When the present feels like hell, it’s natural to want to lean into nostalgia. As much as we’d love to tell you that MTV is playing music videos again, Facebook doesn’t exist, and AI isn’t actively learning how to do your job, we can report that Frosted Blue Raspberry Pop-Tarts, a discontinued fan-favorite flavor, are back. According to Sporked snack food correspondent Griffin Parker, Blue Raspberry Pop-tarts debuted in 2015, vanished at some point, and then returned in 2019 as Mer-Mazing Blue Raspberry Pop-Tarts with aquatic imagery printed on them. Now they’re back and instead of merpeople, they’re emblazoned with midcentury-style imagery from the new Fantastic 4 movie.
Was bringing back this Pop-Tarts flavor a better idea than (again) reviving a Marvel franchise that just never seems to catch on? We tried one to find out.
Pros: You know how most fruity Pop-Tarts are filled with something translucent? Something that looks like the goo part of pie filling but a little thicker? Well, the filling inside Frosted Blue Raspberry Pop-Tarts is opaque. It really looks like toothpaste. I’ve never seen a blue raspberry anything that also looked vaguely creamy. It’s really off-putting! BUT the “pro” I’m getting at here is that these actually taste really good. It’s a bright, poppy, zippy, and slightly tangy blue raspberry flavor. Anecdotally, I’ll also say the Pop-Tarts in the packet I ate had a lot of frosting. Like, more than usual, and I wonder if it’s because they need them to be really well coated for the Fantastic 4 pattern transfers to show up. If that’s the case, any patterned Pop-Tarts are the way to go for frosting freaks like my colleague Jordan Myrick.
Cons: As I said, these look a little gnarly, but my main issue is that, visuals aside, they don’t taste that much different from regular Frosted Raspberry Pop-Tarts. Maybe there’s a little more tang? Hard to say without trying them head to head. Considering raspberry Pop-Tarts are our favorite Pop-Tarts, it’s not even necessarily a con.
Rating:
9/10
Sporks
How you can find Frosted Blue Raspberry Pop-Tarts?
Glad you asked! These Pop-Tarts are a Walmart exclusive. They’ve already started rolling out, and since they’re a limited release, they’ll only be around “while supplies last.”
Howdy! I’m Gwynedd, Sporked’s managing editor. I live in Los Angeles and have access to the best tacos the U.S. has to offer—but I’m a sucker for a crunchy Old El Paso taco night every now and then. I’ve been at Sporked since 2022 and I’m still searching frozen mozzarella sticks that can hold a candle to restaurant sticks.
Why you should trust me: I’ve been a journalist for 20 years (yikes), a consumer of food for 40-plus years, and I’m truly hard pressed to think of foods I don’t like (or that I can’t tolerate at the very least). Oh and one time I cooked my way through Guy Fieri’s cookbook and wrote about the journey through Flavortown.
What I buy every week: Trader Joe’s Original Savory Thins. Fat free plain yogurt (usually Fage or Nancy’s). Honeycrisp apples. Sweet cream coffee creamer for my at-home Americanos. A frozen cauliflower crust pizza and some jarred mushrooms to top it with. Old El Paso Stand ‘N Stuff taco shells and Gardein Ground Be’f, even though I think “be’f” is a nightmarish contraction.
Favorite ranking: Stouffer’s frozen dinners. I don’t own a microwave (I get my cancers the old fashioned way!), so I love taste testing things that I don’t really buy to eat at home.
Least favorite ranking: Soy sauce. Don’t get me wrong, I love soy sauce—but consuming that much sodium in one sitting is probably illegal in some countries. Our frozen enchilada taste test was a close second; the smell of microwaved corn tortillas still haunts me.
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!
Gwynedd Stuart
Ariana Losch
Jessica Block
Matt Crowley
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!