The 4 Best Cream Cheeses, According to Our Taste Test

Cream cheese isn’t just a schmear for bagels. It’s the base for plenty of dips, an essential ingredient in many frostings, a creamy filling for fried appetizers, and the absolute main character in cheesecake.

Whether you’re shopping for a brunch party or your next baking project, the exact cream cheese you buy matters. To find the most delicious, spreadable, versatile cream cheeses on the market, we tasted nine side-by-side. Read on to discover the four best.

How we selected the cream cheeses

When shopping for cream cheese, you’ll typically find it in three forms: brick, spread, and whipped. Cream cheese is required to meet specific criteria set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA): It must contain at least 33% milkfat, a maximum of 55% moisture, and be made from cream or milk with a lactic acid-producing culture. Cream cheese spreads do not have to meet these FDA regulations. 

We prioritized tasting cream cheese in brick form since it’s the most common. If a brand did not have a brick-style cream cheese, we tried its whipped cream cheese. Because of their popularity, we included both brick and whipped cream cheeses from Philadelphia. We also included Good Culture’s cream cheese spread — while it’s branded as a “spread,” it meets all of the FDA’s criteria. We also only selected cream cheeses that are widely available in grocery stores nationwide.

How we tested

The nine cream cheeses were served side-by-side and brand-concealed, so that our eight participating editors were unaware of which products were which. We served them with plain bagels from Black Seed Bagels and instructed our editors to taste the cream cheese plain (using a clean spoon), and by spreading it onto a bagel. 

Our editors evaluated the cream cheeses based on taste and texture. For flavor, we considered the balance of tanginess and creaminess. We also noted how well the flavor complemented or stood up to a bagel. For texture, we considered the spreadability, creaminess, and density of each cream cheese. Additionally, every editor gave each cream cheese an “overall” score, which reflected the product’s versatility as well as their personal preferences and how likely they’d be to buy it again. The scores were averaged together to determine our four favorites.

Best overall: Temp Tee Whipped Cream Cheese

Whipped cream cheese isn’t ideal for everything. It won’t hold up against heavy ingredients like lox and tomatoes in a sandwich; for frosting, you’re better off using a brick so you can whip to your desired consistency. But if you’re simply spreading cream cheese on a bagel (like we did during the taste test), nothing compares to the light, fluffy consistency of Temp Tee Whipped Cream Cheese.

Unlike the other whipped cream cheese we tasted, this one was airy but still had enough body to hold its shape. It was delightfully tangy, reminiscent of crème fraîche or even cultured butter, and had a rich dairy flavor that was so tasty, we could have easily eaten this cream cheese by the spoonful (and some of us did). “This is very delicious and fresh-tasting, almost like whipped butter,” said senior editor Audrey Morgan. If you’re hosting a brunch or stocking up on bagels for breakfast, pick up a tub of Temp Tee.

Best brick: Philadelphia Original Cream Cheese

When we think of cream cheese, we think of Philadelphia. Introduced in 1872, the iconic brand is the go-to for most shoppers. Even in a brand-concealed taste test, it delivered, with a nice level of tang and mild sweetness.  

“This is pleasantly thick, but has a glorious, spreadable texture,” said executive features editor Kat Kinsman. “It’s solid without being dense.” Some of our editors were left wanting more, with one calling it “generic tasting.” Still, if you’re going for a brick of cream cheese, Philadelphia is — and probably always will be — your most reliable option. It has the ideal consistency for a hefty sandwich, and it could be easily whipped for a cheesecake.

Most tangy: Tillamook Cream Cheese

Tillamook is renowned for its soft cream cheese spread, but its brick-style cream cheese is new to the market, having just launched in 2024. Unlike its largest competitor, Philadelphia, Tillamook doesn’t use gums, stabilizers, or artificial fillers, and it’s made with “extra cream,” containing more milkfat than the minimum requirement for cream cheese (33%). These subtle differences were evident during our taste test. “It feels very high in fat, but when in Rome,” quipped special projects editor Lucy Simon. 

The cream cheese was glossy and extremely thick, bordering on sticky, but still spread well on a bagel. Most notably, this cream cheese was the tangiest product we tried. It might be a bit too sour for your everyday bagel needs, but it’d be great for cooking and baking, adding an extra oomph to pastries, creamy dips, and even macaroni and cheese. 

Best budget cream cheese: 365 Organic Cream Cheese

Our editors described Whole Foods’ 365 private-label cream cheese as standard. “It’s like how dogs meet the AKC breed standards,” said Kinsman. “This is cream cheese-brand cream cheese.” And at only $2.50 for an eight-ounce block, the most affordable of any cream cheese we tasted, we couldn’t really hope for (or expect) anything more. 

We found it to be balanced, albeit a bit bland, and delightfully thick. “Texturally, this is more of what I expect with cream cheese,” noted news and trending editor Merlyn Miller. While we’d recommend something lighter for bagels, this cream cheese will certainly level up the richness in baked goods and frosting.

The full list of contenders, ranked from highest to lowest

1. Temp Tee Whipped Cream Cheese
2. Philadelphia Original Cream Cheese
3. Tillamook Cream Cheese
4. 365 Organic Cream Cheese Bar
5. Trader Joe’s Cream Cheese
6. Best Yet Cream Cheese
7. Philadelphia Original Whipped Cream Cheese Spread
8. Organic Valley Cream Cheese
9. Good Culture Plain Probiotic Cream Cheese