8 Canned Whipped Cream Brands, Ranked Worst To Best

Peanut butter and jelly, bacon and eggs, milk and cookies ... there are just some undeniable monogamous romances in the food world that are as timeless as they are iconic. However, there are also many foods that have quite a few partners (no judgment here), with whipped cream being top of mind. Forget the marshmallows and give me a mug of store-bought hot cocoa topped with a towering whipped cream garnish, and boy, if you serve me a slice of homemade apple pie, it better be absolutely drowning in whipped cream. From hot fudge sundaes to plates of sugary, chocolate chip-laden pancakes, there are tons and tons of ways to use whipped cream to its fullest potential.

Not only do you have to choose a way — or in this case, many ways — to use it, but you also have to select from the dizzying array of canned whipped cream brands on the market. Going into this review, I honestly didn't think that there would be so much diversity in product offerings, from flavored cans and extra creamy varieties to ones made with premium dairy ingredients and others with ingredient lists that you're better off being blissfully unaware of. To decide which whipped cream brands were actually worth buying, I purchased all of the unflavored cans that I could find before tasting them straight, evaluating their sweetness, creaminess, mouthfeel, and utility, and then ranking them from worst to best. You can read more about my methodology at the end; for now, there are sugar rushes to be had!

I'll admit that I have an axe to grind with Target's Favorite Day brand. I drove 45 minutes out of my way (and over state lines) to pick up a can of this whipped cream because I felt like I should include yet another popular store-branded option for comparison. However, I spent almost the same amount of time rifling through Target's whipped cream section to find a plain whipped cream. Not a gingerbread-, hot chocolate-, or a marshmallow-flavored one. Just a basic, run-of-the-mill whipped cream that I could compare to the others. I was not able to find the original, but I was able to find a single can of extra creamy whipped cream that was miraculously still stocked. 

So imagine my (not-so) surprised realization that this was an awful whipped cream in every way. It takes a lot for whipped cream to be awful, and this one takes the cake. The "extra creamy" promise was very clearly underdelivered, as this one lacked the richness of some of the more premium brands that I sampled. There was not a sweet flavor on the palate but a very plasticky one — kind of like when you leave a plastic water bottle in the sun for too long. It lacked depth, body, and substance. A marshmallow flavoring would have just made it taste more fake, and there is no way that gingerbread whipped cream should be a thing. Don't be swindled by its cute can or affordable price.

I had a feeling that Stop & Shop's whipped cream was going to be a little too fluffy the second that I took out the can and shook it. There was very little liquid sloshing around. Instead, it sounded like it was 99% air. So, if you ever want to know what it feels like to bite through a cloud, I implore you to try this whipped cream. It was so light, fluffy, and well-aerated that there was absolutely no way that someone could have recreated it in their home kitchen. While I don't think the lack of a homemade quality is a reason to score a canned whipped cream lower than its peers, I think that the texture of this product was a little too well-aerated to make a difference in the consistency or flavor of any baked good, be it a pie, cobbler, or brownie.

Part of the wonder of whipped cream is watching it leave behind a creamy trail as it melts. This one definitely wouldn't offer that effect. It's just sweet enough to get by, though I was so distracted by its airy, milky (not buttery) texture that I lost track of its flavor a bit. Although it's not the cheapest brand I sampled, it does taste cheap, which is why I didn't want to rank it any higher. I was glad that it didn't have the same bad aftertaste as Favorite Day, though. 

I tried Great Value's original whipped topping immediately after the name-brand pick I figured would take the top spot (I know you're waiting with bated breath to find out what it could be, but hold on a moment). While the name-brand option came out very smooth, creamy, and light, this one held its shape and fluffiness in an almost artificial way. It was very pillowy, though after taking a bite of it, I quickly realized that it was likely hydrogenated oils that helped it keep its shape. When I didn't see any oils on the label to explain this mouthfeel, I just assumed that it had something to do with the combination of corn syrup and mono- and diglycerides.

Ingredients aside, this really wasn't a bad whipped cream. It has a flavor that is kind of cheap and underdeveloped, and you could kind of guess it was made in a factory rather than whipped up at home in a stand mixer – no homemade whipped cream is that fluffy. I was glad to see, though, that Great Value expressed some restraint over the amount of sugar in its product; it could have had a much sweeter punch, but it chose to focus more on the texture than anything. 

I have no doubt that if you dispensed this whipped cream onto a hot chocolate, it would float very, very well. I just don't think that it has the cleanest mouthfeel of all of the brands on this list, which earned it a middling spot. 

Friendly Farms, Aldi's in-house dairy brand, is my go-to. It's cheap, of decent quality, and honestly, I don't have a reason to buy things that aren't sold at Aldi. I've been buying this exact can of whipped cream for years now, and I can say that I didn't realize how mediocre it was until I tried better options. 

This was one of the sweetest options that I sampled. It was almost syrupy rather than lightly sweetened. It's the flavor that I associate with whipped cream on a school sundae bar or served en masse at a hot chocolate station meant for children. You're not going to get any complaints from the youngest and most sugar-crazed of the bunch, but this is one that, as an adult, you might go without.

Although it was a tad too sweet for my liking, I did like that it was well-aerated and fluffy, more so than Great Value and definitely more than Favorite Day's sorry attempt at whipped topping. So, I don't think it would be a bad pick by any means. I just think that if you're willing to spend even just a dollar more, you'd get a product with a little more flavor balance without missing out on that sweetened whipped cream that evokes a deep sense of childhood nostalgia. 

I'm going to start this one with a question: Should a brand that's known for its Brie have any business making whipped cream? Probably not, but Président does a darn good job at it. Don't get me wrong, this can is ridiculously priced at nearly $6, but it is one that almost warrants that price for very specific instances only. 

This whipped cream is rich — not buttery rich, but high-quality-cream rich. The label touts that it has received gold status from the American Masters of Taste (which, frankly, sounds like it's made up but is actually a real thing). Even with that aside, this whipped cream demands stage presence. Oh wait, I'm sorry ... this whipped crème. It's made with Madagascar vanilla and is said on the label to hold its shape longer without the help of corn syrup. So, this premium ingredient list may warrant a higher price than whatever the heck was put into the $2 can of Friendly Farms whipped cream, but I still doubt that anyone is going to plunk down $6 on a can of whipped cream. 

The mouthfeel of this whipped cream is perfectly aerated — not too dense, not too rich, and not too sweet. I can confirm that it did hold its shape longer than the other creams when kept at room temperature, which might make it a good choice for plating or decorating. I would also recommend reserving it for berries or something simple so that you can appreciate its flavor. Using it to top your watered-down cup of Swiss Miss, as most people would use whipped cream for, would do it a disservice.

Did I rank Cabot Creamery high on this list just because I have an allegiance to brands that represent one of my favorite states? Not necessarily, though I can appreciate when a Vermont brand like Cabot makes its way onto store shelves all the way in southern Rhode Island. I tried its sweetened light whipped cream for this ranking. I didn't really look too hard at the label, so I was interested to see if it was indeed going to be lighter than other whipped creams I tried. Spoiler alert: It was not. 

This is the type of whipped cream sold at a grossly overpriced ice cream shop. As I sampled it, I felt like it belonged atop an $8 small scoop of cookies and cream that tastes like I just bit into a block of butter flavored with sugar and Oreo cookie pieces. It was heavy and rich in the best of ways and almost tasted like the buttery ice cream I imagined it sitting on. The sweetener in this whipped cream was more pronounced than the brand that ranked slightly above it, though it's by no means cloying. It was on par with Président in terms of butteriness.

Despite this very clear buttery flavor, the texture and mouthfeel were still light and well-aerated — better than lower-ranked Président. I don't know in what world this would be considered a "light" whipped cream, and I kind of want to see what Cabot considered a "heavy" whipped cream. It's a little overkill for ice cream or most desserts, but I wouldn't complain about eating it straight from the can.

I had really high hopes for Garelick Farms in this competition. The brand, which sells to grocery stores in New England and New York State, is known for its dairy products, such as store-bought eggnog. This can of original whipped cream touts that it's made with real cream, and I think this is a promise that you can truly taste with every dollop of it. Compared with the others I sampled, it was barely sweetened and instead filled my mouth with the flavor of fresh cream. It was borderline buttery (yet not as unapproachably so as Cabot), which further disguised and mellowed the sweetness. 

This would be a really excellent full-bodied whipped cream for a dessert, like a blueberry, peach, or apple pie, where you didn't want to contribute to the sweetness but rather just add a creamy edge. If you have only ever had super-sweet whipped creams before, you may not really know what to expect when you get a brand like Garelick Farms that puts cream and milk at the forefront. If this competition was only determined by my personal preference, Garelick Farms would have a spot at the top. However, the slightly higher price, less sweet mouthfeel, and extra creaminess may not be everyone's cup of tea (or hot chocolate — we are talking whipped cream here). That factor pushed this can to a respectable No. 2 spot.

Reddi-Wip was the first brand that I sampled, as I assumed that it was going to set the bar for all of the smaller, more niche whipped cream brands that came afterwards. It's the brand name of whipped cream and comes in two varieties: original and extra creamy. A good whipped cream, in my eyes, is very light on the palate and does not necessarily disrupt the flavor of whatever it's put on, be it a slice of apple or pumpkin pie or an ice cream sundae. And that's exactly what Reddi-Wip was: as inoffensive and light as it gets. 

The flavor of this original whipped cream was far from syrupy or overtly sweet. It was pleasant to eat straight from the can, as the mild sweetness combined with the pillowy mouthfeel for a really well-rounded whipped cream. At some points, I felt that this whipped cream was so light on my palate that I had forgotten I had eaten it, which prompted me to go back in for another taste. If I didn't have many, many other brands to sample, I think I could probably have downed the entire can in a single sitting. 

Overall, this is a really utilitarian selection that folks of all dessert preferences would like. However, my main caution is its price, which has something to do with its name recognition, I'm sure. But it's really the pinnacle of ol' reliables, and why anyone would mess with perfection is beyond me.

Although I assume most people aren't eating whipped cream straight from the can (though I, in my hungriest and most sugar-crazed state, love to), I decided to try it that way to ensure that each brand had a fair shot at success. However, a big part of ranking these whipped creams was extrapolating and deciding which one had the most utility — meaning it could be used for hot cocoa, pies, garnishes, and the like — and which ones were just too niche, even if they tasted great. 

As I tried the whipped creams from the can, I considered their taste and consistency first. Whipped cream shouldn't feel watery, nor should it feel like biting into a block of butter. The perfect consistency was well-aerated and creamy, though not so rich that it might distract from the flavor of whatever the whipped cream was paired with. Granted, only one of these whipped creams verged on being a little too sweet, but I had to factor in how well this sugariness meshed with the overall mouthfeel of the product. Sweeter whipped creams that would take away from a food or drink pairing ranked lower than ones that had a balanced and inviting sense of sweetness that could highlight — not overwhelm — a multitude of flavors, including berries, citrus, and chocolate. My top picks had the most utility, the most even-keeled texture, a mouthfeel that deftly walked the line between being too rich and too thin, and were, overall, a good buy.