Vanilla ice cream is the perfect base for easy upgrades. A drizzle of sauce, a crumbled cookie, or a pinch of seasoning can turn a simple scoop into a restaurant-worthy dessert.
Trader Joe’s is packed with toppings that make that transformation easy, from rich sauces and crunchy cookies to unexpected finds like instant coffee and savory seasoning.
We tested the category and narrowed it down to 13 products worth keeping on hand. All items are currently available at Trader Joe’s. Prices are based on recent Arizona store visits and may vary by location.
How We Built This List
We tested classic sundae toppings along with unexpected pantry and freezer finds that pair well with ice cream. Every pick earned its spot for flavor, texture, and versatility.
Serving Tips
Let the ice cream soften for two minutes, warm sauces slightly, and add crunchy toppings last. Finish with a pinch of flaky salt to boost the flavor.
1. Fleur de Sel Caramel Sauce — $3.99 / 8.7 oz
The Fleur de Sel Caramel Sauce is one of the quietest overachievers in the store. The salt does the heavy lifting — coarse French sea salt cuts through the sweetness and keeps the whole thing from tipping into cloying. Drizzled warm over a plain vanilla scoop, it turns a two-ingredient dessert into something restaurant-adjacent.
Why it earns a spot: The salt-and-caramel contrast is the entire reason salted caramel took over restaurant menus a decade ago. This jar is a faithful, affordable version of that combination.
- Pair with: vanilla bean or French vanilla ice cream
- Warm slightly: run under hot water for 60 seconds so it drapes rather than clumps
- Top with sea salt: a small pinch extra on the finished scoop pushes it over the top
Taste notes: Buy two jars — one for ice cream, one for stirring into coffee or drizzling over apple slices.
2. Speculoos Cookie Butter — $4.29 / 14.1 oz
Speculoos Cookie Butter is one of Trader Joe’s most beloved own-label products, and there is a reason for the fandom. Warmed and spooned over ice cream, it liquefies into a caramelly, cinnamon-scented syrup that tastes like liquid gingersnap. A single warm spoonful transforms a plain vanilla scoop into a butterscotch cookie sundae.
Why it earns a spot: The cinnamon, brown-sugar, and gentle-ginger profile is a natural complement to vanilla, chocolate, and coffee ice creams. It’s the single most-shared TJ ice cream hack we’ve seen in newsletter surveys year after year.
- Pair with: vanilla bean, salted caramel, or coffee ice cream
- Microwave 15 seconds: warms into a pourable caramel-like syrup
- Layer, don’t blob: thin drizzle across the whole scoop beats one big spoonful in the middle
Taste notes: The classic. If you buy nothing else on this list, buy this jar and warm it before serving.
3. Speculoos Cookies — $3.29 / 8.8 oz
The cookies that inspired the cookie butter. Trader Joe’s Speculoos Cookies are thin, crisp Belgian shortbreads with cinnamon and brown sugar baked in — a crumbled cookie tastes exactly like a warm gingersnap. Two cookies broken over a scoop of vanilla is one of the fastest, cheapest dessert upgrades in the entire freezer aisle.
Why it earns a spot: Crumbled speculoos gives you the same cinnamon-caramel flavor as the cookie butter with a crunchy contrast texture that a spread alone can’t deliver.
- Pair with: vanilla, salted caramel, or pumpkin ice cream
- Crumble by hand: irregular pieces sit better on the scoop than uniform crumbs
- Sandwich it: two whole cookies with a small scoop between makes a fast homemade ice cream sandwich
Taste notes: Keep a package in the pantry as ice cream insurance — they last forever.
4. Freeze Dried Strawberries — $3.49 / 1.2 oz
Fresh strawberries turn into a soggy layer on top of cold ice cream almost immediately. The freeze-dried version has the opposite problem — none. The berries stay crunchy, deliver a concentrated jammy sweetness that fresh berries rarely match this time of year, and add a bright coral color that makes any scoop look like a magazine photo.
Why it earns a spot: Concentrated flavor with zero moisture means the crunch stays intact. And unlike fresh berries, freeze-dried strawberries taste peak-season all year.
- Pair with: vanilla bean, cheesecake, or shortcake ice cream
- Crush before topping: a quick squeeze in the bag makes smaller pieces that sit evenly on the scoop
- Layer with cookies: half speculoos crumbs, half freeze-dried strawberries builds a strawberry-shortcake finish
Taste notes: One bag lasts a month of sundaes. The bright color alone is worth the shelf space.
5. Creamy Salted Almond Butter — $5.99 / 16 oz
A single warm spoonful of Trader Joe’s Creamy Salted Almond Butter melting into a scoop of vanilla is a dessert on its own. The salt is present but restrained, the roast is deep enough to compete with chocolate, and the drizzle firms up as it hits the cold ice cream — creating a soft, almost fudge-like ribbon rather than a runny mess.
Why it earns a spot: Salted nut butters against cold, sweet ice cream is one of the most reliable flavor combinations in dessert. The salt pulls the sweetness of the almonds forward, and the fat coats the tongue in a way sauces cannot.
- Pair with: vanilla, chocolate, or cherry ice cream
- Warm to soften: 10 seconds in the microwave and it drizzles instead of blobs
- Sprinkle with sea salt: a small pinch extra amplifies the salted-almond profile
Taste notes: A jar covers dozens of sundaes and still leaves plenty for toast. Excellent value for the price.
6. Roasted Rosemary Marcona Almonds — $5.49 / 5 oz
Marcona almonds are the Spanish specialty variety — flatter, sweeter, and softer than the standard California almond, roasted in olive oil, and finished with rosemary and salt. Chopped and sprinkled over vanilla ice cream, they add a savory herbal note that makes the scoop taste like a plated restaurant dessert rather than a bowl from the freezer.
Why it earns a spot: The rosemary is the surprise. Herbs on ice cream sound wrong until you try it — and then it tastes like the finishing touch on a dessert that used to seem incomplete.
- Pair with: vanilla bean or olive oil ice cream
- Rough chop, don’t grind: small pieces have more crunch than a fine grind
- Add a drizzle of olive oil: seals the pairing — see item 10
Taste notes: The most surprising savory-topping hit on this list. A five-ounce bag lasts a month at sundae frequency.
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7. Candied Pecans — $4.99 / 6 oz
Trader Joe’s Candied Pecans are pecan halves coated in a light sugar glaze and lightly salted — think praline candy in a bag. Rough-chopped and sprinkled over butter pecan or vanilla ice cream, they give you the crunch, sweetness, and salt of a homemade sundae topping without the effort of caramelizing nuts on the stove.
Why it earns a spot: Praline-style toppings are a fixture on high-end ice cream menus. This bag is the shortcut.
- Pair with: butter pecan, vanilla, or salted caramel ice cream
- Chop rough: quarter-inch pieces beat a fine grind for crunch
- Warm slightly: 10 seconds in the microwave revives the glaze
Taste notes: One bag covers at least 20 sundaes. Store in the fridge to keep the glaze from softening in summer heat.
8. Freeze Dried Raspberries — $3.49 / 1.2 oz
The tart cousin to the freeze-dried strawberries above. Raspberries deliver a sharper, brighter fruit note that cuts through rich chocolate ice creams the way fresh raspberries would — without the soggy melt-down. Sprinkled over dark chocolate ice cream, they turn a plain scoop into a raspberry-chocolate torte.
Why it earns a spot: Tart fruit against rich chocolate is a classic pairing (see: any chocolate-raspberry cake ever made). The freeze-dried version delivers that acid punch in a form that sits well on top of a cold scoop.
- Pair with: dark chocolate, chocolate chip, or vanilla ice cream
- Crush lightly: hand-crumble before sprinkling for even coverage
- Combine with fudge: raspberries + Hot Honey Fudge = a Black Forest sundae
Taste notes: The tart-fruit answer for anyone who finds sundaes too sweet.
9. Almond Windmill Cookies — $3.49 / 8 oz
Almond Windmill Cookies are Trader Joe’s take on the Dutch spiced almond biscuit — crisp, slightly nutty, and lightly spiced with cinnamon and cloves. Crumbled over vanilla ice cream, they add the same spice profile as speculoos but with a coarser, nuttier crunch. Longtime shoppers often prefer them for coffee ice cream sundaes.
Why it earns a spot: Toasted almond plus warm spice is a foundational dessert combination. The windmill’s coarser crumb sits better on the scoop and holds crunch longer than the thinner speculoos.
- Pair with: coffee, vanilla, or maple ice cream
- Break by hand: irregular pieces stack better on the scoop than uniform crumbs
- Store airtight: these lose crunch fast once opened
Taste notes: The under-the-radar cookie that outperforms speculoos with coffee ice cream.
10. Everything But The Elote Seasoning — $2.99 / 2.3 oz
Yes, really. The lime, chili, and Parmesan-driven seasoning blend meant for corn is the sleeper hit ice cream topping of the year. A light dusting over a scoop of vanilla or coconut ice cream turns it into paletas-style street-food dessert — sweet, savory, faintly spicy, and finished with a lime bite. Trust the process.
Why it earns a spot: Chili-lime on fruit and dessert is a tradition across Mexican and Southeast Asian cuisines. This blend concentrates that flavor into a bottle and ports it directly onto a cold scoop.
- Pair with: vanilla, coconut, or mango ice cream
- Dust, don’t dump: one shake per scoop is plenty
- Add a squeeze of lime: brightens the whole bowl
Taste notes: The riskiest suggestion on this list and the one guests remember. Try once before writing it off.
11. Pound Plus 72% Cacao Dark Chocolate — $5.99 / 17.6 oz
The Pound Plus bar is one of Trader Joe’s best-kept values — nearly 18 ounces of proper 72 percent dark chocolate for the price of a supermarket premium bar half the size. Chopped into rough shards and stirred through softened vanilla ice cream, you get straciatella-style chunks that shatter with each bite. No premium mix-in ice cream matches it.
Why it earns a spot: Real chocolate chunks in ice cream are almost always better than pre-made chocolate-chip ice cream, because they’re bigger, cleaner, and softer at freezer temperature. This bar makes the technique cheap.
- Pair with: vanilla, coffee, or hazelnut ice cream
- Chop into shards: quarter-inch pieces melt in the mouth
- Toast first (optional): warm at 250 for 5 minutes for deeper flavor
Taste notes: A single bar makes chunks for a dozen sundaes. The best chocolate value in the store.
12. Pure Grade A Maple Syrup — $11.99 / 12 oz
Real maple syrup — not the corn-syrup pancake stuff — is a criminally underused ice cream topping. Drizzled over vanilla or coffee ice cream, it adds a woodsy, caramel-adjacent sweetness that pairs particularly well with candied pecans or crumbled cookies. The Grade A amber-rich bottle is the sweet spot for maple flavor without overwhelming the ice cream.
Why it earns a spot: Maple’s flavor complexity comes from more than 300 identified compounds. It’s not just sugar — it’s tannin, vanilla, and caramel notes all at once, which is why it works as a topping the way pancake syrup never could.
- Pair with: vanilla, coffee, or butter pecan ice cream
- Cold from the fridge: cold syrup thickens and drapes over the scoop rather than running off
- Add pecans: maple + candied pecans = a fast maple-walnut sundae
Taste notes: One bottle lasts months of Sunday sundaes. Well worth the shelf space.
13. Instant Cold Brew Coffee — $6.99 / 60 g
The affogato — a shot of espresso poured over vanilla ice cream — is the fastest fine-dining dessert on earth. Trader Joe’s Instant Cold Brew Coffee lets you do the same trick without pulling an espresso shot. Stir one heaping teaspoon into a small amount of hot water, pour over vanilla, and you have a cafe-worthy dessert in 60 seconds.
Why it earns a spot: The bitter coffee against the sweet cold cream is a perfect contrast — the same reason affogato has been on Italian menus for a century.
- Pair with: vanilla bean, hazelnut, or chocolate ice cream
- Concentrate is key: stir one teaspoon into just an ounce of hot water — you want strong, not dilute
- Pour immediately: the ice cream should still be firm when the coffee hits it
Taste notes: The one jar in this list that also earns its keep in your morning routine. Buy for coffee, keep for dessert.
A Simple Starter Combination
If thirteen items feels like a lot to shop for at once, pick these three on your next Trader Joe’s run and start there: the Speculoos Cookie Butter (item 2), the Fleur de Sel Caramel Sauce (item 1), and the Freeze Dried Strawberries (item 4). One warm spread, one warm sauce, one crunchy fruit topping — that combination alone gives you three or four different sundae builds from a single scoop of vanilla, and total spend is under $12.
Add the Roasted Rosemary Marcona Almonds (item 6) and the Candied Pecans (item 7) the second time around to unlock the savory- and glazed-nut topping category — that’s when the setup starts feeling like a serious dessert bar rather than just a well-stocked freezer.
One Last Tip
Buy a small container of flaky sea salt for the finishing pinch on every sundae — it does more for the flavor of any of these combinations than any single individual topping. A small jar of flake salt is cheap and lasts most kitchens a year. Add it after everything else is on the scoop.
For more Trader Joe’s shopping guides and weekly newsletters covering what’s new on shelves, sign up for the Trader Joe’s Finds newsletter — the team highlights the seasonal rotations as they happen.
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