15 Reese's Candy Varieties, Ranked Worst To Best

At its core, Reese's is an agreeable candy — so agreeable that the brand's parent company, Hershey, has churned out countless iterations of the Reese's peanut butter cup. Candy aisles are often enveloped in the signature orange branding (and peanut butter cups are even the secret ingredient to incredible chili). But I'm not just talking about the Reese's trees you see around the holiday season, or the mini cups seen in snack bowls across the country. After all, Reese's has different flavors, shapes, and fillings to satisfy any candy lover.

In order to determine which Reese's flavors may be more worth eating than others, I made a trip to three local grocery stores (as well as a few drug stores) to purchase every variety of Reese's candy I could find. I sampled each, then ranked them based on factors including flavor balance, texture, and overall enjoyability. Could any candy dethrone the classic and beloved Reese's cup? Stay tuned (and read on) to find out.

Why would anyone willingly eat white chocolate? That's a question I have yet to figure out an answer to. The stuff is so sweet and, in my humble opinion, really shouldn't be considered chocolate. As a result, I gagged a little bit when I saw that Reese's made a white chocolate Thins flavor.

As expected, the white chocolate Thins had a similar issue to the dark chocolate version of the shape. There was too much supposed chocolate and not enough peanut butter to subdue the flavor, and it was like getting hit in the face with a birthday cake-flavored dodgeball. The sugar was cloying and stuck around on my palate, which made eating this candy quite unpleasant.

Moreover, since there was nothing besides the peanut butter and white chocolate, there was no depth to this candy at all. I wouldn't feed these to my worst enemy, so they come in last.

Does a peanut butter candy need caramel? Of course not. Frankly, it seems like Reese's is just throwing concepts at the wall and hoping something sticks — and this cup sure was sticky. The caramel here was unlike any other I've previously had for several reasons. The first is that the caramel layer is very small compared to the rest of the candy. There's a little pool of the sticky sweetness on the bottom of the cup, and it makes up maybe 10% of the entire candy. In other words, it wasn't overwhelming in terms of proportion.

Additionally, the caramel itself is very brown sugar butterscotch-like, rather than the simple type of caramel sauce you'd find in a cheaper product. Then again, the caramel layer gives this both a richness and sugariness that isn't warranted or needed, which hurt this Reese's candy's ranking.

I only had a little nibble of this candy, but the sugar sent shockwaves throughout my entire body (and I was immediately sent gasping for water). The only way I think you'd enjoy the Big Cup with caramel is if you're an absolute sugar hound, and Buddy the Elf's pasta is your idea of a fun time.

Reese's Cluster Bites were the first candy I sampled in this roundup, and the exact makeup was attractive. It has peanut butter, caramel, and peanut pieces — all covered in chocolate — so I expected these candies would come out more like Dibs ice cream (what a throwback!). Instead, the Cluster Bites look like little pieces of livestock manure, and ultimately had too many components. I even forgot it was a Reese's candy, which kept it in the bottom three.

The peanut chunks were very prevalent in each bite, while the caramel offered a cloyingness on the back of the mouth that only a lower-quality, chocolate-coated caramel could make happen. Ultimately, I think Reese's went a little too complex with this candy; I almost missed the peanut butter entirely (until I bit into the side of a piece and noticed that it was all peanut butter and no caramel and peanut). The concept of this candy is solid, but the ratio is wildly disproportionate.

When I think of "chocolate lava," the first thing that comes to mind is the coursing river of molten goodness that flows from a proper chocolate lava cake. With that in mind, when I cracked open this Reese's Big Cup, I expected it to gush out like the aforementioned river — which was almost implied by the packaging.

Now, there was indeed some molten chocolate in this candy, which I found stuck to the chocolate walls and bottom of the cup. But it was more like biting into an ooey gooey truffle than the cinematic experience of watching a chocolate lava cake sliced open — meaning it was underwhelming, to say the least.

The actual flavor of the chocolate candy was not particularly memorable, either. I was looking forward to a flavor reminiscent of a warm brownie (or maybe I was just really pent up about that lava cake). But the chocolate lava just merged with the flavor of the chocolate coating. Visually, there was a difference between the two layers, but the lack of clear depth made this cup a shoo-in for one of the lower-ranked spots.

I generally find that cheap candy brands don't do dark chocolate justice. There's something about the deep and complex flavor of a quality, high-cacao chocolate bar that many brands just can't replicate. Reese's put up a valiant effort with these dark chocolate Thins, though. The bag of individually-wrapped candies featured a thin layer of peanut butter squished between a thicker coating of dark chocolate.

Now, the dark chocolate was slightly bitter on the back of the mouth, but not so bitter that I was sold on the "dark chocolate" label. In fact, the brand covered the delicate chocolate flavor with so much sugar that it lost almost all complexity. Since there was virtually no peanut butter there, I also didn't get any reprieve from the cloyingness.

While that sweetness was more restrained than the lower-ranked candies on this list, the dark chocolate wasn't good enough to justify it making up 90% of the candy's composition. I may have enjoyed this more if it was in a regular-sized cup, but as it stands, it comes in the bottom half.

I didn't expect to enjoy the Reese's crunchy peanut mini cups very much, mainly because I don't generally like candies with whole peanut chunks. I find they tend to distract from the rest of the candy, and believe that was the case with this Reese's flavor variety, too.

Since these Reese's come in mini form, there's only so much room to stuff the peanuts. And — as I feared — each bite-sized candy housed about three peanut halves. So unless you're eating the whole mini in one bite, you aren't getting a great ratio of peanuts to peanut butter to chocolate.

Now, aside from the peanut issue, the peanut butter and chocolate were tasty enough, and better than the lower-ranked entries. But seeing how I couldn't entirely overlook the peanut factor with this Reese's flavor, it doesn't rank any higher.

One question I've always pondered was why there's never been any chocolate included in Reese's Pieces. After all, M&M's did with its peanut butter candies, but I digress. Actually, by this point in the tasting? I'd sampled so many chocolate candies that if anyone ever said the word "chocolate" again, I felt I might faint. In other words, these chocolate-free candies were a bit of a nice reprieve (and boosted the flavor's stock).

After a few bites of satisfying, sugar-coated goodness, though, I had to set the bag down. With no buffer from the sugary component, each bite grew more overwhelming than the last; in fact, I would've liked some chocolate just to switch things up. Still, the candy coating amplified the satisfying nature of this variety, helping Reese's Pieces earn a respectable middle spot on this list.

I generally only eat chocolate bars if they're made with genuinely good chocolate. Plain Hershey bars never appealed to me, in fact (I find the flavor somewhat monotonous), and would rather go for a high-quality dark chocolate one instead. Consequently, I didn't have high hopes for the Reese's peanut butter bar.

While Reese's went simple with this candy, I honestly don't think it played out in its favor. First off, the bar is more chocolate than peanut butter. It tastes like cheaper, low-quality chocolate, as well, which makes it hard to eat more than a few bites before the sugar rush goes to your head. The chocolate (or the peanut butter — I couldn't totally tell) was also a tad too gritty for my liking in this flavor.

Then again, the peanut butter filling itself isn't bad, per se, even if it doesn't do much because of how little there is in the actual candy. Plus, the overall bite of this bar wasn't as unpleasant as some of the lower-ranked Reese's varieties, so it takes a spot in the middle of this list.

I didn't detect an odor from any of the other Reese's candies — except this one. As soon as I opened the bag of individually-wrapped candies, I noticed a perfume of something artificial and plasticky wafting through the air. Now, as soon as I bit into one, I didn't notice any artificial sweetener flavor. But once I swallowed the candy, I couldn't help but notice there was a diet soda-like flavor remaining on the back of my palate.

Then again, these dark chocolate minis had a more bitter flavor and crumbly consistency than other Hershey candies on this list. And while the actual sweetness of these candies was replaced by something relatively synthetic tasting, it wasn't so readily synthetic that I was instantly turned off to it. In fact, since I like bitter dark chocolate, I would eat these candies again. As a result, it earns a spot in the upper half of these rankings — even if I'd be worried about the artificial sweeter headache that might come with eating too many of them.

While it might seem odd to include two different Reese's candies with zero sugar on this list, there was actually a ton of difference in flavor (and aroma) between the two list entries. For starters, this milk chocolate candy didn't have the same artificial sweetener-laced scent as the dark chocolate variety. In fact, if you paired this unwrapped candy with a regular Reese's miniature, I couldn't tell the difference — at least based on visuals alone. Plus, this candy didn't have the oppressive sweetness of regular Reese's (which I was grateful for).

The issue, though, was that this candy was quite dry and brittle on my tongue, particularly compared to the regular version. The flavor of the original Reese's ran like a raging river across my tongue, but this candy was like a boat on choppy waters. Additionally, like the dark chocolate option, this zero sugar Reese's variety had a little bit of an aftertaste, though I don't think it was as clearly a result of an artificial sweetener. Given this, this Reese's candy flavor placed higher than the dark chocolate variety — but only marginally.

Reese's Puffs cereal was never my go-to breakfast choice as a kid, nor is it something I'd willingly buy now as an adult. There's just something a bit too odd about eating a candy-inspired cereal before 8 a.m. Of course, if you shove the cereal pieces into a miniature candy cup? Well, then you have a deal, my friend.

These Reese's Puffs cups are filled with peanut butter and the peanut butter-flavored cereal, making it hard to decipher where one ends and the other begins. You get a little bit of texture from the Reese's Puffs, although I don't think you could really point to it and say "yep: that's the Reese's Puffs cereal alright." In fact, Reese's might have been better off adding a rice cereal to amplify that crunchiness while offering some reprieve from the already-sweet peanut butter filling.

At it stands, it's not a bad candy, and worthy of a top five spot. But I also wished there was a little dimension to it beyond sweetened cereal, sweetened peanut butter, and sweetened chocolate. Because after a single bite, I had to put it down.

Could anything beat out the OG? The original Reese's cup is what I remember getting at Halloween or as a Christmas stocking stuffer. Its flavor is beloved by eaters of all ages — and for good reason. I sampled this candy last during my taste test, as I wanted to avoid going into this with an expected candy "standard" in mind. Instead, I wanted to let each Reese's variation I sampled shine, and then decide whether or not they held up to the classic version.

In short, the original Reese's (which I sampled in Big Cup form) is a classic. Unlike the other, lower-ranked variations, this candy has a great balance of salty and sweet. It certainly leaned sweet, but wasn't so overwhelming that I was desperate for water after a bite. If I can offer this candy a critique — especially after seeing what whimsical creations Reese's could come up with — it's that the texture was fairly mediocre.

Then again, I think part of this stems from the Big Cup composition. You're kind of forced to suffer through bite after bite, whereas a mini cup offers the option of eating it in one whole bite and being done with it. While I won't say no to an original Reese's peanut butter cup (no matter the size), it also won't be the first variety I reach for now that I know there are better, more fun options out there.

I remember when Fast Break bars first started appearing in the leftover Halloween candy stash at the horse stable where I worked. At first, I was repulsed ... before I learned to appreciate them when I needed a quick, carb-centric snack between teaching riding lessons.

The bar is made with a layer of nougat and peanut butter — all smothered in a chocolate coating — and I have to give Reese's some credit here. After all, it really restrained that nougat as much as possible. Other candy bar brands, like 3 Musketeers, have so much nougat that you're left chewing for hours. Reese's version, on the other hand, is only about 20% nougat and 70% peanut butter. As a result, the nut butter flavor isn't lost, and it's still obvious that you're eating a Reese's product.

There's also a very solid squish of the top of the candy as you bite into it, which makes it quite satisfying. The one issue (and what kept it from besting the top two Reese's flavors) is that the bar is a lot to chew on. It simply loses its novelty after the first bite or two, while my top two choices had a more satisfying consistency.

Like star-crossed lovers, the pretzels miniature cups and I almost never met. I honestly didn't think the brand made these any more, until I found them wedged in the back of a clearance shelf at Walgreens — and I'm so glad they didn't get away.

Interestingly enough, if you took a cross-section of this candy? You wouldn't see the pretzel pieces because they're the exact same color as the surrounding peanut butter. Yet with every bite, you get a perfect little crunch that's just so satisfying. Beyond the texture, the peanut butter brings a little bit of salt to the candy, which helps counteract the sugariness, making for a more balanced bite. The candies weren't as light and satisfying as my top pick from the brand, but they were certainly my favorite of the mini flavors that I sampled (and worthy of second place).

A Reese's version of a Nutty Buddy? Now that's something I can get behind. Featuring layers of Reese's peanut butter and wafers, this chocolate-coated candy offers a crunchy and satisfying bite — the best of all the Reese's varieties I sampled.

While I expected the Reese's Sticks to crumble a little bit in my mouth, it was clear that this candy mastered the art of being both smooth and crisp. The peanut butter — which was generously interspersed in the layers of this candy — was far from dry. Instead, the chocolate fused with the peanut butter in confectionery harmony, which is just what I wanted.

One drawback I can see from this candy is that its packaging is rather long and awkward. On that note, if the brand made bite-sized Sticks candies, I would definitely consider buying them, especially if they were individually-wrapped. Either way, they take the top spot in these rankings.

Since Reese's is a peanut butter and chocolate candy, I wanted to see those two flavor profiles represented as clearly as possible. Granted, there's some subjectivity in tasting candies. Since I don't personally have a sweet tooth, I preferred varieties with a balanced flavor overall (meaning they weren't so overtly sweet that I couldn't take more than one bite).

Additionally, I sampled each Reese's candy on the same day I purchased it. I took a bite of each, then considered the flavor, texture, and overall enjoyability. The texture, for instance, should be interesting enough to warrant a second bite. Candies that were too complex, meanwhile, or had too many elements that obscured the flavor profile, were ranked lower.

I didn't consider nutrition or price when ranking these candies. However, I did rank bite-sized options higher than those that seemingly needed to be cut with a fork and knife.