Halloween gummy candy shouldn’t just be the same ol’ gummy/chewy candy you eat all year repackaged in a bag that’s covered in bats and skulls. We want thrills. We want chills. We want to be picking spooky stuff out of our teeth for days to come.
When we set out to find the best Halloween gummy candy, we rounded up and tasted all the best spooky, season-specific stuff we could find. We looked for new offerings from beloved brands, but also included some old faves you’ll only find at the store when autumn rolls around. We were also loose in terms of what qualifies as a “gummy” candy—we included fruity chewy candies, too. From fruit snacks you can hand out to allergy prone kids to gummies that will have you begging for brains like a zombie, this is the best gummy Halloween candy you’ll find on shelves this year. (We’ve also ranked the best chocolate Halloween candy, if that’s more your taste.)
- Favorite Day Dracula’s Dessert Filled Candy Straws
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If you like SweeTarts Ropes, you’re gonna like this Halloween gummy candy from Target. Favorite Day Dracula’s Dessert are little, chewy straws that are filled with a dense, frosting-esque filling, and for the most part, they taste really good (some flavors are better than others). Also, if you have your heart set on tubular straws, I should warn you that these are very flattened, like someone (Dracula?) sat on the whole bag. But that doesn’t impact the fun or flavor. The best part is that they come in little packs of two so you can hand them out on Halloween—if you feel like sharing.
Related: Merc / Target
- Yum Earth Organic Gummy Fruits
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Yum Earth fruit snacks are totally addictive—and pretty much anyone can become an addict! They’re gluten free and vegan and allergy friendly, because nothing would be scarier than accidentally sending a trick-or-treater into anaphylactic shock. Also, in general, if you aren’t eating vegan fruit snacks, you should really give them a shot. They have a really pleasing, squishy texture that I find so much more enjoyable than a lot of fruit snacks made with gelatin. Yes, these are fruit snacks, but they still deserve a spot among the best Halloween gummy candy because they come in little trick-or-treat sized bags.
Related: Merc / Target
- Trader Joe’s Halloween Gummies
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These Trader Joe’s Halloween Gummies are almost exactly like the Yum Earth Fruit Gummies except that they come in more spooky shapes, and we like that. You’ve got your bats, your skulls, your pumpkins, and your little gummy bones. Adorable. There’s a good assortment of flavors, too, although I am partial to the black cherry flavored gummies. Even if you aren’t expecting trick-or-treaters this year, pick up a bag of these to pack in lunchboxes (yours and your kids’).
Credit: Merc / Trader Joe’s
- Ghost Dots
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I included this Halloween gummy candy on our list because it has a very specific use case that may only apply to me. Hear me out: I love Dots. I think they are delicious even though they force you to cram your pointer finger into your mouth to pick them out of your molars. But I like some flavors better than others, and when I buy a box of Dots at the movies, I find myself trying to search for the color I want (red) in the dark and not paying attention to the movie. That’s where Ghost Dots come in. They’re the same as all other Dots, insofar as they come in lemon, lime, orange, strawberry, and cherry—but they’re all the same spooky greenish color, so you don’t know what flavor you’re getting. Finally, you can just watch the movie without becoming preoccupied by your Dots because there’s no point in searching for red because there is no red, there is only ghost!! (This is very relatable, right? Okay, good.)
Credit: Merc / Walmart
- Favorite Day Gummy Brains
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If you want a Halloween gummy candy that is a little gross but very delicious, this is the best Halloween candy for you. They’re brains—brraaaaaains!—with a more traditional gummy/mallow base and downright delicious and jelly-like lobes. The red jelly top is so tender that it’s almost like Jell-O. The textural variety makes these Favorite Day Gummy Brains from Target super fun to eat, although they’re all one flavor (strawberry) so eating a whole bag can become a little monotonous. These aren’t packaged for trick-or-treating, but that means you can have the bag to yourself.
Credit: Merc / Target
- Trader Joe’s Spooky Bats & Cats Sour Gummy Candies
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Okay, if you aren’t into sour gummy candy, allow me to apologize now. This list of the best Halloween gummy candy is about to go full bore into sour territory, beginning with Trader Joe’s Spooky Bats & Cats Sour Gummy Candies. If you like their Sour Scandinavian Swimmers (some of the best sour candy, period), you’re going to like these. They’re toothsome and chewy; a lot like Sour Patch Kids but thicker. They come in three flavors that I couldn’t identify (the bag doesn’t bother identifying them either), but the orange, green, and purple gummies all taste fruity and good. Again, these aren’t packaged for trick-or-treaters, but they’re perfect to dump into a bowl at your Halloween party.
Credit: Merc / Trader Joe’s
- Sour Patch Kids Apple Harvest
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Okay, okay. Sour Patch Kids Apple Harvest is not a Halloween gummy candy. I’ll be the first to admit that. But these gummies are seasonal, they’re perfect for those families who think Halloween is a gateway to satanism, and they taste so good I had to include them. Live with it! They come in three apple-y flavors: Cranberry Apple, Apple Cider, and Caramel Apple. The Cranberry Apple flavor is nice and tart. The Apple Cider flavor has just a tinge of cinnamon flavor for realism. But the Caramel Apple flavor is the real stand out in my opinion. I never knew I wanted Sour Patch Kids that taste like buttery cooked sugar, but here we are! They’re delicious and still plenty green appley and sour. It may not be the best Halloween candy, but this is a fall candy you should absolutely keep an eye out for. (And if you insist on Halloween-specific Sour Patch Kids, you can buy Zombies, but they aren’t as good.)
Credit: Merc / Walmart
- Haribo Sour Vampire Bats
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If we’re talking about the best Halloween gummy candy, you can rest assured Haribo is going to be on the list. These cute, Halloween-y sour bats are outrageously good. In fact, I think that even if you’re a person who typically turns their nose up at Haribo because their gummies are too firm, you’ll still like these. I swear they’re softer than other Haribo gummies, and they manage to be so, so tart and tangy and sour without being coated in sour sugar. My favorite part is that if you bite the wings off of the bats, their bodies look exactly like little penises—try it and tell me I’m wrong! Anyway, this is the best Halloween candy if gummy candy is your jam.
Credit: Merc / Instacart
Best Filled
Best Allergen Friendly
Best Fruit Snacks
Best Movie Candy
Best Squishy
Best for a Party
Best Not Spooky
Best of the Best
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!