I tried Wendy’s salted caramel Frosty so you don’t have to. Here’s my review.

It took Wendy’s more than 30 years to give us a new Frosty flavor — the vanilla Frosty made its debut in 2006.
Times have changed. Wendy’s unveiled yet another new Frosty on Tuesday, the fourth variation of the classic fast food dessert to be released in 2024. The latest concoction? The salted caramel Frosty.
As a devout Frosty fan, I’ve greatly anticipated every release even though they’ve frankly been a mixed bag. The orange Dreamsicle Frosty was amazing! The peppermint Frosty was a dud. The triple berry Frosty was surprisingly good! The Pineapple Under The Sea Frosty that came out just last month was pretty forgettable.
I have started to temper my expectations for these new Frosty flavors. Even my favorite of the new ones, the orange Dreamsicle, doesn’t touch the classic chocolate Frosty. But the woman at the drive-thru who handed me my salted caramel treat was excited for me to try it.
Now I see why. The salted caramel Frosty is fantastic, perhaps the best take on the dessert since the original chocolate flavor.
Many of previous special flavors simply taste like a vanilla Frosty with another syrup mixed in, the strawberry and peppermint Frosty variations especially. But this new salted caramel Frosty actually truly tastes like, well, a salted caramel Frosty. That might sound simple and rudimentary, but it makes a massive difference. The flavor is rich and strong through every bite, with the sweetness of the caramel balanced nicely by the salty note at the end. There’s no vanilla note hiding at the end of the spoon, it’s salted caramel all the way.
Salted caramel was once considered an exotic flavor, but is now offered at ice cream shops across the country. I thought it might be a tad too ambitious for a fast food chain, but Wendy’s absolutely nailed this one. It tastes a tad like butterscotch, but in a good way.
The orange Dreamsicle Frosty is still my favorite of the special variations, but that’s simply because I prefer creamsicle as a flavor to salted caramel. This flavor was richer and deeper, restoring my faith in my favorite fast food dessert.
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Jeremy Schneider may be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter at @J_Schneider and on Instagram at @JeremyIsHungryAgain.