you're scraping cardboard. 

Cake batter is a popular flavor of ice cream (it even ranked as one of the best Cold Stone Creamery flavors), and it's clear that Casey's wanted to join the party. Its Caramel Brownie Cake Batter Ice Cream has cake batter-flavored ice cream as its base, and it's a surprisingly impressive version of it. Honestly, I would be happy with a pint of just Casey's cake batter ice cream and nothing else. However, that may suggest that I'm not interested in whatever else this pint includes, which couldn't be further from the truth. 

The caramel swirl is as luxuriously sweet as it is plentiful, and you'd be hard-pressed to scoop a bite without it. There is a good balance of the brownie pieces, and they always feel nice and chewy and never too hard. Admittedly, the chocolate-covered flakes are subtle and I probably wouldn't miss them if they were gone, but they do add a nice little pop of sweetness to the bites they show up in.

Casey's Caramel Cone Sundae Ice Cream is the only ice cream on this list that doesn't come in a pint; you have to grab a quart. It's just as well, though, as this is the kind of ice cream you'll want to savor at home in a bowl rather than spooning it out of a pint while riding in a car or walking around outside.

That underrated Casey's vanilla is back again, providing a strong foundation for yet another ice cream with silky smooth and decadently sweet caramel swirls woven throughout. The real stars here, however, are the cone pieces, which are covered in chocolate and deliver both a delicious flavor and a satisfying mouthfeel.

The pieces aren't as plentiful as they might have been in a pint, but since you'd be eating this at home and can curate each bite more carefully, it's easy enough to ration them out however you prefer. Me? I like to try and save them all for the end, but you do you. Just make sure you grab a quart of this today — but don't be surprised if you find yourself hiding it in the back of the freezer so you don't have to share it. 

I live in a part of Iowa where almost every town has its own Casey's location. I also live within a short distance of a few small-to-medium-sized cities that each have multiple Casey's. That is to say, I go to Casey's a lot, and I've tried all of its ice cream flavors multiple times. This, combined with being an ice cream lover in general, makes me as qualified as one can be in recommending which Casey's brand ice creams are the tastiest. 

While it's tempting to just default to the best Ben & Jerry's flavors or one of our top-ranked Häagen-Dazs ice creams when scanning a Casey's freezer case for a chilly treat — and to assume Casey's ice cream pints are inferior because they are slightly cheaper than those two brands — the gas station brand holds its own. For this review, I excluded the Happyness by the Pint line, as Casey's has phased that out (even if some locations still have a few straggler pints hanging around). The ice creams on this list that I did include offer satisfying textures, high-quality ingredients, and natural flavors (when applicable). They also have the perfect degree of hardness, as if you let them melt a little, you won't have to worry about them breaking those cheap plastic gas station spoons.