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Fast Food

The best - and worst - fast food desserts

By Dan Myers The Daily Meal
Published | Updated

Dessert isn’t something most people tend to associate with fast food chains, which is a shame.

Just about every fast food chain out there offers something to satisfy your sweet tooth, but the actual quality of those desserts can range between outrageously tasty and borderline inedible. We’ve tracked down the five best and five worst fast food desserts from big national chains.

Fast food desserts had pretty humble beginnings, starting with simple milkshakes, which were actually what put McDonald’s on the map in the 1950s (its Multi-Mixer allowed them to make multiple milkshakes simultaneously). Shakes still remain one of the most popular fast food dessert options, along with soft serve ice cream and cookies.

Nowadays, however, fast food chains are always looking for new ways to stand out from the pack, so they’re really going above and beyond in terms of the desserts they offer. From Snickers and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup pies at Burger King to caramel apple empanadas at Taco Bell, the stakes are constantly being raised. But are these desserts actually any good?

While we were sadly unable to sample every single fast food dessert on the market for ourselves, thankfully we live in an era when everyone has an opinion and wants everyone to know it.

We combed through YouTube reviews, fast food blogs, and preexisting rankings to assemble our list, and it’s obvious that some fast food desserts are worth your time, money, and stomach space, and some certainly aren’t.

1. WORST: Sonic Fudge Brownie Molten Cake Sundae

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(Sonic Drive-In)

The ice cream and chocolate sauce is nothing to write home about, and the “molten” cake is actually room temperature at best. Sorry, Sonic.

2. BEST: McDonald’s Oreo McFlurry

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(McDonald's)

Vanilla ice cream blended together with Oreo cookies? You’d be hard-pressed to encounter anyone who isn’t a fan of this sweet treat.

More from The Daily Meal

3. WORST: Burger King Caramel Sundae

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(Burger King)

At Burger King, the caramel is mostly high fructose corn syrup and has little to no caramel flavor, and the ice cream is primarily milk, corn syrup, thickeners, and stabilizers. A dessert like this is simply not worth your time.

4. BEST: Taco Bell Cinnamon Twists

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(Taco Bell)

Light, crispy, just sweet enough, and timeless. Even for people who aren’t into fast food desserts, no trip to Taco Bell is complete without Cinnamon Twists.

5. WORST: Popeyes Pecan Pie

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(Popeye's)

Popeyes’ pecan pie is made by Edwards, which you’ll also find in your supermarket freezer section, and it’s decidedly nothing to write home about. The crust is cardboard-like, the pecans on top are mealy, and the layer in between contains no pecans at all, just corn syrup and margarine.

Check out the The 10 Best and Worst Fast Food Desserts (Slideshow).