100 Greatest Snacks Of All Time

Options
Stew
Stew Members, Moderators, Writer Posts: 52,234 Regulator
100. Premium Saltines

99. David Sunflower Seeds

98. Raisinets

97. Welch's Fruit Snacks

96. Mike and Ike

95. Corn Nuts

94. popchips

93. Newtons

92. Trolli gummies

91. Donettes

90. Better Cheddars

89. Swiss Rolls

88. Club Crackers

87. Junior Mints

86. Honey Maid grahams

85. Pez

84. Utz Cheese ?

83. Dove Promises

82. Hostess pies

81. E.L. Fudge

80. TGI Fridays Potato Skins

79. Chicken in a Biskit

78. Swedish Fish

77. Nerds

76. Rold Gold

75. Twizzlers

74. Red Vines

73. Mounds

72. Almond Joy

71. Triscuit

70. ? Butters

69. Tostitos

68. Brownie Bites

67. Famous Amos

66. Slim Jims

65. Fruit Roll-Ups

64. Fruit by the Foot

63. Whoppers

62. Whatchamacallit

61. Runts

60. Nilla Wafers

59. Pretzel Crisps

58. Zebra Cakes

57. SunChips

56. Funyuns

55. 3 Musketeers

54. Baby Ruth

53. Milky Way

52. Animal crackers

51. Handi-Snacks

50. Munchos

49. Jelly Bellies

48. Nestle Crunch

47. Teddy Grahams

46. Gushers

45. Rolos

44. Stacy's Pita Chips

43. Fudge Stripes

42. Smartfood White Cheddar Popcorn

41. Hershey's Kisses

40. Heath Bars

39. Rice Krispies Treats

38. Skittles

37. Sour Patch Kids

36. ? Hos

35. Wheat Thins

34. Bugles

33. Take Five

32. Chips Ahoy!

31. Kettle Chips

30. Twinkies

29. Milanos

28. Planters nuts

27. Oatmeal Creme Pies

26. Hostess CupCakes

25. Ritz

24. Jack Link's

23. Snyder's Pretzel Pieces

22. Butterfinger

21. Reese's Pieces

20. Ruffles

19. Flipz

18. Chex Mix

17. Gardetto's

16. Snickers

15. Starburst

14. Combos

13. Twix

12. Lays

11. Kit Kat

10. Fritos

9. Haribo gummies

8. Cheez-Its

7. M&M's

6. Cheetos

5. Goldfish

It should be obvious by now that nutritional virtuousness was in no way factored into performance on this list, and yet here Goldfish are in the top five. As we learned from the Goldfish commercials: You could eat them every day and your mom says that's OK. But we're not here to parse the relative glycemic merits of assorted salty and sweet snacks. We're here to celebrate Goldfish because they're ? amazing, a snacking empire unto themselves that exists as a subset of another snacking empire. I think we as a society really underappreciate everything Pepperidge Farm does for us. Quite simply I cannot picture a world without handfuls of crunchy little Cheddar Goldfish.

4. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Speaking of the original version usually being superior: Reese's Cups! There are those who obsess over the higher peanut butter quotient of the springtime treat that is the Reese's Egg. There are others who enjoy the all-over-the-map madness of a NutRageous. There are probably even sociopaths somewhere who claim Reese's Sticks are the best Reese's product. They are all wrong. The Reese's Cup is perfect: a two-pack of pleasure possessing the exact right ratio of sugary peanut goodness and also-sugary chocolate, with the ridged edge providing the entry point to a flavor-and-texture party that's been the subject of many a Halloween candy-trading argument. Just kidding. No one ever trades their Reese's.

A quick story. I had a friend in college who was sure he had a peanut allergy. After a couple of accidental peanut encounters produced no symptoms, he was tested for peanut allergies. He had no peanut allergies. He went on a weeks-long peanut butter 'n chocolate-eating binge the likes of which no one had ever seen, but it all started with a bag of miniature Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. The first time he ate one he made a sound that I've never heard a human make before or since. Then he finished the bag. Then he spent most of the next few weeks trying to explain to me how good Reese's Peanut Butter Cups tasted, though his explanations primarily consisted of the words "dude" and "? ."

Dude, ? indeed. -- ML

3. Pringles

One of my earliest memories was staring at dozens of cans of Pringles. Not because my parents fed me the way I fed myself in college, but because my extremely frugal, GM-working grandfather used to save cans of his signature flavor -- plain, lightly salted -- in order to keep basically every nail, screw, and bolt he ever used in his garage. So for the first years of my life, I thought Pringles only came in two flavors: "meh" and "ouch."

These days, though, Pringles makes dozens and dozens of flavors. I've tried them all of them. Yet in sitting down with 29 cans last year, I noticed that I was grabbing at straws to figure out why I even slightly disliked some flavors. True, the Original and Cheddar are standouts, but like Lays, Pringles messes with a ton of different flavors and gets most of them right. Hell, even the cheeseburger flavor is a thing of snackable beauty. Cheeseburger! What the hell is even happening? How does a chip that isn't even a chip that's made with flavors forged in a lab (for real, we got a peek at how they're made and it's mad science) get so much right?

Well, we confirmed that there's no ? involved. Just delicious potato crisps that come in enough good flavors to give Baskin-Robbins a run for its money. In fact, I'm fully willing to bet that if there were a flavor called "Grandpa's Old Nails," the can would be empty before I got home from the grocery store. So it was with bacon (the "worst" flavor). So it is constantly with Cheddar. Such is the power of Pringles. -- AK

2. Oreos

The good people at Oreo have really stepped up the innovation in recent years, debuting new limited-edition flavors at a torrid pace that send food internet sites such as this one into a tizzy. And I'm all for it! The more kinds of Oreos the better! Well, maybe there's an exception when Peeps are involved.

However, all those shenanigans pale in comparison to Oreo's greatest innovation of them all: the Double Stuf. Honestly, they could have stopped there and they'd STILL check in at No. 2. Actually, it's possible they didn't even need Double Stuf, because regular Oreos are a giant among snack foods. I don't know what kind of devil alchemy happens when you combine an Oreo with milk, but I know the first time I ingested said combination my world was never the same.

I'm not sure how to evaluate original Oreos vs. Double Stuf. On the one hand, the regular Oreos started it all, and the heavier cookie ratio yields better results when dipped in milk, which is indisputably the best manner in which to consume Oreos. On the other hand, the filling is the best part of the Oreo, and Double Stuff provides both more of it, and easier access to it (regular Oreos are much more prone to breakage when you try the twist-and-scrape maneuver).

You know what? I can't choose. I'm glad both Oreos and Double Stuf Oreos are in my universe. I'm also glad Swedish Fish Oreos are in my universe. But I'm gladder about the first two. -- ML
related
How many Totino's Pizza Rolls does it take to make a full pizza?

1. Doritos

There are more than 15 different flavors of Doritos on shelves at any given time, all with their own virtues (except Bacon Cheddar Ranch). But with respect to Cool Ranch (I know I'm an outlier in my ambivalence toward ranch everything), there's only one flavor that truly matters, and that flavor is Nacho Cheese, the single greatest mass-produced snack in America.
«134567

Comments