12 Popular Goldfish Flavors, Ranked

It’s always the simplest, most lovable snacks that stand the test of time, and that’s why Goldfish is still around. Most of us can hardly resist a handful of those cheddary, smiley fellows. 

But with so many varieties in their arsenal, which ones are the best? Which should you grab the next time you’re at the grocery store? I tried 12 different flavors and ranked them from best to worst to find out. 

Goldfish provided samples for this review, but the ranking is based solely on the author's taste test.

It would have been so easy to speckle these with parsley or oregano and call the flavor “pizza”, but Goldfish has gone beyond that here. This tastes like more than just Goldfish with a little bit of Italian seasoning, even though that’s exactly what it is. Pizza Goldfish is a snack that’s greater than the sum of its parts, and deserves a slot in the salty, crunchy snack hall of fame. 

Little something about me: I love Saltines. A lot. I’ll put away a sleeve of Saltines, no problem. When I opened up this bag of “Original” Goldfish (coulda sworn Cheddar was the original), I was ready to laugh it off as a waste of time. No cheese flavor? Tiny little fish-shaped plain crackers? 

What I didn’t consider was that they’d be ever-so salty, just like Saltines. As far as I’m concerned, these are just tiny little Saltines with smiles. They’re like oyster crackers, really. They’d be great in soup, swimmin’ around like they little swimmers they are. 

Did you know Goldfish made graham crackers? I didn’t. Well, they do. And in this case, they’ve dumped a bunch of cinnamon-sugar dust on them. That’s about as up-my-alley as it gets, folks. I could eat this entire bag in a single sitting. Pretty sure I will. 

So, look. Of these 12 Goldfish flavors, five of them are essentially the exact same thing: cheddar crackers. Of those five cheddar crackers, I love Flavor Blasted the most. While these are certainly cheesier (I’d compare them to Cheez-Its), they seem fuller and rounder in flavor. I’d swear these are seasoned with something more than cheese and salt. It’ll be hard to go back to the classic Cheddar Goldfish.  

These Goldfish, along with the following three, are almost impossible to tell apart, taste-wise. Instead of just calling them “minis,” these are called Babies, which really kind of freaks me out to be frank. The good news is, they’re way more fun to eat than the classic size because you can shovel more into your mouth in a single handful.  

Pop quiz: What do you think the serving size for these guys are? Did you guess 89? Because that’s what it is. That’s wild to me. Feels more like a challenge than a serving size. 

There is maybe the oh-so slightest difference in taste between these and the other cheddar crackers, maybe something roastier and toastier. Who knows, maybe that’s in my head and there’s no difference at all, but if this ghostly flavor I’m tasting actually exists, I think it makes the cracker better as a whole. 

There is no difference between these colorful Goldfish and the standard cheddar Goldfish we all know and love, except for the fact that they’re dyed fun colors like purple, red, and green (all made with plant-based dyes). Because the products taste identical, the advantage goes to colors. Far more fun. 

As I mentioned above, these Cheddar Goldfish are neither tiny nor colorful nor made with the ever-so-slight taste of whole wheat, so they place last in the list of cheddar Goldfish. That said, they’re still an elite cracker in this world. Lightly cheesy, perfectly-sized, and always crispy out of the bag, Goldfish have been around since the 1960s, and they’ll be here a lot longer than you or I. 

These vanilla graham crackers taste a lot like the cookie part of an Uh-Oh Oreo. I like ‘em, but not enough to choose them over any of the salty varieties of our favorite fish-shaped cracker. 

I’m not a parmesan guy, unfortunately. These don’t go too heavy on the parm which I can appreciate (and when mixed together with Cheddar they make for a delicious combo), but if I had to eat them on their own, I wouldn’t love it. 

How do you feel about strawberry sugar flavor dust? You’re gonna need to like that in order to like these. I can get behind a few of them (I bet a handful of these would be nice next to a cup of tea), but otherwise, they’re not my favorite vibe.  

I have no idea what to do with these in this ranking. I thought these would be cheddar pretzels, or pretzel-flavored crackers, or something. In reality, this is just a bag of pretzels. They don’t even have that signature Goldfish smile on them. If these had cheese flavor anywhere, they might have won the taste test. Stick these in some trail mix, but skip them if you’re craving Goldfish.