The 10 Best M&M’s Flavors That Tragically No Longer Exist

Don’t get me wrong, I love the classic M&M’s. I love the variations: peanut butter, caramel cold brew, dark chocolate, peanut, etc. But the accomplishments of today do not erase the tragedy of our losses. There are so many delicious M&M flavors that were retired before their time, ripped from all of our lives when they had so much more to give.

Maybe they were discontinued because they didn’t make Mars enough money. Maybe they were ripped from the shelves because part of the magic was the novelty. I don’t know the reason, all I know is that I miss them. Here are some discontinued M&M’s that still live rent-free in my head:

Chili Nut: Aside from having a hilarious name that appeals to my tween boy sense of humor, the Chili Nut M&M was originally introduced as part of a promotion alongside two other nut flavors, and lost out to Coffee Nut and Honey Nut. Those were good but c’mon, don’t we have enough coffee and honey desserts in our life?
White Chocolate Carrot Cake: Carrot cake is one of my favorite flavors, which means it sucks extra hard that carrot cake is not only a labor-intensive cake that I don’t ever feel like making, but it’s also not a flavor that’s often approximated in snackable candy. Somehow, M&M’s managed to do carrot cake justice without sacrificing the crunchy, pop-em-in-your-mouth appeal of M&M’s. I don’t usually go crazy for white chocolate, but I miss these.
Crispy S’mores: Crispy. Airy. Sweet. Layered with s’mores flavors and easily shareable, these were the ultimate solution for quelling a sweet tooth on the go or the perfect company to an after-party of sharing gossip post-movie night.
Jalapeno Peanut: Maybe it could have been executed better. Maybe M&M’s could have thrown more marketing dollars behind this flavor. Maybe the world simply wasn’t ready for jalapeno, peanut, and chocolate together. I don’t know the reason these M&M’s aren’t around anymore, but I miss ‘em.
Lamington: Lamington M&M’s were predictably based on the dessert by the same name—a popular Australian sponge cake sometimes filled with jam and then coated in coconut. The M&M’s paid homage to this concept with three M&M’s in one bag: white candies were coconut, red were jam, and black were chocolate. Respect to the candy makers for knowing their limits and not trying to shove them all into one candy, and respect to the Aussies for the delicious dessert. Pour one out for Lamington M&M’s.
White Cheesecake: I don’t know what kind of cheesecake the folks over at M&M’s regard as the default, but I think “white cheesecake” is redundant. Because I’ve been in therapy for many years I know that I’m just picking a fight as a defense mechanism to avoid how sad I am about the loss of these. They actually had a sweet cheesecake tang instead of just tasting like white chocolate.
Popcorn: It’s not uncommon to mix M&M’s in with your movie theater popcorn, but there was something that felt a little extra special about having your M&M be the popcorn. These were crispy M&M’s that were much more subtle in salt and butter flavor than I tend to like my popcorn, but the combination was delicious, nonetheless. Nobody’s been able to find them for a while, and I’m going to go ahead and blame the Redditor who admitted to buying 78 bags.
Peanut Brrr-ittle: Eating peanut brittle is a chore (unless you want to break your teeth because you have a crush on your dentist and you need an excuse to see them). But these Peanut Brittle M&M’s were a breeze to eat. They had the pleasant crunch of peanut M&M’s with peanut brittle’s caramely, brown sugar, roasty, toasty flavor notes.
Crispy Mint: The crispy M&M’s are the most fun of all M&M’s in terms of texture, and the airiness of the crispy candy goes especially well with mint flavor. Aside from “the flavor and texture both make my mouth feel light,” I honestly don’t know how to explain it. Good thing that my role as a writer doesn’t depend on knowing how to explain things. Whew.
Intense Peanut 65% Cacao: Imagine if peanut M&M’s went away to study in Europe and came back speaking fluent French actually looking good in a beret—that’s these M&M’s. With a darker chocolate (they boasted 65% cacao) and more sophisticated flavor, these intense M&M’s were for candy lovers who mean business.