We Tried ‘Harry Potter’ Butterbeer Peeps

by

Matt Singer has a peculiar habit: he enjoys eating foods based on movies and TV shows. This habit has led to an even stranger situation – sometimes, his children join him. Here are the stories behind it all.

Today’s Food:

PEEPS® HARRY POTTER™ Butterbeer Flavored Chicks.

The Official Description:

These special edition PEEPS® Harry Potter™ Butterbeer Flavored Chicks combine classic PEEPS® marshmallow with a delicious butterscotch flavor and a hint of shortbread. They’re a fun and delightful treat for any Harry Potter fan!

The Nutritional Information:

Each serving has 110 calories, and the whole container has 270. A serving size is 4 Chicks. Each serving also contains 24 grams of sugar, which is 48% of your daily recommended intake.

Did you know Peeps are mostly made of sugar and corn syrup? Honestly, it’s probably best if you don’t check the nutrition information for anything I mention before you eat it!

The Review:

Final Thoughts:

I just don’t enjoy Peeps. Despite the constant stream of new and unusual flavors – everything from Strawberry Pop-Tart and SunnyD to Chili Lime Mango and even Dr. Pepper Peeps (and yes, all of those are real!) – I never buy them for myself. I like marshmallows in other forms, but Peeps just aren’t my thing.

I really do enjoy Butterbeer. Honestly, I think the drink sold at Universal theme parks and other official Harry Potter locations – like the Studio Tour in London – is the best thing about the entire franchise. You can say what you like about the books, the author, or Warner Bros. constantly trying to revive it with a TV show now that they’ve run out of source material, and even how bad the Fantastic Beasts movies were; Butterbeer is just delicious. I haven’t personally gone to the Butterbeer Bar in the Harry Potter store in Manhattan to drink a bunch of Butterbeers after a bad day… and honestly, who would?

It’s obvious I’m not the only fan – Butterbeer is incredibly popular! Over the past few years, the brand has grown beyond just drinks and now includes all kinds of treats. Just last year, companies created Butterbeer-flavored versions of popular snacks like Hershey’s Kisses, Fudge Stripes cookies, Goldfish crackers, and Skinny Pop popcorn.

Despite my doctor’s advice, I tried all the Butterbeer-flavored snacks. It turns out, capturing the taste of Butterbeer in food is surprisingly difficult. Some snacks had almost no Butterbeer flavor, while others were overloaded with it but still didn’t quite match the original drink’s special combination of butterscotch, cream soda, and a hint of shortbread.

I was really surprised by how much these Butterbeer Peeps actually taste like the drink they’re based on! As you can see in the video, they’re covered in a special Butterbeer sugar that perfectly captures the drink’s flavor and scent – it even complements the classic Peep marshmallow taste. Just be warned, that sugary coating is sticky and might take some effort (or a little magic!) to get off your fingers.

Honestly, I probably wouldn’t eat these again. They’re still Peeps at heart – very sticky, gooey, and a bit one-dimensional in flavor. However, I have to give credit to the people who created them! They really captured the Butterbeer taste. If you’re looking for a Butterbeer-flavored snack, these are probably the most authentic you’ll find.

Wow, I just glanced at my Harry Potter-themed watch and realized I need to dash to the store! They have this amazing Butterbeer Finishing Sugar from McCormick, and I don’t want to miss out on getting some before it’s all gone!

The Most Ridiculous Movie Tie-In Food Ever Made

20. Subway’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Fiery Footlongs

It’s easy to see why Subway connected their “Fiery Footlongs” promotion to The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. If you’re not familiar with the movies, using a popular franchise to sell a Sriracha Chicken Melt makes sense. But for those who have seen The Hunger Games, the connection feels… strange. The story centers around extreme hunger and children fighting to the death for food rations. So, advertising a sandwich with the tagline “Starving like those in Panem? Come to Subway!” is a bit tone-deaf. Considering the movies are set in a dystopian world, though, maybe the awkwardness was intentional.

19. Johnny Rockets’ Kong: Skull Island Street Tots

Chain restaurants have always tried to turn regular foods into nachos. Recently, to promote the movie Kong: Skull Island, Johnny Rockets released tater tots shaped like nachos and called them “Street Tots.” Ignoring how many tater tots that is – especially with bacon, cheese, and scallions – it’s strange that they’re connected to the movie. Kong: Skull Island takes place on a remote, uncharted island – there are no streets, and definitely no “street tots”! Plus, the name just sounds unappetizing – like something you’d find on the ground. “Oh no, don’t eat that, I dropped it – it’s a street tot!” Definitely not appealing.

18. Denny’s Independence Day: Resurgence Red, White & Bacon Menu

Okay, so when I think about the Independence Day movies, two things immediately jump to mind: massive alien spaceships destroying all the big cities, and…bacon. Seriously, so much bacon. I have no idea why that movie and bacon became linked in everyone’s heads, but it did! And Denny’s, being the king of weird movie tie-in food, went all-in. They created a menu with seven different bacon-themed items! We’re talking bacon skillets, bacon burgers, bacon samplers, even bacon tater tots and multiple ‘slams,’ and get this – a bacon ice cream sundae! It felt like Denny’s decided bacon was the alien weapon and our stomachs were the landmarks getting blasted.

17. Burger King’s The Addams Family Wednesday Whopper

Burger King has been experimenting with colorful Whopper buns lately. They’ve moved beyond the traditional bun color, releasing limited-edition buns to coincide with movie releases. For example, they’ve had red buns for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, fiery-looking buns for How to Train Your Dragon, and even purple buns for The Addams Family. Ironically, while the bright purple bun looked appealing, the burger patty inside was a rather unappetizing pale gray.

16. IHOP’s Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Stuffed French Toasts

This limited-time IHOP menu is tied to a video game—and, originally, movies—but the food choices are really odd. Considering the promotion was for the Indiana Jones at the Great Circle Xbox game, it’s strange they focused on stuffed French toast, offering three different kinds. The game’s title, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, seems like a perfect opportunity to feature a classic round breakfast item like pancakes—IHOP is the International House of Pancakes, after all! I tried the menu and, while most of the food wasn’t great (the Explorer’s Caramel Apple Butter Hot Chocolate was particularly bad), the biggest issue is how much the theme missed the mark. It just doesn’t make sense!

15. MrBeast Burger’s Shrek Quesadilla

More than ten years after the last Shrek film (before the announcement of Shrek 5), popular YouTuber MrBeast sold a green Shrek Quesadilla through his MrBeast Burger restaurants. However, MrBeast Burger was a “ghost kitchen” – a delivery-only operation – that faced several lawsuits starting in 2023. MrBeast claimed his business partners damaged his reputation by associating his name with restaurants serving poor-quality, “inedible” food. Those partners later sued him back for $100 million. Considering the quesadilla was inspired by a swamp creature, perhaps serving unappetizing food wasn’t entirely off-brand?

14. IHOP’s The Grinch Grinch’s Green Pancakes

IHOP responded to Burger King’s rainbow-colored Whopper buns by offering a full spectrum of colored pancakes. To promote the animated movie The Grinch, the breakfast restaurant sold green pancakes decorated with cream cheese frosting, whipped cream, and heart-shaped candies. Thankfully, they avoided making the pancakes resemble the Grinch’s fur!

13. IHOP’s The Addams Family Morticia’s Haunted Hot Chocolate

If you’re looking for a truly green sight, skip those Grinch pancakes and just picture my face after I had this purple hot chocolate, inspired by The Addams Family. (Yes, that Addams Family – the one that also led to the purple Burger King Whopper! That movie feels like a personal haunting, but with food.)

I only ordered a mug of hot chocolate with violet whipped cream and chocolate syrup, but something went wrong. It quickly turned into this strangely glowing, radioactive-looking mess.

12. Denny’s Solo: A Star Wars Story Co-Reactor Pancakes

As a huge Star Wars fan, I was so excited when Denny’s got the license around the time of the Solo movie! They created a whole menu themed after it, with fun names like the “Lightspeed Slam” and “Two Moons Skillet.” But the real standout, for me, were the “Co-Reactor Pancakes” – two pancakes loaded with strawberries, strawberry sauce, whipped cream, and Pop Rocks (which Denny’s cleverly called “Crystal Crunch Rocks”). Honestly, I still have no idea what a “co-reactor” even is. I figured it must be something that powers the Millennium Falcon, but a quick Google search shows the term only appears in connection with Denny’s! It’s like they just made up a piece of Star Wars lore to fit their menu. Someone really needs to ask Pablo Hidalgo about that!

11. IHOP’s Wonka Dreamy Lemonade

IHOP’s limited-time Wonka menu featured a lot of purple food, possibly using leftover coloring from their previous Addams Family promotion. They offered items like “Wonka’s Perfectly Purple Pancakes” with purple sauce and a “Daydream Berry Biscuit” with purple topping. However, the strangest item was definitely the “Dreamy Lemonade.” Described as prickly pear lemonade with a cream cheese icing and rainbow sprinkle rim, topped with cotton candy, it looked… unusual. The rim didn’t resemble icing at all—it was more like something straight out of a Willy Wonka fantasy. (Sorry, but it really was!)

10. Little Caesars’ The Batman Calzony

Let’s be honest, does this thing actually look like a bat? Maybe if you were feeling sick from eating such a huge, greasy combination of pizza and a calzone, you could almost convince yourself it does. But actually, Bruce Wayne chose the bat symbol to scare criminals, and if this – this food creation – came flying towards you from a rooftop, you’d definitely be frightened! So, in a weird way, it’s a surprisingly good edible version of Batman’s symbol.

9. IHOP’s IF Menu

IHOP created a special menu for John Krasinski’s movie IF, featuring brightly colored, bluish-green pancakes called “Dazzleberry Pancakes.” They also offered fountain sodas with Bomb Pops and gummy candies. But the most over-the-top item was the “Lewis’ Cinn-a-Bear Stack”—a huge pile of pancakes topped with even more donuts. Surprisingly, it was actually really good!

8. White Castle’s X-Men: Apocalypse’s Apocalyptic Waffle Slider

White Castle created a limited-time menu tied to the release of the movie X-Men: Apocalypse, featuring three spicy sliders. They included one with ghost pepper cheese, another with ghost pepper cheese, crispy onions, and chipotle mayo, and a unique “Apocalyptic Waffle Slider” made with mini waffles as buns, an egg, spicy chorizo, and ghost pepper cheese. It’s a bit strange that a menu based on the villain Apocalypse focused so much on spice—heat isn’t one of his signature abilities. However, the meal did have a rather dramatic effect on my stomach, so perhaps the name was fitting after all.

7. IHOP’s Minions: The Rise of Gru Minion Menu

IHOP has partnered with the Minions several times over the years, even creating a menu with something called “Loaded Minion Taters.” Imagine asking your server for extra Minions on your potatoes! Most recently, they had a menu tied to the Rise of Gru movie. It included two drinks, a milkshake, a burger, iced donuts, and even “Ba-Ba-Banana Pudding Pancakes” – pancakes piled high with banana pudding, Nilla wafers, whipped cream, and banana slices, topped with something IHOP mysteriously called “Minion Sprinkles.” Honestly, I don’t even want to think about what those sprinkles are made of.

6. DiGiorno’s Deadpool & Wolverine “The Wade Special” Frozen Pizza

If you’re looking for proof that movie tie-ins can go too far, check out this DiGiorno pizza! It’s a nod to the first Deadpool movie, where Wade Wilson orders a pizza with both pineapple and olives – so DiGiorno is calling it “The Wade Special.”

Released alongside Deadpool & Wolverine, the unusual pineapple and olive combination also seems to reflect the relationship between the two characters in that film – they don’t exactly get along, just like those flavors! That pretty much sums up how I feel about this pizza. I enjoy olives and even a Hawaiian pizza sometimes, but olives and pineapple together? It’s a strange combination.

5. IHOP’s The Lorax Gren Eggs and Ham

As a movie buff and a pancake enthusiast, I always found IHOP’s collaborations with Dr. Seuss pretty clever. They’ve done themed menus around the animated movies a few times, and it’s always fun to see what they come up with. Remember those ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ breakfasts? They weren’t actually green eggs, of course – just scrambled eggs with creamed spinach. Still, it was a cute nod to the book. Honestly, I bet their ‘Truffula Chip Pancakes’ – loaded with rainbow sprinkles and strawberry yogurt – were way more popular than the spinach eggs! They even had a blueberry pancake inside a waffle cone, which was…unexpected. Compared to that, the ‘Grinch’ pancakes, which were just green, felt pretty normal!

4. Denny’s Fantastic Four Slamtastic 4 Menu (Including Thing Burger [With Thing Sauce])

Let me tell you about this burger Denny’s made! It was seriously over the top. They started with a freshly made beef patty, then piled on crispy hash browns, a perfectly cooked egg, cheddar cheese, and two strips of bacon. But it didn’t stop there – they put it all on a bun covered in baked cheddar! They called it the “Thing Burger,” as part of a special menu celebrating the Fantastic Four movie by Josh Trank. And get this – it had a special “Thing sauce” that really packed a punch! Honestly, the whole menu was pretty wild – they even had clear citrus syrup for ‘invisible’ pancakes and a spicy breakfast skillet for the Human Torch. But you know what was worse than the menu? The movie itself. Definitely a case of the burger being better than the blockbuster!

3. Van Leeuwen’s Glass Onion Ice Cream

Van Leeuwen Ice Cream took the idea of a mystery flavor to the extreme when they created a special edition for the movie Glass Onion, a sequel to Knives Out. They deliberately kept the flavor a secret from customers. This wasn’t just a fun marketing gimmick – it hid the fact that the ice cream was actually onion flavored! I tried it myself, and it genuinely tasted like cold French onion soup. It would have been strangely perfect as a tie-in for the film Apocalypse Now – it was truly a horrifying (but interesting) flavor experience.

2. Denny’s The Hobbit Menus

By the early 2010s, chain restaurants and Hollywood were already used to working together, but Denny’s partnership with The Hobbit movies was unlike anything seen before. Instead of just a single themed item or a movie tie-in with a kids’ meal toy, Denny’s created full, themed menus for the first two Hobbit films, An Unexpected Journey and The Desolation of Smaug.

Standout items included “Lonely Mountain Treasure” (French toast with cream cheese dip), the spicy “Smaug’s Fire Burger,” “Radagast’s Red Velvet Pancake Puppies,” and a “Hobbit Hole Breakfast.” These menus gained a lot of attention on social media and helped set the stage for today’s trend of creating highly shareable, themed food.

1. IHOP’s Horton Hears a Who Who-Cakes

While Denny’s had some unusual items on their The Hobbit menu, nothing compares to a truly wild creation IHOP offered in 2008, inspired by Horton Hears a Who. It was a stack of pancakes covered in rainbow chocolate chips and blueberry and boysenberry sauces, all topped with a giant lollipop. The promotional pictures were crazy, but photos customers took of the actual dish were even more outlandish. IHOP also served green eggs and ham for the Horton promotion – because who wouldn’t choose eggs and spinach over pancakes with a lollipop?

Read More

2026-04-06 18:31