16 M&M Flavors: Ranked and Reviewed
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Discover 16 M&M flavors that will satisfy your sweet tooth and make you smile. While many of these flavors are familiar favorites, some may be new to you.
M&M’s, which famously melt in your mouth and not in your hands, are the second most popular candy in America. However, M&M’s have evolved since the candy-coated chocolate pellets debuted almost eight decades ago.
Named after Forrest E. Mars Sr. and Bruce Murrie (the original M and M) and inspired by rations eaten by soldiers during the Spanish-American War, M&M’s were originally sold in cardboard tubes. And while they were produced in five colors (brown, green, red, violet and yellow), there was just one flavor when M&M’s hit the market during World War II. Back then, the candy wasn’t yet stamped with the letter ‘m’ either. That came later.
Fun Fact
Smarties, a similar candy with a slightly thicker shell, beat M&M’s to the market by four years. Not to be confused with tart tablet candies sold in the US, candy-coated chocolate Smarties are one of the most popular candies in the UK.
Today, modern-day M&M’s are primarily sold in bags and come in a variety of flavors and sizes. Also, the color blue has joined the M&M rainbow.
Fun Fact
Although all M&M’s colors taste the same, some stand out from the mix. Green M&M’s are rumored to have special romantic powers. Red M&M’s were banned from 1976 to 1987 due to fears about red dye causing cancer. Meanwhile, the band Van Halen had a concert rider that required all brown M&M’s be removed in order to gauge whether concert promoters were actually following the band’s instructions.
Our Picks for the Best M&M Flavors
Long gone are the days when plain and peanut were the only two M&M flavors. Not only does plain have a new name (see below), but a slew of new flavors and sizes have joined the M&M’s family.
Fun Fact
The M&M’s roster annually expands during the holiday season to include limited edition flavors like chocolate pumpkin and mint chocolate.
We scoured the shelves at supermarkets, pharmacies and convenience stores until we found and bought all of the M&M’s candy flavors. After eating them ate all, these are our favorites:
1. Milk Chocolate
Year Introduced: 1941
Filled with milk chocolate and called Plain M&M’s until 2001, there’s nothing plain about Milk Chocolate M&M’s. Originally produced for American soldiers stationed overseas during World War II, this is the original M&M’s flavor that launched a global candy brand and made its way to outer space. And, despite its advanced age, the flavor is as popular as ever.
Our Take: Call us nostalgic but milk chocolate is our favorite M&M flavor. It’s the candy we coveted when we trick-or-treated for Halloween candy when we were kids. And, despite its name change, the OG M&M flavor still makes us happy whether we eat Milk Chocolate M&M’s one at a time or by the handful.
Fun Fact
Milk chocolate is the M&M flavor that Dairy Queen adds to its frozen blizzards treats.
2. Peanut
Year Introduced: 1954
Peanut was the second M&M flavor and it’s never left the shelves since its debut. Bigger than its older milk chocolate brother, each Peanut M&M is filled with a roasted peanut that’s coated with milk chocolate.
Our Take: Since they debuted before we were born, we can’t remember a time when Peanut M&M’s didn’t exist. So, similar to milk chocolate, this flavor has a nostalgia factor. Peanut M&M’s also have protein-rich peanuts which technically are a legume, not a nut.
Fun Fact
Although they’re colorfully diverse today, Peanut M&M’s were originally tan.
3. Pretzel
Year Introduced: 2010
Filled with crunchy pretzels that are coated with milk chocolate, Pretzel M&M’s are sweet, crunchy and salty. The pretzel center takes this M&M flavor close to savory snack status, but the milk chocolate keeps it firmly in sweet candy territory.
Our Take: After popping the first Pretzel M&M’s into our mouths, the crunchy, sweet, salty candy immediately became our favorite of the newer flavors. We then proceeded to eat an entire bag just to be sure.
Fun Fact
Although Pretzel M&M’s debuted in the 21st century, Americans have been eating pretzels since the 18th century.
4. Caramel
Year Introduced: 2017
Caramel and chocolate converge inside each Caramel M&M to create one of the brand’s tastiest flavors. Bigger in size than most M&M flavors, the caramel confection is sweet and chewy without being too sweet or too chewy.
Our Take: Since we’re fans of Milk Duds and Rolos, two other candies that combine caramel and chocolate, we expected to be fans of Caramel M&M’s. We were correct.
Pro Tip
Don’t bite too hard if you’ve had dental work – chewy caramel can do a number on your teeth.
5. Dark Chocolate
Year Introduced: 2005
Dark Chocolate M&M’s look like Milk Chocolate M&M’s. They’re the same size, and the colors are the same too. The difference between the two candies lies inside their thin candy shells. While Milk Chocolate M&M’s are filled with milk chocolate, Dark Chocolate M&M’s are filled with dark chocolate that’s 50% cacao.
Our Take: While 50% cacao isn’t the darkest chocolate on the market, Dark M&M’s are a game-changer for dark chocolate fans like Daryl. However, they’re not so easy to find. We looked high and low for Dark Chocolate M&M’s and finally found them at the Times Square M&M’s store in NYC. It was worth the extra effort.
Fun Fact
The cacao percentage in dark chocolate can go as high as 90%.
6. Peanut Butter
Year Introduced: 1990
Filled with creamy peanut butter that’s coated with milk chocolate, Peanut Butter M&M’s capture the spirit of the two OG M&M flavors (peanut and milk chocolate) in a sweet yet nutty candy package. Sold in three different sizes including mini and mega, this flavor has achieved elite status in the M&M candy universe
Our Take: We expected Peanut Butter M&M’s to taste like Reese’s Pieces but they actually taste better. (This M&M candy adds chocolate to the mix while Reese’s Pieces are chocolate-free.) While we can’t ask him in person, we suspect that the alien E.T. would agree with this assessment.
Fun Fact
According to the National Peanut Board, it takes about 540 peanuts to make a 12-ounce jar of peanut butter.
7. Almond
Year Introduced: 1959
A permanent M&M flavor since 1992, the Almond M&M is similar to its peanut predecessor insomuch that both candies have a milk chocolate-coated-nut. In this case, the nut is a roasted whole almond. (Similar to peanuts, which are technically legumes, almonds aren’t actually nuts – they’re seeds. It’s weird. Right?)
Our Take: We used to like eating Almond M&M’s when they periodically appeared during holidays like Christmas and Easter. Now we like eating them all year long. Almond M&M’s remind us of Jordan almonds but with a chocolate bonus. They’re special.
Fun Fact
Not only is almond not the first nut-encased M&M flavor, it’s also not the first mass-marketed American candy with almonds. Hershey’s has been selling chocolate bars with whole almonds since 1908 while Peter Paul, Inc. started selling Almond Joy bars in 1946.
8. Peanut Butter & Jelly
Year Introduced: 2024
Considering the popularity of Peanut Butter M&M’s, it’s no surprise that the brand evoked childhood taste memories by eventually introducing Peanut Butter & Jelly M&M’s. Packaged in three colors (brown, red and tan), this sandwich-inspired candy doesn’t have a jelly layer. Instead, its peanut butter filling is enhanced with berry flavor.
Our Take: Although we’re not big fans of PB&J sandwiches, we give PB&J M&M’s our thumbs up approval. They’re sweet, salty, crunchy and have just the right amount of chocolate. However, we’d like them more if they had actual jelly instead of jelly flavor.
Fun Fact
Although the PB&J sandwich has been around since the beginning of the 20th century, it wasn’t popular until decades later. It now ranks as one of the most popular American sandwiches.
9. Honey Roasted Peanut
Year Introduced: 2025
Added to the permanent collection more than seven decades after the OG peanut flavor hit the shelves, Honey Roasted Peanut M&M’s are bigger and sweeter than classic Peanut M&M’s. They also look different since they come in three colors (brown, gold and yellow) as opposed to the normal M&M’s palette.
Our Take: We dig sweet and salty Honey Roasted Peanut M&M’s. They remind us of airplane snacks but with two added bonuses: chocolate and candy shells. As a third bonus, this flavor’s deep background flavor reminds us of dark chocolate.
Fun Fact
Honey Roasted Peanut M&M’s aren’t actually made with honey. Instead, this candy’s sweetness comes from sugar and corn syrup.
10. Cookie Dough
Year Introduced: 2024
Cookie Dough M&M’s are bite-sized cookie dough pellets coated in milk chocolate and covered with thin, colorful candy shells. Launched in Australia in January of 2024, the cookie-candy hybrid is slowly making its way around the world. However, if this new M&M’s flavor is anything like cookie dough ice cream, it will quickly become a fan favorite.
Our Take: We like cookies. We like cookie dough. We like cookie dough ice cream. Not surprisingly, we also like the M&M’s cookie dough flavor. However, we’d like it even better if the saltiness were ramped up a smidge.
Fun Fact
The Ben & Jerry’s brand gets credit for inventing cookie dough ice cream in 1984. The ice cream flavor is now globally popular.
11. Fudge Brownie
Year Introduced: 2020
Fudge Brownie M&M’s aren’t the first M&M’s to place chocolate inside a candy shell. That honor goes to the original M&M flavor. The two flavors are fairly similar but the Fudge Brownie M&M is texturally different since its chewy center is modeled after the brownie. Since everybody loves brownies, this is a good thing.
Our Take: We bought and tasted Fudge Brownie M&M’s during the summer of 2024 and it appears that the flavor has been temporarily discontinued. Bring it back! This flavor is a winner.
Fun Fact
The brownie pre-dates M&M’s by almost half a century. The cakey chocolate dessert debuted in Chicago during the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.
12. Caramel Cold Brew
Year Introduced: 2023
Proving that cold brew coffee is no longer a bougie drink, caramel cold brew is one of the easiest M&M flavors to find at American grocery and drug stores. It’s conceptually similar to the caramel flavor except that, in this case, the caramel is infused with coffee flavoring.
Our Take: We wanted to love Caramel Cold Brew M&M’s and yet we merely liked the coffee-shop-inspired flavor. Perhaps we would have liked them more if they contained actual coffee. However, on the upside, the disappointing flavor inspired us to pair Caramel M&M’s with a cup of coffee. And, to that, we say thank you.
Fun Fact
The Japanese have been slowly dripping cold brew coffee for centuries.
13. Salted Caramel
Year Introduced: 2021
Exclusively sold in Europe, Salted Caramel M&M’s take America’s sweet and chewy Caramel M&M’s flavor to the next level by adding a third element – salty. Yes, these M&M’s are sweet, chewy and salty. And, like all M&M’s, they’re also chocolatey.
Our Take: As much as we like Caramel M&M’s (see above), we like Salty Caramel M&M’s even more. We’d place this flavor higher on this list if it were available in the US.
Fun Fact
You can make salted caramel at home with just four ingredients – butter, cream, salt and sugar.
14. Crunchy Cookie
Year Introduced: 2022
Each Crunchy Cookie M&M ingeniously has a chocolate chip filling inside its classic candy shell. But the chocolate chip cookie here isn’t the same as the original Toll House chocolate chip cookie that dates back to 1939 – it has M&M’s in the dough.
Our Take: Crunchy Cookie M&M’s are crunchier and sweeter than we expected. Though we’re okay with the candy’s crunch factor, we found its overly sweet flavor to be cloying.
Fun Fact
The chocolate chip cookie is one of many tasty American cookies. Many people (including us) consider it to be the best American cookie.
15. Minis
Year Introduced: 1996
M&M’s Minis are essentially the same as milk chocolate M&M’s except that they’re smaller. The other difference is that they’re sold in reusable tubes instead of the typical M&M’s paper bag packaging.
Our Take: Although M&M’s Minis should taste the same as full-sized M&M’s, they taste even better due to their modified chocolate-candy ratio. They’re also fun to eat on the go.
Fun Fact
Milk chocolate isn’t the only flavor that’s been minimized. Peanut Butter M&M’s Minis became a thing in 2023.
16. Mega
Year Introduced: 2005
Originally sold with milk chocolate and peanut fillings, M&M’s Mega relaunched in 2024 with just one flavor – peanut butter. Since mega means huge, it’s no surprise that each mega candy is bigger than a typical M&M.
Our Take: M&M’s Mega is best described as Peanut Butter M&M’s on steroids. They’re not just noticeably bigger than the regular-sized version – they also have more chocolate and peanut butter inside each candy shell.
Fun Fact
While candy fans may consider M&M’s Mega to be worth big bucks, Mega Millions is a multi-state lottery game that’s paid actual big bucks over the past few decades.
💡 Frequently Asked Questions
M&M’s are candy-coated chocolate pellets that famously “melt in your mouth and not in your hands.” They’re sold in a range of flavors that include almond, caramel, caramel cold brew, crunchy cookie, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, peanut and peanut butter.
M&M’s were invented in 1941.
Choosing the best M&M flavor is subjective. After tasting them all, milk chocolate is our favorite M&M flavor. You need to do the same to find your favorite.
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