YouGov’s latest scoop: vanilla is the country’s favourite ice cream flavour

Key takeaways

  • Vanilla is Britain’s favourite ice cream flavour, with 18% of Britons who like ice cream saying it would be their top choice, followed by mint choc chip (14%) and chocolate (13%)
  • 84% of those who eat ice cream say they like or love vanilla, with 64-70% enjoying raspberry ripple, chocolate, strawberry, mint choc chip and salted caramel
  • Banana and coffee are some of the most divisive flavours among Britons, with similar numbers liking and disliked them
  • Rum and raisin could be on the way out, with just 17% of 18-24 year old ice cream eaters liking the flavour, compared to 44-47% of older generations
  • A flake is Britain’s top ice cream topping

As the recent heatwaves wore on, many of us will have enjoyed an ice cream to cool down. But with the sheer array of choice available in supermarkets today, as well as some parlours selling flavours as novel as soy sauce, the decision to have an ice cream is not the last choice you’ll have to make…

Having previously tackled the nation’s favourite ice lolly (controversially, a magnum), YouGov’s latest scoop reveals the British public’s top flavours of ice cream.

In terms of an overall favourite flavour, it’s humble vanilla that comes out on top, holding the number one spot for 18% of those who eat ice cream. Closely following are mint choc chip and chocolate, each the top choice for 13-14%.

Beyond the medal spots, there’s an identifiable second-tier of favourite flavours, with strawberry the go-to for 6%, salted caramel and rum and raisin each coming first for 5%, pistachio holding this position for 4%, and both coffee and raspberry ripple the best-loved flavours for 3%.

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Overall, the public suggested more than 80 flavours in total when asked to pick out their favourite, with 1% opting for each of banana, caramel, cherry, clotted cream, coconut, cookie dough, cookies and cream, honeycomb or cinder toffee, lemon, praline, stracciatella, and toffee.

One in ten ice cream eaters (10%) either said they have no specific favourite flavour or were unable to pick.

Which flavours of ice cream do Britons like?

Vanilla’s claim to the crown as the country’s top ice cream flavour is bolstered by expanding the criteria from just people’s favourite ice cream flavour to which flavours they like.

More than eight in ten Britons who eat ice cream (84%) say that they like or love vanilla, compared to no more than 70% for any of the other flavours polled. Additionally, just 4% say they dislike or hate vanilla ice cream, compared to at least 11% for other flavours. Despite vanilla sometimes being used as a synonym for bland, it is undoubtedly a people pleaser.

There are, though, some differences in the list. For instance, while more Britons have mint choc chip as their overall favourite flavour than raspberry ripple, 70% of ice cream enjoyers like the swirly raspberry confection, relative to 64% happy to have a scoop of mint choc chip. Additionally, nearly a quarter of those who eat ice cream (23%) dislike mint choc chip, roughly double the 11% who aren’t keen on raspberry ripple.

Flavours also liked by around two thirds of ice cream eaters (64-67%) include chocolate, strawberry and salted caramel, while roughly half (48-50%) enjoy Neapolitan and pistachio.

Coffee and banana ice cream are particularly divisive, with similar proportions viewing the flavours positively (38-41%) and negatively (39-41%), while rum and raisin is the only flavour polled that more Britons dislike (45% of ice cream eaters) than like (35%).

But not just is rum and raisin the least popular major flavour, it could be on the way out, with just 17% of 18-24 year old gelato gourmands liking the flavour, compared to 44-47% of their counterparts in the over 50 age groups. Raspberry ripple and Neapolitan are also less popular among the younger generation, though with those aged 50-64 being particularly fond of the multi-coloured varieties.

By contrast, chocolate and salted caramel are more to the taste of younger sundae fans, with 70-75% of 18-24 year olds who eat ice cream liking the flavours, compared to 57-59% of over 65 ice-thetes.

What toppings do Britons like on their ice creams?

For many, though, the ice cream experience is about more than just one or two scoops of gelato.

Firstly, there’s the surprisingly polarising question of how you’re eating your sundae. For half of fiends for the frozen treats (50%), the preference is to have it served in a bowl or sundae glass, while a cone is the ice cream delivery system favoured by 45%.

Then there’s the decision of how to top off your dessert. A flake is the top choice here, with 62% of cone-ice-sseurs saying they would typically keep to the 99 tradition.

Nearly half (46%) would usually choose to add sauce to their sundae, while roughly a quarter (27%) would add sprinkles. For one in five (19%), a wafer is the way to finish things off, while crumbled biscuits, fudge and whipped cream all typically appear on 13-14% of frozen desserts.

For one in five (20%), however, there’s no need to add toppings at all, with ice cream good enough all by itself.

See the full results here and here

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Photo: Getty

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