Flavors Tried: Vanilla Bean, Peanut Butter Cup, Chocolate Mocha Chip, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Price: $4.99 per pint (varies widely by location)
Nutrition (for vanilla bean pint): 290 Calories, 7g Fat, 64g Carbs (18g Fiber, 22g Sugar), 19g Protein
When Halo Top first burst onto the scene, I was all about it. It was the very first protein ice cream that I had ever seen, and it came at a time when I was only concerned with eating lots of protein.
Looking back, the ice cream was not very good. It was very hard right out of the freezer, and you either had to let it sit out for an hour or toss it in the microwave to make it edible.
As the years went on, I stopped choosing food solely based on the fact that it contained protein, and I realized that buying Halo Top was simply a waste of money because I didn’t even enjoy it.
But that brings us to today. Halo Top has finally reformulated its light ice cream and claims the new version to be creamier.
Since I remember Halo Top as being rock-hard, I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to see if it is truly creamier now.
Nutritionally speaking, Halo Top is pretty impressive (for ice cream). Since most of us are going to eat the entire pint in one sitting, we’ll be getting right around 300 calories and 20 grams of protein.
Considering this is a dessert, that is really impressive.
Where Halo Top is slightly less impressive is in the sugar/sugar alcohol department.
Personally, I don’t mind sugar. In fact, if a high-protein food has a fair amount of sugar in it, I’m usually pretty excited because I know it will taste decent.
However, with over 20 grams of sugar in each pint, some people will probably not love seeing more sugar than protein. Halo Top also sells keto ice cream pints to combat that, but I wasn’t feeling brave enough to give those a try.
Halo Top ice cream is also relatively high in sugar alcohols, so if those tend to bother your stomach (Halo Top uses erythritol), then you might not love these.
For the purposes of this review, I decided to try Vanilla Bean, Peanut Butter Cup, and Chocolate Mocha Chip. I only wanted to buy 3 pints because they’re expensive, and I figured these flavors would give me a wide enough range to get the big picture of Halo Top as a whole.
Quick update: I will periodically purchase different pints and give them a try going forward, so I will add those to the review as I try them. I have most recently tried Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, so it has been added here.
Let’s get to it.
Halo Top Vanilla Bean Review
I was not excited to see freezer burn on this ice cream, but that instantly changed when my spoon scooped right through this ice cream like…well, ice cream.
Unlike the Halo Top of old that required chipping away at the pint as if you were digging for Dinosaur fossils, this new version is truly nice and creamy.
If you didn’t know what you were eating, there is no way you would ever know that this was a high-protein ice cream.
While the flavor isn’t quite as rich as true vanilla ice cream, it is clearly identifiable as vanilla bean. I think Nick’s Ice Cream edges out Halo Top in terms of flavor, but this is still really good.
You can definitely taste the sugar alcohol in this, but it’s not overpowering. If you are very sensitive to those flavors, you may find it too prominent, but it didn’t bother me at all in this case.
Overall, as far as vanilla ice cream is concerned, this is really solid. With no bold flavors or mix-ins to hide behind, Halo Top definitely delivered on this one.
Halo Top Peanut Butter Cup Review
This peanut butter cup Halo Top is a very interesting one.
I’ll say right off the bat that I did enjoy eating it, but I have a few issues with it.
First, the texture of this one seems quite different from the vanilla bean Halo Top. While still soft & light, it was almost fluffy and not quite creamy. As you can see in the photo above, I was not able to get that same creamy spoon indent like I was with the vanilla bean.
Second, I wouldn’t really consider this peanut butter cup, but that may just be getting too critical.
Peanut butter cups are essentially just peanut butter and chocolate, which this pint technically is, but no part of it resembles actual peanut butter cups.
The light ice cream is technically chocolate, although not super rich chocolate. There is peanut butter swirled throughout the pint, which gives this a great peanut butter flavor, but that’s where it ends.
I was really hoping for some peanut butter cup pieces, or at least some chocolate chips or chunks, but they’re no where to be found.
That being said, I do really enjoy the peanut butter swirl that you get as you eat this, so it’s still a solid light ice cream option.
I ended up crushing up some Reese’s and adding them to my pint, which made this 100x better, but obviously changes the macros quite a bit.
If you’re expecting peanut butter cup with this ice cream, you’ll end up disappointed, but you’ll be happy if you’re simply a fan of peanut butter.
Halo Top Chocolate Mocha Chip Review
I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect from chocolate mocha chip, but what I got was chocolate ice cream.
Now, the chocolate is cream is exactly delicious. It’s soft, creamy, and has a really rich chocolate flavor.
But the “mocha” portion is definitely an afterthought with this ice cream. You certainly taste a little bit of coffee, but it’s about 90% chocolate and 10% coffee flavor.
I was expecting some kind of chocolate chips in this pint, but it seems that the chips are referring to small pieces of almond throughout the pint.
The almonds add a nice added layer of texture to each bite, although I could do without them in this flavor.
All in all, this is delicious chocolate ice cream, but as a lover of all things coffee flavored, this is certainly not what I was hoping for.
Halo Top Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Review
I know, the photos on this one aren’t as pretty as the others. This chocolate chip cookie dough flavor was one that I bought on a whim, and I wanted to quickly add it to this review before I devoured the entire thing.
I purchased this flavor knowing that there was no way I could hate it (unless Halo Top somehow royally screwed it up) and I was not disappointed.
To my surprise, this pint was extremely fluffy. If you’re worried about needing to wait for your protein ice cream to thaw, you’re in for a treat- this pint was super soft right out of the freezer.
This pint was packed with plenty of cookie dough chunks, which were as delicious and authentic as any other cookie dough ice cream I’ve ever had.
There are tons of small chocolate specks in this pint as well, which I much prefer to full-size chocolate chips because I find it works much better alongside the cookie dough chunks.
With all of that going for this flavor, it’s unfortunate that there is a definite artificial taste as you work your way through the pint. That’s to be expected to a degree, but it was much more noticeable in this pint versus the other pints I tried.
Is the artificial taste enough to make me dislike this flavor? Certainly not, and I happily ate the entire pint. But it’s enough to prevent it from becoming a go-to flavor for me.
Overall Thoughts: Halo Top Light Ice Cream
I can say with confidence that this new creamier formula is a huge improvement over the original Halo Top ice cream.
Since I only tried four flavors so far, I’ll need to try to get my hands on more down the line to help get a feel for the brand as a whole.
As it currently stands, based on these flavors, I think Halo Top is a really solid option. Since I don’t necessarily care about getting a ton of protein from my ice cream, I still prefer Nick’s Ice Cream as a light ice cream based on the taste and texture, but Halo Top is definitely close.
If you’re hoping for rich ice cream and you’re not used to light ice cream alternatives, Halo Top may not be your favorite. But if you adjust your expectations and view this as “diet-friendly” ice cream, it definitely delivers.
