7 Snickers Flavors, Ranked Worst To Best

Of all the types of popular candy bars out there (and there are quite a few!), Snickers is a beloved contender. Not to be mistaken for the similar Babe Ruth candy bar, Snickers is readily available at just about any gas station or grocery store. They're positively loaded with all sorts of good stuff, including nougat (not the homemade kind, but more a chewy, airy confection), peanuts, and caramel, and then topped off with a rich coating of milk chocolate. There's no denying how good that tried-and-true formula tastes, regardless of whether Snickers happens to be your favorite candy bar.

Even the most tried-and-true candy formulas can make room for creativity, though, and Snickers is no stranger to that realm either. In fact, there are quite a few Snickers flavors you might come across, and I've ranked seven of them to see which flavor makes for the ultimate Snickers bar. In ranking these flavors, I considered both how well any additions worked (for example, did swapping out peanuts for pecans make sense?) and generally how good the resulting bar tasted. Also, to me, any good iteration of a candy bar is going to stay true to the original while enhancing the original ingredients instead of overshadowing them; so, I also considered which flavors still felt like Snickers at heart, and which ones simply veered too far from the OG candy bar we all know and love.

Considering that peanuts are already a welcome inclusion in a classic Snickers bar, it only makes sense that they'd eventually roll out a peanut butter version. And, as someone who loves a good Reese's candy of any variety, I was excited to try this one. Unfortunately, not only did the PB flavor not live up to my expectations, but it felt like I was eating an entirely different candy bar — not in a good way.

I already knew this take on Snickers would be a little different since the packaging refers to the candy as "squares" instead of a bar. But the differences stretched further and didn't taste like a Snickers to me. According to Snickers' website, this flavor is supposed to boast "the ultimate combination of peanut butter and peanuts," but any actual peanut chunks got lost in the peanut butter completely. I wasn't a fan of the peanut butter, either, as it was overly sweet and had a strange, paste-like texture. The nougat layer was also strange, as it was hard and almost more like a shortbread cookie than anything else. 

Overall, Snickers peanut butter was a letdown from start to finish. Between the oddly hard "nougat" layer, an odd peanut butter layer with a strange flavor and even stranger texture, and a caramel layer that you can barely tell is there, it only makes sense that this flavor comes in last place. Also, if I didn't know any better, I might not even guess this was a Snickers variety, so this is not a flavor I'd return to, and one that I easily consider the worst on this list.

I love classic Snickers, and I love white chocolate, so surely a Snickers bar with white chocolate must be a winner, right? Unfortunately, as much as I wanted this sentiment to be true, the execution of Snickers white didn't turn out quite as I hoped for or expected.

The biggest issue here comes down to the white chocolate. I'm not sure if it was a case of low-quality white chocolate (which, yes, does legally count as real chocolate) or if white chocolate truly does clash with the other elements of a Snickers that much, but clash this bar did indeed. The white chocolate flavor stuck out like a sore thumb, and instead of hitting those classic rich, super-sweet, creamy notes, it almost tasted like whey or overly milky, if that makes sense. The caramel, nougat, and peanuts tried their best to still make this somewhat resemble a classic Snickers, but ultimately, I couldn't get past the odd white chocolate flavor. I did at least feel more forgiving towards the white chocolate than I did the peanut butter flavor, because while I wasn't too pleased about either, this one was the lesser of two evils (if even by just a smidge). 

I'm sure there's someone out there who might enjoy this candy bar, because realistically, it is a regular Snickers with white chocolate instead of milk. If this flavor proved anything to me, though, it's that the milk chocolate coating isn't optional — it's essential.

If you're going to swap out one of the classic Snickers ingredients — in this case, swapping peanuts for pecans — then it only makes sense to ensure that the new addition actually stands out in some way. Snickers pecan had a whole lot of potential to be a familiar yet different take on a Snickers, and no doubt a hit with the pecan-lovers crowd, but this one ended up missing the mark in my book.

My biggest gripe with this candy bar is that there was simply not enough pecan action. First bite, not a single pecan — fine, I thought, I'll find them on the second bite. And while I eventually stumbled across a pecan, it was a mere tiny little chunk. It didn't make much of an impression or even provide much flavor to the intense caramel, nougat, and chocolate flavors.

Also, speaking of the caramel, it was a bit overbearing in this candy bar iteration, and almost more liquidy than in your typical Snickers. Between the completely lost-in-translation pecan chunks and the overbearing caramel, this one didn't live up to its namesake. Ultimately, I can't say that this one necessarily tasted bad, so it is at least an improvement on the peanut butter and white chocolate flavors. But the lack of pecans and excess of caramel kept it from being something truly special. I found the pecan one was the weaker link of the two Snickers flavors that swap out the classic peanuts for a different type of nut.

After trying and not loving Snickers pecan, I was a bit nervous going into the almond flavor. And, after trying it, I have good and bad news to report about this flavor. The good news is that it is better than Snickers pecan, but the bad news is that it's still not an amazing take on a Snickers bar.

I appreciated that the almonds were at least pretty prevalent here, meaning that most bites would have at least a tiny chunk of almond. I think the flavor of almonds also generally works better in the context of a Snickers, as it doesn't necessarily overpower the other elements of the bar, but it still offers some nice nutty, almost creamy notes. The caramel was quite overbearing, as it was in the pecan version, so if there was a little less caramel and a little more almond, I think this candy bar could have shone much brighter.

I don't see myself seeking out this flavor again. But it ranks higher than pecan because, although comparable, the almond flavor didn't taste bad; at least, it had a little more crunchy, nutty action in play. 

If there's one flavor on this list that surprised me the most, it would probably be the Snickers Xtreme. What makes this an "Xtreme" candy bar, you may ask? Well, this iteration removes the nougat (gasp!) and increases the amount of peanuts and caramel. A bold move, if you ask me, but one that actually worked out remarkably well.

Personally, the nougat technically is my least favorite part of a Snickers bar, and dare I say that this Xtreme flavor proved nougat isn't strictly essential. I was surprised at how much this bar tasted like a classic Snickers, nougat-less and all, and just how good it tasted in general. Those extra peanuts did a lot of heavy lifting here, adding plenty of nutty flavor along with the perfect amount of crunchiness to keep each bite interesting. I actually didn't feel like this bar necessarily had more caramel than other Snickers on this list, so I was content with the amount of caramel that was at play. 

Overall, it's hard to deny that a combination of caramel, peanuts, and milk chocolate is a winning one. If the nougat is absolutely essential to your enjoyment of a Snickers bar, then yeah, this one might not be your favorite. I enjoyed how it tweaked the Snickers formula while still being familiar and (almost) as delicious, and I certainly liked the return to peanut form over almonds or pecans, so these reasons earned this flavor the No. 3 spot on this list.

Butterscotch is one of those treats that I don't seek out often, but when I eat it, I'm reminded of how good it is. Although I've never considered the thought of butterscotch in a Snickers bar, it only makes sense. Butterscotch and caramel, although technically different, offer up similar flavor notes and have a similar texture. And, since caramel is already a staple ingredient in a Snickers bar, swapping it out for butterscotch not only seems like a recipe for success, but it is one, as proven by Snickers butterscotch.

What I liked the most about this flavor is that it tasted like a classic Snickers bar, but with a unique edge. The butterscotch elements were caramel-like in nature, but then I'd pick up on extra warm, rich, and almost caramelized notes that made the candy bar a little more interesting. The peanuts and nougat still shone through nicely, so this wasn't a case of butterscotch rolling in and stealing all the thunder. My one minor complaint, though, and it's that this is a touch too sweet, especially by the time I got to the end of the bar. 

I really enjoyed Snickers butterscotch and can strongly recommend it to any butterscotch lovers out there. Although there was one flavor that managed to outrank this one, I would absolutely return to this flavor in the future and have virtually no complaints about it — an easy second-place choice in my book.

We all know the old saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," and I can officially say that this sentiment applies to Snickers bars. After trying various Snickers flavors, I ultimately concluded that nothing can quite top the classic, OG Snickers bar, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Between the nougat base, rich caramel, and crunchy peanuts, all topped off with milk chocolate, regular Snickers has a formula that doesn't just work — it's the blueprint. No other flavor on this list could even exist without the original Snickers paving the way (and serving as the base for any experimentation), so to me, it only makes sense that this flavor takes the top spot. While I may be inclined to choose a different Snickers flavor depending on my mood, I always know that I can't go wrong with a regular Snickers. 

The balance of ingredients and texture is absolutely on point with this one, so there's no need to worry about the nougat being overpowering or there being too much caramel. You know that every bite is going to be delicious, and you can count on the classic formula to satisfy every time — to me, that makes for a candy bar that can't be beat. Thanks to its unbeatable combination of ingredients, balanced texture, and simply delicious nature, OG Snickers wins the race, rightfully earning the top spot in this ranking.

When ranking these seven Snickers flavors, it was important to me that I give each flavor its fair opportunity to shine. So, at first, I conducted a sampling by trying bites of each flavor back-to-back, seeing which ones stood out right off the bat and which already seemed like they missed the mark. I also paid attention to which flavors I naturally felt inclined to return to and which I didn't necessarily want a second bite of. Over the course of a few days, I returned to each bar (or square), trying the flavors again and again before ultimately determining the ranking (which became very clear at that point, considering that I had completely polished off some bars and still had leftovers from others).

As for determining how "good" a given candy bar tasted, this was, of course, somewhat subjective. I went into this ranking knowing that I like Snickers in general and any ingredient variations that might come up, like pecans, almonds, butterscotch, and so forth. So the ranking largely came down to which flavors I felt worked best overall, which had the best balance among the various elements, and which felt true to a Snickers bar (and not like some completely different candy bar).