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Cherry ice cream

A pink to deep red fruit ice cream made with cherry puree and chopped cherries, sweet-tart and easy to find.

Easy to find Common in most grocery freezers. What the badge means

Cherry ice cream is a fruit flavor made with cherry puree and chopped cherries. It is easy to find, and most grocery freezers carry it.

This page covers what it tastes like, where it comes from, how to make cherry ice cream at home, what to serve with it, how common it is in U.S. surveys and what the nutrition figures show.

What cherry tastes like

Cherry ice cream is sweet-tart. The cherry flavor is bright, with a little sourness that keeps the sweetness in check. Its color runs from pink to deep red, depending on how much fruit goes in and what kind of cherries you use.

The base is smooth and creamy, and chopped cherries give it soft, chewy bites throughout. The main flavorings are cherry puree, which colors and flavors the whole base, and chopped cherries, which add texture.

Black cherry versions are darker in color and deeper in flavor than ones made with brighter red cherries. Both count as cherry, and both are sold widely.

Where cherry comes from

The sources we use do not record who first made cherry ice cream or when.

They do show where it stands today. IDFA’s surveys list it on one combined line, “Cherry/Black Cherry”, so the two are treated as one flavor family. Instacart reports that in its 2025 data, cherry was the flavor Colorado and Wyoming ordered more of than the country as a whole.

Federal rules also touch on it. Under 21 CFR 135.110, when cherries are used along with artificial cherry flavor, the artificial flavor is deemed to predominate if the fruit makes up less than 6% of the finished weight. In factories, the Guelph e-Book notes, fruit juice goes into the mix, while fruit pieces go in after freezing. It adds that ice cream color should suggest its flavor, and many fruit preparations sold to makers already include color.

How to make cherry at home

For cherry at home, start with a Philadelphia-style base, which uses no eggs. The Base Builder sets up that style for you, sized to your machine. A no-churn base made with condensed milk and whipped cream works too. The Base Builder gives a base formula built on standard food-science ranges, not a tested recipe.

Cook pitted cherries with some of the sugar until they are soft. Puree part of them and stir the puree into the cold base. Keep the rest as pieces. The Guelph e-Book says fruit usually goes into ice cream at about 15 to 25% by weight.

Fold the reserved cherry pieces in during the last minute of churning. Factories add pieces as ice cream leaves the freezer, when it is about as soft as soft serve, and that is why home cooks add them at the end. If you already have a recipe you like, the Recipe Scaler resizes it to your machine and converts cups to grams.

Base formula

Open the Base Builder: Philadelphia (no eggs)

Other styles that suit it: No-churn (condensed milk and whipped cream)

The Base Builder gives a base formula built on standard food-science ranges, not a tested recipe.

What to serve with cherry

Cherry goes well with chocolate. Serve it next to a scoop of chocolate ice cream, or top it with chocolate sauce or chopped dark chocolate. Almond is another good match: toasted sliced almonds add crunch, and the nutty taste brings out the cherry. Vanilla works too, either as a side scoop or alongside cherry in a sundae. For a group, a bowl with cherry, chocolate and vanilla covers a lot of tastes at once.

  • chocolate
  • almond
  • vanilla

How common cherry is

Cherry carries a waxing gibbous badge, 4 of 5, which means "Easy to find": it is common in most grocery freezers. The badge shows how easy a flavor is to find, not how much people like it.

In IDFA's April 2026 survey of 2,205 U.S. adults, "Cherry/Black Cherry" ranked 14th of 40, with 13% picking it as one of up to five favorites and 2% naming it their single favorite. In IDFA's April 2024 survey of 2,203 adults, it ranked 17th of 40 at 10%. In Instacart's 2025 order data, cherry was No. 10 in the top 10, at about 3.1% of ice cream orders.

How it ranks in surveys and order data

SurveyResult
IDFA survey, April 20262,205 U.S. adults, online, April 7-9, 2026, margin of error +/-2 pointsRanked 14th of 40: 13% picked it as one of up to five favoritesThe survey's line: Cherry/Black Cherry
IDFA survey, April 20262,205 U.S. adults, online, April 7-9, 2026, margin of error +/-2 points2% named it their single favorite
IDFA survey, April 20242,203 U.S. adults, online, April 16-18, 2024, margin of error +/-2 pointsRanked 17th of 40: 10% picked it as one of up to five favoritesThe survey's line: Cherry/Black Cherry
Instacart orders, 2025Instacart ice cream orders during 2025No. 10 in the top 10: about 3.1% of ice cream orders
  1. Rare Rare enough that you would most likely make it at home.
  2. Hard to find Look for it in specialty shops and seasonal runs.
  3. Sometimes found Found in some shops and some grocery freezers.
  4. Easy to find Common in most grocery freezers.
  5. Classic A classic you can buy almost anywhere.

Nutrition, roughly

FoodData Central has no record for cherry ice cream itself. The figures shown are for a plain vanilla base, regular to rich, not for this flavor. Regular vanilla has 207 kcal, 11 g fat and 21.2 g sugars per 100 grams, or about 137 kcal per 1/2 cup (66 g). Rich vanilla has 249 kcal per 100 grams. Cherries, mix-ins and sweeteners change these numbers.

Nutrition per 100 grams

FoodData Central record Calories Fat Saturated fat Sugars Protein
Ice creams, vanilla FDC 167575 1/2 cup (66 g): about 137 kcal, 7.3 g fat 207 kcal 11 g 6.79 g 21.2 g 3.5 g
Ice creams, vanilla, rich FDC 167573 249 kcal 16.2 g 10.30 g 20.6 g 3.5 g

FoodData Central has no record for cherry itself: these are the figures for a plain vanilla base, regular to rich. Mix-ins and sweeteners change them.

Questions people ask

How do you make cherry ice cream at home?

Cook pitted cherries with some of the sugar until soft, puree part into a cold Philadelphia-style base, and fold the reserved pieces in during the last minute of churning. The Base Builder sets up the base formula for your machine.

What is the difference between cherry and black cherry ice cream?

Black cherry versions are darker in color and deeper in flavor. Both are sweet-tart with chopped cherries, and IDFA's surveys count them together on one line, "Cherry/Black Cherry".

Is cherry ice cream easy to find in stores?

Yes. It is common in most grocery freezers. In Instacart's 2025 order data it was No. 10 in the top 10 flavors, at about 3.1% of ice cream orders.

What goes well with cherry ice cream?

Chocolate, almond and vanilla all suit it. Try chocolate sauce or chopped chocolate on top, toasted almonds for crunch, or a scoop of vanilla on the side.

Fruit ice cream flavors · All flavors

Plan and make it with these

Sources

  1. Ice cream preferences of U.S. adults, topline results (Morning Consult for IDFA, April 7 to 9, 2026) International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA)
  2. Pint-Sized Obsessions: Instacart Maps America's Favorite Ice Cream (2025 orders, July 2026) Instacart
  3. 21 CFR 135.110, Ice cream and frozen custard Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR)
  4. Ice Cream Technology e-Book: Fruit Ice Cream H. Douglas Goff, University of Guelph
  5. Ice Cream Technology e-Book: Colour in Ice Cream H. Douglas Goff, University of Guelph
  6. Ice Cream Technology e-Book: Freezing/Whipping of Ice Cream H. Douglas Goff, University of Guelph
  7. Ice cream survey of U.S. adults, topline results (Morning Consult for IDFA, April 16 to 18, 2024) International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA)
  8. Ice creams, vanilla (FDC 167575) U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service
  9. Ice creams, vanilla, rich (FDC 167573) U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service

Every data source the site uses is on the Sources page.