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Orders for Circus Peanuts rose 350% last Halloween, leading the old-school candies highlighted in DoorDash's annual order data. It is the loudest of several Halloween candy trends pointing the same way, toward flavors with more edge and wrappers with more history. Reese's still holds the top spot, but the candy filling in behind it looks different than it did a few years ago.
Sour candy took two spots in the national top 10. A spicy rolled tortilla chip overtook pretzels and Goldfish as the most-ordered non-candy treat. And a cluster of candies more often found in a grandparent's dish posted triple-digit growth.
WHAT THE DELIVERY DATA SHOWS
The figures come from DoorDash's Halloween trends report, which analyzed U.S. orders placed on the platform between Oct. 1 and Oct. 31, 2025. They describe delivery orders on a single app rather than total retail sales, so they say more about what people grab when the bowl runs low than about every bag sold in September.
Within that frame, chocolate still dominates. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups finished first for the third year in a row, followed by Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bars, M&M's and Snickers. Nerds, Skittles, Airheads and Sour Patch Kids filled the next four spots, with Airheads climbing from 10th place to seventh. Haribo entered the top 10 for the first time, pushing Twix out, and KitKat rounded out the list. DoorDash also noted that Haribo has passed Nerds in total orders over the past three months.
SOUR AND SPICY TAKE MORE OF THE BOWL
The clearest change is in flavor intensity. Cristen Milliner, a consumer trends expert at DoorDash, said in the report that sour candy cracking the top 10 and Takis becoming the go-to non-candy treat point to one change: "People are craving bold, intense flavors this year, not just something sweet."
The pattern tracks with the wider candy market. Non-chocolate candy made up 40.9% of the record $55 billion Americans spent on confectionery in 2025, up from about one-third of sales a decade earlier, according to the National Confectioners Association's State of Treating report. Mike Gilroy, vice president of industry engagement and sponsorship at Mars Snacking North America, told Candy Industry that younger consumers are pushing sweet-and-spicy and sweet-and-salty combinations alongside "sour, which remains a primary growth engine for these consumers."
That appetite does not stop at the candy aisle. A plate of samosa chaat, with tamarind chutney pulling sweet, sour and spicy into one bite, hits the same notes, now winning the bowl and giving party guests something to reach for between handfuls of Takis.
DIVISIVE TREATS GAIN GROUND
The treats people claim to hate keep growing, too. Candy corn orders rose 30% year over year and raisins rose 60%, according to DoorDash. The candy corn figure fits a long-running split over the Halloween treat that divides households more than almost any other, with fans and skeptics buying it for different reasons. Milliner said she no longer considers the raisin climb a fluke and described it as parents wanting to hand out something that still feels like a treat without going all in on sugar.