The Best Halloween Candy of All Time, Super Scientifically Ranked from Trash to Tasty

Congratulations. You trick-or-treated at the actual devil's house and made it out alive. It's not the taste that's technically bad...these candies just belong in a grandma's purse, not a trick-or-treat bowl.

If you’re seeking saccharine-sweet flavor for seconds followed by tough-to-chew disappointment...well, look no further. This vintage number has you covered.

It’s like they’re not even trying to get your attention. I’m almost sorry I dissed that box of raisins. These gumdrops are nothing to write home about, unless you feel like complaining to your mom about their jaw-breaking texture.

Personally, I think they taste like toothpaste, but not everyone feels the same. Former PureWow assistant Editor Delia Curtis wants justice for Junior Mints.

“They’re like mint chocolate ice cream in a box. Refreshing and not overly sweet, the dark chocolate coating mellows out the mint and, in my opinion, makes it a sophisticated candy option.”

Not to be rude, but I’m shocked these ranked so high in CandyStore.com’s list last year. They’re just…spicy. I know it's 2025, but this is one swicy pick I simply can't condone.

While sour candies have my heart (see no. 4 on this list), these are a little too big and a little too plain to get my full approval. Moving on.

Is it just me or is this the chintziest of all candy bars? Plain old nougat…it’s just meh. Turns out, I’m not alone: “3 Musketeers are just a knock-off version of Snickers, and I'll die on that hill,” PureWow beauty and cultures editor Chelsea Candelario says. “Since it’s missing the peanuts and caramel, it lacks any sort of taste. Yuck.”

This would be ever so slightly better if it were enrobed in chocolate. It just feels a little...anticlimactic. That said, I love how intensely salty and sweet this old-school Halloween candy is.

You may be wondering: Why did they need to ruin chocolate with crumbs of mystery gravel? Well, because the gravel kinda hits. "Crunch Bars must be defended!" PureWow editor Abby Hepworth writes. "The crisped rice is exactly the kind of crunchy tidbit I want to break up a solid milk chocolate bar. It's simple, elegant and a delight every time."

He’s good, but not, like, amazing. Unless you enjoy plain old chocolate and peanuts, in which case, you do you.

If I’m in a dark movie theater, sure, I’ll down an entire king-size box of these. On Halloween, my standards are suddenly much, much higher, but that gritty, chalky, malty center is still decidedly crave-worthy.

Does anyone actually like the plasticky chewing gum that lurks in the center of these things? I didn’t think so. "Blow Pops are trash," Hepworth states. "The seam on the lollipop is always bizarrely sharp, and the gum gets hard after like, four chews."

It’s all fun and games until you think you’re biting into a root beer bottle cap and it turns out to be an orange one that tastes like medicine. Give me treats, not tricks!

If I wanted to eat chalk for dessert, I would’ve done so when my kindergarten teacher wasn’t looking. However, these do boast some sweet-and-sour nostalgia that I enjoy...occasionally.

Listen, these peanut-nougat bars are just fine, if settling for fine on the most sugary holiday of the year is your thing. But turn them into Snickers dip, and now you’re in business.

Great baseball player? Yes. Great candy? Depends who you ask. This one loses points for its sloppy appearance and the fact that I have to Google what it’s made of every single time (for the record, it's peanuts, caramel, milk chocolate-flavored nougat and chocolate), but I tend to feel pleasantly surprised when I eat one anyway.

I’d kinda sorta like these fall-ified lollipops—if they didn’t threaten to rip my teeth clean from my mouth in one go. I have to be better about licking, not biting. Eat at your own risk, folks.

It’s not that Jolly Ranchers are inherently bad (minus the grape ones—those are the worst, don't @ me). It’s just that as a society, we could do so much better. (C’mon, who wants their Halloween candy to be hard candy? Boooring.)

I’m not a chocolate snob, but I do think these are the Michael Bluths of the Halloween candy haul: Fine…but pretty boring compared to the rest of the family. (The one exception—and this is crucial—is if the neighbor is giving out full-size chocolate bars. Gimme!)

I’ll admit that these sugar tablets are really only good when eaten in threes...or the entire roll shoved in your mouth at once. If you ask me, there's something about the white ones that are somehow tastier than the others.

Coconut and dark chocolate felt sophisticated in childhood, and TBH, they still do today. “Say what you will about Mounds, but [this combination] will always be music to my taste buds,” PureWow senior commerce editor Stephanie Maida says. “Though I’ll be honest, I only really started loving these as a grown-up.”

Sure, these caramel-chocolate bites are pretty inoffensive in the grand scheme of things. But they’re certainly not Milk Duds, despite being gravely underrated.

These guys are a little fruity, a little waxy and taste like something my grandpa would keep in his pocket for “emergencies.” All things considered, I do have a soft spot for the vanilla and cherry ones.

See above. Slightly waxy, vaguely chocolaty and found in a grandparent’s jacket pocket, they’re a Halloween candy classic. Nothin’ wrong with that.

Nonbelievers will say this Halloween candy is chalky and boring, but I must disagree. Plus, have you ever had the chewy kind? Don't sleep on this vibrant pick, OK?

Add eating these to the list of things your dentist wants you to stop doing. They taste like pure sugar in the best way possible. But they're much easier to nosh on than Sugar Daddy lollies.

I’ll never know how these flavors got to share a package with those delicious pink guys, but I suppose it could be worse. (See number 45.)

"Almond Joys are infuriating, because why does each bar have exactly two almonds in it?" Hepworth inquires. "What money are we saving, Hershey Company, by not loading them up with enough almonds to actually warrant some joy with every bite?" TLDR? They're good, but could be better.

This is the only kind of worm I want to see in my Halloween candy, to be quite honest. The chewy-yet-soft texture is so dreamy. Three cheers for the strawberry-grape number.

I've tasted the rainbow, and I’m so glad they replaced that cursed green apple nonsense withe the original lime flavor. (Bonus points if you get the sour bags instead of the classic.)

Getting a mystery flavor Airhead is like winning the Halloween candy lottery. (Rumor has it that it's a combination of a few other Airheads flavors.) Shake the packet until the treat shrinks like you used to as a kid, just for funsies.

What the heck are Nerds, you ask? They’re tiny, crunchy bits of sugar that you can pour straight into your mouth. And that’s why I love ’em so.

For those who like their Nerds with a side of gummy, Hepworth suggests Gummy Clusters. "They're the perfect bite of candy," she raves. "They have crunch, they have chew, they're a little bit tart, a little bit sweet and perfectly bite-sized. And they have a weird cult following among distance runners as great long-run fuel."

Listen, I'll trade you six green M&M's for three red ones. What's that? Yeah, I know all the colors taste exactly the same...or do they?

"If I'm being honest, these pale in comparison to Dark Chocolate M&M's," Candace Davison, VP of editorial content recommends. "If you can find them in stores, pick up three bags—and give the classic to your trick-or-treaters."

What’s the opposite of a dud? Perfection? Yeah, they should rename these. OK, maybe not, but you get the idea. When it comes to this Halloween candy, it's molars be damned.

Strawberry Twizzlers are in a league of their own—especially compared to regular licorice. And that, friends, is a very good thing. (Pro tip: The Pull 'N' Peel variety is the softest option out there, and the best IMO.)

Break me off a piece of that. Or just give me a whole one, please and thank you. I don’t actually want to share my Halloween candy bar with anyone, after all.

Finding one of these in your Halloween candy bag is like finding an all-marshmallow box of Lucky Charms—a diamond in the rough, if you will. This is one nougat-filled gem I'm always in the mood for.

I don’t even care that it’s not “real” white chocolate, or even chocolate at all. Haters, stay back. “Regular Hershey’s is fine,” Candelario says, “but the Cookies and Cream flavor is so much better. It has the right amount of cookie crumbs in each bite.”

I would go to great lengths to get my hands on pink Starbursts—and the pink ones alone. Good thing bulk candy purveyors make bags full of just the good stuff now, so I don’t have to painstakingly pick them out myself anymore.

If you didn’t get one of these hopelessly stuck in your teeth on the 31st, did Halloween really even happen? Apologies to dentists all over the world, but I'll continue to stan these will my whole heart.

Is it the most polarizing of all the Halloween candy? Perhaps. Do I love it more than the holiday itself? Forever and ever. (For the record, I love those Mellowcreme Pumpkins even more.)

Would I dip my fingers in the sugary dust that settles at the bottom of the bag after devouring every single gummy? Let’s just say the answer isn’t no.

I appreciate how hard they’re trying with five different components in one bar. And to be honest, I’ll eat anything that involves pretzels, peanut butter and caramel.

“For an indecisive Gemini like myself, this treat is a true gift,” Davison says. “It has smooth peanut butter, gooey caramel, salty (and crunchy) pretzels and it’s all covered in chocolate. It’s an overachiever, and I fully support it.”

Keep your new Halloween candy, because I want the classics. This crunchy cookie/gooey caramel situation is universally satisfying—the Tom Hanks of treats, if you will. They never get old, IMO.

There’s simply no denying that this is the best Halloween candy of all time—it's salty, sweet and color-coordinated to the holiday.

“Everything from Reese’s pumpkins to its bright orange packaging screams Halloween,” Maida adds. “It was made to reign supreme in the trick-or-treat arena.”

Candelario agrees: “Reese’s will ALWAYS be top tier in my book. Also, for some reason the mini Reese’s taste better than the regular size.”