6 Discontinued Goldfish Cracker Flavors We'd Love To See Swim Back To Shelves

There's a heartbreaking experience any true snack lover will be familiar with. You're doing your weekly grocery shopping to resupply your pantry with delicious goodies, when you realize that one of your favorite snacks is no longer where it used to be in the store. Over the years, Pepperidge Farm (owned by The Campbell's Company since 1961) has introduced, retired, re-introduced, and re-retired dozens of flavors and variations of one of its most popular snacks, Goldfish. To date, more than 50 flavors of Goldfish crackers have been discontinued since Pepperidge Farms introduced the snack in 1962. 

For fans of Goldfish, including culinary royalty like celebrity chef Julia Child who would serve the snack as a Thanksgiving appetizer, Goldfish flavors disappearing from store shelves, never to be seen again, is an unfortunately regular occurrence. Devoted lovers of Goldfish crackers maintain hope that specific flavors will eventually swim back onto the shelves of their local grocery store.

In the meantime, netizens continue to share their favorite discontinued flavors of Goldfish from years past. Here are seven of the most popular discontinued flavors of Goldfish crackers that people hope Pepperidge Farm will soon give another chance.

The Hot & Spicy Blasted Goldfish flavor was a short-lived member of the Flavor Blasted series of Goldfish crackers. While you can still find Flavor Blasted Goldfish in Xtra Cheddar, Cheddar Jack'd, and Cheesy Pizza flavors, the Hot & Spicy disappeared from store shelves sometime during the early 2000s. In an AnandTech forum, one user lamented, "Another of my favorite snacks gone forever." People on Reddit were also sad to see the snack no longer available, with one writing that they were "praying for them to re-release for years." 

The secret to the Hot & Spicy Flavor Blasted Goldfish is in the taco seasoning, which, apparently, was barely spicy. As the Flavor Blasted Goldfish range continues to have multiple flavors in store, it is baffling to Goldfish lovers why Pepperidge Farm isn't making this Hot & Spicy version a permanent flavor on the roster.

Buffalo sauce and wings is a truly classic flavor pairing, which just so happens to perfectly match the satisfying crunch of Goldfish. Unsurprisingly, over the years, Pepperidge Farms has released not one, but two versions of Buffalo Wing flavored Goldfish crackers, the first being another member of the Flavor Blasted Goldfish family. Marketed as Blazin' Buffalo Wing, one Reddit user shared, "They were so good. Had a little spice that would grow if you ate a bunch but they had really good flavor." 

A reviewer for The Impulsive Buy, said the Buffalo Wing flavored Goldfish crackers flavor wasn't "overbearing," making it the perfect snack for kids. Being marketed as a Blazin' hot member of the Flavor Blasted Goldfish family would make most think it packed a spicy punch. Surprisingly, they had a more subtle Buffalo wing flavor, making them perfect for curbing a hot wing addiction. 

Considering the popularity of the original Goldfish Flavor blasted crackers, the discontinuation of these snacks including the Blazin' Buffalo Wing flavor shocked consumers and made them begin questioning how grocery stores actually choose what to stock in store. However, the Buffalo Wing flavor would eventually make a reappearance on shelves as Goldfish Puffs.

The second time Pepperidge Farm released Buffalo Wing flavored Goldfish it completely flipped the script with an entirely new cracker recipe. Instead of the small, crispy Goldfish snack we all know and love, Pepperidge Farms released the Buffalo Wing Goldfish Puffs as one of its three new Puffs flavors. 

After learning Buffalo Wing Goldfish Puffs were discontinued, TikToker Salamadunk angrily commented, "Why don't you make these anymore? Is there a drought on the farm?" They went on to say that if the flavor came back to grocery stores, it would make their life "10,000 times better."

Discontinued sometime around 2018 to 2019, a Reddit post titled GF goldfish???? in r/glutenfree was littered with angry comments complaining Pepperidge Farm doesn't have a gluten free Goldfish snack. User nogluten_pls opined that, "Pepperidge farms had gluten free goldfish 5-6 years ago! They were called Goldfish Puffs and were similar to a cheese puff. They were sadly discontinued :(." With so much demand for gluten free gluten free goldfish, it's unclear why Pepperidge Farm won't do us all a favor and bring back the delicious Goldfish Puffs.

The Slammin' Sour Cream & Onion flavor was another popular snack discontinued by Pepperidge Farm. Based on the sour cream and onion snack flavor popularized by potato chips in the '70s, Slammin' Sour Cream & Onion was introduced by Pepperidge Farm as a member of the modern Goldfish Flavor Blasted range. 

In 2018, it was found that whey powder used in the Flavor Blasted seasoning was potentially contaminated with salmonella. After four Flavor Blasted flavors, including the Slammin' Sour Cream & Onion flavor, were recalled from stores, Pepperidge Farm later discontinued the flavor permanently. 

In a Reddit post, one user shared, "I miss you every day, Flavor Blasted Sour Cream & Onion Goldfish...." While the flavor is available as Goldfish Crisps, Redditors are quick to note that they don't have quite the same flavor, with one sharing, "I can remember the taste so distinctly," and another agreeing, "They were my favorite, I ate so many."

The Racing Ranch Goldfish crackers were the first of many now discontinued flavors in the beloved Flavor Blasted Goldfish range. Introduced to store shelves in the '90s, Flavor Blasted Goldfish crackers were marketed with a new seasoning mixture  that created more intense, bolder flavor profiles compared to traditional Goldfish flavors.

When Racing Ranch Goldfish was eventually discontinued, snack lovers were devastated to find their favorite flavor no longer in stock. One sad customer lamented on TikTok, "one of the best flavors to ever exist, and the world doesn't even know it." Fellow TikTokers commiserated, sharing their own stories of scouring stores for the snack. 

For many users, the Racing Ranch Flavor Blasted Goldfish was their favorite childhood snack, with another TikToker sharing, "I ate these in Preschool up til like end of elementary. I constantly crave these. I wish they weren't discontinued!" After leaving a strong impression on fans of Goldfish, hopefully Pepperidge Farm considers bringing back the Racing Ranch flavor back out of retirement. 

One of Pepperidge Farm's first forays in producing a sweet, cookie style snack resulted in the creation of the now popular Goldfish Grahams series. Unfortunately, after experimenting with a range of flavors over the years, the legendary Goldfish Grahams Chocolate flavor was discontinued, and other chocolate flavors have never been able to live up to the same hype. 

Similar in flavor to the chocolate component of the Goldfish Grahams S'mores (which Pepperidge Farm still sells a version of today), the original Goldfish Chocolate Grahams were entirely chocolate with an even sweeter flavor than vanilla Goldfish variants. Can you imagine how perfect the Goldfish Chocolate Grahams would be served as a crispy treat on top of desserts or ice cream? 

With other dessert Goldfish, such as the Grahams S'mores, were reintroduced by Pepperidge Farm after being discontinued, fans of the sweeter Goldfish variants continue to wonder why Goldfish Chocolate Grahams can't seem to make a comeback.