10 Easter Candies Ranked So You Can Fill Your Baskets with the Good Stuff

Every holiday has its own special candy assortment that consumers wait for in anticipation. With these candies come the ones that nobody can understand how they exist and how so many people could possibly enjoy them. Easter is no exception to this rule. A holiday that's built upon stuffing gift baskets with candy and hiding it in plastic eggs all around your yard, Easter has its own hits and misses when it comes to holiday candy.

Easter is a time for family get-togethers, holiday feasts featuring glazed ham and mashed potatoes, and of course the tradition of egg decorating. As much as we love a boiled egg decorated in the pastel Easter colors or a dinner table stacked high with holiday mains and sides, nothing compares to the candy that this holiday involves. Some is incomprehensible, like Peeps, the strange marshmallow creatures that are inexplicably beloved. Other Easter candies are easier to accept and love, like adorable bunnies made of pure chocolate and decorated with candy eyes and cheerful smiles.

Most who celebrate Easter have an opinion on which candy is the best and which candy should be avoided at all costs. If you like chocolate, there's plenty to choose from, from Cadbury eggs to Reese's Easter-themed candies. For those who prefer gummy or chewy candy, there are also lots of options to sweeten up this holiday and fill your Easter basket high with your favorite treats. From the bad to the good, here are the most popular springtime Easter candies to get some ideas for your Easter basket.

10. Brach's Pastel Candy Corn

Candy corn for Easter? It wasn't good it's not a pretty popular Halloween candy, so what makes the candy companies think coloring it in pretty pastel colors and turning it into bunny corn will make it taste any better? No thanks. We'll pass on these. Now, in the spring, and in the fall.

9. Jordan Almonds

Getting Jordan Almonds as a wedding favor is a bit of a letdown. So is getting Jordan Almonds in your Easter basket. While they may look festive, we want the good stuff. We want loads of chocolate Easter treats. The best Easter candy is not these almonds.

8. Peeps

What could be worse than eating pure sugar? A big ball of marshmallow coated in sugar. While Peeps may be an iconic Easter candy, unless you are under the age of eight, have a massive sweet tooth, or have an addiction to pixie sticks, these things are pretty terrible. These marshmallow chicks can stick with the marshmallow eggs.

7. Sweet Tarts Chicks, Ducks, and Bunnies

Despite how cute these little tart and sweet treats are, they still taste like chalk. We'll pass on these Sweetarts variety pack.

6. Whopper's Mini Robin Eggs

When it comes to Whopper's, it's a love-hate relationship. Either they're for you, or you can't even fathom their existence. We're on the middle ground. The festive Easter Whopper's Robin's Eggs are cute and all, but there are better candies out there for this holiday. If you are looking for chocolate candy to curb your craving for milk chocolate eggs this isn't it.

5. Starburst Jelly Beans

Don't you hate it when you're eating a bag of jelly beans and you get a gross flavor? Well, with Starburst jelly beans back in season, you don't have to worry because all the flavors are good.

4. Cadbury Creme Egg

They may be sweet and have a rather questionable filling, but these Cadbury chocolate Easter eggs are a guilty pleasure we can't resist. Until we eat more than one, then we've had our fill for the year of these candy eggs.

3. Russell Stover Milk Chocolate Easter Bunny

If there were ever a time that it was appropriate to eat chocolate shaped like an animal, it's Easter. Hollow or solid, the Russell Stover Milk Chocolate Bunny is an Easter staple that no Easter basket is complete without. Now, would you like a bite of the head, or do you prefer to start with the tail?

2. Cadbury Mini Eggs

When it comes to Easter, Cadbury just knows what they're doing. These mini chocolate eggs with their outer crisp pastel shell are fun to pop all Easter long. I think even the Easter bunny prefers these to carrots.

1. Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs

Reese's, we heart you. Your combination of peanut butter and chocolate is simply too good to pass up. Especially when you release the seasonal Peanut Butter Eggs. Like the cups but with even more peanut butter goodness, this is the one candy you'll shove your siblings to the ground for and snatch out of their hands when competing in the Easter egg hunt.

Editor's Note: Products featured on Wide Open Eats are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our links, we may earn a commission.

This post was originally published on March 21, 2021.

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