What Ice Creams are Gluten-Free?

Many ice creams are gluten-free, but most of them are not labeled as such. Several companies maintain gluten-free product lists on their websites. There are gluten-free ice creams available from many companies, including but not limited to, Breyer’s, Dreyer’s, Edy’s, Haagan Dazs, Mayfield and Ben & Jerry’s. Many of the manufacturers’ websites will list the flavors that are gluten-free, even though none of their items are labeled gluten-free.

Many private label gluten-free ice cream options are available. Check your local grocer’s website for their gluten-free product list. In the Atlanta area, Publix, Ingles and Kroger offer many different flavors of gluten-free ice creams. In the Midwest Hy-Vee offers gluten-free options and in California Safeway has quite a selection. For non dairy desserts, check out Purely Decadent products. That line even makes a gluten-free cookie dough ice cream! For gluten-free gelato, look for the Talenti brand. OK – it’s made in the U.S. but it’s one the best gelatos we’ve had outside of Italy! Dryer’s, Edy’s, Hy-Vee, Publix, Kroger and Safeway offer some gluten-free sherbets, sorbets or both. Julie’s Organic Ice Cream teamed up with Glutenfreeda to make the first gluten-free ice cream sandwich available in the U.S. They are sold at Wholes Foods locations nationwide.

One of the best frozen gluten-free desserts we’ve tried is Gaga’s Sherbetter. It’s a dairy free, gluten-free treat that has more flavor than any other similar product we’ve had. It’s all natural and doesn’t contain any artificial preservatives, flavors, or sweeteners. Sherbetter is sold in many health food stores, some grocery stores and at Whole Foods nationwide. The most popular flavors are the fruit varieties but Sherbetter makes a chocolate flavor as well. Gaga’s was featured in gluten-free Living magazine a while back.  Their frozen bars are the perfect summertime treat!

It’s somewhat easy to avoid gluten in ice creams. Many of the ones that contain gluten do so in an obvious way. Key phrases to watch out for are pie, cookie, cobbler, cookies and cream, cookie dough and the like. The Purely Decadent Cookie Dough dessert is the only one I’m aware of that is gluten-free but others might exist. Most cookie dough ice creams contain dough made with wheat flour, and therefore wheat will clearly be listed in the ingredient label.

More and more products are being labeled gluten-free these days. To date, the items I’ve seen marked gluten-free are most of the gelatos from Talenti, all Sherbetter flavors and all Purely Decadent products.  It’s likely that in the near future, we’ll start to see ‘gluten-free’ popping up on ice cream cartons from many mainstream companies as well.

Have a question about the gluten-free diet that we haven’t covered yet?  You can now submit your questions here! (Note: All medical questions should be directed to your physician.)