It’s no secret that vanilla ice cream has sugar. Some of it is natural from milk sugar whereas most of it is added during manufacturing.
But, how much sugar is really in vanilla ice cream? Below you will find the answer based on the sugar content data from several brands. Let’s get into what you need to know!
Sugar In Vanilla Ice Cream
The sugar in vanilla ice cream varies by brand.
However, we pulled the sugar content for 17 varieties of vanilla ice cream to give you an average of total and added sugars. As the bottom of the table below shows, 19.12 grams was the average for total sugars and 13.82 grams was the average for added sugars.
| Vanilla Ice Cream | Serving Size | Total Sugars (g) | Added Sugars (g) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breyers Natural Vanilla | 2/3 Cup (88g) | 19g | 14g |
| Edy’s Classics Vanilla | 2/3 Cup (103g) | 20g | 14g |
| Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla | 2/3 Cup (118g) | 26g | 17g |
| Haagen-Dazs Vanilla | 2/3 Cup (129g) | 25g | 18g |
| Tillamook Old-Fashioned Vanilla | 2/3 Cup | 21g | 16g |
| Hudsonville Vanilla Bean | 2/3 Cup (85g) | 18g | 13g |
| Turkey Hill Original Vanilla | 2/3 Cup (87g) | 16g | 11g |
| Alden’s Organic Old Fashioned Vanilla | 2/3 Cup (89g) | 18g | 15g |
| Lactaid Vanilla | 2/3 cup (95g) | 16g | 12g |
| Blue Bunny Vanilla | 2/3 Cup (87g) | 18g | 13g |
| Prairie Farms Vanilla | 2/3 Cup (92g) | 20g | 15g |
| Friendly’s French Vanilla | 2/3 Cup (88g) | 19g | 15g |
| Kemp’s Old Fashioned Vanilla | 2/3 Cup (95g) | 18g | 12g |
| Great Value Homestyle Vanilla | 2/3 Cup (89g) | 18g | 13g |
| Favorite Day Homemade Vanilla | 2/3 Cup (86g) | 18g | 13g |
| Kroger Deluxe Vanilla | 2/3 Cup (87g) | 16g | 10g |
| 365 Whole Foods Vanilla | 2/3 Cup (96g) | 19g | 14g |
| Average | 19.12g | 13.82g |
Recommended Daily Added Sugar
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that we limit our added sugar intake to 10% of total calories. This applies to people 2 years and older.
Therefore, if your diet is 2,500 calories per day, you would be limited to under 250 calories from added sugar. In other words, you would be able to consume up to 62.5 grams of added sugar by following the recommendation. The math is (250 calories from added sugar ÷ 4 calories per gram of sugar = 62.5 grams of added sugar).
The average added sugar of the vanilla ice cream varieties above was almost 14 grams. That is quite a bit of added sugar for only a 2/3 cup serving size.
This is particularly true if you are on a lower-calorie diet. Say your recommended daily added sugar is only 25 grams on a 1,000-calorie diet. The 14 grams of added sugar you eat with a serving of vanilla ice cream leaves little room for additional added sugar for the remaining of the day.
