Here Are The Official 2026 Easter Candy Power Rankings (No, Peeps Did Not Make It)

This is a hot take that might rock the candy world: I think Easter might be the best candy holiday.

I know, I know. Some people are going to want to see me get wrapped up in a straitjacket and frontal lobotomized for that, but you've got to hear me out.

While it often gets overlooked compared to its candy-centric counterparts like Halloween, Christmas, and even Valentine's Day, Easter can really bring it.

So, I've cobbled together a list of my favorite Easter candy, which in turn, makes it the only correct top-five power ranking that there is.

Sorry, but we all know it's true.

And, no, you're not going to find Peeps on here.

We all know those stink.

Easter bunnies are always a solid choice. (Getty Images)

5). Chocolate Rabbits

I'm sure someone can explain the reason rabbits have anything to do with Easter, or I could just Google, but I'm not going to.

I just like that someone said, "Well, seeing as rabbits have become a big part of Easter, we're going to make them out of chocolate."

Chocolate bunnies can be a little hit or miss, which is why they're only just cracking the top 5. Some are meh, and then others are spectacular.

It's all about the chocolate that's being used and the size of the rabbit, so you hit that proper chocolate-to-filling ratio (if it has filling).

And, no, we're not going to debate the proper way to eat one of these… because there is nothing to debate; you start with the ears.

Only a creep starts with the feet, and only a true psycho would bite it from the side like it's corn on the cob.

Great candy, but what was the point of that weird tumbleweed of Easter grass in this photo? (Getty Images)

4). Malted Milk Eggs

I'm a sucker for anything malted. I just like how old school it is. Makes me feel like I'm a kid in 1940s Brooklyn playing stickball and smoking a Chesterfield.

Someone figured out that if you take a wad of sawdusty malt powder, pack it into a ball, and cover it in chocolate, it makes a heck of a candy.

Of course, that's a malted milk ball, or a Whopper (by the way, the Whopper is a stellar, often overlooked depth player on the Hershey roster), but come Easter, they swap out the molds and crank out some eggs.

They're always great, but as you will see, there are some superior eggs…

Cadbury Eggs wait all year to come off the bench on Easter Sunday (or several weeks earlier if you're like me). Getty

3). Cadbury Eggs

A few weeks ago — almost a full month before Easter — I was walking through Target and saw a display of Cadbury eggs. 

"Man," I thought. "I could go for some of those. Too bad Easter is a month away."

But then it dawned on me: I'm 30-years-old and have a job, which means I can just buy a box of Cadbury eggs whenever I want, and there's nothing anyone can do about it.

Except for my wife, but she was cool with all of this…

The caramel variety is good, but I'm a traditionalist and like the classic Cadbury Creme Egg. 

I also enjoy that while Cadbury has chocolate bars that you can get year-round, Easter is their Super Bowl. They spend all year perfecting their recipe to dump millions of chocolatey, creamy eggs on a hungry public.

Jelly beans are as Easter-y as they come. Also, Ronald Reagan kept them on his desk, so that should count for something. (Getty Images)

2). Jelly Beans

Jelly beans are to Easter what candy canes are to Christmas. They're something that just goes hand-in-hand with the holiday itself.

I'm a traditionalist and usually try to score packs of the classic mix, and I understand that's controversial. This is where we might divide the room a little: jelly beans are a phenomenal candy, even if some of you don't have a sophisticated enough palate to understand that.

It's not your fault; your taste buds are in a state of arrested development and can't appreciate the flavor nuances that come with a black licorice jelly bean.

Of course, those are unfortunately a dying breed, as I learned this year…

The only other problem with jelly beans is that, like candy canes, they are getting bastardized to no end.

It's hard to find the original jelly beans because there are so many weird flavors and varieties, with other candies and foods trying to elbow their way into jelly beans.

I mean, as I type this, there is a pack of KFC jelly beans sitting on the island in the kitchen that my wife and I are afraid to open. Seriously. It has gravy, corn, and fried chicken beans. I don't know why we did this to ourselves. We may as well have bought those Harry Potter jelly beans that taste like boogers and sardines or whatever.

But, just to pass along a pro tip, some other candies have stuck the landing when transforming into jelly bean form, namely those produced by Starbursts and long-time domestic partners, Mike & Ike.

Allegedly… not that there's anything wrong with that.

The Reese's folks unleash their heaviest hitter at Easter. (Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

1). Reese's Eggs

A couple of days after I had that epiphany about Cadbury eggs, I used the awesome power of adulthood, free will, and being gainfully employed to get some Reese's Eggs for my wife and me.

And let's get this out of the way: It's Ree-siz. Not Ree-Sees.

I'm not saying that because I grew up 20 minutes from Hershey, PA, where they come from; I'm saying that because I can read.

Anyway, Reese's Cups have been in the news a lot lately because of changes to the formula, but the Reese's Egg continues to be not just the best version of a Reese's Cup, but the best Easter candy there is.

The chocolate-peanut butter combo is simply undefeated, but the shape of the Reese's Egg allows for a better peanut butter-to-chocolate ratio.

For some reason, everyone seems to think that the move is to go chocolate-heavy. Wrong!

I'd say you want to be going at least 2:1 in favor of peanut butter, and the Reese's egg does this by being a bit on the thicker side.

If you know what I mean…

*Raises eyebrows suggestively*

So, load up those Longaberger baskets everyone wasted their money on back in the '90s with the best of the best, and have yourself a happy Easter!

But again, steer clear of the Peeps. 

Don't do that to yourself.