Do You Agree With Our Ranking of the Best Halloween Candy?

It’s October, which means it’s the perfect time for an arbitrary ranking of Halloween candy. For this exercise, I asked editors to nominate their favorites. (You’ll find impassioned pleas for their picks below.) Once the nominations were in, the entire Food & Wine staff voted on which were the best Halloween candy. Reactions were…mixed. A few folks were upset by our omission of Skittles and Milky Way, and an unnamed editor may have compared candy corn to “ear wax.” There was also some confusion over what qualifies as “Halloween candy.”

“Where are people getting Haribo?!?!? Is this the new king-size candy bar status symbol?” social media director Sam Gutierrez asked. (It turns out the beloved German gummies come in miniature bags for all your trick-or-treating needs.) 

Here’s how the candy bucket shook out — scroll down to see if your favorite sweet took top honors. 

13. Mike and Ike Mega Mix Sour 

Honestly, I’m not sure if they make little mini versions of Mike and Ike Mega Mix Sours that you can pass out for trick-or-treaters, or if they only come in full-sized boxes, or what the actual difference is between Halloween candy and regular candy. All I know is that Mike and Ice Mega Mix Sour is the greatest sour gummy candy ever created, and that, as far as I know, they aren’t sold anywhere near me in New York City.

I only ever see them at gas stations the few times a year I manage to borrow someone’s car and get out of town. I will methodically stop at every single station I pass until finding one that sells Mike and Ike Mega Mix Sours, then buy as many as they have in stock in order to ration them through the lean months. Yes, I’m aware I could probably just order them online — but Mike and Ike Mega Mix Sours don’t taste the same if they aren’t hand-foraged from a real-life gas station. You can’t cheat the process. — Dylan Garret, Editorial Director

12. Runts, the banana ones

I love banana candy so much I wrote an article about the chemical that gives it its flavor. Banana Runts are like a hit of straight isoamyl acetate and sugar, absolutely not a flavor you find in nature but a delicious one nonetheless. They’re also the perfect hard-candy size — you don’t have to suck on them for very long before you can chew them up. — Jason Horn, Senior Update Commerce Writer

11. Caramel Apple Pops

I’m a sucker for, well, suckers, especially ones with an extra element (gum centers, mango pops covered in chili powder, Tootsie Pops). While Caramel Apple Pops are available year-round, I always crave these particular sweets in autumn as an alternative to the season’s classic treats. What’s more “fall” than these? Sure, I could grab a caramel apple, but these are less messy and I don’t feel rushed to finish them. I usually grab two bags: one for the trick-or-treaters and one for myself. After all, don’t we all deserve a treat? — Manichanh Naonady, Editor, Newsletters

10. Butterfingers 

I’m the kind of person who likes to eat spoonfuls of peanut butter, so the candied peanut butter core of a Butterfinger makes it a clear winner for me. It’s crisp, flaky, nutty, with a flavor quite distinct from any other major candy bar out there. I remember going through my pail of candy as a kid on Halloween to pick out all the Butterfingers so I could eat them first. To be honest, I would do the same now. — Merlyn Miller, Editor, News & Trending

9. Candy corn

I would say that I’m a candy corn apologist but I don’t believe it needs any apology. I will, however, admit that candy corn is very weird. I have no idea what candy corn is actually made of — I think it’s just sugar and food dye. It also doesn’t resemble corn or candy, but instead potpourri you’d get on sale at T.J. Maxx. And its waxy composition makes it one of the most definitive love-it-or-hate-it bites in existence. All of that said, I believe that if you open your heart to candy corn, you’ll find that it’s quite delicious and fun to eat. Candy corn gang, rise up! — Adam Rothbarth, Food News & Deals Writer

8. Crunch Bar 

I love the simplicity of the Crunch bar. It’s milk chocolate and puffed rice, exactly the same as when it was first introduced in 1938. There’s no cloying nougat, no tooth-achingly sweet caramel, no molar-sticking clumps of toffee, no sad nuts of any kind. And while I can certainly appreciate the complexity of a great dark chocolate bar, for me Halloween is about embracing the sweet and simple things I loved as a kid and still love now that I have kids of my own. And so when my daughters dump their night’s haul on the living room rug and start exchanging treats, I scan the trading floor for glimpses of that bright red, white, and blue wrapper — and make sure to scoop up one or two for myself. — Karen Shimizu, Executive Editor

7. Mounds

I know this is polarizing, but I’m a Mounds girl (and a big Almond Joy fan too, obviously). I love dark chocolate and coconut, and I love that no one else seems to want these — so that I can eat them all. — Katie Macdonald, Director, News & Deals

6. Peanut M&Ms

I go back and forth about whether I love peanut or peanut butter M&Ms more. But when late October rolls around, there’s a powerful surge of peanut butter candy that simply can’t be denied. Reese’s? Butterfingers? We’re talking Halloween royalty here. It’s in this court that peanut M&Ms truly shine. They bring a singular energy to the mix, with earthy peanuts offering a savory respite from the sugar onslaught.

The peanut plus candy shell crunch combo offers something extremely texturally satisfying, especially when matched up against mushy bites of peanut butter cups, candy corn, Milky Ways, gummies, and Starburst in the mix. While other people are reaching for Kit Kats and Reese’s (both great, for the record), catch me walking around the party with a large handful of peanut M&Ms. — Adam Rothbarth, Food News & Deals Writer

5. Mini bags of Haribo gummies 

Steal them from your kids’ stashes when they’re not looking and pop them in the freezer when you get home. What, you don’t freeze your gummy bears? — Hunter Lewis, Editor in Chief

4. 100 Grand Bars

I don’t think I’ve ever seen 100 Grand Bars in stores but, when they turn up at Halloween, they’re the first thing I reach for. My adoration might stem from the rarity of this treat. (Can we really call it seasonal when we’re talking about highly processed mini candy bars?) Mostly I’m a sucker for the crunch factor from the crispy rice mixed into the chocolate and caramel; it’s somehow even crunchier than what you get in a Crunch Bar. The texture is everything with these bars. I see a lot of chefs sprinkling puffed rice on salads and yogurt bowls these days. Were they influenced by 100 Grand Bars? Maybe… — Chandra Ram, Associate Editorial Director, Food

3. Twix

Twix is the perfect candy and you can quote me on that. To loosely quote Joey describing Rachel’s trifle on Friends: Shortbread cookie? Good. Caramel? Good. Chocolate? GOOD. It’s the ideal treat for the  indecisive because it hits so many different notes — nutty, crisp, buttery, chocolatey, a little chewy. I also offer a pro tip for the latest generation of trick-or-treaters: Ditch the plastic pumpkin bucket and grab a pillow case! You can fit way more candy inside and sling it over your shoulder as your haul gets heavier. — Andee Gosnell, Assistant Food Editor

2. Pumpkin-Shaped Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

I cannot express how much I love this specific shape of Reese’s cups. The chocolate-to-peanut butter ratio is the closest to perfect the brand has ever achieved with its products — aside from the Easter egg shape. As a matter of fact, there are entire forums on the internet discussing the perfection of these pumpkin-shaped treats because they’re just that darn delicious! — Dillon Evans, Update Writer

1. Kit Kats

Halloween candy is meant to be consumed in excess and these crisp chocolate-covered wafers are the best for the job. The satisfying snap of a Kit Kat tricks my brain into thinking I’m eating a cucumber rather than a highly processed chocolate bar that will send me into a sugar coma. As I’ve grown up and my palate has changed, I’ve taken a liking to dark chocolate Kit Kats and the plethora of specialty flavors you can find at bodegas and Japanese groceries. (Yuzu! Chocolate banana!) But, for the purposes of nostalgia, I’m nominating the good old-fashioned milk chocolate variety that I’d trade a Snickers or Milky Way for any day. And if you eat your Kit Kat without first breaking it in half, you are a monster. — Audrey Morgan, Associate Food Editor