The Best New Halloween Candy To Try In 2026

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No holiday is quite like Halloween. Christmas and Thanksgiving have a lot of overlap in terms of family and food, and New Year's is a lot like a frozen Fourth of July, but no other holiday puts candy in the driver's seat like Halloween. From trick-or-treating to that one coworker who always has a stocked bowl on the edge of their desk, Halloween candy is fun for all ages.

This year, some of the biggest names in candy are back with brand new offerings. Don't get us wrong, a mini Snickers followed by a bag of Skittles is hardly a one-two combo we'd be upset with, but kids this year might just get some fun new variations on classics, in addition to some fresh innovations. Of course, candy isn't just for the kids, so there are a few new flavors refined for a more adult palate that you can dive into for your next scary movie night.

I tried a whole host of new candies hitting shelves right now, to help you decide what kind of house you're going to be when trick-or-treat rolls into the neighborhood. Mini candy bars or sour candies? New flavors or fun twists on the classics? Read on to learn about the newest Halloween candy that you might find in the kids' collections at the end of the night.

I tend to lean toward chocolate when it comes to candy, but Skittles have long been a favorite of mine. I've always enjoyed those bright fruit flavors in something other than taffy. When I was young, I loved tossing a handful in my mouth, mashing them all together, and then treating the resulting sugar ball like a malleable jawbreaker.

For years, Skittles has played around with different flavors, but for the most part, the candy has remained crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Not anymore. Skittles Creepy Crunch Pop'd Freeze-Dried Candy is a totally new take on the Skittles we know and love. The standard Skittle is freeze-dried, causing it to rupture like popcorn and expose the chewy center, which solidifies into a super-crunchy new snack. Think of it like the candy version of a cheese puff. The Skittle flavor is there, but instead of a dense, chewy texture, these candies are crispy and airy. After the first crunch, the whole thing quickly dissolves in your mouth and kickstarts an almost addictive need for the next one.

This candy is really fun, but with the caveat that it's not sold in trick-or-treat sizes. Instead, consider Skittles Creepy Crunch Pop'd Freeze Dried Candy for your next party, or night on the couch. You can pick up a 5.5-ounce bag from retailers including Target and Walmart, where the price is $5.99, or snag some from Amazon for a few cents more.

From crispy and crunchy to chewy and gummy, Jolly Rancher is going all in on tricks this year with the new Jolly Rancher Gummies Trickies Minis. Packaged for front-stoop distribution, each bag of these Trickies Minis contains a handful of gummy fruit snacks flavored like your favorite Jolly Ranchers. So where's the trick? The colors and shapes don't match the flavors, creating a fun guessing game as you try to figure out whether that smiling purple apple tastes like blue raspberry or cherry.

This is a really fun take on Halloween candy. Not only are the gummies tasty, but the mismatch of shape, color, and flavor creates a wild experience as you try to figure out what exactly you're tasting. It's a testament to how much our other senses shape how we experience food.

Jolly Rancher Gummies Trickies Minis can be found at retailers nationwide, and a 9.2-ounce bag retails for $5.99 on Amazon.

I'll be honest when I say toast is not the first food that comes to mind when someone asks me to brainstorm a new candy. Thankfully, I don't work for Hershey's, so some food scientists more imaginative than me bravely asked what would happen if you took the childhood staple cinnamon toast and turned it into a KitKat. The result? A comically orange, surprisingly delicious treat that's a must-try this season.

KitKat Ghost Toast is the cinnamon toast-flavored candy bar you never knew you needed. While mine unfortunately melted during shipping, the taste stayed unblemished as each bite delivers a whole lot of cinnamon. Fans of Cinnamon Toast Crunch will enjoy this one, thanks to the cinnamon flavor, crunchy texture courtesy of the KitKat wafers, and the creaminess of the white coating results in something akin to a cereal and milk bar. Ohh, and for some reason, it's bright orange.

Some things need to be tried to be fully appreciated, and the KitKat Ghost Toast is one of them. Sold in both snack-size and full-size bars, visit HersheyLand.com to find retailers and pricing near you.

Candy isn't just for kids. Chocolove has brought back its pumpkin-shaped candies for a limited time, joining returning favorites Milk Chocolates with Pumpkin Spice and Dark Chocolates with Peanut Butter is the new Milk Chocolate Apple Cider. I tried all three flavors, and while they're all plenty child-friendly, you may want to keep these for yourself.

The apple cider filling is very cinnamon-forward, with a thin, almost jelly-like consistency. Pay attention as you take a bite; the remaining filling may leak out and create a sticky mess. The flavor works really well, with the sweetness of the milk chocolate and the apple flavor balanced by the filling's spiced notes.

The Pumpkin Spice was my second favorite in the lineup and is very, very pumpkin-flavored. Think a slice of pie inside a chocolate. I found the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter underwhelming because it lacked sweetness, but I'm sure dark chocolate fans will disagree.

You can find Chocolove Pumpkin Bites at retailers nationwide and on the Chocolove website, where a 20-count bag is $11.99.

Everyone loves a good mystery, and Hi-Chew knows there's no better time than Halloween to try to solve one. The fruity chewy candy has released a special Halloween mix featuring four flavors: Green Apple, Cotton Candy, Orange Creamsicle, and an all-new Mystery Flavor. While the combination might seem a bit odd — Cotton Candy for Halloween? — rest assured that it makes sense from a color standpoint, as you get a perfect green, orange, purple, and white array of chewy candies to enjoy.

While I like the other flavors (Green Apple is my go-to), the Mystery Flavor is definitely the highlight in this mix. I'm not going to give away my guess entirely, but I'm getting notes of lemonade that are both delicious and vexing. The good news is that if you want to place your guess, you can play the flavor mash game on Hi-Chew's website for a chance to win a prize pack. In the meantime, you can snag the Hi-Chew Mystery Mix at retailers nationwide and on the Hi-Chew website, where an 11.64-ounce bag is $8.49.

Before anyone grabs their pitchforks and gives me the Frankenstein's monster treatment, the Reese's Sweet and Salty Mix is new because it combines five different snacks in a single package, even if none of them are new innovations. This is the perfect Halloween combo for peanut butter fans, featuring Reese's Animal Crackers, Dipped Pretzels, Peanut Butter Filled Pretzels, Peanut Butter Cups, and Reese's Pieces.

While the candies are great, the highlights are the mini bags of full-sized pretzels. The peanut butter and chocolate animal crackers are pretty tasty, even if the animal shapes are hilariously ambiguous; I dare you to honestly identify a single animal. The Peanut Butter Filled Pretzels are geared towards the saltier side of the sweet-and-salty spectrum, while the Dipped Pretzels, my personal favorite, are heavy on the sweet.

With so many options in a single package, the Reese's Sweet and Salty Mix might be my favorite buy this Halloween season. An 18-count box contains four Peanut Butter Cups, four Reese's Pieces, four bags of Peanut Butter Filled Pretzels, and three each of the Animal Crackers and Dipped Pretzels. My local Target lists a box at $10.59.

Reese's might have the market cornered when it comes to holiday-themed candy. From the Christmas tree to the egg, the seasonal Reese's Peanut Butter Cup is as much a sign of the season as the calendar itself. Of course, the Halloween pumpkin shape is back, but this year, a few more brands have followed suit.

Snickers has released its own pumpkin shape, while Twix ditched the famous left and right bars in favor of a candy skull instead. Both are really fun variations, and great for passing out to trick-or-treaters. The Twix is especially worth buying, thanks to the extra chocolate you get in this unique shape vs. the standard bar. And speaking of more chocolate, KitKat has a new Count and Witch bar that essentially turns the classic four-piece bar into two halves. The result is a denser, more chocolatey bar that I can't get enough of.

Twix and Snickers aren't done yet, though, as both candies have released a Goulish Green variation that more than delivers on its name. Bright, nearly neon green interiors make these candies the kids are sure to love, and they don't taste any different than the classics you know. Available in fun size all the way to king size, Goulish Green is sure to be popular.

There are tons more seasonal candies and goodies this year, including Pumpkin Pie M&Ms, Pirate's Booty Boos and Bites, and Hershey's Cookies 'n' Creme Fangs — that are sure to make it into the candy bowl by the end of the season. Just remember to hide the wrappers if you dive in after the kids go to bed.