“All the joy and indulgence of a decadent ice cream sundae without the hassle of building it yourself,” explained Ben & Jerry’s news release announcing the January launch of the company’s four new Sundae pints. “Just pop open the lid!” 

What’s under that lid? We took a look.

This article comes from Nutrition Action. We don’t accept any paid advertising or corporate or government donations. Any products we recommend have been vetted by our staff and are not advertisements by the manufacturers. They’re just healthy alternatives we think you’d like to know about! 

The ingredients, sugar, and more in a Ben & Jerry’s Sundae 

Ben & Jerry’s new “Sundaes” are mostly ice cream with sugary mix-ins (like chocolate cookie pieces, pecan toffee pieces and caramel swirls, or fudge almonds and pretzel swirls), layers of whipped topping, more caramel or fudge swirls, and toppings of fudge chips, fudge chunks, or fudge-covered pretzel pieces. 

The Choco-lotta Cheesecake, for example, layers chocolate cookie pieces, chocolate cookie swirls, fudge-swirled whipped topping, and sea salt fudge chunks atop its chocolate cheesecake ice cream.

A modest 2/3-cup serving delivers a not-so-modest: 

• 380 calories
• 10 grams of saturated fat (50 percent of a day’s max)
• 29 grams of added sugar (58 percent of a day’s max)

“We recommend diving spoon-deep into this cookie-thrilling, cheesecake-dreamy & fudge swirl-spectacular sundae,” says Ben & Jerry’s website. Indeed, the tub’s architecture appears designed to encourage “spoon-deep diving”—rather than scooping off a serving from the top—if you want to get a taste of all the sundae’s layers in every bite. 

And what if, after that deep dive, you’ve managed to devour the entire 2 1/2-serving Choco-lotta Cheesecake Sundae tub? The damage: 

• 1,020 calories
• 26 grams of saturated fat (1-1/3 days’ worth)
• 77 grams of added sugar (1-1/2 days’ worth) 

Would you eat a stack of 4 Krispy Kreme Chocolate Iced Glazed Doughnuts? Well, at least nutritionally speaking, you just more or less did.

B&J’s three other new sundaes in a tub—the Cookie Vermont-ster, Dulce De-lish!, and Turtle Sundae—are in the same ballpark.

You’ve gotta hand it to the innovative pros at Ben & Jerry’s for dreaming up an ultraprocessed concoction with half a day’s calories waiting patiently under the lid. What will they think of next! 

How to find a healthier frozen dessert

The “Sundaes” aren’t Ben & Jerry’s only offerings that don’t exactly qualify as, um, health foods. The company also churns out a line of “Topped” ice creams (with a “spoonable chocolatey topping” layer) and “Core” ice creams (with a thick filling of cookie dough, brownie batter, caramel, etc.). Even the Non-Dairy pints—while a better bet for the planet than ice creams made from dairy—are high in added sugar and unhealthy fat from coconut oil.

Whether you’re seeking a better-for-you brand in the freezer case or just trying to find out what’s in your ice cream, check out one of our recent guides: 

• How many calories are in a ‘small’ Ben & Jerry’s ice cream?
• Our guide to decoding ice cream scoop-shop menus
• How to find a healthy ice cream bar or frozen treat