The Ultimate Ranking Of Halo Top Ice Cream Flavors
As an ice cream enthusiast and a college student trying to make every dime go its furthest, I do not have the time nor money to be buying subpar ice cream. However, because I am all about what is best for the greater good– and because I just got all four of my wisdom teeth removed yesterday– I took it upon myself to try all 17 flavors of Halo Top Ice cream. So here I am, Sarah Dempsey, your loyal savior, reviewing the good, the bad and the ugly of all Halo Top ice cream flavors so you can avoid buying a $5 pint of subpar ice cream.
1. Oatmeal Cookie
Umm! Tastes like an actual oatmeal cookie. Praise God there are no raisins. Not sorry to all of you raisin enthusiasts out there. Probably my favorite because it does not taste like “diet” ice cream. However, I was not surprised that I liked this flavor so much because, like I told my oral surgeon while high on laughing gas during my wisdom teeth removal, oatmeal is one of my two favorite things (the other was vodka). Plus, low in cals, high in protein! I finished the whole pint in one sitting. Hack: add mini chocolate chips. This is easily one of the best Halo Top ice cream flavors!
2. Cookie Dough
The base of this tastes like the homemade ice cream I used to make as a kid with vanilla pudding mix. Trust me, that is not a bad thing. Plus, this brought up some nice mems! The dough tasted like brown sugar and butter and it was plentiful and evenly distributed throughout, so once again, no complaints. Super yummy. In fact, it was so good and rich that I could not finish in one sitting.
3. Sea Salt Caramel
It has a swirl! How boujee! Alright, full disclosure, when I took my first slurp I thought the salt was slightly overpowering. However, after a few bites, I began to realize how well the salt complimented the sweetness of the caramel. I finished the whole pint in one sitting. Hack: crushed pecans
4. Chocolate almond crunch
OH yeah. This was one of the better Halo Top ice cream flavors! Definitely one of their more inventive flavors, this ice cream did not fail to impress my distinguished taste buds. The almond hits you strong and thankfully, I am a big fan of almonds. Huge. Especially almond sugar cookies and that is exactly what this ice cream reminded me of. BUT, the reason this is not first, is because of false advertising. Chocolate? Where? Sure, the color of the ice cream is brown, but I could not taste even a hint of cocoa. I did not complain because I do not think it would have added much to the experience, but if it says it has chocolate in it, I want to taste chocolate.
5. Red Velvet
Most consider this one of their favorite Halo Top ice cream flavors, and though it is pretty yummy, I would still place it below the above four. What I was really missing in this interpretation of red velvet was the cream cheese frosting. What is red velvet without it? Chocolate cake, that is what. If they held off a bit on the red color and added some more brownie chunks this would be 10/10 as a brownie flavor. Hack: add more brownie
6. Mint Chip
If you are a fan of mint chip ice cream, you will be a fan of this. Creamy base with a rich peppermint flavor, complete with small bits of chocolate. Hits the spot. However, I need more chippage. Hack: mini chocolate chips
7. Lemon Cake
Overall, meh. Not bad, not great. The lemon flavor did taste a bit artificial. I did mix some of this with the black cherry flavor though and this actually made both of them taste better. Hack: black cherry Halo Top
8. S’mores
First bite: “okay cool s’mores.” Second bite: “or is this a candle I am eating?” The crispy graham cracker flavor hits you hard but the flavor is a bit lacking in the chocolate and marshmallow department. I like my s’mores gooey and sticky, so the absence of marshmallow really upset me. And my friend mentioned that it tastes like you would imagine a s’mores candle smelled. Whatever that means.
9. Chocolate
Icy, not very sweet. Kind of a boring flavor. Real conversation that took place amongst friends: “it tastes like milk chocolate and dark chocolate had a baby and named him Jeffery.” “I think Jeffery got bullied.” Hack: Nutella
10. Vanilla Bean
Props, because they do have real vanilla bean in here. that definitely makes it better. But, nothing special. With other flavors I felt like I was actually eating ‘real’ ice cream. While eating this flavor, I knew the truth. Vanilla holds no lies.
11. Black Cherry
First bite: “oh okay! this is pretty fruity and sweet!” Second bite: “wait, is this cough syrup?” ’nuff said. If you are super into cherries you will enjoy this flavor. However, being a child who caught strep throat once a month, I have traumatic memories of cherry cough syrup. Hack: Lemon Cake with this
12. Strawberry
Definitely tastes like strawberries. Definitely does not taste like ice cream. It is good, it is sweet, but it cannot fool me. There are definitely better Halo Top ice cream flavors out there.
13. Birthday Cake
I am sorry if my opinion is unpopular, but I am not a fan. When I was a kid, we used to get little cups of vanilla, confetti ice cream with wooden sticks to eat it with. It was cold and sweet, so I would eat it, but it was not very tasty. This flavor tasted exactly the same. If you have fond memories of eating ice cream with wooden sticks, enjoy.
14. Peanut Butter Cup
So when I think of peanut butter cups, I think of a Resees peanut butter cup. Chocolate + peanut butter. That is not what I got here. I really only got a taste of peanut butter which was slightly disappointing. Supposedly, there is chocolate in here, but I tasted little to none. Just like how I cannot have chicken nuggets without Chick Fil A sauce, I cannot have peanut butter without chocolate. Hack: chocolate sauce
15. Chocolate Mocha Chip
I am not sure what kind of coffee they used in this ice cream but I would like to find out so I can be sure never to buy it. I run on coffee. Coffee is a part of me. I rarely turn down a cup, or anything coffee flavored. This tasted like a bad batch of coffee with a little cocoa thrown in with hopes it would cover up the flavor. Also, I need more chips. Chips make people happy and this had very few chips. Therefore, I was not happy.
16. Pistachio
I was most nervous about this flavor, probably because the women ringing me up at the grocery store picked this flavor up, winced, and then exclaimed “good luck stomaching this one.” I would consider myself passionate about all kinds of nuts, pistachios included, but sorry Halo Top, Susan the grocer had it right with this one. There were not any pistachio pieces which was very disappointing and the overall flavor tasted very artificial. Upon further research, I discovered that pistachios are not even an ingredient of this product…. which leaves me confused and disappointed.
17. Cookies and Cream
If you are looking for something to satisfy your cookies and cream craving, this is one of the Halo Top ice cream flavors that will disappoint. However, if you are looking for an artificial tasting vanilla base with a slight taste of alcohol and infused with off-brand oreo crumbs, that awesome! You have found the perfect dessert! Let me just say: There is rarely a bowl of ice cream that I leave unfinished but this, this was one of them. Hack: go buy Ben and Jerrys.
How would you rank these Halo Top ice cream flavors? Let us know in the comment section below!
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Sarah Dempsey is a freshman at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. Sarah intends to major in advertising and minor in Statistics. Originally from Milwaukee, Sarah has spent the first eighteen years of her life eating ice cream, petting dogs, and complaining about the weather-- she plans to continue this lifestyle as long as possible.