13 Handel's Ice Cream Flavors, Ranked

Handel's story began in 1945, when Alice Handel started selling homemade ice cream at her husband's gas station in Youngstown, Ohio. Handel ran the business as a single parlor for 40 years, until she retired in the mid-1980s and sold the brand outside the family. New owner Lenny Fisher then began rapidly expanding the store, bringing Handel's treats to multiple states, and in 2020, private equity firm ClearLight Partners became the majority owner.

Despite this expansion, Handel's maintains the tradition of making its ice cream fresh at each location daily. It also promotes using the highest-quality ingredients and has been named some of the world's best by the likes of National Geographic, USA Today, and more. But as the brand continues to expand — it now operates over 175 stores in 20 states — this growth comes with added scrutiny. In 2025, for example, a class action lawsuit was filed against Handel's, accusing it of misleading marketing, specifically its claims to offer homemade products with the best ingredients. This lawsuit, filed in California, alleges that Handel's uses undisclosed synthetic dyes, additives, and preservatives. To be clear, however, these allegations have yet to be proven in court.

Even though it's no longer a small shop, Handel's remains one of the better frozen treat brands, especially among those with a national presence. With that said, let's take a look at some of its popular and intriguing flavors and how they compare when tasted against each other.

One of a number of Handel's flavors that features a fruit-based ripple — also including blueberry (see below), raspberry, and apple — the store describes this as cheesecake-flavored ice cream, which also features cheesecake chunks throughout the blend.

While I did enjoy the cheesecake aspect — the ice cream itself is an interesting twist on standard vanilla, and the cheesecake chunks add a nice textural element — the reason I rated this one last is mainly that the strawberry flavor comes across as artificial. It tastes, for example, the same way a strawberry scratch 'n sniff sticker smells. It seemed to hang around on my palate for the rest of the day — and not in a good way.

Though Handel's provides calorie estimates and allergen information on its website, it does not disclose all the ingredients in each ice cream flavor. As such, it is unclear exactly what Handel's puts in its strawberry ripple, and I can only point out that it does not taste like real strawberries (or even strawberry jam) to me. Strawberry ice cream fanatics who save the pink side of a traditional grocery store-brand Neapolitan ice cream for last, on the other hand, may feel differently.

This one has a base of chocolate butter fudge ice cream and features a ripple of graham cracker alongside chocolate chips. To be honest, I've never heard of anything called butter fudge ice cream, let alone a chocolate version. The traditional recipe for French silk pie has a chocolate mousse-like filling, not chocolate butter fudge, so it's unclear why Handel's has chosen to describe it as such. 

Nonetheless, it comes across as a lightly chocolatey ice cream, albeit fairly wimpy in its assertiveness. In a way, it's probably most comparable to the chocolate-style soft serve one gets from a machine. For those who don't want their chocolate ice cream to be very chocolatey — a sentiment I struggle to fathom — this might be a reasonable choice. Otherwise, however, it's a dissatisfying example of chocolate. I also didn't taste any graham cracker ripple, and while the chocolate chips were fine, they didn't add enough to truly level up the experience. All told, then, this option's a pass.

This flavor offers a vanilla ice cream base along with a blueberry ripple and sugar cookie gems, whatever the latter means. Since blueberry cobbler is often served à la mode with a scoop of vanilla, this one makes sense on paper, though the execution is mediocre at best. Actual blueberry cobbler, in fact, typically offers a strong blueberry flavor with a whisper of ice cream, whereas this dish is the opposite: vanilla ice cream with a whisper of blueberry. On a more positive note, compared to Handel's Strawberry Cheesecake Chunk, the blueberry flavor here tastes closer to actual berries.

As noted, it's unclear what sugar cookie gems actually are, but either way, I found the pieces too small to have a strong textural impact on the experience of eating this ice cream. They certainly didn't take away from it, but they were not wholly additive either. In the end, it seems like this particular combination is not greater than the sum of its parts. It's fine, but lacks wow factor.

Though vanilla is obviously the most basic of flavors, it's a good way to evaluate an ice cream company's overall quality. In this case, Handel's does a solid job. This is better than the average grocery store vanilla; it's clean, has a notable vanilla flavor, and certainly has no off notes. That being said, it would be better if it were richer or more emphatic in its vanilla-ness.

Compared to the other ice creams on this list, it's hard to justify ever ordering a cup or cone of this plain vanilla from Handel's. After my first bite, I thought it was pretty tasty. But by my second bite, I was already bored, and I can't imagine ever eating an entire dish or cone of this — even the small size. That being said, if I were looking for an ice cream to pair with dessert — say, a chocolate brownie, a fruit cobbler, or something along those lines — this would work quite well.

This flavor is described as having a base of key lime ice cream along with a graham cracker ripple. Unlike Handel's French Silk Pie, which had no noticeable graham cracker elements, this one has huge chunks of a graham cracker pie crust-like element, which improves both the taste and texture of this ice cream.

It's interesting with flavors like key lime and lemon in that they're generally more associated with sorbet and popsicles — things that mix the fruit with ice rather than with cream. And, in this case, it feels like the cream aspect of the concoction actually takes away from the aggressive tartness one might expect (and desire) from a key lime pie or a lime popsicle. As such, this one's probably not a re-order for me, but those who adore this kind of citrus should at least give it a go.

While I couldn't find any data on exactly when this flavor originated, Spouse Like a House is one of the creatively named flavors I remember being offered at Handel's when it opened in my neck of the woods many years ago, and it remains an iconic menu mainstay to this day. (That said, there is at least some evidence that this flavor has evolved over time, while the whimsical name remains.)

This concoction currently features a base of malted vanilla ice cream, mixed with a Reese's peanut butter ripple and chocolate-covered pretzels. Despite the flavor's intriguing description, it's actually rather bland. The malted vanilla ice cream, for example, feels like it should kick the vanilla base up a notch, but in reality, it seems to have less flavor than the standard vanilla.

While the peanut butter ripple and the pretzels do add nice hits of varying flavors, the chocolate aspect from the pretzels is lacking, which is especially notable because it feels like this flavor could really use a hit of chocolate to round out the overall taste. In the end, it seems that Spouse Like a House — at least in its current incarnation — sounds more fun than it tastes.

Handel's Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie was the biggest letdown of the ice creams on this list, mainly because its description sounds incredible. Inside a base of chocolate ice cream, it purportedly also includes a Reese's peanut butter ripple and brownie chunks, which seems like it would make for an absolutely magical combination. But from an execution standpoint, it is neither particularly chocolatey nor particularly peanut buttery — chocolate is the more prominent flavor, though it still isn't assertive — so in the end it just falls flat.

A great way to amp up the decadent factor of any ice cream is to include brownie chunks, but in this case, they were less chunky and more crumb-like, not offering a whole lot from a textural or sensory perspective. And the supposed peanut butter cup ripple — which sounded like the best part — was borderline nonexistent. In the end, while I am not necessarily angry at this flavor, I am disappointed.

Though difficult to prove definitive imitation, the similarities between this flavor and Talenti's now-famous Sea Salt Caramel Gelato are striking. The latter, now considered the gelato brand's signature flavor, was introduced in 2011; both feature a base of salted caramel ice cream and contain caramel-filled chocolate truffles.

As a longtime fan of the Talenti flavor, I'll say that Handel's version is a solid interpretation of the trend, though it lacks the balance and cohesion of the original. The caramel flavor is certainly present here, though it borders on being too pushy and even starts to bleed into butterscotch territory, which is similar to caramel but not exactly the same. In addition, I found the chocolate truffles in Handel's version a bit tough, which created a strange eating experience for the ice cream, leaving me still chewing these truffles after I had swallowed the rest. In sum, this is a reasonably enjoyable flavor, but in the future, I'll probably stick with Talenti to scratch my salted caramel fix.

It could probably be argued that buckeye is the signature flavor of Handel's — originally an Ohio-based company — which pays tribute to the state's official tree (or, more accurately, the peanut butter and chocolate candy that's made to resemble said tree's nuts). To make the ice cream flavor, peanut butter ice cream is combined with fudge ripple and an abundance of actual buckeye candy.

The dish is particularly heavy on peanut butter, the spread's essence present in both the ice cream itself and the candies. However, the fudge ripple was essentially nonexistent in the dish I received, which is a shame because the chocolate of the candies paired beautifully with the peanut butter flavor of the ice cream. (This is also strange because the photo of this on Handel's website shows a prominent fudge ripple.) All that said, this is still a delicious ice cream that lovers of buckeye candies or Reese's peanut butter cups will most certainly enjoy, and for that, it earns its place in Handel's lore.

Though clearly marketed at kids, what kind of buzzkill adult wouldn't also be interested in a Cookie Monster-themed — unofficially, to be clear — ice cream? (Some Handel's locations, it should be noted, may instead feature Green Monster, which is the same flavor but with green coloring.)

The base here is just vanilla that happens to be blue, and the mix is packed with both Oreo and Chips Ahoy cookie pieces. The standout feature of this particular flavor is that it is absolutely stuffed with these add-ins, to the point that every bite features pieces of cookie, adding greatly to both the textural experience and the taste. (And, to be honest, this abundance is not a guarantee with other flavors that contain add-ins.)

It also features a fun, blue color that temporarily stains the eater's lips and tongue. That being said, Handel's is not exactly transparent about how it achieves said blue color — and, as mentioned earlier, a class action lawsuit was filed against the chain in 2025 for misleading consumers about additives in its ice cream. The lawsuit named Blue 1 as a possible dye used in its ice cream, which has previously been linked to potential health concerns. However, considering this ice cream also contains a plethora of ultra-processed cookie chunks, we're not sure anyone would argue that Handel's Blue Monster is intended as a healthy treat.

For anyone who read the above description of Blue Monster and felt intrigued by the flavors but turned off by the potential inclusion of artificial dyes, Ooohh...Dough! is the more natural-hued alternative. Also with a vanilla base, this time undyed, it also features chunks of Oreo cookies, as well as chocolate chip cookie dough — which, of course, is slightly different from the Chips Ahoy chocolate chip cookies included in Blue Monster.

I must also admit that when I first saw the name Ooohh...Dough!, I expected multiple types of dough, akin to Ben & Jerry's The Tonight Dough. So it's a little disappointing that it only has one type, and that the only difference between this and Handel's standard chocolate chip cookie dough flavor is the addition of Oreos. (Presumably, the Os in Oreo became the "Ooohh" in the flavor's name.) That said, this is still a delicious combination, with big chunks of Oreos and smaller chunks of cookie dough that create textural differences and mix intriguing flavors throughout the ice cream.

This flavor contains a base of graham-flavored ice cream, along with graham cracker ripple and something called chocolate-covered crunchies. To be honest, I have never cared for graham crackers; even as a young'un, I recognized them for the banal, tasteless abominations that they are meant to be. As such, when a friend told me that the creatively named Graham Central Station was a must-try flavor from Handel's, I was downright skeptical. But, she was insistent — and darn, if all graham crackers tasted like this, they would be a lot more popular.

This is graham crackers turned up to 11, providing a wonderful blend of spicy, savory, and sweet. And while I remain unsure exactly what chocolate crunchies are, they add a lovely tactile sensation — and a hit of chocolate! — to an already great ice cream eating experience. In sum, don't let the graham be a turn-off; this is one world-class ice cream flavor.

One of the more boring flavors on paper, this is simply described as dark chocolate ice cream with chocolate chips. But here's the thing: While many ice cream brands claim to make "dark" chocolate ice cream, few of them actually deliver on that promise. Except for Handel's. This is legit dark chocolate. A chocolate that dreams are made of — the chocolate ideal, the city upon the hill of chocolate, the ice cream that chocolate lovers can go their whole life seeking to only, finally, find at Handel's.

Taking a bite, one is hit with a moderate chocolate flavor, pleasant, present, but maybe initially disappointing. But wait, there's more! As one continues to eat, a second wave of chocolate, richer and darker than the first, coats the tongue, enveloping the senses in a way that only the deepest darkest chocolate can. This is, without exaggeration, a chocolate utopia.

If there's any downside to this flavor, it's that it might be less appealing to those people who comprehend that the phrase "too chocolatey" can exist, and have ever considered uttering such an absurd combination of words. (If this applies to you, feel free to check out French Silk Pie mentioned earlier.)

To determine the best Handel's flavors, I visited my local store in suburban Philadelphia during a single week in June 2026. I purchased a small dish of each flavor, rushed to photograph it before it melted — a challenge one might not automatically expect to find in the food writer job description — and then tasted each as quickly as possible.

Though Handel's describes a large number of ice creams on its website, some of which are obviously seasonal like Peppermint Stick or Pumpkin Pie, individual stores only offer a subset of these flavors at any given time. (Though to be fair, my store offered more than 40 flavors during the week that I conducted this research.) I also tried to include a mix of classic flavors, fruit flavors, and more unusual ice cream flavors.

It is also interesting to note that, in some cases, the ice cream I received differed slightly from what is described on Handel's website, as noted in the individual descriptions above. It's unclear whether this was a mixing issue, an ingredient availability issue, or an individual store issue. However, I could obviously only evaluate the flavor and texture of the ice cream in the cup that was sold to me.