I Tried And Ranked 11 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups Flavors From Worst To Best

It's impossible to imagine a time on this earth in which peanut butter and chocolate weren't considered a perfect pair, and it's also hard to fathom thinking of any name but Reese's whenever they're combined. This seemingly simple candy, a disc of roasted peanut butter coated in chocolate, has come to dominate the confectionery world, and is often the top-selling, most-consumed candy product in the United States year after year (though Snickers and M&Ms put up a strong fight).

It took decades for chocolatier H.B. Reese, who was an on-again, off-again employee at Hershey's, to come up with a successful milk chocolate peanut butter cup recipe and build it into a thriving business. After his death, his sons eventually merged with Hershey's, which still produces the cups to this day. Since then, new variations and flavors have flooded candy shelves — different types of chocolate, additions to the filling, various sizes and shapes — but can any of these hold a candle to the original? 

Bringing up the rear are Reese's chocolate lava cups. The crime committed here is the vast unbridgeable gap between expectation and reality. When you look at the package and see that thick cascade of dark ganache-esque chocolate, along with the word lava, you can't help but expect to be blown away by a chocolate explosion, like the famed modern classic, chocolate lava cake. In reality, however, these are barely any different from the traditional cups. There's a fingernail-width sliver of extra chocolate along the bottom of each cup, which is barely perceptible to the human eye, and adds almost nothing in terms of flavor.

As I love the original milk chocolate cups, I'm not mad at these for tasting almost the same. I'll have no problem enjoying them. They're just not what they appear to be, and I was unable to overcome my initial disappointment even when I got a few appropriately fudgey bites around the edges of some of them. Now, I tried the snack size, so maybe Reese's bigger sizes have more of a chocolate lava presence, but if that's the case, perhaps they shouldn't offer this flavor in this size at all.

Reese's Pieces have been omnipresent in my life, thanks to being a child of the '80s who grew up obsessively watching the movie E.T. and being susceptible to that candy's prominent role in the Spielberg classic. Maybe I was a little bit too excited for the nostalgia here, but Reese's cups stuffed with Reese's Pieces just didn't deliver anything special. The idea sounds a lot more interesting than these turn out to be — I'll always sign up for candy stuffed with more candy, but the biggest problem is that these candies are so similar that the Reese's Pieces inside the cup pretty much disappear into the filling.

Reese's Pieces have a fairly thin candy shell, which offers a little touch of crunchy texture, but not enough to get excited about. These cups also ended up being way saltier than any of the others, for some reason. I'm not sure if Reese's Pieces have a more intensely salty filling, but I suspect that to be the case. I love a salty-sweet treat, but these cups weren't properly balanced, so the salt ended up taking over. I think I'll continue to enjoy my Reese's cups and pieces separately, thank you very much.

Reminiscent of the chocolate lava cups, Reese's caramel cups delivered an underwhelming experience. They're not bad — I mean, who could complain about the combination of milk chocolate, caramel, and peanut butter? When I asked myself, though, whether I'd reach for one of these before I'd go for an original cup, the answer was no. There's not much caramel here, which I actually appreciate as it can be overwhelmingly sweet when not used judiciously, but that double-edged sword means that the caramel falls by the wayside.

I could see this Reese's flavor working better if there were just a tiny bit more salt in the caramel. There's already some in the peanut butter, so it wouldn't need much, but as it is, the caramel tastes a little bit flat. It doesn't really contrast or complement the other elements in a way that makes it seem like a necessary addition, or that heightens the other flavors.

What really works with these Reese's white creme cups is that the peanut butter is front and center. You get to enjoy the thick nutty richness of the filling without a lot else standing in your way, other than a subtle coating of what Reese's calls white creme — not white chocolate, which is a rather significant distinction as it turns out. White chocolate must contain a certain percentage of cocoa butter, among other requirements, and these Reese's cups do not meet that minimum.

Still, despite these cups not technically containing any chocolate, they're buttery, nutty, and just rich enough to satisfy a sweet craving. White chocolate is already a somewhat divisive ingredient, so the fact that these are made with a distant derivation of it may put people off even further, and that's understandable. However, I found the lighter and more peanut-forward flavor profile a welcome variation from the classic peanut butter cup without straying too far from the original. That said, these are not cups I'd go out of my way for.

This is a tough one to rank so low, because after my first bite, I thought Reese's peanut butter pie cups would have no trouble cracking the top three. After repeated visits back to this flavor and some stiff competition from other cups, though, eventually I had to land them here. These fun little confections have a lot going for them, but I found that they wear out their welcome quickly.

Let's start with the positives. These cups are intense, with a butterscotch-like flavor that hits your taste buds right as the chocolate melts on your tongue. Then, there are crumbled bits of graham cracker that provide a subtle crunch and a touch of honeyed sweetness. The main problem is that the peanut butter gets elbowed out by all of that. The peanut butter pie filling is quite a bit sweeter than the classic version, and there's not enough saltiness to counteract that sugar. Because of that imbalance, these cups don't take long to become cloying.

If you have fond memories of roasting s'mores over a campfire, Reese's marshmallow cups might just send you down a nostalgic road from which there's no coming back. As the package isn't shy to mention, these treats are artificially flavored — not that marshmallows typically grow on trees, as far as I know — but that artificial flavor perfectly encapsulates the sense of sitting under a canopy of trees and stars, roasting sugary goodness at the end of a flaming stick.

Unlike many of the other Reese's cups, which have a sliver of filling underneath the layer of peanut butter, the marshmallow here balances well with the other major elements. It's a little smoky, a little caramelized, and melds beautifully with the roasted peanut butter and the milk chocolate. Get a good bite and let it melt in your mouth, and it's almost like being a kid again, pretending you're not scared of ghost stories or those weird sounds you're hearing in the woods. After a few bites, the artificial flavor of the marshmallow becomes more noticeable, and the sweetness becomes a bit overpowering. Until that line is crossed, however, these are a delight.

There are a few quintessentially American foods that I, personally, don't particularly enjoy. I'm always on the receiving end of mockery because I hate ketchup, but perhaps the most controversial food take I have is that Oreos are bad. The cookies are dry and dusty, they don't taste like chocolate at all, and while this may sound like an exaggeration, Oreo filling is basically just oil. I've planted my flag on this hill many times. Yet somehow, in some strange twist of fate, I really enjoyed these Reese's Oreo peanut butter cups.

Here's what I think it is: These cups take the Oreo ratio and flip it on its head. I had a similar experience with Hershey's Cookies and Creme bar. When the crumbly cookie becomes a textural accent rather than the centerpiece, and the cream melds everything together, it becomes a whole new experience. Also, there's actual chocolate here, as well as peanut butter, adding more dimension. While these cups don't overtake the classic Reese's recipe, I think this is a beautiful marriage of two iconic treats, and that's coming from someone who's not a fan of one of them. Compared to other cups that tried to add a crunchy element to the filling, this was by far the most successful.

The marshmallow, chocolate lava, and caramel Reese's cups all share the same blueprint, but none match the success of Reese's Strawberry PB&J cup. The difference, I think, that sets this one apart is that there's a bright, fruity acidity in the layer of strawberry jelly that lightens everything up and creates a balance that keeps you going back for more.

Sure, taking a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and replacing the bread with chocolate seems like a no-brainer, but I could see it easily going wrong. Reese's makes it work beautifully. The moistness of the jelly adds a lovely silkiness to the somewhat coarse peanut butter texture, and everything melts together with the chocolate to create a cohesive mouthful that's perfectly satisfying. This is, notably, the only Reese's cup variety on this list that involves a fruity ingredient. I would love to see more. If you're looking for a Reese's cup that has something more than just the traditional chocolate and peanut butter, this is the one I'd steer you toward — though when it comes down to it, I still prefer a more classic version of the Reese's cup.

When I started this endeavor, I was skeptical that anything could match the classic Reese's milk chocolate peanut butter cup. My instinct was almost right. There are only two variations that I enjoyed more than the original, and both of them are just slightly different from the formula that put this candy on the map. Revisiting this version, what struck me was how well-balanced it is. The slightly coarse filling and the smooth chocolate create a wonderful meld of textures, and the creamy sweet milkiness of the coating is beautifully complemented by the subtle saltiness and roasted flavor of the peanut butter.

Reese's peanut butter cups are iconic for a reason. Like so many of us, I grew up eating this chocolate concoction without really thinking about it. Going back to it now with a more analytical eye, I felt a new appreciation for its simplicity and balance. There's been a lot of tumult in the chocolate world lately, including reports of Hershey's reformulating its ingredients to cut costs, but I found my revisit to Reese's classic peanut butter cup comforting and satisfying.

I continue to be impressed by Hershey's plant-based chocolate treats. With the silky texture, the perfectly balanced sweetness, and the touch of bitterness, everything about the chocolate in Reese's Plant Based peanut butter cup is elegant and delicious. This could just be a personal preference, as the plant-based chocolate gives off more of a bittersweet than a milk chocolate vibe, but there's no denying that it's great quality no matter where your chocolate love lies.

Not only do I think Reese's Plant Based cups stand shoulder to shoulder with all the other versions, but they exceed almost all of them. The ratio of coating to filling is more similar to a thin cup, which, in my opinion, hits the sweet spot of chocolate and peanut butter in every bite. Because the chocolate has a semi-sweet character, it's a bit deeper and richer than the standard milk chocolate cup. With the slender yet substantial layer of peanut butter filling, these cups have a sublime balance.

I love dark chocolate — the darker the better — but I have issues with Hershey's so-called dark chocolate, which may look the part but doesn't really walk the walk. I can't say if the chocolate used in Reese's dark peanut butter cups is exactly the same as what Hershey's uses in its special dark bars, but if it is, it works much better here. Perhaps it's the balance between the chocolate and peanut butter that lets the chocolate shine, since it's not carrying the load by itself. Whatever it is, the combination of flavors that Reese's has achieved in its thin dark chocolate cups is unmatched by any other variation of this candy, including the original.

No, the coating is not as bitter or intense as real dark chocolate, but these cups push the chocolate just far enough in the dark direction to bring out the lighter aspects of the peanut butter filling. These feel so much lighter than most of the other Reese's cups, despite the chocolate being darker in color and flavor. I'm not sure exactly how to explain the alchemy that takes place, but the push and pull, yin and yang just works. Of all the Reese's peanut butter cup flavors, I'd take these first and without a second thought.

Using Hershey's official online product finder, I searched for all of the Reese's peanut butter cup products that were available at stores near me. Once I had compiled that list, I purchased the selection and got down to tasting.

For each, I cut a cup in half to get a visual of the interior and note the ratio between chocolate, peanut butter, and any other fillings. As I tasted each variety, I considered the flavors and textures of each individual element, as well as how they worked together. The best cups had a good balance of salty and sweet, along with a robust peanut flavor and quality chocolate coating.