Ranking Reese’s Cups for the perfect Reese’s experience

The world is covered in Reese’s Cups. Wrapped and unwrapped. Big Cup and Mini. Eggs, a different variety of eggs and, wow, even more eggs. (No egg shortage here.) Will Arnett was right when he says you can buy a Reese’s Cup just about anywhere. But which one gives you the perfect Reese’s experience?

For the inaugural edition of Ranked!, I’m joined by Kyle Burdick-Hayes. Kyle and I overlapped for three years at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York, where we spent a ridiculous number of hours together working on our college paper. (RIP, Cardinal Courier.) After graduation, Kyle and his now husband, Chad, purchased Gram’s Diner in Adams, New York.

I don’t want to do the math on how long ago we graduated, but since then, Kyle and Chad have poured themselves into turning Gram’s Diner into not just a staple of their community but also crafting drool-worthy creations like Fruity Pebble donuts, deep dish chocolate chip cookies and an Ultimate Chicken Parm Wrap. (I’ve been told that that D.C. area is out of their Uber Eats range.)

I might be a guy who writes a newsletter about snacks in his free time, but Kyle is a professional. He can actually say that he’s used Reese’s Cups for work, which makes him the perfect person to help me rank a bunch of Reese’s Cups variants. (It turns out this is a pretty divisive topic ... especially when it comes to Reese’s Thins!)

Here’s how this edition of Ranked! works. We found eight widely available variants of the Reese’s Cup. (It helped that it’s Easter time.) Every version had to be milk chocolate with only peanut butter inside. Sorry, white chocolate Reese’s Cups and Spring Sprinkles. With that criteria, we asked the question: Which one of these eight varieties is the best delivery of the Reese’s experience?

Methodology

Here’s how Snackology Ranked! works: A guest and myself each sample a select number of items. We each then rank the items on a numeric scale, with 1 being the best, 2 being the second the best, and so forth. Those scores are then added together for their combined score. The items are then ranked in order of their combined score. Snackology Ranked! is a nonscientific survey and is absolutely based on the opinions and whims of the people doing the rankings. This is a newsletter about junk food — not Wirecutter or Consumer Reports. Geez.

8. Reese’s Peanut Butter Creme Egg

Combined score: 14

Bill’s thoughts

Ranking: 6

There’s something weird about biting into one of these giant Reese’s Eggs. The Cadbury Egg is an iconic candy. A chocolate egg like this should be filled with, um, I guess I need to google what’s inside a Cadbury Egg? Among Reese’s products, though, the big egg has an excellent chocolate shell, but the peanut butter isn’t consistently filled, and a downfall of this form factor is that it’s hard to get a balanced bite.

Kyle’s thoughts

Ranking: 8

Reese’s should have left the filled-egg game to Cadbury. The Reese’s Big Egg sports too-thick chocolate with pasty (not creamy) peanut butter in the middle. My two testers have a big empty spot in the middle of the peanut butter, so they’re not even manufactured well.

6. Reese’s Miniature Cups (tie)

Combined score: 10

Bill’s thoughts

Ranking: 3

On a pure candy level, it’s hard to go wrong with Reese’s Miniatures. They have a good bite. They’re filled with pretty much the perfect amount of peanut butter. Their only sin? More often than not, you’re going to lose some chocolate when the paper wrapper rips the edges of the cup away.

Kyle’s thoughts

Ranking: 7

Despite their place in the long-standing Reese’s lineup, I really dislike these. There’s almost too much peanut butter for such a small bite. But what’s worse is the packaging. Who on Earth wants to dig for the edge of the foil wrapper, only to be met with a tiny paper to peel off, too? Not this guy.

6. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (tie)

Combined score: 10

Bill’s thoughts

Ranking: 5

Ah, the traditional Reese’s Cup. Not a miniature. Not a Big Cup. Not a Thins. For the flagship Reese’s product, you’d expect this one to be higher on my list, but I think the top and bottom layers are two thin. The ratio also swings a touch too far in the direction of peanut butter too.

Kyle’s thoughts

Ranking: 5

Old faithful is just that: Decidedly average. Middle of the road. The packaging with its folded edges and the brown paper cup, are iconic, but I’m always left a little disappointed by the traditional cups. I don’t know if I can put my finger on why, but I almost always think there are better options for Reese’s products. The chocolate and peanut butter ratios are “fine.”

4. Reese’s Mini Eggs Unwrapped (tie)

Combined score: 9

Bill’s thoughts

Ranking: 7

I was excited about the Mini Eggs Unwrapped. This was my first time having this variety of Reese’s, and I fully expected a similar experience to the Minis Unwrapped. But they were too soft, and the peanut butter didn’t hit in the same way.

Kyle’s thoughts

Ranking: 2

These were new for 2024, and I must have missed them last year, which is sad. Because they’re delightful. Easy to eat, and perfectly poppable in size. There’s a surprisingly significant amount of peanut butter in each little egg. That brings the chocolate-peanut butter ratios into “addictive” territory. Unlike the Mini Unwrapped, you actually get the full Reese’s flavor profile in just a few little candies.

4. Reese’s Thins (tie)

Combined score: 9

Bill’s thoughts

Ranking: 8

Who are these for? I’ve never had a Reese’s Thins before and I probably never will again. There was barely any peanut butter in them, and the chocolate lacked any structural oomph to make up for the peanut butter’s absence. Never again.

Kyle’s thoughts

Ranking: 1

Full disclosure: I never would have bought these if it hadn’t been for this testing. Mainly because anything with “Thins” attached automatically reads “diet food” to me. So I’m as shocked as you are that I liked them the most out of all our testing. They’re a perfect bite. The peanut butter-to-chocolate ratio is perfectly balanced. Dare I say it’s close to a 50/50 mix of the two? Their size is satisfying without being overwhelming. Their wrapper is unproblematic. What more could you ask for? Give me all of them.

2. Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs (tie)

Combined score: 7

Bill’s thoughts

Ranking: 4

Unlike the classic Reese’s Cup, the top and bottom layers on this variety of egg are thicker, which not only gives you a better bite but also makes the chocolate-to-peanut butter ratio more even.

Kyle’s thoughts

Ranking: 3

As far as holiday shapes go for Reese’s, the Eggs are elite. They give you even, solid bites of peanut butter and chocolate, without feeling like you’re being ripped off when you buy them a single egg for $1.99 at the gas station (looking at you, Halloween pumpkin). Is the chocolate-and-peanut butter ratio perfect? Not really. It’s definitely peanut butter forward. But I swear the peanut butter is creamier in the egg shape.

2. Reese’s Minis (tie)

Combined score: 7

Bill’s thoughts

Ranking: 1

Reese’s Minis are dangerous. There’s nothing to unwrap. There’s no moral quandary about leaving a second cup behind. You just tear open the bag and go to town. Reese’s Minis are extremely poppable. The chocolate texture is the perfect bite. And the tiny form factor allows each one to wrap a dollop of peanut butter in just the right amount of chocolate.

Kyle’s thoughts

Ranking: 6

Forgettable. The Reese’s signature ridges on the outside of these was almost off-putting. Not enough to deter me from eating the whole bag. But when eating by the handful, they lean toward too much chocolate, and a bit waxy.

1. Reese’s Big Cup

Combined score: 6

Bill’s thoughts

Ranking: 2

I’m on record being a huge Reese’s Big Cup fan. There’s a heft to one that you have to respect. The thickness of the scalloped edges is the perfect amount of chocolate. Because we’re ranking Reese’s Cups in their purest form here — just chocolate and peanut butter — I can’t give the Big Cup extra points for nailing its role as a way for Reese’s to add in extra bits like Reese’s Puffs or sprinkles.

Kyle’s thoughts

Ranking: 4

Big indeed. It wasn’t until I sat this down next to the other shapes and sizes to realize how big a Big Cup really is. But its size feels adequate for the amount of peanut butter and chocolate they’ve packed into it, which is what you want with something with this name. I think this amount of peanut butter/chocolate is perfect if you’re looking for a single snack. Which makes the two-packs of Big Cups a shareable situation.

How’d we do?

Is your favorite ranked too low? Was there an upset that you just can’t stand? Did we miss your pick completely? Let me know in the comments.