Ask a room full of people to name their favorite ice cream flavor and you will never get a clean answer. This year, America actually settled it, at least for now. Chocolate just took the crown back from vanilla, and the timing could not be better, with National Ice Cream Month keeping freezers full across the country.
Chocolate reclaimed the top spot from vanilla, which had held it since 2024. Butter pecan jumped to second place, pushing vanilla to third. It says something real about what people want in a scoop these days. Chocolate and butter pecan both bring richness, while vanilla has always leaned on being clean and familiar. That pull toward bolder flavors shows up in scoop shops, in ice cream contests and in the freezer aisle too.
Americans eat about 18 pounds of ice cream a year, something like four gallons, and the newest sales numbers show that the United States makers churned out 1.23 billion gallons in 2025 alone. Separately, the latest flavor rankings confirmed the flip at the top.
Artisan ice cream shops are booming
Salt & Straw built its reputation on partnering with local farms and rotating seasonal flavors, growing from a single Portland shop into scoop shops nationwide. Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams took a similar path, sourcing directly and making everything in small batches before shipping pints across the country. The artisan ice cream market is projected to hit $9.7 billion this year and keep growing at 7.6% a year through 2035.
Bold flavors are winning over judges
A food industry contest held in April in Naples, Florida drew a record 65-plus entries, the most it has ever seen. One theme kept popping up: swicy, the sweet and spicy combo behind flavors like Tropical Mango Fire and Chocolate Chili Crisp. Tim Philpott of Graeter’s Ice Cream told industry press that pairings like honey miso and basil lime are likely to catch on this year. The top prize went to HP Hood’s Newport Blueberry Lemonade Crumble, proof a familiar base can still win with the right twist.
Dairy-free ice cream is not the backup plan anymore
Plant-based ice cream used to be something people bought because they had to. These days it is a real competitor. The dairy-free ice cream market was worth $1.83 billion last year and should reach $2.05 billion this year, climbing to $3.58 billion by 2031. Van Leeuwen, which started as a food truck in New York City, now sells plant-based pints in major grocery chains nationwide. Better textures have closed the gap so far that more than half of ice cream buyers now switch between full-calorie and better-for-you pints without thinking twice.
Nobody is settling for a boring scoop this summer. Grab a classic vanilla cone from the truck on the corner, or hunt down something wilder like chocolate chili crisp at your local scoop shop. National Ice Cream Month is the perfect excuse to try something new. Go ahead, order the weird flavor. Your freezer will thank you.
Mandy Applegate is the creator behind Splash of Taste and seven other high-profile food and travel blogs. She’s also the co-founder of Food Drink Life Inc., a unique and highly rewarding collaborative blogger project. Her articles appear frequently on major online news sites, and she always has her eyes open to spot the next big trend.