This Aldi Vanilla Ice Cream Has The Same Ingredients As Häagen-Dazs

The increasing popularity of Aldi across the country isn't just due to its low prices, it's the fact that the chain endeavors to make its own products just as good as the more expensive name brands. Aldi is famous for offering dupes of other products that even go so far as to use similar packaging, but in some cases, the store just aims for high quality. When it comes to Aldi's Specially Selected Vanilla Premium Ice Cream, the packaging shows no obvious attempt to look like another brand, but eagle-eyed consumers have noticed it has the exact same ingredients as the Häagen-Dazs Vanilla.

The ingredients are simple: just cream, skim milk, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla extract. But when it comes to ice cream, the fewer ingredients the better. Compare this to quality of ingredients in vanilla ice cream from other popular brands, and you'll see quite a difference. Cheaper ice cream often includes ingredients like guar gum to enhance texture and creaminess in low fat products, whey to add bulk, or corn syrup as a low cost alternative to regular sugar.

Aldi produces another vanilla flavor under its Sundae Shoppe label, but it's the Specially Selected option that has garnered rave reviews and has been ranked by Consumer Reports as one of the best supermarket ice creams, as well as making our list of one of the few ice creams produced with real milk and cream.

Anyone who has had a recipe fail will know: The same list of ingredients can produce very different results. Labeling in the US requires ingredients to be listed in order of weight, but there may be some variance in the amount of each ingredient used in the Häagen-Dazs and Aldi ice creams even though the order of ingredients on both the containers is the same. For ice cream, ingredient ratios affect the flavor and consistency of the final product. More fat not only offers a creamier taste, but also prevents large ice crystal from forming, which results in a smoother texture. The amount of sugar will determine the freezing point of ice cream — higher sugar content means a softer, more scoopable texture.

Another key factor that won't show up directly on any label is what's known as overrun, which is the amount of air that's added during the churning process. All ice cream has some air added to make it scoopable and for an enjoyable eating experience, but on the downside, some manufacturers use it as a way to cut their costs, so overrun is all about balance.

Premium ice creams or gelatos normally have an overrun of 20-30%, while soft serve sits around 60% and the cheapest tubs of ice cream may have an overrun of 100%, meaning half of the container is air. A standard 2/3 cup portion of Aldi's Specially Selected vanilla weighs in at 136 grams, while Häagen-Dazs is 129 grams, which could actually indicate that Aldi's version has less air. It's not that less air is always best — high-overrun ice cream will be fluffier and easy to scoop but overrun percentages will change how an ice cream tastes, regardless of the ingredients. Thanks to all these factors, vanilla ice cream from Aldi and Häagen-Dazs may not be an exact match, but both do use the same high-quality ingredients for a delicious scoop.