The best jelly beans are chewy, fruity, and can turn a lame-ass Easter egg hunt into a gourmet experience. Miss us with those big, generic beans—we want exciting jelly beans in our basket.
How we chose the jelly beans for our taste test
If you’ve checked out the seasonal aisle at your local grocery store lately, you’re aware there’s a lot of Easter candy on shelves right now, some of it classic (we’re always down for some Robin Eggs), some of it new. We tried to source a good mix of classics and newfangled Franken-candies (Nerds Jelly Beans, for instance).
What we were looking for in the best jelly bean brands
A little innovation goes a long way. It’s why we love seasonal candy. We wanted fun flavors, a lot of variety, and if the beans were made by an existing candy brand (talking about those Nerds Jelly Beans again), we wanted them to have a spiritual connection to that candy. You know what I mean. In the end, we found five jelly bean brands we think are worthy of being called the best tasting jelly beans for your Easter basket.
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- Nerds Big Chewy Jelly Beans
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These are jelly beans that are coated in a crunchy, Nerds-like substance. In a way, they’re kind of like Nerds Rope, except that the center isn’t as gel-like. The coating is very tangy and textured—if there were green beans in this bag, they would look like little avocados. They have that same pebbly texture. These jelly beans come in four flavors: grape, lemon, strawberry, and orange. The flavor selection obviously can’t hang with Jelly Belly, but these get major points for innovation. They’re the best jelly beans if Nerds are your fruity candy of choice.
Credit: Merc / Instacart
- Starburst Jelly Beans
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I will be honest: Starburst Jelly Beans taste less good than I remember them tasting, but they do really taste like Starburst (except for the green apple and grape flavors, which exist outside the Starburst universe of flavors), and accuracy is a plus. They’re very small and very firm; smaller and firmer than Jelly Belly, even. And, again, these just don’t have the variety that Jell Bell has: along with green apple and grape, there’s orange, lemon, cherry, and strawberry. That’s it. These aren’t the best jelly beans, but they’re pretty tasty and a crowd-pleaser, too.
Credit: Merc / Instacart
- SweeTARTS Jelly Beans
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I love these jelly beans. They’re very tangy, and they have a nice, crumbly outer shell and some nice, strong flavors. The green (lime) bean tastes a little too much like bathroom cleanser for my taste, but the rest are really good, even though the bag refuses to tell you what the flavors are—pink (cherry?), yellow (lemon?), blue (??), purple (definitely grape), and orange (duh). The blue was always my favorite SweeTARTs and I like the nostalgia factor here. These have a perfect chew, too—the coating to jelly center ratio is really good.
Credit: Merc / Instacart
- Trader Joe’s Sour Jelly Beans
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If you want really sour jelly beans—like, contort-your-face, almost painfully sour—these are the best jelly beans for your basket. They come in five flavors—green apple, blue raspberry, lemon, tangerine, and cranberry—and they all pack a punch. A nice thing about Trader Joe’s jelly beans is that they don’t contain gelatin, but a not-nice thing is that they still aren’t vegan because there’s beeswax in the glazing agent. Sigh. Still, they’re the best jelly beans if you are a freak for citric acid.
Credit: Merc / Trader Joe’s
- Jelly Belly 49 Flavors Mix
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We bought the classic mix of 49 flavors and there’s just so much good stuff happening here. These are small and firm, but not as small and firm as the Starburst Jelly Beans. They still have great chew and a nice, crackly outer shell. Everyone has their favorite flavor, but I gotta say, the pear beans are really impressive. And buttered popcorn might be controversial, but c’mon—aren’t you glad you have the option of eating jelly beans that taste like popcorn? These aren’t just the best tasting jelly beans—they ’re the best jelly beans, period.
Credit: Merc / Vons
Best Candy Mashup
Best Modern Classic
Best Tangy
Best Sour Jelly Beans
Best of the Best
Other products we tried: Jolly Rancher Jelly Beans, Trolli Sour Brite Jelly Beans, Brach’s Classic Jelly Beans, Brach’s Speckled Jelly Beans, Peeps Jelly Beans
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!