The lowest-calorie candy is hard candy and small gummies: a jelly bean has about 4 calories, a piece of candy corn 7 and a Dum Dums pop 20. Fun-size chocolate bars run 60 to 90 calories each. If you want fat-free candy, candy corn, Swedish Fish, Smarties, Peeps, candy canes and plain hard candy all have 0 g of fat per serving.
Every number below comes from the manufacturer's label as filed with USDA FoodData Central, or from USDA's own lab data, divided down to a single piece.
Key takeaways
- Under 25 calories a piece: jelly beans, candy corn, Swedish Fish, Life Savers, Dum Dums, Starburst, Hershey's Kisses, Tootsie Roll Midgees and hard candy.
- Fun-size chocolate bars: 61 (3 Musketeers) to 90 (Baby Ruth). Snickers and Milky Way are both 80.
- Fat-free isn't sugar-free. Fat-free candy gets nearly all its calories from sugar.
- Check the wrapper weight. "Fun size" packs vary by brand and season, and calories scale with grams.
Low-calorie candy ranked by calories per piece
| Candy | Serving | Calories | Fat (g) | Sugar (g) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jelly beans | 1 small bean | 4 | 0 | 0.8 |
| Candy corn | 1 piece | 7 | 0 | 1.6 |
| Swedish Fish | 1 piece | 13 | 0 | 2.7 |
| Life Savers mints | 1 mint | 15 | 0 | 3.5 |
| Dum Dums | 1 pop | 20 | 0 | 3.7 |
| Starburst | 1 piece | 20 | 0.4 | 2.8 |
| Werther's Original hard candy | 1 piece | 23 | 0.2 | 3.5 |
| Hershey's Kiss | 1 kiss | 23 | 1.3 | 2.6 |
| Tootsie Roll Midgee | 1 midgee | 23 | 0.5 | 3.2 |
| Hard candy, plain | 1 piece (6 g) | 24 | 0 | 3.8 |
| Smarties | 1 roll | 25 | 0 | 6 |
| Twizzlers Strawberry Twist | 1 twist | 26 | 0.1 | 3.2 |
| Peeps | 1 chick | 28 | 0 | 6.2 |
| Skittles | 1 mini pack (10 g) | 40 | 0.5 | 7 |
| Reese's Miniature | 1 cup | 44 | 2.6 | 4.6 |
| Nerds | 1 mini box (12 g) | 45 | 0 | 11 |
| Airheads Mini Bar | 1 bar | 47 | 0.5 | 6.3 |
| Kit Kat miniature | 1 bar (10 g) | 52 | 2.6 | 4.9 |
| Candy cane | 1 cane (14 g) | 55 | 0 | 11 |
| 3 Musketeers | 1 fun-size bar | 61 | 1.8 | 9.4 |
| Nestle Crunch | 1 fun-size bar | 65 | 3.5 | 7.5 |
| Laffy Taffy | 1 bar (0.81 oz, 23 g) | 80 | 1.5 | 11 |
| Milky Way | 1 fun-size bar | 80 | 3 | 10.5 |
| Snickers | 1 fun-size bar (17 g) | 80 | 4 | 9 |
| Almond Joy | 1 snack-size bar | 85 | 4.5 | 8 |
| Butterfinger | 1 fun-size bar | 85 | 3.5 | 7.5 |
| Reese's Peanut Butter Cup | 1 cup (0.6 oz, 17 g) | 88 | 5.2 | 8 |
| Baby Ruth | 1 fun-size bar | 90 | 4 | 9.5 |
| York Peppermint Pattie | 1 pattie (1.2 oz, 34 g) | 130 | 3 | 21 |
Where a label lists several pieces per serving, we divided by the piece count, so a few values carry a decimal the label itself doesn't show.
Fat-free candy list
The FDA lets a food say "fat free" when it has less than 0.5 g of fat per reference serving. These candies show 0 g of fat on the label, or in USDA lab data for jelly beans and plain hard candy:
| Fat-free candy | Calories per piece | Sugar per piece (g) |
|---|---|---|
| Jelly beans (small) | 4 | 0.8 |
| Candy corn | 7 | 1.6 |
| Swedish Fish | 13 | 2.7 |
| Life Savers mints | 15 | 3.5 |
| Dum Dums | 20 | 3.7 |
| Hard candy, plain | 24 | 3.8 |
| Smarties roll | 25 | 6 |
| Peeps chick | 28 | 6.2 |
| Nerds mini box | 45 | 11 |
| Candy cane (14 g) | 55 | 11 |
Fat-free candy isn't automatically the better pick. Almost every calorie in it is sugar, and a small box of Nerds carries 11 g of sugar, about a fifth of the FDA's 50 g daily value for added sugars. If you're watching sugar, see hidden sugars in everyday foods.
Lowest-calorie chocolate candy
Chocolate is where calories climb, because cocoa butter and milk fat add 9 calories per gram. The lightest options:
- Hershey's Kiss: 23 calories. Four of them come in under 100.
- Reese's Miniature: 44 calories, roughly half a full 0.6 oz cup (88).
- Kit Kat miniature: 52 calories.
- 3 Musketeers fun size: 61 calories. That's the lightest fun-size bar in the table.
- Nestle Crunch fun size: 65 calories.
Dark chocolate doesn't save calories. An ounce (28 g) of 70-85% dark chocolate has about 170 calories, but only 6.8 g of sugar, versus about 15 g in the same weight of milk chocolate. If your chocolate craving comes in a mug, see hot chocolate calories.
Fun-size vs full-size: check the grams
Calories track weight almost exactly, so the wrapper's gram number tells you more than the name on the bag.
- A standard Hershey's Milk Chocolate bar (1.55 oz, 43 g) has 210 calories, the same as about nine Kisses.
- A fun-size Snickers weighs 17 g and has 80 calories.
- Skittles come in more than one small size. The 10 g mini pack is 40 calories; bigger "fun size" packs scale up from there.
If a pack lists "2 bars" per serving, halve the calories for one bar. Our guide to calculating calories from nutrition labels shows how to scale any label to the amount you actually eat.
Is sugar-free candy lower in calories?
Usually, but it isn't calorie-free. Sugar-free candy is sweetened with sugar alcohols, which US labels count at fewer calories per gram than sugar:
| Sweetener | Calories per gram on US labels |
|---|---|
| Sugar | 4 |
| Hydrogenated starch hydrolysates | 3.0 |
| Sorbitol | 2.6 |
| Xylitol | 2.4 |
| Maltitol | 2.1 |
| Isomalt | 2.0 |
| Mannitol | 1.6 |
| Erythritol | 0 |
A maltitol-sweetened hard candy saves about half the sugar calories; the fat in sugar-free chocolate still counts in full. Larger amounts of sugar alcohols can cause gas, bloating or diarrhea, so start with a piece or two.
How candy fits a calorie budget
On a 2,000-calorie day (the FDA's general reference), here's what different budgets buy:
| Daily candy budget | Share of 2,000 kcal | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 50 kcal | 2.5% | 2 Hershey's Kisses, or 7 pieces of candy corn |
| 100 kcal | 5% | 1 fun-size Snickers plus a Life Savers mint, or 4 Kisses |
| 200 kcal | 10% | 2 fun-size bars and 2 Starburst |
| 300 kcal | 15% | 3 fun-size bars plus a few Kisses |
Your own number depends on your target, which you can get from the TDEE calculator and the calorie deficit calculator.
A simple Halloween plan
- Pick a daily budget before the bags come out, and decide which candy it buys.
- Count by the piece. Pour out what you plan to eat instead of eating from the bowl.
- Log it. Two 80-85 calorie fun-size bars a day for a week is 1,120-1,190 calories, enough to show up on the scale if you don't count it.
- Have a swap ready. If you want something sweet that isn't candy, our list of snacks under 100 calories has plenty.
Sources
- USDA FoodData Central, Branded Foods (manufacturer label data): Swedish Fish, FDC 1459896; candy corn (Ferrara), FDC 2631832; Life Savers Pep O Mint, FDC 2088967; Dum-Dums, FDC 2287305; Starburst Original, FDC 1914543; Werther's Original, FDC 2022890; Hershey's Kisses, FDC 2563591; Tootsie Roll Midgees, FDC 2031100; Smarties, FDC 2047398; Twizzlers Strawberry Twists, FDC 1646295; Peeps, FDC 2568311; Skittles Original, FDC 2088015; Reese's Miniatures, FDC 1643424; Nerds, FDC 2116621; Airheads, FDC 2037343; Dum-Dums candy canes, FDC 2042895; Crunch fun size, FDC 2599318; Laffy Taffy, FDC 649316; Milky Way fun size, FDC 2564536; Snickers fun size, FDC 2564544; Almond Joy snack size, FDC 2658059; Butterfinger fun size, FDC 2571819; Baby Ruth fun size, FDC 2571809; York Peppermint Patties, FDC 1647002; Hershey's Milk Chocolate bar, FDC 2769915.
- USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy: jelly beans, FDC 167991; hard candy, FDC 167990; Kit Kat, FDC 167992; 3 Musketeers, FDC 168767; Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, FDC 168763; dark chocolate 70-85% cacao, FDC 170273; milk chocolate, FDC 167587.
- eCFR, 21 CFR 101.62 (fat-free definition) and 21 CFR 101.9 (sugar alcohol calorie factors).
- FDA, How to understand and use the Nutrition Facts label (2,000-calorie reference, 50 g added sugars daily value).
