I can’t keep up with this company! Late last year, Van Leeuwen Vegan Ice Cream pints were launched into nationwide distribution. They have churned vegan ice cream for their New York ice cream shops for years, and were selling some flavors in pints in the immediate region. But a big round of funding enabled them to expand sales throughout the U.S. Now they have 11 cashew milk ice cream flavors, and 7 oat milk ice cream flavors in pints across the country.
This post is dedicated to information on the original Van Leeuwen Vegan Ice Cream pints, made with cashew milk. For information and reviews on the even newer line, see our Van Leeuwen Oat Milk Ice Cream post.
Van Leeuwen Vegan Ice Cream Pints come in 11 Cashew Milk Flavors
Van Leeuwen cashew milk ice cream is made in small batches with a base of raw cashews, organic coconut cream, virgin coconut oil, pure cocoa butter, and organic cane sugar. From there, Van Leeuwen’s team of artisans hand crafts a selection of classic and creative flavors. They have quietly changed up and added some flavors since the original launch, but this is the full list of pint flavors as of right now. Leave your own rating and review below if you have tried any of them!
Vanilla Bean
This classic flavor is made with Tahitian vanilla beans that are cured in the sun to concentrate flavor, then cold-ground, and steeped in their rich vegan cashew milk base.
Ingredients: cashew milk (filtered water, raw cashews), organic cane sugar, coconut cream, organic virgin coconut oil, cocoa butter, salt, vanilla extract (grain alcohol, vanilla bean), organic carob bean gum, vanilla bean.*
Chocolate
It might sound like an ordinary flavor, but this Van Leeuwen Vegan Ice Cream uses high-quality chocolate from Michel Cluizel, a small family-run French company. They blend in even more raw cacao and cocoa butter, to create a mousse-like texture, and are somehow able to do it all without the use of soy lecithin.
Ingredients: cashew milk (filtered water, raw cashews), coconut cream, organic cane sugar, cocoa powder, chocolate (cocoa butter, cocoa liquor, vanilla bean, ginger, cinnamon), organic virgin coconut oil, cocoa butter, salt, organic carob bean gum.*
Mint Chip
How do you elevate this basic flavor? With pure organic peppermint and single origin 72% chocolate chips from a Missouri chocolate maker, of course!
Ingredients: cashew milk (filtered water, raw cashews), coconut cream, organic cane sugar, organic virgin coconut oil, cocoa butter, chocolate (cocoa butter, cocoa liquor), organic peppermint extract (grain alcohol, peppermint leaves), salt, organic carob bean gum.*
Sicilian Pistachio
I had no idea that Italy was known for pistachios, let alone that the slopes of Mount Etna in Sicily “grow the finest pistachios on earth.” You can test them out in this flavor.
Ingredients: cashew milk (filtered water, raw cashews), organic cane sugar, coconut cream, organic virgin coconut oil, sicilian pistachios, cocoa butter, sea salt, organic carob bean gum.*
Choc Chip Cookie Dough
This is the one (current) cashew milk flavor that contains wheat, so gluten-free consumers be aware. They use a classic homemade cookie dough formula, but spike this blend with unroasted Raaka 71% chocolate chips.
Ingredients: cashew milk (filtered water, raw cashews), coconut cream, cookie dough (wheat flour, dark brown sugar, coconut oil, water, sunflower oil, vanilla, sea salt), coconut oil, cocoa butter, chocolate (cocoa beans, cocoa butter), vanilla extract (grain alcohol, vanilla bean), kosher salt, organic carob bean gum.*
Peanut Butter Choc Chip
They bland pure Virginia peanut butter into the rich cashew milk base and spike with it with dairy-free, soy-free, 72% chocolate chunks from Missouri chocolate.
Ingredients: cashew milk (filtered water, raw cashews), coconut cream, organic cane sugar, cocoa butter, organic peanut butter, chocolate (cocoa butter, cocoa liquor), organic virgin coconut oil, salt, organic carob bean gum.*
Honeycomb
Vegan honeycomb? Indeed. This flavor is a riff on an Australian classic that uses house-made “honeycomb” with the perfect caramel-like taste and chewy on the outside, crispy on the inside texture.
Ingredients: cashew milk (filtered water, raw cashews), organic cane sugar, coconut cream, organic virgin coconut oil, cocoa butter, honeycomb (cane sugar, organic brown rice syrup or tapioca syrup, coconut oil, brown sugar, baking soda, salt) vanilla extract (grain alcohol, vanilla bean), salt, organic carob bean gum.*
Salted Caramel
The caramel is hand-made in small batches with a touch of cold ground Tahitian vanilla. Flakes of Maldon sea salt from one of the world’s oldest salt makers are folded in after freezing, to preserve the layers of flavor.
Ingredients: cashew milk (raw cashews, filtered water), coconut cream, organic cane sugar, organic virgin coconut oil, cocoa butter, salt, organic carob bean gum, vanilla bean.*
Cookie Crumble Strawberry Jam
Their Tahitian vanilla ice cream base gets an upgrade with house-made Oregano strawberry jam swirls and crumbles of gluten-free oat cookies.
Ingredients: cashew milk (filtered water, raw cashews), organic cane sugar, coconut cream, organic virgin coconut oil, cocoa butter, strawberries, gluten-free oats, buckwheat flour, brown sugar, rice flour, salt, canola oil, organic carob bean gum, vanilla extract (grain alcohol, vanilla bean), baking soda, pectin.*
Cookies & Cream Caramel Swirl
You’ll feel all grown up with this indulgent twist on a classic ice cream flavor. It’s made with dark chocolate cookies, a touch of cold-ground Tahitian vanilla bean, and a swirl of house-made dairy-free caramel.
Ingredients: cashew milk (filtered water, raw cashews), organic cane sugar, coconut cream, organic virgin coconut oil, cocoa butter, unbleached unenriched wheat flour, coconut oil, cocoa powder, sunflower oil, vanilla extract (grain alcohol, vanilla bean), baking soda, sunflower lecithin, salt, organic carob bean gum.*
Rocky Road
They went all out with this double chocolate ice cream. It’s filled with vegan marshmallows and candied California walnuts. But take note that the marshmallows are made with soy protein.
Ingredients: cashew milk (filtered water, raw cashews), organic cane sugar, coconut cream, cocoa powder, vegan marshmallows (tapioca syrup, cane sugar, water, tapioca starch, carrageenan, non-GMO soy protein, natural vanilla flavor), cocoa butter, organic virgin coconut oil, chocolate (cocoa butter, cocoa liquor, vanilla bean, ginger, cinnamon), organic brown rice syrup, salt, organic carob bean gum, walnuts.*
More Allergen Notes
Van Leeuwen does make dairy ice cream, too. According to a representative, “Van Leeuwen takes great precaution to not create cross-contamination in their products.” And the oat milk ice cream line was created specifically to cater to those with nut allergies, or who don’t consume cashews or other nuts. But as always, contact the company directly to discuss their allergen protocols and assess if their products are safe for your needs.
More Facts on Van Leeuwen Vegan Ice Cream (Cashew Milk Varieties)
Price: $6.99 per pint in stores; online for $89 (including shipping) for 6 pints
Availability: Van Leeuwen Vegan Ice Cream is available at Whole Foods Market, Albertsons / Safeway, and other natural food stores in the U.S.. It can also be purchased at Van Leeuwen shops and online from GoldBelly.
Certifications: We did not note any certifications on Van Leeuwen Vegan Ice Cream.
Dietary Notes: By ingredients, Van Leeuwen Vegan Ice Cream is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, vegan, and vegetarian. Most varieties are soy-free, but the marshmallows in the Rocky Road contain soy protein. Most varieties are also gluten-free by ingredients, but a couple varieties do contain wheat. And most varieties are also made without peanuts.*
For More Product Information: Visit the Van Leeuwen website at vanleeuwenicecream.com.
*Always read the ingredient and nutrition statement prior to consumption. Ingredients, processes, and labeling are subject to change at any time for any company or product. Contact the company to discuss their manufacturing processes if potential allergen cross-contamination is an issue for you. No food product can be guaranteed “safe” for every individual’s needs. You should never rely on ingredient and allergen statements alone if dealing with a severe food allergy.
The worst vegan frozen desert
I have been enjoying So Delicious vegan salted caramel for years so out of curiosity I tried Van Leewwen frozen desert since it was on sale.BIG MISTAKE! I really wish I could get my money back because that stuff lousy. It is a cream with NO character. The taste is confusing with the coconut competing with the weak caramel after taste. I tried the peanut butter chocolate chip… More Lousy! I will NEVER buy this again. It taste like It was pumped out of a machine with no human involvement. Totally boring with no texture. It was like eating flavored frozen butter. Yeeech!!
the mint chip
lots and lots of pepole say its amazing i agree but at first i saw the ingredints and i thoght nawww its healthey but when i saw the reviews i had to try it so i would realy reccomend mint chip
the bars
they were very godd but when they have stuff like carmale in the midle its so good but i would prefer more becouse its just that good
AMAZING
Hands-down, the best mint chocolate chip ice cream I’ve ever had. The consistency is even better than dairy ice cream, it’s perfectly creamy and soft right when it comes out of the freezer, instead of being strangely frozen solid and soupy like dairy ice cream.
Hit or miss
Generally speaking the vegan Van Leeuwen is incredible, but a few of the flavors are a total fail. Straightforward flavors like Mint Chip are amazing. Attempts to “reinvigorate” classics, such as the Cookies ‘n’ Cream Caramel Swirl (the entire pint just tastes like “caramel” with no trace of traditional cookies n cream), seem to result in an unfocused, overly sweet mess with none of the character of the original flavor. All these varieties sort of taste the same to me, and just knock you over the head with sweetness.
Love love love it
The Oat Milk Chocolate With Cookie Dough flavor is so delicious. I haven’t encountered any vegan chocolate ice cream I found even tolerable, but this stuff is amazing. I think it’s the high cocoa butter content. The Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl is also incredible. These almost taste like dairy ice cream to me. The Strawberry Jam Crumble is also delicious. It has a bit of a coconut flavor but that works really well with the other flavors. I didn’t really care for the Raspberry Sundae Swirl or the Oat Cookie flavors and ended up giving them away to my roommate, but the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Cookies And Cream Caramel Swirl were decent, if not quite on the level of the best flavors.
Inconsistency between flavors
I’ve tried the Sicilian pistachio and the chocolate. While the pistachio has a luscious mouthfeel and is super scoopable, I was disappointed to find the coconut-cashew base completely overwhelms any pistachio flavor. If not for the green color, I’d think they packaged the wrong flavor in the pint. IMO, they’re wasting those expensive pistachios! (I wonder why they chose to blend them all in?) The chocolate, on the other hand, is unmistakable: It’s so rich and dense, it’s like they somehow merged chocolate cake with ice cream. I love this decadent, 2-for-1 dessert experience because it means I only need a little to feel satisfied. But the texture isn’t typical “ice cream” to me–it’s almost chewy–and totally different from the pistachio, which is like soft-serve custard, so soft and creamy that unless I’m putting it in iced coffee (my fix for the flavor problem), I eat it quick, right out of the freezer, so it doesn’t turn to soup.
Choc Chip Cookie Dough
I have been on the hunt for a good chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream ever since I have gone dairy free so when I saw this on the shelf at my local grocery store, I was excited. Over all this is a decent ice cream, but I don’t think I’ll buy it again. It is very sweet and unexpectedly coco-nutty. It’s one good point is that it’s cookie dough isn’t too sweet. It just wasn’t great.