16 Target Store-Brand Ice Cream Flavors Tasted And Ranked, Worst To Best

This was my first experience with Target's private-label brand, Favorite Day. I've always had the impression Target sells lower-quality goods for higher prices. I don't know where that bias came from, but its ice cream catalog only served to cement the belief in my mind.

Target announced Favorite Day ice cream as a "sweet and savory addition that tastes amazing," adding that it "makes life's little moments of indulgence even sweeter" – but in my opinion, the brand fails to fulfill those ideals. The majority of the brand's options were tasty, but it was difficult to hide the clear lack of quality across the lineup.

Whether it be the unforgivable and over-the-top amount of air blended into the ice cream, the addition of water and corn syrup, or just the inability to stand out, Favorite Day failed to win me over. Luckily, I'm not here to rank the brand against others. All I have to do is figure out which of the flavors are the best of the bunch, and which aren't worth trying.

A good ice cream should be dense, but not so much so as to make scooping it impossible. It must be creamy and rich, but not fatty to the point it leaves a film behind. The flavor of a good spoonful should be clear and enjoyable. After all, ice cream makes everything better.

From scoop one, I knew the brand wasn't going satisfy my density or texture requirements, but that's just one aspect of a good ice cream. So, how was I going to go through these 16 offerings and decide which deserved to be number one, and which deserved to be left in the freezer for the rest of time?

After some contemplation, I chose to give up to 20 points for flavor, 15 points for satisfaction, and up to 10 points for texture. I weighted taste heavily, since the textures of the varieties were so similar, and satisfaction is subjective. Flavor, however, was one category that could be judged more clearly.

The high hopes that I had for this carton crashed down before I'd swallowed a spoonful. When it touched my tongue, I was confronted with a strangely sour bite. It took me a second mouthful to pin it down.

It tasted like coffee, however, it was the acidic tang of cheap instant coffee. Reminding me of cups I used to make quickly before work. Only worthwhile because there wasn't time to brew a real pot. Adding "chocolate-flavored chunks" to the off-putting taste made a bad ice cream even worse.

For $5, you would think that the company could at least put real chocolate into the container. Instead, the gritty, non-melting, shrapnel failed to make for a quality ice cream. I'm glad this was one of the flavors I tried near the end of my tasting journey. If it had been the first I may have simply called it quits.

Marketed as one of the brand's reduced-fat ice creams, I was surprised to see there were only 6 fewer grams of fat than the strawberry swirl. However, it wasn't the lack of fatty goodness that landed this one so low on the list. It was almost solely the texture.

I'm getting tired of the trend of adding protein to everything. That being said, there's a lot of ways to add protein to your diet. Ice cream doesn't need to be one, especially when it ruins such a tasty treat completely.

The s'mores ice cream was grainy and tough. The flavor was reminiscent of chocolate and marshmallow, but there was a chalkiness making it hard to enjoy. I hate to say it, but when you try to win over multiple populations, like the health-conscious and dessert-lovers, you end up with a product that doesn't satisfy the needs of either. This pint is a great example of that.

When it comes to mix-ins, I prefer ice creams with as few things to get in the way of enjoying the frozen dairy delight as possible. My least favorite among the many options one may find is chocolate. I know, I sound like a heathen, but I hate crunching into things when enjoying a creamy frozen treat.

If I do pick an add-on, it's usually nuts, cake pieces, fruits, or brownies. So, I was looking forward to this one. Then I took a bite. Among all the scoops I tried, no other was close to being as cloying.

The one thing I thought Favorite Day was doing best, balancing sugar levels, went out the window here. I barely got more than a few bites in before I realized all I could taste was the slow rotting of my teeth. The taste was good, but not enough to save it.

I am generally someone who enjoys mint chip. I don't pick it out of a lineup often, but that's usually because I like to mix flavors and mint has a way of taking over anything it touches. Having a scoop all on its own, though, can definitely be a treat. Unfortunately, this one didn't hit the mark.

Though the mint level was well done and the sweetness was balanced well, the gauze-like air-filled texture was almost foamy as it melted. This was something I'd seen in a few of Favorite Day's products, but it was more pronounced here than in the others. Add to that another choice of using chocolate-flavored chips of clearly low quality, and the brand was just asking for an instant fail.

It wasn't that the taste was bad. The issue was that the quality was lacking. I can't see myself choosing this brand's mint chip over that of any other brand, and I can't imagine any fans of the flavor disagreeing.

I know that peanut butter becomes hard when frozen, but surrounded by air-filled ice cream less dense than soft serve, it takes over everything. Upon hitting my tongue, the ice cream melted away and I had a hard block of frozen nut butter in my mouth ready to be chewed.

I've been eating peanut butter since before I can remember, but you can't deny it's a flavor that stands out. Despite the worthy combination of chocolate and peanut butter, I was almost ready to say goodbye before a second bite. However, I had work to do and dove back in for another bite.

I'm glad I did. While there is far too much peanut butter in this ice cream to balance the air-filled base that makes up most Favorite Day ice creams, the richness of the cocoa-heavy chocolate was craveable when you actually got a balanced bite. Not that I'd go looking for this one again any time soon.

As a personal favorite, I couldn't have been more excited for this carton. I'm not saying cotton candy is an objectively good flavor, but I like what I like. There's something about artificial candy goodness that tugs my heartstrings.

I prefer a heavier, more buttery, and solid ice cream, but clearly Favorite Day isn't the brand for that. While, even in this case, I would have enjoyed it more if it wasn't so airy, the incredibly soft and fluffy vibe of the brand's ice cream was wonderfully suited to a flavor named after the cloudlike spun sugar treat.

I knew mentally the feathery puff of the ice cream was basically proof there was as much air as actual product, but this was the best time for that to be the case. Unfortunately, there was a slight bitter tang in the aftertaste I recognized from heavily-dyed frostings. I would eat this again, but I'd put any other brand's version ahead of it any day.

I don't know how this missed the mark while tasting like it was supposed to. Orange cream is something I'm always a sucker for. I was excited to see a version where, instead of swirled around each other, the flavors were mixed homogeneously.

Unfortunately, I found it to be a letdown. Every bite was a measured balance of citrus, vanilla, and cream. Normally, when the two flavors are ribboned together, orange sherbet has just a touch of tartness that plays against the vanilla ice cream. In melding the two together, the ice cream lost the slight tang that elevates the overall experience.

Part of me thinks I'm wrong, and there's no such acidity in other orange cream ice creams. Another part of me can't let go of the idea that I've never before so immediately felt that it was missing. In the end, all ice cream is delicious, but here's proof not all are amazing.

There is a simple purity to the flavor of a vanilla bean ice cream. Usually, it's among my least favorites, but somehow, despite my lack of enthusiasm, the brand's mellow touch managed to make it work. Even if it wasn't amazing.

Vanilla bean tends to have an almost sharp, floral note of vanilla and a clean finish. I usually don't enjoy that strange aromatic note, but Favorite Day managed to win me over here. While each spoonful has the vanilla bean flavor, the brand isn't hitting you over the head with it.

In the end, despite being tasty, it was boring. It would work better as a scoop over a warm apple pie or a hot-from-the-oven brownie. I can't imagine buying it to eat a bowl of ice cream on its own, especially when the massive amount of air mixed in left me feeling like I'd barely eaten any at all after the ice cream melted to nothing in my mouth.

When I read peach and brown sugar ice cream, my interest was piqued. While it didn't turn out quite how I expected, this pint was an overall success. While the ice cream did have a hint of brown sugar, it required more effort than I'd have liked to find it.

The task was made even harder by the thorough swirl of peach jam and generous amounts of cake pieces, which were a great addition to make it feel like a peach cobbler. But, while the peach was noticeable throughout the ice cream, it was a bit too mild to really satisfy.

The cake pieces were dense and chewy, which was a nice textural contrast to the soft and melty ice cream, which melted back into cream within moments of leaving the spoon. Despite the very mild flavors, they worked well together and made for a light treat without being filling.

One of Favorite Day's seasonal varieties, this pint reminded me of when my father would fold strawberries into Cool Whip. It made a tasty, though not-as-good, knock-off of strawberry ice cream. This pint brought those memories rushing back.

This was another ice cream where the excessive lack of structure and overuse of air to take up space really hurt the end product. I can't say I was surprised, since the very first ingredient on the label is water. As a lover of ice cream, Favorite Day has been destroying my faith repeatedly by using corn syrup, water, gums, and air in this frozen treat.

Despite that, the actual flavor was delicious. The strawberries came across beautifully, the swirl was sweet and delightful, and each mouthful was a reminder of my dad. While I am planning to steer clear of the brand for the most part, if I had to eat a pint I wouldn't be angry if it was this one.

Cookie dough ice cream isn't usually one I go looking for. I always end up passing it over for something more exciting. I forget that chocolate chip cookies and milk are a destined combination for a reason.

The ice cream has a subtle hint of vanilla that was almost unnoticeable at first. That's not a complaint, in fact, I thought it allowed the ice cream to better complement the cookie dough pieces. Each time I got a piece of cookie dough it really tasted like a cookie dunked in an ice-cold glass of milk.

The chips were thin and snapped enjoyably, but had a bland flavor. I can be picky about chocolate chips in my ice cream, as they can become a bit too hard and ruin the smooth texture. When an ice cream includes chocolate that doesn't leave bits behind after I swallow, I know it's doing at least one thing right.

From the first bite, I was reminded of a classic strawberry shortcake. The strawberry swirls were sweet, melted across the tongue, and carried a genuine strawberry flavor. The ice cream base was light and reminiscent of whipped cream.

The amount of air in the ice cream was a bit too much, though it didn't stop me from going back for another bite. The interplay of sweet, tart, cakey, and creamy was balanced, and I don't have anything negative to say about the taste itself. The only issues with this ice cream were textural, and even then those were mild.

While the cake pieces themselves had a good flavor, the texture was a bit compressed. I usually think of angel food cake as light, airy, and impossibly bouncy. Here, the cake pieces were almost gummy. Honestly, I enjoyed them. I just didn't think it pulled off the flavor or texture of the dessert for which it is named.

This was another flavor that had a denser texture than some of the others. Still a relatively delicate and lighter texture than other brands, it was slightly heavier than the others and a better match for the cookie pieces.

When it came to the taste this one was rather enjoyable. It was like any other cookies and cream, but the sweetness levels were a little lower than I'm used to, which was perfect. The chocolate cookie pieces came across cleanly, and the lower sugar level made the melting ice cream feel like a cold glass of milk washing them down.

This was an ice cream that felt like I was getting what I expected. I appreciated that. Once again, I had come across a flavor I liked which also wasn't one I'd usually gravitate toward when given the choice. So, the fact that I found it one of the better offerings from the brand, speaks volumes as to why it made it this far up the list.

I may need an explanation for this one. I mean, I'm completely dumbfounded. Why have I never seen the combination of cookies and cream and cookie dough ice creams before? Cookies plus cookie dough equals a place among the top three.

The bright blue ice cream, which surprised me by not tasting like the copious amount of dye that must be necessary to get that color, had a rich vanilla essence that was more like the homemade vanilla than it was the vanilla bean. Texturally, this was also one of the heartier ice creams, matching the textures of the two other flavors it combines.

Taste-wise, this came across as a perfect match for the brand's cookies and cream option, but with the occasional delight of a soft and chewy piece of cookie dough showing up for the party. I'm forced to admit, as we get into the top three options, it seems that Favorite Day is capable of making ice cream with a noticeably higher quality than its other flavors.

The complexity and depth of flavor in this ice cream took me by complete surprise. I saw the cute cartoon turtle on the carton and wrote it off as a sugar trap for children. My jaw would still be on the floor had I not needed it to enjoy a second scoop.

Made with a caramel ice cream base, with chocolate cookie pieces and chocolate candies, I was basically expecting super sweet cookies and cream ice cream with knock-off M&M's in it. Shame on me. The ice cream, which had a nutty, deeply-browned and almost-savory caramel nature, was shockingly luscious. Unlike a salted caramel, this had a subtle bitterness to counterbalance the sweet caramel. Thanks to the brand's habit of keeping flavors and sweetness levels mellow, it couldn't have worked better.

The chocolate cookie pieces had just enough integrity to give them a textural component, but were soft enough to melt in your mouth, and the chocolate candy pieces were good but too big in my opinion. Despite the youth-directed marketing, this is an ice cream I could see anyone enjoying.

I am in shock that a plain vanilla ice cream is topping my list. Don't get me wrong, I love vanilla ice cream, but I can't remember the last time I picked it before all the other options. However, there was one thing about this particular flavor that launched it above the others without a doubt.

From the moment my spoon dipped into the ice cream I felt something more than I did with any of the others. Resistance. The homemade vanilla — which like others in this style had a richer and more and eggy taste than vanilla bean — used a custard base as an ingredient leading to a much denser ice cream as a result. This was an ice cream you could almost chew even without any mix-ins added.

Each bite was enough to draw me back, that's impressive when you think about the whole selection of frozen treats in my freezer. Despite being less exciting, when it came to the Favorite Day ice creams, this was the best. It may not have had the most wow factor, and it may not have had fancy colors or bits of brownie threaded through it, but in the end it was the best quality of ice cream I'd tried out of all 16 flavors from the Favorite Day brand.