We Tried Every Halo Top Ice Cream Flavor and Here’s Our Favorite

By now there’s a good chance that you’ve already heard about Halo Top ice cream. The protein-rich, low-calorie pints that you can find in the freezer aisle have basically taken over the wellness community and probably your grocery store. Interested in trying one of the colorful pints? How should you decide which flavor to try first? We’re here to help. Here’s Kitchn’s very un-scientific and totally subjective ranking of Halo Top ice cream flavors.

Can you guess which flavor got the number-one spot?

Halo Top has an ever-growing roster of flavors, and I didn’t try every single one for this taste test. I decided to skip the plain chocolate and vanilla flavor because those just can’t win a taste test on different flavors. They are also the base of many of these ice creams pints, so I figured they would get some kind of assessment anyway.

For this test I tried every single pint first and ranked them based on taste, how long the taste lasted, mouthfeel, sweetness, and texture. Then I opened the pints up for the rest of my team and had them give me their thoughts and reranked them based on overwhelming opinion.

S’mores is supposed to be about texture, right? You have the crunchy graham crackers, the smooth chocolate, and the pillowy marshmallows. But this flavor of ice cream has none of these things. It is all sugar — er, stevia. This was definitely my least favorite of all the flavors by a lot.

This one tastes like a bottle of almond extract mixed with too-soft almonds. Other people noted it tastes like marzipan. Maybe you like that kind of thing? No judgement if you do. But it was not for me.

I normally really love pistachio ice cream, but this one just didn’t do it for me. The initial taste is very strong, but it quickly disintegrates into a weird aftertaste. There’s not a lot of subtlety with this flavor, which I normally find with pistachio ice cream. It just tastes a little fake.

Caramel ice cream is probably my most consumed flavor of ice cream. Maybe I’m just being picky, but this is not what you want when you want caramel ice cream. For starters, this flavor was noticeably not creamy. And the caramel was mixed in with the rest of the ice cream instead of providing some kind of texture.

But other people in my office really loved this flavor. They noted it was more subtle than other caramel ice creams they’ve had, but that it was actually pretty delicious. I guess you have to decide for yourself with this one.

This pint is totally fine, and if you love cookie dough ice cream, I think you’ll be happy. I do wish there were more chunks of cookie dough, but it probably wouldn’t be so low in calories if this wish were granted. It was also a little too sweet for me.

I actually enjoyed this pint at times, but it had its faults. It wasn’t very sweet, and it also wasn’t super flavorful for a cookies and cream ice cream. Some people noted that it tasted a little too much like a breakfast cereal you had when you were a kid. There aren’t any big chunks of cookie in this one, either, which I like in this flavor normally.

Did you ever try Warheads sour candies as a kid? When I was little we use to rank the most sour flavors, and lemon was always at the top of the list. My first reaction to this lemon cake flavor is that it tasted like a more mild version of the lemon Warhead. This flavor is very lemony, if that’s your thing.

I love peanut butter and chocolate everything, so of course this has to be higher up on this ranked list. You can’t take one of the most important candies that has ever existed and mess it up. My big problem with this pint, however, is that the flavor just didn’t last. I wrote “peanut butter whispers” when taking notes on the flavor, and I stand by this statement. I want more heft.

This was the first Halo Top flavor I ever heard of (or saw) and it appears to be a favorite among Halo Top-enthusiasts. At first I found that it was a little too sweet for my taste, but I have to admit that it grew on me. It’s also the most pretty of all the ice cream flavors, because sprinkles. That has to count for something, right?

This is a very controversial pint in our office, but I made the final call to put it in the top five. Too bad if you disagree. If you like oatmeal cookies, than you will like this pint of ice cream. A few people really didn’t like the oatmeal bites in the pint because they were too chewy, but I found them delicious. It’s also less sweet than a bunch of the Halo Top flavors which I liked.

The red velvet flavor is higher in calories and you can taste the difference. Who would have thought that fat and sugar would make things taste better? (Duh, everyone thinks this). I love the brownie bites in this one, although they are a bit sugary. This is my favorite of the chunky flavors because it’s a little creamier and has a good aftertaste.

This electric-colored ice cream is just delightful. The ice cream is just the right balance of sweet and tart that I like. It tastes like real cherries, but the flavor leaves faster than the the #2 pick. Some people think this one tastes like medicine, but they are wrong. I wish medicine tasted like this ice cream.

Also, can we take a second to look at how adorable these pint containers are? The black cherry one is my favorite.

The fruit-flavored Halo Top flavors are always a safe bet, and the strawberry flavor is the best of its kind. It’s a little creamier than the black cherry flavor, and it tastes like real strawberries (no real strawberry chunks, however.) This one melted a little faster than the others for some reason? And it wasn’t that great when melted, so make sure you eat it shortly after it thaws from the freezer.

Our number-one pick for Halo Top ice cream flavors is the mint chip. The texture is great, the flavor lasts with you a little longer, and it has the best mouthfeel. My only complaint is that I wish there were a little more chocolate in this pint, but I doubt it would be less than 300 calories if that were the case. You can always just add extra chips if that’s your style.