High-Calorie Ice Cream: The Highest-Calorie Tubs Ranked and How to Get More From Every Bowl

Written by James Frost, founder of Flaming Phoenix. Updated October 2026.

The highest calorie ice creams in UK supermarkets are Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough and Phish Food at 273 calories per 100 g, followed by Häagen-Dazs Pralines & Cream (263) and Salted Caramel (261). Budget soft-scoop vanilla is 157 to 180 per 100 g and largely air, so a scoop gives a third of the calories or less.

Every figure on this page comes from the tub's own label on Tesco's website, checked in October 2026, or from McCance and Widdowson's Composition of Foods, the UK government dataset, where a generic value is more useful. It is written for people who need to eat more, not less, and sits alongside our guides to calorie-dense foods and how to gain weight.

I started Flaming Phoenix after around 150 conversations with endurance athletes, expedition people and people who struggle to eat enough, and the question underneath almost all of them was how to get more calories from less food. Ice cream is one of the easier answers.

Is ice cream high in calories?

Ice cream is moderately high in calories: 157 to 273 per 100 g across the UK tubs checked here, against 63 for whole milk and 416 for Cheddar.

So it is not the most calorie-dense food in the freezer, and a spoonful of nuts or chocolate carries more. What makes it useful is how easily it goes down. It is soft and cold, so it is one of the easiest textures to manage when chewing feels like effort or warm food is unappealing, which is why it belongs on any list of soft high-calorie foods. And people enjoy it, so they finish it: the food you actually finish beats the "optimal" food you leave half-eaten.

The trade-off is that plain ice cream is mostly fat and sugar, with about 2 to 4.5 g of protein per 100 g. That is why the add-ins further down lean on nut butter, nuts and milk as well as sauce.

Which ice cream has the most calories?

Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough and Phish Food have the most calories of the UK tubs checked, at 273 per 100 g, with Häagen-Dazs Pralines & Cream, Cookies & Cream and Salted Caramel close behind at 261 to 263.

Calories per 100 g, from each tub's label on Tesco, October 2026:

• Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough: 273
• Ben & Jerry's Phish Food: 273
• Häagen-Dazs Pralines & Cream: 263
• Häagen-Dazs Cookies & Cream: 262
• Häagen-Dazs Salted Caramel: 261
• Ben & Jerry's Cookies on Cookie Dough, non-dairy: 255
• Häagen-Dazs Vanilla: 250
• Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie: 250
• Kelly's Cornish Clotted Cream: 233
• Tesco Finest Madagascan Vanilla: 231
• Carte D'Or Madagascan Vanilla: 186
• Mackie's Traditional Luxury Dairy: 184
• Wall's Soft Scoop Vanilla: 180
• Tesco Soft Scoop Vanilla: 157

The pattern is fat and inclusions: the top of the list carries 13 to 17 g of fat per 100 g plus cookie dough, fudge or praline pieces, while the soft-scoop tubs carry about 6 g. "Light", protein and frozen yoghurt ranges sit lower still; McCance and Widdowson puts a virtually fat-free ice cream at 102 per 100 g.

How many calories are in a scoop of ice cream?

A scoop of ice cream is 66 to 148 calories on the labels checked, because a scoop is a volume and cheap ice cream is mostly air.

Tesco's own labels make the point: a 42 g scoop of its soft scoop vanilla is 66 calories, and a 64 g scoop of its Finest vanilla is 148, though both scoops are the same 100 ml. Per 100 ml, the order changes sharply:

• Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough: 238
• Ben & Jerry's Phish Food: 232
• Häagen-Dazs Salted Caramel: about 227 (400 g in a 460 ml tub)
• Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie: 218
• Tesco Finest Madagascan Vanilla: 148
• Kelly's Cornish Clotted Cream: 107
• Carte D'Or Madagascan Vanilla: 97
• Wall's Soft Scoop Vanilla: 79
• Tesco Soft Scoop Vanilla: about 66

If your appetite is the limit, use this list rather than the per-100 g one: one scoop of Ben & Jerry's gives roughly what three and a half scoops of Tesco soft scoop do.

Which vanilla ice cream has the most calories?

Häagen-Dazs Vanilla has the most calories of the vanillas checked at 250 per 100 g, ahead of Kelly's Cornish Clotted Cream (233) and Tesco Finest Madagascan Vanilla (231). Carte D'Or (186), Wall's Soft Scoop (180) and Tesco Soft Scoop (157) trail well behind.

Calories per tub, and per pound spent

The densest tubs are not the cheapest calories. Whole-tub totals worked out from each label, with the regular Tesco price:

• Tesco Soft Scoop Vanilla, 2 litres: about 1,320 calories for £1.49, roughly 11p per 100 calories.
• Wall's Soft Scoop Vanilla, 1.8 litres: about 1,420 for £2.75, roughly 19p per 100.
• Kelly's Cornish Clotted Cream, 950 ml: about 1,020 for £4.00, roughly 39p per 100.
• Carte D'Or Madagascan Vanilla, 900 ml: about 870 for £3.90, roughly 45p per 100.
• Tesco Finest Madagascan Vanilla, 480 ml: about 720 for £3.50, roughly 49p per 100.
• Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough, 465 ml: about 1,110 for £5.55, roughly 50p per 100.
• Häagen-Dazs Vanilla, 460 ml: 1,000 for £5.75, roughly 58p per 100.

For comparison, Loughborough University's Centre for Lifestyle Medicine and Behaviour put a 405 g tub of chocolate fudge brownie ice cream at 1,121 calories; at today's Ben & Jerry's label (250 per 100 g) the same 405 g comes to about 1,013. Recipes change, so check the tub in front of you.

How to add hundreds of calories to any ice cream at home

The fastest way to add calories to ice cream is to stir in nut butter and scatter nuts: a tablespoon of peanut butter and 30 g of mixed nuts add 271 calories with very little extra in the bowl.

Each of these needs no cooking. Values are McCance and Widdowson's for the weights shown:

• Peanut butter, 1 tablespoon (16 g): 97, with 4 g of protein.
• Mixed nuts, 30 g: 174.
• Granola with nuts, 40 g: 180; our high-calorie granola is made for this.
• Milk chocolate, 30 g, melted or chopped: 156.
• Double cream, 30 g poured over: 149.
• Chocolate spread, 20 g warmed: 115.
• Sweetened condensed milk, 30 g: 93.
• Dried dates, 30 g chopped: 71.
• Golden syrup, 20 g: 60.
• Half a Phoenix Bar (60 g), broken over the top: 265 to 279 depending on flavour, with about 9 g of protein, which is more than 150 g of the ice cream itself carries.

A worked example: 150 g of Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie (375) with a tablespoon of peanut butter (97), 30 g of chopped mixed nuts (174) and 20 g of warmed chocolate spread (115) comes to 761 calories in one soft, cold bowl that takes two minutes. For more puddings built the same way, see our high-calorie desserts guide. For something warm, our high calorie soup recipes apply the same idea: a rich base plus easy add-ins.

Is ice cream good for weight gain and bulking?

Ice cream helps with weight gain because 150 g of a rich tub is around 400 calories that go down easily, but it is low in protein and high in sugar, so it works best on top of proper meals.

The NHS suggests adults who need to gain weight add around 300 to 500 calories a day. 150 g of Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough is 410 on its own, so one bowl covers it. The same NHS page warns against relying on chocolate, cakes and sugary drinks to gain weight, and that 150 g bowl also carries 38 g of sugar, much of it added, against the NHS limit of 30 g of free sugars a day for adults. Protein is the other gap: about 6 g in the same bowl.

So the best ice cream for weight gain depends on what limits you. If appetite is the problem, pick a dense tub such as Ben & Jerry's or Häagen-Dazs and eat less of it. If budget is the problem, soft scoop gives the cheapest calories, about 11p per 100, but you need three to four times the volume. Either way, add peanut butter, nuts or milk so the bowl brings protein as well as sugar. For bulking specifically, the best high-calorie foods for bulking guide shows where ice cream fits, and dirty bulking covers what happens when puddings become the plan. For something with the same ease of eating and no freezer, a pack of weight gain bars does a similar job.

High-calorie ice cream shakes

If a solid bowl feels like too much, blending ice cream into a drink is often easier to get down and just as calorie-dense. A weighed version:

• 150 g luxury chocolate or caramel ice cream: 393
• 250 ml whole milk: 165
• 32 g peanut butter (2 tablespoons): 194
• 1 medium banana, 100 g peeled: 81

Total 833 calories and about 23 g of protein, using McCance and Widdowson's values and the Tesco whole milk label (66 per 100 ml). It is easier to sip than to chew when appetite is low. For more blended options, see our high-calorie drinks guide, and for protein-led builds, the homemade weight gainer shakes guide.

Using ice cream when your appetite is low

When appetite has dropped off, small amounts of ice cream eaten often are usually easier than one large bowl.

A few habits help. Eat a little and often rather than facing a big portion. Stir nut butter or cream through so the bowl looks no bigger. Lean on cold and soft, because ice cream is often easier when warm or savoury food is not. And keep it enjoyable, because the version you actually finish is the one that counts. If your appetite has been low for a while, or you are losing weight without meaning to, it is worth speaking to your GP or a registered dietitian, who can give guidance specific to your situation.

Frequently asked questions

Does ice cream make you gain weight?

Only as part of a calorie surplus, the same as any food. Ice cream makes a surplus easy because it is quick to eat: 150 g of a rich tub is around 400 calories, which on its own matches the NHS's suggested 300 to 500 extra calories a day for adults who need to gain.

Is ice cream calorie dense?

Moderately. The tubs here run from 1.6 to 2.7 calories per gram, below Cheddar (4.2), milk chocolate (5.2) or mixed nuts (5.8) but well above rice pudding (1.5). Its real advantage is texture: soft and cold, it goes down when denser food will not.

How many calories are in a tub of Ben & Jerry's?

On October 2026 Tesco labels, a 465 ml tub of Cookie Dough is about 1,110 calories (238 per 100 ml), Phish Food about 1,080 and Chocolate Fudge Brownie about 1,010. That is two to four days of the NHS's suggested 300 to 500 extra calories in one tub.

Is vegan ice cream high in calories?

It can be. Ben & Jerry's non-dairy Cookies on Cookie Dough is 255 calories per 100 g, close to the dairy tubs, though with only 1.7 g of protein. A plain non-dairy vanilla soft scoop is 192 per 100 g in McCance and Widdowson's data. Our vegan high-calorie foods guide lists more.

Is protein ice cream good for weight gain?

Usually not. Protein and "light" ice creams are built to cut calories, and a virtually fat-free ice cream is 102 per 100 g against 250 to 273 for the rich tubs. For gaining, a full-fat tub with milk or peanut butter added gives more calories and still brings protein.

Sources: Tesco product pages for every tub named, checked October 2026; McCance and Widdowson's Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset 2021; NHS, Healthy ways to gain weight; NHS, Sugar: the facts; Loughborough University, Weighing up your ice cream choice.