10 M&M Flavors, Ranked

What do you get when you throw a bunch of Ms into a bag? The alphabet soup of the candy aisle, of course! I'm talking about M&M's, the timeless candy that has filled convenience store shelves, road trip snack bags, and hearts of consumers since it was introduced by its parent company, Mars, in 1941. In the following decades, the brand has expanded to include a kaleidoscope of colors and an equally impressive number of flavors aside from its OG: the milk chocolate, candy-coated M&M. 

I've always had a fondness for these treats and spent a fair amount of time eating them at movie theaters, adding them to my favorite baked goods, and accidentally leaving bags in my truck's cupholder to melt into a cascading rainbow waterfall (which is as delicious as it sounds). But I wanted to see if my loyalty for one M&M variety in particular could be tested, and to see whether any of M&M's newest flavors were really worth buying. To do so, I rounded up all the M&M variants I could find (excluding mini M&M's, seasonal varieties, and the Orange Vanilla Creme White Chocolate Candy, which not only sounds absolutely vile but can only be found at Dollar General) and tasted them at room temperature straight from the bag. As I snacked (read: shoveled), I ranked them from worst to best based on factors like their flavor, texture, and snackability.

Considering that Reese's debuted a peanut butter and jelly peanut butter cup, it's no surprise that M&M took a crack at this flavor combo, too. This lunchbox-classic-inspired candy has all the makings of a good bite with its peanut butter-and-jelly-filled center covered with the standard crunchy shell. The Peanut Butter M&M's are — at least by my standards — excellent, and fruit and chocolate is a popular flavor combination as well. But as I suspected, the interplay of these elements, which all beg for their own time in the spotlight, was the nail in the coffin for this youthful M&M flavor.

When I broke open one of the shells, I expected to see an ooze of a jelly-like substance. But all I could see was the peanut butter center and the chocolate coating. But this candy smells and tastes fruity, so what gives? The exact "fruit" flavor is hard to identify — I could see it trying to emulate grape, strawberry, raspberry, or some sort of other generic berry — yet it still balances well with the peanut butter flavor. The most out-of-place element here is the chocolate, which Mars seemingly only added so that this candy could receive the title of an M&M. The cheap chocolate only serves to muddy the flavors of the other elements, and I don't think it was entirely needed here. I didn't dislike these M&Ms per se, but I was certainly confused by them, which is why they earned the bottom spot on this list.

When I saw this bag of Caramel Cold Brew M&M's stocked in my local grocery store, I said, "Ew!" But after I grabbed a handful, I'll admit that the flavor grew on me. Chocolate and caramel is a good combination; so is coffee and chocolate, but I worried that when the three of them mixed together in one bite, they would start fighting for attention. When I first bit into the caramel-centered candy, I noticed that the caramel wasn't goopy or liquid like other candies I've had. It was nougat-like and hard and almost wadded in my teeth like a piece of old bubble gum. The cold brew flavor was strong and artificial at first, but it eventually mellowed out into the sweetness of the caramel and the chocolate.

My biggest critique with this M&M flavor surprisingly isn't its taste — it's the texture. While the regular and peanut M&M's are easy to mindlessly pop in your mouth, these caramel candies give your molars a workout. Don't get me wrong, they're not bad, but they just weren't the most easily snackable of the bunch. 

Caramel can be a really excellent accent to chocolate — so long as it's used in small doses. It's very clear that M&M's missed this memo entirely, as its caramel candies are filled with a very overwhelming ratio of caramel to chocolate. Although the picture on the packaging — an anthropomorphic M&M candy pulling a piece of caramel like a stringy mozzarella stick — suggests that this candy will be chewy and stretchy, it was anything but. While it didn't wad in my mouth quite like the Caramel Cold Brew, it still took a lot of work to eat a single M&M. Perhaps that's because the candies were so large. One small gumball-sized candy was enough for a whole meal and then some, and its assertive brown sugar sweetness didn't do it any favors. I was chewing, chewing, and chewing until the cows came home. So much for snackable. 

If Mars wanted to make this a successful candy, it could cut down on the size of the balls (at least by half, preferably more) and make each bite more Gushers-like by swapping the chewy caramel for one that's more liquidy. A little more chocolate probably couldn't hurt, either.

M&M's got back on the quality-control train with its Pretzel M&M's. They are much larger than the Peanut M&M's, and luckily, all the same size — so you never have to worry about getting shortchanged on filling. When I first bit into one, I almost thought it was a malt ball. It had the dry and milky texture that I was used to with Whoppers, except with a candy coating. There wasn't much chocolate to the bite initially, but I found that the limited chocolate flavor allowed the pretzel to shine.

I liked that each of the pretzel balls in the candies was crisp and crunchy. After a chocolate and candy coating, I figured that the pretzels would become soft or squishy — effectively ruining the bite. But the candy giants at Mars figured out a way to keep each bite snappy ... perhaps too snappy. The interior was dry and powdery, and it wasn't like any pretzel that I remember having. I expected something that was a bit drier than a standard M&M, but not as powdery. 

Overall, I wouldn't grab these M&M's at the store because their flavor is unremarkable, and their texture is, frankly, odd. But they're not so egregious that I would turn down a handful if someone gave me the bag. 

It only makes sense that I tried the classic version of this timeless candy first. It's what the brand has built its success around: The perfect balance of candy coating and milk chocolate interior. I have had my fair share of Milk Chocolate M&M's over the years, and I will admit that they are a very snackable candy. They're a high-ranking movie theatre snack because you can just throw a handful back and not think twice about it. The candy itself is very cheap and doesn't really have a quality chocolate flavor — but who is going out and eating M&M's for the quality of their chocolate? 

Despite the nostalgia associated with this treat, I can't help but admit that it doesn't really have anything that pulls me in and makes me stay. If it's served on a bites table or on a Halloween charcuterie board, sure, I'll grab a handful as I'm walking past. It's even among the list of candies that pair well with cheese, which could improve the flavor. But on its own, it's not a candy that I see on the shelf at a convenience store and feel compelled to add to my basket. Overall, it's not a bad candy, and it's better than those that ranked below it. There are certainly iterations of M&M's that lack the same balance of chocolatey flavor and crisp candy shell, but there are several varieties that have more intrigue than this one. 

Dark chocolate candies — specifically made by the more inexpensive chocolate brands like Hershey's, Mars, and Nestlé — have never really been my thing. When I think of dark chocolate, I think of bitter and complex flavors. I should be enjoying them when I'm sitting on the couch with my hair in a microfiber turban wrap, my coziest robe, and a glass of red wine in my other hand. These generic dark chocolates defeat the purpose. They're loaded with sugar, and while they may boast a stronger cocoa flavor than standard milk chocolate, that's about all that they have going for them. 

Dark Chocolate M&M's are just a touch darker in flavor than the regular ones. They aren't less sweet or more bitter, and their flavor just had me shrugging and saying, "Meh." They look indistinguishable from the regular M&M's, and their touch-darker flavor helped make them easier to eat, as my palate wasn't as overwhelmed with the cloying sweetness of the normal milk chocolate. I could see putting these on ice cream or snacking on them if they magically appeared in my pantry, but there's no way that I'm going to see them in the grocery store and think, "Oh yeah, I really have to buy these."

Someone needs to get M&M's quality control back on the line, because something is going a little wonky here. I tried the Peanut M&M's after the very uniform, very standardized milk chocolate flavor, and immediately noticed that the peanut pieces in these candies were all of varying sizes. Some of the larger chunks were upwards of three times the size of the smaller ones, which meant that some bites had a ton of peanut flavor while others had very little. The crunchy nuts inside the candies were quite fresh and snappy, and I was glad to have something to complement the chocolate candy paired with them. 

I was a little perplexed about how to place this candy on my list, as I liked its flavor and consistency, but didn't like that some of the candies were smaller than the others. If you were eating just two pieces, you would feel shortchanged if you got two of the measliest of the bunch, but you may not notice the difference if you ate a whole handful at a time. 

The Dark Chocolate M&M's were better than the regular ones, so it's to be expected that the Dark Chocolate Peanut M&M's would score better than the regular Peanut M&M's — and the prophecy certainly fulfilled itself. Nut-wise, the two peanut candies were virtually identical. Some pieces were larger than others, which meant that some bites were less peanut-forward than the next, but I promise that it's less noticeable if you eat them by the handful — the way they were made to be consumed. 

The slightly less cloying chocolate flavor did the peanuts well here, as there was more than enough sweetness from the sugar coating. All in all, I think these were a far better-balanced candy than Milk Chocolate and Peanut, which makes it no surprise that these are M&M's fan favorite. They also didn't have the same flavor and textural faults as the lower-ranked candies. Ultimately, I felt that the highest rankings should go to the candies that have a compelling flavor and a balanced bite. But if Mars decided to explore Dark Chocolate M&M's beyond just the regular and the peanut ones (maybe I'll ask Santa for dark chocolate peanut butter M&M's this year), I think we could have a real contender on our hands.

I'm a big fan of different chocolate-covered almond brands, and had I found a bag of these earlier, I wouldn't have wasted my time with the average candies of yesteryear. So I was elated to see that Mars finally took notice and gave chocolate-covered almonds the airtime they deserve.. And to be honest with you, they were really that good. 

Almonds are large, and like the peanut candies, these were not universally sized. However, if M&M's cut down the nuts to fit more of a uniform mold, it would likely mean a lot of food waste — and fewer fresh nuts. The almonds in these candies were very bright tasting and not at all rancid. They weren't so crunchy that they distracted from the sugary coating, and they weren't so flat and mushy that they blended into the chocolate like they would in a Hershey's with almonds bar. 

The Almond M&M's were my newfound hidden gem of this ranking. However, their large size means that they're a one-and-done bite. I was looking for a candy that could be thrown back handful after handful without qualms — and my top pick certainly delivered all that and more. 

There is only one candy deserving of the title of top M&M — and if you disagree, you're wrong. I understand that food reviews like this are based on personal opinion, but this confectionery matter is a hill I will die on: Peanut Butter M&M's are the best M&M's candy ever made. 

First, they're uniformly shaped, which beats out the almond and peanut ones by a mile. You never have to worry about being shortchanged on peanut flavor because they're so consistent. Each bite has the perfect ratio of soft peanut butter filling to crummy chocolate. And I'm not even mad that the chocolate is crummy because of how painfully addictive these candies are. The snap of the candy coating scratches the right spot on my brain and sends my hands crawling into the bag for just another one, and another one, and another one after that. 

Peanut Butter M&M's have just the right amount of "stuff" going on without seeming too fussy or busy. They're flavorful enough to eat them one piece at a time or throw back the whole bag and eat them like an M&M trash compactor. They're a go-to road trip candy for a reason, and they will always have a very special place in my heart. 

There are many things that I look for in a good candy. While sweetness is inevitable, the cloyingness of the candy shouldn't eclipse any of the other flavors in it, including nuts, caramel, or pretzel pieces. Moreover, these add-ins should add to — not distract from — the candies, both in terms of flavor and texture. The nice thing about M&M's compared to other candy bars and treats is that you can eat one or a whole bag in a sitting. How you eat them shouldn't make them more or less enjoyable. Therefore, the candies that had little continuity in size ranked lower than those that were uniform and had a similar ratio of filling to coating in every bite. 

I tried the OG Milk Chocolate first to establish a baseline, then sampled the other varieties, like Peanut, Peanut Butter, and the like, to see how they compared. Ultimately, while nothing can dethrone Peanut Butter M&M's, I'm glad to have found flavors that I will seek out the next time I'm looking for a good road trip snack.