Panda Express’ First-Ever Dessert Rangoon Is Triple Chocolate, Made With Ghirardelli, In 10 Test Markets From November 10 Through January 11
Panda Express Triple Chocolate Rangoons go on sale November 10, the first dessert version of the chain’s crispy cream cheese rangoon. They’re filled with chocolate cream cheese and made with three Ghirardelli chocolate products, and they’re a regional test at participating restaurants in 10 markets through January 11, 2027, or while supplies last. It’s the first time Panda Express has partnered with Ghirardelli.
What’s in a Triple Chocolate Rangoon
The “triple” is three Ghirardelli chocolate products. The cream cheese center is made with Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips and Ghirardelli Chocolate & Cocoa Sweet Ground Powder. Each rangoon is fried until golden and crispy, then drizzled with Ghirardelli Black Label Chocolate Sauce and dusted with powdered sugar.
The dessert starts from one of Panda’s best-known sides. Its cream cheese rangoon is normally a savory appetizer, and Adrian Lok, Panda Express’ director of culinary innovation, called rangoons one of the chain’s top-selling menu items. The goal was a warm, gooey center, he said, one “between a fudgy brownie and a lava cake.”
For Ghirardelli, founded in San Francisco in 1852, it’s a first too. Dave Dulyx, the company’s vice president of professional products and licensing, said it’s Ghirardelli’s first collaboration in the Asian quick-service restaurant space.
Where to find them, and what they cost
The rangoons are at participating Panda Express locations in these test markets:
- Chicago
- Dallas
- Indianapolis
- Los Angeles
- Miami
- Phoenix
- Salt Lake City
- San Diego
- San Francisco Bay Area
- West Palm Beach
They come as a two-piece order or a 48-piece catering tray. Panda Express hasn’t set one national price: pricing varies by store, and the company points customers to their local restaurant or the ordering app. A two-rangoon serving (1.75 ounces) is 180 calories, and the allergens are milk, egg, wheat and soy.
Panda Express calls the launch an exclusive regional test, with no national rollout announced. The chain, which has more than 2,600 locations, says it will share any expansion news on its Instagram and TikTok accounts.
A triple chocolate bake for everywhere else
Outside the test markets, the closest thing to that brownie-meets-lava-cake center is a fudgy chocolate cookie. Our Fudgy Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies aren’t a copycat of the rangoons, but they run on a similar idea: a melted-butter dough with cocoa powder, then chopped chocolate, white chocolate chips and chocolate chips stirred in, for a cookie that eats like a brownie with a crisp edge.
