The Absolute Best Snickers Bar Has Been Around For 95 Years

Snickers is not only the most popular candy bar in the United States – it's the best-selling candy bar in the world. This distinctive treat – featuring roasted peanuts suspended in caramel over a bed of chewy nougat, coated in smooth milk chocolate — was invented in 1930 by Frank Mars. Since its introduction, the Snickers bar's recipe has been fairly unaltered – although the wrapper looked completely different in the '30s. No matter how many varieties it adds to its portfolio, the original flavor Snickers is still the best — at least according to our ranking of six Snickers flavors (and overwhelming consumer data).

Throughout its long history, the Mars company has grown far beyond a simple family business. It has cultivated a steady stream of new flavors, from peanut butter to the limited-edition Rockin' Nut Road. And sure, there are plenty of fun flavors to try, but we keep coming back to the original. But what makes original Snickers stand out from other flavors? Part of the answer is in its history; consumers have been able to know exactly what to expect — and what to crave — from a Snickers since 1930.

In the 1960s, Snickers expanded to introduce the Snickers Peanut Butter bar. While this newcomer proved a successful addition to the Snickers family, the company has been understandably cautious when it comes to investing in experimental flavors. The recipe for original Snickers has traditionally been a closely guarded secret, even in the manufacturing process.

Since that initial foray into new kinds of Snickers, certain limited-edition flavors have come and gone, including the aforementioned Rockin' Nut Road, Snickers Xtreme, and 2023 Walmart-exclusive Butterscotch Scoop. One of Snickers' bolder moves has been the release of its line of protein-packed Snickers products, released in 2022.

Though some varieties have stuck around, the subtle variations of the candy bar always seem to be missing some element of original Snickers, whether that's in texture or taste. In the same way that a cover band is never the same as the real thing, original Snickers will probably always be the best flavor.