Every New Peeps Flavor In 2024, Ranked

If we've learned anything from the Willy Wonka Experience Debacle last week, it's that candy can be wonderful or terrible, depending on its delivery method. For Easter season 2024, The Unknown entity lurking on shelves is a lineup of four new Peeps flavors: Rice Krispies, ICEE Blue Raspberry, Sour Strawberry, and S'mores Graham Cracker. Which of these marshmallow chicks is worth placing in the Easter baskets this year? To find out, I gathered the gang together on a recent rainy winter night to taste them all. Here they are, from worst to best:

What makes a Peep a Peep "Delight" is when its base is dipped in chocolate. In this case, the marshmallow is itself graham cracker flavored in an attempt to approximate the sensation of eating s'mores. I've heard tell of people making s'mores with Peeps, but this all-in-one treat fails to evoke the vibe of the original campfire snack. It tastes perhaps a bit closer to a MoonPie, but more than anything, it reminded us of the artificial s'mores flavor you might find in a tube of chapstick.

The chocolate is waxy and malty, not unlike the Hershey's chocolate square in a s'more, but since it's rigid rather than warm and melty, it tastes bland. Without the crunch-smoosh-gush tactile experience you get with real s'mores, this Peeps flavor falls flat. If it had some sort of crunchy graham cracker element incorporated into the coating, it might have made us happier. As it is, this Peep does not fulfill its promise.

While actual sour candy can be painfully sour, with scratchy, burning citric acid sugar all over it, these bright red Peeps have the same superfine sugary coating characteristic of all Peeps. The neon reddish pink color is inviting, and our three-year-old taste tester picked one up and smashed it into his nose immediately.

These Peeps aren't "sour" the way proper sour candy is. Instead, they make kind of a vague nod toward citric acidity. This is also true of Sour Watermelon Peeps, introduced several years ago; the dusting of sour powder on the outside is no match for the sweet, mellow center leveling out the only hint of tart flavor. While the Sour Strawberry flavor didn't excite anyone, it's still a fun idea.

I had our team of taste testers try these first because, given the fact that Rice Krispies Treats are made with cereal and marshmallow, these Peeps seemed the closest to what they're trying to imitate.

"It tastes like a marshmallow!" my neighbor declared, nonplussed by the novelty of this particular brand partner making marshmallow-flavored marshmallows. His wife said it tastes like a soft Lucky Charms marshmallow, but more generic. Mysterious! We didn't hate them. In fact, they were tasty enough to reach for another one, even though marshmallow can fill one's stomach pretty quick.

I love an ICEE, though I am partial to its "Red" flavor. These bright new Peeps, only available at Target, have an exciting, electric blue color that led the three-year-old in our party to grab it and exclaim with childlike wonder, "Is it dessert?!" We all agree that it tastes like "Blue"—and we mean that in the best way. Like an actual ICEE, it has the slight essence of carbonation, and boasts what my neighbor called "the velvetiest mouthfeel" of all the Peeps we sampled.

Given that all of these new Peeps flavors were an exercise in brand licensing, the ICEE Blue Raspberry variety fulfills the assignment in the most interesting and faithful way. It's also just plain fun, which ought to be the spirit of any Easter candy rollout. The three-year-old grabbed another blue chick off the plate before we could stop him and giggled with glee.

Since just about anything can be turned into a Peeps flavor, the adults at the table agreed that a coffee flavor is missing from the lineup—yet coffee-flavored Peeps debuted in 2022 and for some reason never returned thereafter. How about giving that one another shot, Peeps?