The best sour candy is fruity, chewy, and, most importantly, aggressively, upsettingly sour. Be forewarned: This list is for people who want to have their feelings hurt by sour candy. People who want their taste buds to be berated by sour candies. People who want to be dragged out back and punched directly in the face by sour candy.
Okay, we’ve established that sour candy should be sour, but it should also taste good, be fun to eat (don’t rot your teeth for nothing!), and have prolonged sourness. For instance, you’ll notice Warheads didn’t make our list. Yes, they’re sour as hell, but the sourness abates in seconds and hard candy just isn’t fun to eat (although, if you insist on eating hard candy, we allow us to suggest the best hard candy). Over the course of two separate taste tests, we tried so many genuinely sour candies, and, shockingly, neither Sour Patch Kids nor Sour Patch Watermelon cracked the top nine. They just didn’t have that sustained sourness we were looking for.
If you know you have a low tolerance for sourness, turn back now—or read on so you know what to avoid next time you hit up the CVS candy aisle.
- Mike and Ike Mega Mix Sour!
Mike and Ike give and give. These dudes make a Berry Blast assortment, a Tropical Typhoon box, and a sour variety that’s actually sour. And they do it without sour dust! The sugary coating that surrounds the jelly interior of these capsule-shaped candies has a sourness that actually sustains before fading into pleasant sweetness. Fans of variety will love these. “There’s like 17 flavors in this box,” one taster observed. This is one of the best gummy candies if you love variety.
Credit: Instacart / Liv Averett
- 365 Sour Rings
Gummy candies are great, but sometimes you’re in the mood for a candy that doesn’t require a marathon chewing sesh. These gel-like rings from Whole Foods make for a lovely eating experience—and they pack a good sour punch. Sporked senior staff writer Jordan Myrick was expecting them to approximate the texture of peach rings and was a little underwhelmed. “I want it to fight back when I bite into it,” they said. But if you dig into this bag with the right expectations, you’ll be pleased.
Credit: Liv Averett / Whole Foods
- Super Sour Scandinavian Swimmers
Swedish Fish typically come in one flavor: red (lingonberry, technically). They’re delicious, but eating them can be sort of a monotonous experience. Enter Trader Joe’s Scandinavian Swimmers, which come in a variety of fascinating flavors, like huckleberry and mango-peach, not to mention really fun shapes like starfish and dolphins. As a fan of the non-sour variety of Scandinavian Swimmer, I was pleased that the sour iteration is legitimately and truly sour. Instead of quickly dissipating, the sour flavor actually ramps up. And we really couldn’t get enough of the unique fruity flavors.
Credit: Liv Averett
- Trolli Sour Brite Crawlers
When it comes to sour gummy worms, Trolli is making the gold standard. The flavor combos rule (I’m partial to the yellow-and-red worm, which I presume is lemon-cherry) and the worms are coated in a fine, delicate sour sugar rather than the coarse, crunchy coating of sour flavor crystals you’ll find on Sour Patch Kids. And if you want something truly adorable, opt for the minis, which are a fraction of the size of the original Sour Brite Crawlers. For the record, we also really liked Kroger’s knockoff version, but you kind of can’t beat the genuine article.
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
- Haribo Sour Streamers
I know Haribo Sour Sketti has an army of fans, but I gotta go with Sour Streamers for the purposes of this list. These are so good, thanks to a high sour powder-to-candy ratio. They’re chewy. They’re delicate. And they’re very sour—you can bite or you can really savor the sourness by sucking powder off. This is a perfect candy to mindlessly eat while you watch a movie with a 20% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
- Haribo Sour Kicks
If you want a sour candy that doesn’t rely on a sour, sugary coating to be sour, these weird, shoe-shaped Haribo gummies rule. They’re genuinely sour, no powder required. If you love the sour half of a Haribo Twin Snake, that’s what you get here—just in weird, skinny shoe shape. They come in a tasty array of flavors, too: Sour Raspberry, Sour Orange, Sour Lemon, Sour Grape, and Sour Strawberry. These are incredibly fun to eat (I ate this bag very fast) and they’re definitely the best sour candy if you’ve ever dreamed of eating a pair of weird shoes.
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- SweeTARTS Extreme Sour Chewy
Calling your candy “extreme” is a bold move, but these SweeTARTS live up to the promise. Honestly, it’s practically rude how sour these are. “They left me kind of speechless,” said Jordan, who also liked the way they dissolve in your mouth once you get to chewing rather than sticking in your teeth. I think you could argue these are slightly more sour than Sour Skittles, but they don’t live up to the Skittles experience in terms of texture and overall flavor. Still, they’re a tasty and extremely mouth-puckering addition to the best sour candy canon.
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Lifesavers Gummies Sours
I couldn’t believe how sour these are. They’re coated in a lot of sour sugar and they really stay sour as you chew. Lifesavers Gummies Sours also make the list because the texture rules—super squish—and the assortment of flavors is great: Tangy Cherry, Watermelon, Orange Strawberry, and Black Raspberry (Tangy Cherry is especially excellent). If you like a nice, soft gummy candy (versus a chewier Haribo-style gummy), this is the best sour gummy candy for you.
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Sour Skittles
You can trust that when Skittles promise sour, they’re bringing sour. As one taster put it: “It’s super sour, makes you pucker…gives you that bite, has that texture—it’s everything you want.” Jordan, who fondly remembers eating these with her cool, older next door neighbor, suggests putting the candy directly on your tongue to get the most of the stabby sour sensation. Skittles also sells a sour gummy that’s plenty good but doesn’t have the same face-slapping sourness or that classic Skittles crunch we love. This was the best sour candy we tried in two taste tests.
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
Best Variety
Best Jelly
Best Flavor
Best Worm
Best Coverage
Best Sour Interior
Best Extreme
Best Gummy
Best of the Best
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