Among ice cream lovers, nothing says summer — or spring, winter or fall — like a Dairy Queen Blizzard and a red plastic spoon. Made with soft serve ice cream and classic toppings like candy and crushed cookies, these blended frozen treats sit somewhere between a melby and a milkshake: While they deliver all the pieces of your favorite melby bar, and yes, they’re blended like a milkshake, they maintain a consistency , which is thick enough to stay in place when your cup is turned upside down.
Introduced by the restaurant in 1985, the first Blizzard Treats menu featured four classic flavors: OREO, M&M’s, Butterfinger and Heath. Although new flavors are introduced regularly thanks to the great work done by DQ’s consumer insights and research, product development and market testing teams, OREO Blizzards remains the best-selling flavor, according to a brand spokesperson.
But for us the question is not which Dairy Queen flavor is most popular or even which one to order. The real conundrum is which fragrance to order when.
As such, we enlisted a small group of taste testers to dig a spoon into 11 of what are sure to be Blizzard’s hottest summer flavors and prescribe a taste for each sensation. It was hard work, but someone had to do it. (For the record: our blood sugar is still off the charts.)
Summer Dairy Queen Blizzard flavors and when to eat them
Because when you wish there was an ice cream truck right here, right now: Blizzard Treat Peanut Drum
You scream, I scream, we all scream for nostalgic ice cream! This Blizzard features chocolate-covered peanut butter chunks and a vanilla soft-serve base—so anything but the ice cream truck song that haunts your hungriest dreams.
When you can’t get away from sharing with your kid: Oreo Dirt Pie Blizzard Treat
With OREO cookie pieces, gummy worms, and fudge crumble mixed into DQ’s signature soft serve, this flavor was technically crowned “most likely to appeal to a child too young to know better,” as the gummy worms in it didn’t do much for the tasters elevated palates. (They had prepared by trying 26 Pop-Tarts). Otherwise, there were no complaints about the OREO pieces or the crème crumbling.
Related: The Best Pop-Tart Flavors
When you wish you were in New York, New York: Caramel Cheesecake Blizzard Treat
When you inexplicably feel the urge to wake up in the city that never sleeps, or feel your vagabond shoes longing to roam its heart, this Blizzard flavor will hit the spot as far as your taste buds are concerned: Our tasters who they all happened to be New Yorkers, quickly ranked the cheesecake in this Blizzard as one of the best in New York, and announced the flavor, which also includes cream-covered salted caramel chunks, perfect for hot weather, summer in the city (as long as you like cheesecake, of course) .
For when the heat just won’t hurt: Girl Scout Thin Mints Blizzard Treat
Our tasting panel agreed that they could easily live without mint chocolate chip ice cream after trying this combination of everyone’s favorite freezer cookie and cool vanilla soft serve—especially in the heat of summer since mint is so refreshing.
Related: 18 Best Ice Cream Shops Near Me
When you’re done bingeing Bridgerton and nothing else will hit the spot: Very Cherry Chip Blizzard Treat
After one taster declared this fantastic fragrance “sophisticated”, no one could argue that it felt fit for royalty. Less conventional than strawberry ice cream and inexplicably higher than plain old chocolate chip, Very Cherry, made of cherries (oooh) and chocolate chips, can also be eaten from silver spoons – pink candy!
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When you missed the county fair: Cotton Candy Blizzard Treat
Sprinkles of cotton candy mixed with soft vanilla provide a flavor described as “surprisingly pleasant.”
When you’ll just get one to share with your date: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Blizzard Treat
Vanilla soft serve? Okay. Chocolate chip cookie dough? Better. If your date doesn’t like—hell, deeply appreciate—this universally appealing flavor, which, may we add, is padded with rich cream, consider them a failed litmus test and delete their account.
When you need to eat your feelings: Choco Brownie Extreme Blizzard Treat
Move over, Ben and Jerry’s! While Parade in no way does I approve feeding your feelings, if you ever had an occasion to do so, you’d want that taste on your spoon. With chewy chunks of brownie, chunks of chocolate and cream, our tasters thought it was too much to eat in a healthy state.
Related: The Best Low-Carb Ice Creams
To eat all year round: OREO Cookie Blizzard Treat
There’s nothing seasonal about this original Blizzard flavor: Our tasters agreed that the OREO treat will taste just as good in sweatpants as it does in a bathing suit and shorts—that is, any time your sweet tooth is beckoning or you need comfort food.
For the ultimate slumber party: Reese’s Peanut Butter Bowl Blizzard Treat
There’s chocolate, there’s peanut butter, there’s candy, and there’s ice cream—all ingredients for the sugar high your sleepover team needs—and frankly, deserves! – mixed in one cup.
When you can’t decide between candy and ice cream: M&M’s Milk Chocolate Candies Blizzard Treat
Bunches of candy come hot, as the kids say, in this classic cold confection. It’s the closest thing to a sandwich with the best bits in every bite.
All Blizzards were provided by Dairy Queen. Thank you Dairy Queen!
Extra special thanks to tasters Kristen Joyce, Xun Fu, Kerry White, Liz Wilson, Michelle Clemons, Wendy Liu, and Alison Ryan for their ice cream enthusiasm!
Next up: 18 Easy Homemade Ice Cream Cake Recipes