We Tried 14 Halo Top Flavors, And The Best One Is A Perfect Balance Of Salty And Sweet

There's no denying ice cream is a near-perfect treat: It's creamy, rich, and refreshing all at the same time, and capable of incorporating a zillion flavors and fillings. But quality and satisfaction can vary immensely, even with regular vanilla ice cream. When it comes to alternatives like sugar-free, dairy-free, high-protein, etc, you'll find even more pronounced variations. Halo Top, a high-protein, lower-calorie "light" ice cream offers more than 30 flavors, including Mix-Ins featuring added elements like fudge or cherry and chocolate chunks. By default, some are going to be better than others. So, we got to work sampling and ranking 14 Halo Top flavors from worst to best. Chowhound deemed one to outshine them all: Sea Salt Caramel. 

The appeal of Halo Top is fairly obvious: Flavors range from 270 calories per pint for strawberry to around 490 calories per pint for some of the mix-ins flavors (compare this with Häagen-Dazs' Vanilla which is approximately 800 calories per pint), with plenty of protein. By using ingredients like high-protein ultra-filtered milk, skim milk, and a mix of natural and artificial sweeteners, Halo Top tries to match traditional ice cream in taste and texture. While even fans are divided on whether or not the desired effect is achieved, many people agree it's delicious and satisfying as a treat. However, our taste test revealed that some flavors still suffer from artificial-tasting ingredients, graininess, or lackluster flavors. Sea Salt Caramel, on the other hand, hit all the right spots.

During the ranking, Chowhound sampled 14 flavors, from simple chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry, to more adventurous varieties like birthday cake and chocolate caramel brownie. She kept each well-frozen, let them soften for a few minutes before sampling, and assessed flavor balance, aftertaste, and the overall vibe. Some rankings have corroboration: Chocolate came in at No. 12 among the Halo Top flavors, and also No. 10 out of 14 in our ranking of store-bought chocolate ice creams in general. With all of that, Halo Top Sea Salt Caramel emerged on top. Not everyone may be a fan of the flavor, though, so that's worth keeping in mind.

It's an important point that she likes sea salt caramel. It means the bar was set even higher for the Halo Top version to succeed. She points out she'd like to craft an ode to the brand's version. While the color was surprisingly pale (looking more like vanilla), once she extracted and mixed in the thin layer of caramel twisted throughout the ice cream, it achieved a perfect balance of sweet and salty with gooey warmth. The proportion of caramel and ice cream is ideal, and the ice cream itself stood out as indulgently soft and creamy, rather than frosty, grainy, or lacking flavor. If you crave even more buttery caramel, you can top it with an easy caramel sauce made with canned sweetened condensed milk.