The best Hot Pocket flavors are highly satisfying in that fun, nostalgic, junk-food kind of way. You’re telling us we can have gigantic, cheesy, salty pizza rolls for lunch (or even breakfast)? Sure, sign us up! Over the course of two taste tests, we tried more than 15 Hot Pockets flavors and found the six best Hot Pockets of them all.
How we cooked the Hot Pockets for our taste test
Because we had to cook a lot of Hot Pockets at once, we relied on the microwave rather than the air fryer. The microwave is much faster than the air fryer (about a minute and a half!), and we imagine that most people who are eating Hot Pockets are looking for a pretty quick meal. Does it suck that they no longer crisp up in the microwave since the brand retired its iconic microwavable sleeves? Yeah, it does. But the best Hot Pocket flavors taste pretty good regardless.
What we were looking for in the best Hot Pockets
We’d love to say we were looking for a nice, crispy crust but that’s a little bit harder to achieve these days. Other than that, we were simply looking for flavorful, plentiful fillings. The meat should taste like something—a lot of chicken Hot Pockets didn’t make the cut because the meat itself doesn’t taste like anything. Food should taste like food—bold stance, we know! Oh, and if the Hot Pockets had crusts that were advertised as being flavor blasted, we wanted to be with flavor. Is that too much to ask?
Anyway, after consuming so many fillings and so many crust styles, we decided that these are the six best Hot Pocket flavors of them all.
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- Hot Pockets Big & Bold Double Pepperoni Pizza (Herb Blasted Crust)
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This makes the cut as one of the best Hot Pockets because it gives you exactly what it promises: boldness and, er, bigness. It tastes so good, but you just cannot beat the ratios of the original Pepperoni Pizza Hot Pocket (see #1). The crust doesn’t taste particularly “blasted,” but it is nice! If you love pepperoni, this is the meatiest, best Hot Pocket out there. I wish this had a little more cheese, though. All in all, this is a Hot Pocket for the extra hungry meat-lovers out there. —Jordan Myrick
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Hot Pockets Four Cheese Pizza (Italian Style Crust)
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Sometimes the best Hot Pocket flavors are the simplest Hot Pocket flavors. In our most recent Hot Pockets taste test, we preferred the meat-free Four Cheese Pizza Hot Pocket to similar meat-filled versions. For some reason, the cheese and sauce become really pasty inside the meatball Hot Pocket. But that isn’t the case here. The sauce is sweet and zesty, and it tastes great with the big blobs of creamy cheese inside. The Italian-seasoned crust doesn’t make a huge impact, but there’s a little extra flavor there we like. It reminded me of the Italian Herb & Cheese bread at Subway. —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Hot Pockets Hickory Ham & Cheddar (Crispy Buttery Crust)
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Ham & Cheddar with Crispy Buttery Crust was the sleeper hit of the best Hot Pockets. I thought the ham would taste like rubber and the cheese would taste like plastic. Boy, was I wrong! This Hot Pocket flavor is so gooey, melty, and meaty. The taste is nostalgic. I couldn’t eat one of these every day, but I would absolutely slam one of these if I was drunk or hungover or having a really bad day (or maybe a really good day?). Also, shout out to the Croissant Crust Hickory Ham & Cheddar Hot Pocket, which contains slices of ham rather than cubes. The slices are more pleasant to eat than the cubes, but the ham itself just didn’t taste as good! —Jordan Myrick
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Hot Pockets Bacon, Egg & Cheese (Croissant Crust)
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This is the best Hot Pocket flavor to enjoy on a regular basis. Is it as good as a breakfast pastry from a bakery? No. But it makes a pretty satisfying morning meal all the same. First of all, the crust is actually flaky. The “croissant” of it all is no joke. The eggs inside are fluffy and don’t taste microwaved at all. The cheese is creamy. The bacon is plentiful. We tend to love breakfast versions of pocket foods (we love breakfast Toaster Strudel, too), and these Hot Pockets are no exception. —Jordan Myrick
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Hot Pockets Philly Steak & Cheese (Crispy Crust)
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The Crispy Crust Philly Steak & Cheese Hot Pocket didn’t appear in our previous ranking, but the Seasoned Crust Philly Steak & Cheese Hot Pocked did. That said, I couldn’t find that crust option at any stores near us for our most recent taste test and we ended up ranking this even higher than the other variety! So there ya have it: Philly Steak & Cheese (Crispy Crust) is one of the best Hot Pocket flavors. Does it taste like a Philly cheesesteak? Not exactly, but the meat is savory and tastes like Steak-Umms, and the cheese sauce really has a Cheez-Whiz-like effect. Plus, the peppers contribute a lot of flavor without leaving out with a mouthful of pepper skins. This would be the Hot Pocket flavor I’d personally be most excited to have in my freezer when the drunken munchies hit. —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Hot Pockets Pepperoni Pizza (Crispy Crust)
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After two separate taste tests, the Pepperoni Pizza Hot Pocket remains pretty much unimpeachable. To quote Jordan, “It’s one of the best things I’ve ever eaten in my life.” That sounds like an exaggeration, but it’s not. It’s exactly what you want from a Hot Pocket. The pepperoni is savory and spicy and there’s lots of it. The cheese and sauce are plentiful, too. The flavors are simple, but they work. The best Hot Pockets are the simplest Hot Pockets, and this is proof. —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Liv Averett / Safeway
Hot Pockets!
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Best of the Best!
Other Hot Pockets we tried (note that some are discontinued): Hot Pockets Steak & Cheddar (Crispy Buttery Crust), Hot Pockets Premium Pepperoni & Sausage Pizza (Garlic Buttery Crust), Hot Pockets Big & Bold Steak Nacho, Hot Pockets Big & Bold Chicken Bacon Ranch (Ranch Blasted Crust), Hot Pockets Meatballs & Mozzarella (Garlic Buttery Crust), Hot Pockets Big & Bold Buffalo Chicken Style (Buffalo Blasted Crust), Hot Pockets Chicken Bacon Ranch (Crispy Crust), Hot Pockets Extra Cheesy Ham & Cheddar with Cheddar Blasted Crust, Hot Pockets Hickory Ham & Cheddar (Croissant Crust)
