This Is Hands Down The Worst Ice Cream You Can Order At McDonald's

While McDonald's may be known for its burgers and fries, it also has a lineup full of scrumptious soft-serve ice creams to end your meals with. However, it's easy to get lost in McDonald's ice cream menu and order a bad one. Thankfully, we took one for the team and ranked 10 McDonald's ice cream items from worst to best so that you can get right to the good stuff and avoid bland misfires like the hot caramel sundae. Unfortunately, it's the worst ice cream you can order.

The main issue with McDonald's hot caramel sundae is that the star — the caramel sauce — is bland and way far off from being the real deal. Good caramel sauce is rich, buttery, and deliciously complex, with a subtle nuttiness that follows the sweet taste of caramelized sugar. However, the McDonald's hot caramel sundae had none of these qualities. The color of the sauce seems rather synthetic, too, derived from artificial coloring rather than the delicious chemistry of cooked butter and sugar, which gives caramel sauce its golden hue. The result was a cupful of plain, vanilla-flavored soft serve with a drizzle of sauce that tasted like little more than melted sugar.

Lackluster taste aside, McDonald's hot caramel sundae pairs the texture of goopy caramel sauce with smooth soft serve, and it isn't the most appetizing. We're not the only ones who aren't big fans. Customers have noted a considerable dip in the quantity and quality of McDonald's hot caramel sundae. On Reddit, u/ClassyLassieRed posted a photo of a barely half-full McDonald's soft serve cup under the heading: Most depressing caramel sundae I've ever received. Not only is McDonald's stingy with its caramel, but the portion of soft serve is about three-fourths of the cup at best. All in all, it's nothing like what a glorious, generously saucy, topping-packed sundae should be. As u/SupernaturalPhoenix pointed out, the chain's hot caramel sundae looks more like "a saddae, not a sundae."

The availability of McDonald's soft-serve ice creams is very temperamental, which doesn't help either. The fact that the soft serve machine seems to have a higher chance of being faulty than operational has practically become part of McDonald's brand identity. If you're lucky enough to find one that's working, don't waste your scoop of soft serve on the hot caramel sundae. Instead, you're better off ordering the Shamrock Shake if it's in season — the St. Patrick's Day special topped our ranking for both taste and texture. If your heart is set on a sundae, opt for the hot fudge version instead of caramel; that chewy chocolate fudge topping is way better than the bland, sugary caramel sauce.