How much protein is in ice cream?
Short answer: a normal scoop of ice cream gives you roughly 2 to 4 grams of protein. Anything calling itself high protein should be doing considerably better than that, and the honest ones tell you per serve rather than per 100 g.
The number most people are actually asking about
Standard dairy ice cream carries about 2 to 4 g of protein in a typical serve, because protein is not what it is built for. It is built for cream and sugar, and it is very good at that. If a tub is quiet about its protein, that is usually why.
Per serve, or per 100 g?
This is where labels get slippery. Per 100 g always flatters a product, because almost nobody eats exactly 100 g. A single serve cup is the number you can act on. Ours is a 120 mL cup and the whole cup is the serve, so the number on the front is the number you eat.
What ours actually says
The standard claim is 139 calories and 7g+ of protein per cup. Broken out by flavour, because they genuinely differ slightly: Vanilla Bean Dream at 139 cal and 7.4 g, Chocolate Fix at 151 cal and 7.3 g, Caramel Cookie Smash at 139 cal and 7.2 g.
A fair warning about protein desserts
A high number on its own does not make something worth eating. Plenty of high protein desserts get there by stripping out the dairy and replacing the sugar, and they taste like the compromise they are. The question worth asking is whether you would eat it if the label said nothing at all.
How much protein is in a normal scoop of ice cream?
Around 2 to 4 g per serve for standard dairy ice cream.
Is high protein ice cream actually ice cream?
It depends on the product. Some are frozen desserts made without real dairy. Helado is made with real dairy, real cream and real sugar.
How much protein is in a Helado cup?
7g+ per 120 mL cup, at 139 calories.
Keep reading
Ice cream in Melbourne, and how to tell the good from the ordinary
What separates real ice cream from a frozen dessert, why air and dairy decide how it tastes, and what to read on the back of the tub before you buy.
Gelato or ice cream, and why they taste different
Gelato carries less fat and much less air than ice cream, and is served warmer. That is most of the difference, and it is why one tastes intense and the other tastes creamy.