M&M's vs. Smarties vs. Reese's Pieces: Differences and Reviews 2025

Three Popular Candy Beans

Candy beans are brightly colored, delicious, and always fun.

Family and friends around me eat these snacks almost every week, and their easiest choices are three products:

• M&M's 

• Smarties

• Reese's Pieces

Decorate your Christmas stockings, Easter baskets, Valentine's Day gift bags and Halloween desserts with these unforgettable treats for everyone to enjoy.

But some of you may be wondering what's the difference between M&M's vs. Smarties vs. Reese's Pieces?

M&M's vs. Smarties

Smarties and M&M's are both very famous brands of candy-coated chocolate beans in various colors, but what's the difference?

In 1932, Forrest Mars Sr., the son of Mars' founder, disagreed with his father over the direction of the company. He decided to take the Mars business to Europe and expand the business by producing chocolate bars for soldiers fighting in the Spanish Civil War. There, Forrest met George Harris, who would later create Smarties.

This was inspired by sugar-coated sugar, which has a very hard coating on the outside. Sugar-coated sugar was invented so that upper class people, especially women, could enjoy chocolate without soiling their gloves.

Smarties were born in 1937, but Mars didn't start producing M&Ms until 1941. They agreed not to compete in each other's markets, which is why M&Ms are made in the United States and Smarties are made in Europe.

Smarties were originally produced by HI Rowntree & Company in the UK and are now produced by Nestlé. Smarties are primarily sold in Europe, Canada, South Africa, Australia and the Middle East.

Smarties are not sold in the United States (except through parallel imports) and the rights to the name belong to Smarties Candy Company. In the United States, Smarties are a tablet candy produced by the Smarties Candy Company since 1949.

candy appearance

Smarties are slightly larger than M&Ms. M&Ms are approximately 1.2 cm in diameter and Smarties are approximately 1.5 cm in diameter.

Second, Smarties are slightly flatter than M&Ms.

Smarties and M&Ms come in many beautiful colors, such as orange, red, yellow, green, blue, etc.

Although typical M&Ms come in all colors of the same flavor, the orange-flavored chocolate in Orange Smarties adds a mysterious fun touch to the occasion.

Smarties are available in a mixture of 8 different coloured shells - covering red, yellow, green, blue, violet, pink, brown and orange. 

ORANGE SMARTIES are exclusive to the UK and are the only color with a flavor - the shell is infused with natural orange oil.

Similar to M&Ms, Smarties have a hard coating, but are slightly thicker and crunchier than typical M&Ms.

Smartie can be sucked or chewed. You have no choice with M&Ms, which dissolve into mush almost immediately after entering your mouth.

The ingredient list for these candies is a bit long, but I noticed that Smarties contains wheat flour, which may be why the shell tastes thicker and crispier with more crunch.

Also, if you are allergic to wheat flour, please do not eat Smarties. If you are allergic to peanuts, please do not eat M&Ms.

SMARTIES has been free of artificial colors, flavors and preservatives since 2006.

They are colorful milk chocolate candies in a crispy sugar shell.

But overall, each Smartie is packed with the smooth, rich flavor of white chocolate.

In other words, the milk chocolate used in Smarties is of better quality because it has a lot of milky and creamy flavor, while M&Ms have a lot of sweetness.

On the other hand, since M&Ms have very thin shells, they seem to taste more milk chocolate and more satisfying.

Final verdict:

My favorite is Smarties, so I will award it the winner for Best Milk Chocolate Bean Candy.

Smarties Milk Chocolate Candy adds a creamy twist to a classic treat.

Each one is filled with the smooth, rich flavor of white chocolate that blends perfectly with the crunchy, colorful candy shell.

This delightful combination provides a sweet and satisfying treat, perfect for any chocolate lover.

Smarties Milk Chocolate Candy is perfect for snacking, sharing or as a fun topping for desserts, adding a playful touch to any sweet occasion.

Peanut Butter M&M'S vs Reese’s Pieces

In addition to the typical milk chocolate beans, M&M's are also divided into different varieties based on different fillings.

Peanut M&M's were the first of the updated varieties to be introduced, featuring peanuts coated in milk chocolate and finished with a candy shell, and remain the regular variety.

Many other variations have been introduced, some of which are regular broad varieties (peanut butter, almond, pretzel, crispy, dark chocolate, and caramel), while others are limited in duration or geographic availability. 

Among them, Peanut Butter M&M's are a very popular variety.

Reese's Pieces are peanut butter candies manufactured by The Hershey Company; they are shaped like flattened spheres and covered with a yellow, orange, or brown candy shell.

Reese's Pieces are a product extension of Reese's Peanut Butter Cup line; they were designed to capitalize on the success of the chocolate peanut butter cup, although unlike the cups, they don't have chocolate.

So, for peanut butter-flavored snack lovers, what's the difference between Peanut Butter M&M's and Reese's Pieces?

Peanut Butter M&Ms are slightly larger than Reese's Pieces. Peanut Butter M&Ms are approximately 1.2 cm in diameter and Reese's Pieces are approximately 0.8 cm in diameter.

Typical Reese's Pieces shells only come in three colors, including orange, yellow and brown. All colors taste the same. Unlike M&Ms, these don't have any printing on the outside.

And Peanut Butter M&Ms come in more shell colors, including red, yellow, green, blue, orange and brown. All colors taste the same. Each candy has the classic white "m" printed on one side.

Perhaps the biggest difference between Reese's Pieces and Peanut Butter M&Ms is that they don't contain chocolate.

Peanut Butter M&Ms have a layer of chocolate underneath the shell, which is missing from Reese's Pieces.

Due to differences in construction, they also taste somewhat different. Peanut Butter M&Ms taste more balanced thanks to the extra layer of chocolate, allowing you to enjoy the sweetness of the peanut butter and shell along with the subtle bitterness and nuttiness of the chocolate.

But what if you just want the taste of peanut butter? Reese's Pieces offers a purer, more original peanut butter experience.

Also, since the Peanut Butter M&Ms are larger, it appears to contain more peanut butter. We could easily detect the peanut butter flavor and it was the dominant flavor overall.

The peanut butter flavor in the Reese's Pieces, on the other hand, was subtle. Because it's so small and contains so little peanut butter, it's hard to taste the peanut butter aroma. Since both the shell and the peanut butter are sweet, the sweetness masks the peanut flavor in your mouth.

Final verdict:

I prefer peanut butter M&M's to Reese's Pieces. Peanut butter, chocolate and the famous candy shell combine for a delicious treat that will satisfy snack lovers.

The peanut butter in the M&M's is delicious and filling, with a mild chocolate flavor that's preferable to the watered-down peanut flavor in the Reese's chips, where the sweet shell flavor is most evident.

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