I Tried 6 Reese's Ice Cream Products And Ranked Them Worst To Best

If there's one thing you should know about me, it's that I'm a huge Reese's Peanut Butter Cup fan. It's been one of my favorite candies since I was a kid, even though I'm not the biggest peanut butter person around. I think the fact that the peanut butter included in a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup and the brand's other peanut butter candies is so salty is what makes it such a treat — that saltiness works exceptionally well with the sweetness of the milk chocolate. But these days, Reese's, Breyers, and Klondike offer a whole slew of products beyond the candy brand's lineup. In fact, if you head to the frozen aisle of your grocery store, you're likely to find several different Reese's-branded ice cream products.

I've snagged several of these offerings so I could taste-test them and rank them. This ranking starts with my least favorite selections and works its way to the most delicious. Flavor was the main criterion I looked at while ranking these items. Specifically, I ranked ice cream higher if it had a well-balanced sweetness than those I perceived to be too cloying. Additionally, I paid attention to texture when relevant (after all, Reese's is known for its unique, signature texture). Note that some of these products contain actual ice cream (which means they meet certain criteria determined by the FDA, like having at least 10% milk fat) while others are frozen dairy desserts, but I'll refer to all products as ice cream.

Just looking at the package of Reese's Frozen Peanut Butter Bars, I thought I was in for a treat. Once I took a bite, though, I was ultimately disappointed. The ice cream tastes of peanut butter so intensely that it immediately made me want to stop eating. Sure, anything under the Reese's brand is going to be peanut butter-forward, but that's basically all you can taste here. Plus, that ice cream is extremely sweet, offering very little of the nutty, salty subtlety I prefer in a real Reese's cup. There's nothing there to balance out that sweetness, either, meaning that you might be overwhelmed by sugary peanut butter flavoring before you're even halfway done with the bar.

Texture-wise, this frozen dessert is sort of like those classic Good Humor bars with the little cake pieces on the outside. Admittedly, that part of the dessert does add a nice touch, since it makes the bar more texturally interesting and prevents the ice cream inside from melting so fast. However, it only adds unnecessary sweetness to the mix, and its flavor isn't nearly strong enough to compete with that super strong peanut butter note. This frozen peanut butter bar is my least favorite by far out of all of the products on this list.

When I was a kid, I used to absolutely love Klondike Bars — they were one of my family's ice cream treats of choice. But it's been years since I had one, so I was really excited to see what was in store for me with Klondike Reese's. What I discovered was pretty disappointing, though. First of all, this Klondike Bar is way smaller than I expected. At first, I wondered if I had just remembered the size of them incorrectly, but when I checked online, I discovered that they had shrunk by 20%. At the price point they're sold at, this smaller portion size kind of feels like a rip-off.

But size aside, the flavor of these Klondike Bars just isn't very good either. I found the bar cloying, both on the ice cream and the chocolate shell front. The peanut butter flavor is nice and subtle, which I appreciate, but honestly, a more intense nuttiness might have helped counteract some of that unpleasant, overt sugariness. To make matters worse, the bar's shell is also quite thin. That means it breaks easily, potentially causing a mess — make sure not to throw the wrapper away so you can use it to prevent your hands from getting too messy.

Although this ice cream bar is a bit more balanced than the worst-ranked option on this list, I still wouldn't buy this product again. Reese's lovers have better ice cream treats from which to choose.

Technically, this frozen dessert isn't ice cream, but I'll refer to it as such just to keep things simple here. Reese's Chocolate Peanut Butter Frozen Dairy Dessert is a bit too sweet for my taste. Although I do love a delicious chocolate ice cream, I often find that this flavor isn't as well-balanced as I want it to be, and this particular offering isn't an exception. But this isn't your standard chocolate ice cream, either. Rather, it has a chocolate base with peanut butter "swirls" adding that Reese's-like touch to the mix. Plus, there are little chunks of Reese's peanut butter inside, which only makes things more interesting.

Those peanut butter swirls offer a strange texture, since they're hard when you first take the tub out of the fridge. However, after a few minutes, they start to soften and take on more of a classic swirl consistency. It's their flavor, though, that makes the swirls shine. They have that classic Reese's peanut butter saltiness, which helps to balance that ultra-sweet ice cream base. I do think that the brand could pull back on some of the sweetness here, but ultimately, this is still a solid frozen dessert to try if you're a true Reese's lover.

I'm not someone who particularly cares about my carb intake, so I don't think I'd ever pick up this package of Breyers Carb Smart Reese's Bars if it weren't for the purpose of this article. But I'm glad I discovered them, because they're actually one of the better items on this list. That's mostly due to the simplicity of this bar. It has a peanut butter frozen dairy dessert base, but the flavor is incredibly subtle, without the intense sweetness that I found in some of these other products. If anything, it was almost lacking in flavor, although when it comes to ice cream, I'd prefer that over too much sweetness. Then, encasing half of the bar is a chocolatey coating that's reminiscent of the exterior of a Reese's peanut butter cup. The chocolate isn't too thick and also delivers more of a subtle sweetness.

I like that this bar isn't trying to do too much — I don't feel like I'm being slapped in the face with flavor when it comes to this product. However, this Breyers offering doesn't rank higher simply because it's ultimately slightly boring compared to the better-ranked options on this list. If you are watching your carb or calorie intake, though — or you're just looking for a mild, accessible ice cream bar — this is absolutely a sweet treat worth checking out.

If you want to enjoy your frozen Reese's treat in more of an ice cream form without quite as much chocolate, look no further than Reese's Peanut Butter Light Ice Cream. To me, this flavor is just a bit more interesting than the chocolate variety, mostly because it's not as sweet. The ice cream itself is peanut butter-flavored. I was worried that it might not be very pleasant because peanut butter can sometimes overpower the other elements of a dish when it takes center stage.

However, I didn't find that to be the case here. Instead of the peanut butter ice cream tasting so strongly of actual peanut butter, I discovered that it has a general butteriness that tastes rich and luscious. Add in the chunks of Reese's peanut butter cups and that same salty peanut butter swirl, and it's no wonder this ice cream snags the second-place spot in this ranking. The only thing I didn't like about this product was its relative lack of chocolate. You get a bit of it from those peanut butter cups in the mix, but honestly, it could use a bit more. Still, though, this candy-flavored ice cream is a win in my book.

Not only are Reese's Crunchy Peanut Ice Cream Bars the top-ranked selection on this list, but they also took the No. 2 spot on my ranking of candy brand ice cream bars as well, so you know they have to be good. I'd venture to say that this bar is even better than the original peanut butter cup, which is a pretty high bar in my book. The peanut butter-flavored ice cream has a strong flavor, but it's much less concentrated than it is in the Reese's Frozen Peanut Butter Bar that snagged the last-place spot on this list. It has a hint of saltiness that creates a lovely, harmonious balance with the chocolate shell that encases the ice cream. With the addition of actual pieces of peanut, this ice cream bar also has a unique textural appeal.

When you're on the lookout for a Reese's ice cream treat that tastes as close to the original candy as possible, then this is the product for you. Just be forewarned: Since the shell of this bar is so thin, it melts pretty quickly, so this is a treat you should try to eat relatively quickly if it's hot out.

I found all of the Reese's ice cream products I could find at local grocery stores in my area to conduct this ranking. Flavor was the main component I focused on; I wanted a well-balanced sweetness that wasn't too intense. I also ranked products higher that had a good balance between chocolate and peanut butter flavors compared to those with one element that was much more pronounced than the other. Texture also played an (albeit smaller) role in this ranking. I noted where it added interest to a product, but this factor generally didn't make or break any of the placements on this list.