A Definitive Ranking of the Best Halo Top Flavors

I love ice cream. Love it so so much. I wish I could eat Ben and Jerry’s Phish Food or Blue Bell Moo-llenium Crunch every day for every single meal. I wish ice cream was as healthy and slimming as celery. I wish my metabolism wasn’t slowing down as I age.

Unfortunately, wishes like this don’t come true. And eating a side of ice cream every single day is sort of a bad idea for my health and my waistline.

But what can I do? I love it!!!

So when I came across Halo Top about a year ago, I was a more than a little pumped. I could eat an entire pint for 360 calories or less? I could eat half a pint for only 150 calories? It seemed like a dream come true.

But how does Halo Top taste?

Actually, not bad at all. It is not as decadent as real ice cream (oh chocolate peanut butter cup, I love you so much!), but it does hit the spot without ruining all of the hard work I’ve put in at the gym and being a disciplined eater.

So, for the sake of science (I did it all for SCIENCE!), I tried ALL of the flavors of Halo Top. In this post, I am rating only the dairy flavors (24 flavors). There is a whole assortment of non-dairy flavors that I am just starting to explore!

I am ranking them here for you to reference next time you are standing in the ice cream aisle of the grocery store craving something sweet but not wanting to waste around $4.00 on a tiny portion of gross ice cream.

Without further ado, 24 Halo Top flavors ranked from GROSS to FORGETTABLE to BEST:

24. RAINBOW SWIRL

There is a special spot in ice cream purgatory for this sin of Rainbow Swirl. I thought it would be sherbet (which I love), but it tasted like bad morning breath. Not even my husband could eat it. This is the only flavor that we didn’t finish before throwing away. I would NOT recommend it.

23. Cookies and Cream

This is the first flavor I tried of Halo Top. I hate it. It is not like cookies and cream. It tastes like freezer burn. I even bought it twice to make sure I didn’t get a bad batch the first time. The “cookies” are just the ground up black part of an Oreo. There are no chunks. It is sort of sad and nasty.

22. Pistachio

It is green. And sort of Pistachio-like. But mostly the flavor is lacking. There are no pistachio chunks. I bought it with the Mochi Green Tea flavor, and I sort of felt the same way about two different green-ish ice creams. Disappointed.

21. Lemon Cake

Soooo disappointing. I LOVE all things lemon. But this lemon was way too sweet, cloying, and artificial. It had none of the tanginess that I love in lemon pies and curds. (My husband ate it though. See #5 Chocolate Covered Banana.)

20. Mochi Green Tea

This does not taste like green tea. It just sort of tastes like sweet … nothing. It is sweet-ish. But also flavorless. Sort of weird. I wouldn’t buy it again.

19. Vanilla Bean

It feels a little mean to put vanilla so low on the list. I’d say it is tied with everything else in this category. It is just vanilla, but it lacks the creaminess of regular vanilla full fat vanilla ice cream, so it falls way down for me. Halo Top is a little more icy than real ice cream, and without anything special added, vanilla feels ordinary.

18. Birthday Cake

Cake flavored ice cream with sprinkles inside … this one was fine. My kids loved it, but I thought it was a bit sweet and nothing special. It tasted like normal cake-flavored ice cream. Maybe I was expecting cake chunks? Maybe I am too used to Blue Bell? Who knows. But I wasn’t excited about this one.

17. Chocolate Almond Crunch

Chocolate and almond paired together is a flavor combination from Heaven, but this one just falls flat. The chocolate tastes sort of watery. The almonds are actually a nice touch and bring a bit of texture. I finished this one, but it was not my favorite.

16. Strawberry

I don’t like regular strawberry ice cream. I suppose if you do, then you will like this flavor. There aren’t any strawberry chunks. It is pink like it is supposed to be. Not good, not gross. Just forgettable.

15. S’mores

I just can’t get behind the s’mores flavor because the ice cream is VANILLA with little chocolate chips and graham cracker crumbs. Obviously, s’more ice cream should be chocolate with marshmallow and chocolate chunks with graham cracker crumbs. It almost seems like sacrilege. Vanilla just does not belong.

14. Cinnamon Roll

I thought I’d like this one because I loved Pancake and Waffles so much, but it was just really too sweet. I didn’t like the little chunks of dough, either. (See my cookie dough review.) I only ate about 1/3 of it before I had made up my mind, and then I handed it over to my husband who thought it was “just fine.”

13. Caramel Macchiato

I literally do not remember eating this one. My notes say, “Overly sweet. No special chunks or swirls.” Just a solid flavor of ice cream. It isn’t gross, but I’d rather save my calories for something more special-feeling.

12. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

This one is actually really great. If you like regular cookie dough ice cream, it won’t disappoint. The same mini chocolate chips are in this one as in the Mint Chocolate Chip but with little chunks of dough as well. I am actually not a big fan of those dough blobs, so that is probably why I ranked this so low. But if you are a huge fan of this flavor regularly, try it. I bet it will be in your top three. My kids all agree this one is the best!

11. Chocolate Mocha Chip

A nice chocolatey coffee flavor with little bits of chocolate inside. The chocolate is not super rich (a I looove rich chocolate), but it does the trick. I love coffee as well, and I think I ate this pint in one sitting. So yeah, it is pretty good.

10. Candy Bar

I can tell they were trying to make this into a Snickers sort of ice cream. I was surprised that there are actual peanut chunks in here! It has a nice subtle chocolate flavor, and the texture is improved by the peanuts. It feels like a special treat. I liked it!

9. Sea Salt Caramel

This one is a tad sweet, but I love caramel, and I love flecks of salt, so here it is anyway. It is caramel ice cream with a salty caramel swirl. Pretty much a big win for me! Why do I have such a soft spot for ice cream with swirls?

8. Red Velvet

I was certain I wouldn’t like this one, so I saved it until near the end. But I actually enjoyed it! The little chunks of red velvet cake were a special treat, and the flavor was smooth and not overly sweet. I happily place it in my top 10.

7. Chocolate

It is what it is. A basic chocolate flavor. Really close to actual chocolate ice cream. It isn’t fancy, but it is good, simple, and delicious. I don’t think I’ve ever met a chocolate ice cream that I didn’t like.

6. Black Cherry

OK, this is not quite Cherry Garcia, but it is a close knock off. I really enjoyed it. It is a nice natural tasting cherry flavor and even has little chunks of black cherry inside. I could definitely eat it in one sitting.

5. Chocolate Covered Banana

This one is only so high on my list because of my husband. He swears up and down that it is amazingly delicious. I am not a big fan of banana-flavored things. I love bananas, but banana flavoring turns me off a tad. I would have put it in the “forgettable” category, but since he says it is the best, here it is rounding out my top 5 because not everyone has the same exact opinions as me (apparently).

4. Oatmeal Cookie

This one has all of the cinnamon taste of a real oatmeal cookie, and it has actual whole oats inside! It tasted like an oatmeal cookie a la mode, but those little chunks of oats made me think, “Hmm … these oats are healthy and fibrous. This is practically a health food! I can eat the whole thing!” (Not really a health food. But really delicious.)

3. Mint Chip

I love mint chocolate chip ice cream (the real stuff), but since I read a review that Halo Top’s version tasted like toothpaste, I avoided it until the end. But let me tell y’all … this stuff is delicious. It absolutely does not taste like toothpaste. It is perfectly minty. Plus it has adorable little mini chocolate chips inside that make it feel decadent. It is one of my favorites for sure.

2. Pancakes and Waffles

This is my favorite non-peanut butter flavor. I thought I wouldn’t like it and avoided it for a long time, but it is really delicious. It tastes like maple syrup and has little chunks of waffle inside. It also smells divine. Love it!

1. Peanut Butter Cup

Now, you have to like peanut butter to like this ice cream. Obviously. But I happen to be sort of obsessed with peanut butter, so that works for me. The name is slightly misleading. There is no chocolate in this flavor like I would have expected. It is peanut butter ice cream with a peanut butter swirl. And that swirl … my goodness. Frozen peanut butter is just dreamy. I live for that swirl. This is obviously my favorite after I got over my disappointment about the no chocolate thing.

That’s it! My expert opinion.

Tell me your favorite or any that you had to throw away because it was just. that. bad.

 

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