The best fast food desserts in the U.S., ranked

Where Bojangles' beloved fried chicken brings to mind summertime cookouts and church picnics, the sweet potato pie fails to pack the same nostalgic punch. The smooth, sweet filling borders on overload, adding sugar to the already-sweet potatoes to make the pocket slightly saccharine. The crust would be great if you happened to get one straight out of the oven. But this is a fast food dessert, so you’re lucky if it’s not cooked to a stale crisp by whatever warmer your neighborhood Bojangles is using.

350 calories; $2.49

One could argue that any sweetened drink on Starbucks’ menu is a respectable dessert. The cake pop, however, is the only item in the pastry case that you can easily eat with one hand while holding your latte in the other. It’s the perfect, three-bite piece of birthday cake, with a convenient stick at the bottom and a chewy frosting shell that keeps errant crumbs from escaping. It gives just enough sweetness to complement your coffee, and never leaves you feeling full. 

160 calories; $4.55

Panera’s entire pastry case is like a fast-food Wonka factory, trying to entice you away from whatever fresh entrée you came in to order. You won’t go wrong with any of the sugar-packed paradise behind glass, but the chocolate croissant stands above them all. Its hot, flaky crust gives way to rich milk chocolate that doesn’t kill you with processed sugar, then tops it off with a dusting of powdered white goodness and melted chocolate. It’s definitely extra compared to your traditional pain au chocolat. But this is American fast food, not the Champs-Élysées.

410 calories; $5.69

It should come as no surprise that Shake Shack’s desserts taste just as rich and artery-clogging as the grease explosions they call hamburgers. Much like with Shake Shack smashburgers, you’ve gotta be into what they’re serving to appreciate it—because the custard packs a big dairy punch. For custard lovers, this holds its own with anything you find on the boardwalk, with deep chocolate and vanilla flavors that taste more natural than most of their burger joint counterparts. But the stuff isn’t light, and if you’re used to smoother desserts, it might not be for you.

280 calories; $5.29 to $5.49 for a single scoop

Give Chick-fil-A some credit: While most fast food spots are content to serve their desserts at a tepid room temperature, theirs come in fresh-from-the-heater hot. The move is to order this with a cup of ice cream, but Chick-fil-A seems to get its ice cream machines from the same manufacturer as Golden-Arched competitors, as I’ve rarely seen one working. CFA’s flies under the radar because dessert isn’t the main draw, though if you luck out and the ice cream is on, do yourself a favor and order it with the brownie.

370 calories; $1.70

In contrast to most of the gut-bombing Burger King menu, the Hershey's® Sundae Pie is a light, fluffy cloud of sugar that begs to be finished in just a few bites. A blend of chocolate and vanilla mousse tops an afterthought of a chocolate crumble crust, with chocolate chips poking their heads into the odd bite to give a hint of texture. It’s pure, processed chocolate sugar indulgence, but what else would you expect from Hershey’s? The pie leans a little too hard into the sugar for the adult palette, but your kids will probably demand three of them.

310 calories; $2.50

There’s a lot of potential here, and I think if you hit Domino’s on the right day, this could be a real winner. Unfortunately, I’m not sure when the right day will be, but it’s never been when I ordered it. The intentions are great—warm, gooey chocolate center and crispy baked exterior. But, like the Hershey Pie, the Lava Crunch Cakes suffer from an overly processed sugar taste that makes them hard to eat. Also, they’re presumably cooked in pizza ovens and take on a little of that pizza oven flavor, which doesn’t work with dessert. 

350 calories each; $6.99 for an order of three

Though I’ve never eaten a Styrofoam packing peanut, I’d imagine that if you dusted one in cinnamon and sugar, it would taste something like the Taco Bell cinnamon twists. And I mean that in the nicest possible way. The texture and flavor of the twists themselves is altogether unobtrusive, and so the sweet, spicy dusting Taco Bell uses is allowed to stand out. Taco Bell’s main menu isn’t exactly easy on the stomach, either, so having an easy, light dessert is the perfect way to cap a meal.

170 calories; $1.49

Starbucks may have made the PSL popular, but Dunkin' has mastered its pairing. This pumpkin loaf cake with sugar icing brings to mind frosted gingerbread cookies of Christmas past, just begging for a hot pumpkin-spiced drink to wash it down. The texture is just light enough to dissolve when it hits the coffee, and the slight crunch of the hard frosting on top makes this a little more fun to eat than your typical, slightly soggy fast-food coffee shop cake. The dessert is seasonal, but like its liquid pumpkin-spiced counterpart, we have a sneaking suspicion we’ll see it every year.

400 calories; $2.59

There’s nothing particularly exceptional about the Panda Express fortune cookie when compared to other fortune cookies. But along franchise row, it’s the only dessert that doesn’t feel like a second meal, the perfect sweet treat after downing a big, salty plate of orange chicken. It tastes exactly like a fortune cookie should taste, and gives you a little morsel of sage wisdom to take with you. Its beauty is in its simplicity—not too sweet, not too buttery. But exactly what you want as your last bite before walking out the door.

20 calories; free

As you stand inside a mall food court or airport terminal waiting in line for a healthy veggie wrap, Cinnabon beckons you away. The aroma pulls you like a spellbound Looney Tunes, promising cinnamon and sugar satisfaction that you’ll never experience with lettuce.  The first chewy, soft bite delivers on the promise, as you think, “I don’t care how many calories are in this, it feels good, dammit!” It’s a smooth slide into mouth feel heaven from there, as butter, chewy bread, and sugar all melt in your mouth simultaneously. The only problem with Cinnabon’s is that they’re absolutely massive, and while common sense and your cardiologist might tell you to stop halfway, it’s almost impossible.

880 calories; $6.49

Auntie Anne has never been one to be shy about butter; ask anyone who’s mistakenly ordered one of her pretzels expecting a stadium-style salty snack. But if you’re having pretzels for dessert, you may as well go all-in and opt for the cinnamon sugar style. Splurge on the caramel dip for the full experience, and your mouth will be treated to a rush of sweet, carby indulgence. It’s a similar experience to what you get at Cinnabon, but it gets bonus points for being so unexpected.

470 calories; $6.79

If you’re into exotic, elaborate desserts that would fit in just as well on the Great British Baking Show as they would on franchise row, then you’ll probably disagree with me here. But for chocolate chip cookie purists, it’s almost impossible to top what they’ve got in the case by the cash register at Subway. It’s nothing fancy, but it hits every note a chocolate chip cookie needs to hit, with sweet, buttery, warm dough, subtle chips that melt in your mouth, and a thin consistency that makes leaving some over almost impossible. 

210 calories; $1.29

McDonald’s apple pie gets a big nostalgia bump because chances are it was the first fast-food dessert you ever tried. But try it again and you realize it’s the odd childhood memory that hasn’t fallen off with age, where the apples taste just as sweet and crunchy as you remember, with a crust that’s still fall-apart flaky. If you can resist the temptation, take the apple pie home, heat it up, and top it with ice cream. It’s a comforting taste of the old days that could stand alone as a great dessert, fast food or not.

230 calories; $1.89

Remember in middle school when dipping French fries in a Frostee could literally be your lunch? That kind of sixth-grade nutrition might not cut it anymore, but hitting the drive-thru for a similar order still makes for a satisfying after-dinner snack. While the original chocolate flavor gets some serious nostalgia points, Wendy’s outdid itself with the Oreo Brownie upgrade, bringing a satisfying crunch into the mix, along with fudgy brownies and chocolate syrup. It’s a chocolate lover’s dream, and a genius grown-up twist on a childhood classic.

450 calories (small size); $4.19