Instacart Shares the Most (and Least) Popular Easter and Passover Foods

What the Instacart Easter and Passover Data Actually Measures

Before declaring roast lamb the official villain of spring, it helps to understand the numbers. Instacart’s 2025 report combined purchasing activity from 2024 with an online Harris Poll conducted March 13–17, 2025. The survey included 2,088 U.S. adults, of whom 1,606 planned to celebrate Easter or Passover. Instacart reported that 76% of Americans intended to celebrate at least one of the holidays, while 59% said family or cultural traditions strongly influenced their food choices.

The report therefore measures two different things. Purchase data shows what people ordered, while the survey reveals what they said they liked or disliked. Those categories do not always match. A shopper may buy gefilte fish because Grandpa expects it, prepare lamb because it has always been the centerpiece, or add deviled eggs because the serving tray has twelve suspiciously egg-shaped spaces that must be filled.

This difference between buying and loving is the central story. Holiday grocery trends are not simple popularity contests. They are maps of tradition, obligation, nostalgia, convenience, regional taste, and the occasional panic purchase made five minutes before the store closes.

The Most Popular Easter Candy Is a Peanut Butter Powerhouse

Chocolate dominated Instacart’s national Easter candy ranking, but the winning shape was not a bunny. Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs took first place, followed by ordinary Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Apparently, placing peanut butter and chocolate in an egg-shaped wrapper is enough to transform a familiar candy into a seasonal champion.

Instacart’s Top 10 Easter Candies

The list offers few surprises for chocolate lovers. Cadbury earned two positions, Hershey’s earned two, and Lindt supplied the ranking’s only traditional chocolate bunny. Sour Patch Kids and Starburst Jelly Beans provided fruity alternatives for childrenand adultswho prefer their Easter baskets with enough sour sugar to temporarily rearrange their facial features.

The dominance of Reese’s was not a one-season accident. Instacart’s later report, published in March 2026 using 2025 shopping data, found that Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs had ranked as the platform’s top-selling Easter candy for the fourth consecutive year. Chocolate may be traditional, but peanut butter appears to be the campaign manager keeping it in office.

Peeps Miss the National Top 10 but Win Local Loyalty

Perhaps the biggest candy surprise was the absence of Peeps from the national top 10. The brightly colored marshmallow chicks are visually inseparable from Easter marketing, yet national Instacart purchases did not place them among the leading candies.

That does not mean the marshmallow flock has flown away. Instacart found strong regional loyalty. During Easter weekend, Boston shoppers purchased Peeps 150% more frequently than the national average. Purchases also over-indexed in Philadelphia by 97% and Washington, D.C., by 111%. Other city-level favorites included Whoppers Malted Milk Balls in Phoenix, Cadbury milk chocolate bars in New York City, and Cadbury Creme Eggs in Houston and Portland, Oregon.

These differences show why a national ranking never tells the whole story. Regional traditions, local retailer availability, family habits, and community demographics all influence the Easter candy people choose. A basket assembled in Boston may look very different from one in San Francisco, where Instacart found unusually strong demand for specialty peanut butter cups.

Jelly Beans Are the Champions of Last-Minute Shopping

Jelly beans ranked eighth on Instacart’s candy list, but their seasonal sales pattern deserves its own trophy. Their order share on the day before Easter was 16.6 times higher than the annual average. Meanwhile, 35% of surveyed Americans named jelly beans among the Easter candies they enjoyed most. Lollipops also experienced a smaller but notable last-minute spike, with purchases rising to 3.7 times their normal level.

Why do jelly beans enter so many carts at the eleventh hour? They are classic basket filler: colorful, inexpensive, easy to divide, and exceptionally good at occupying every empty corner around the premium chocolate. People remember the large bunny first and the tiny candy landscaping later.

Newer Instacart data reinforces their seasonal importance. During Easter week in 2025, jelly bean demand rose 863% above its yearly average. In other words, jelly beans may not win the most passionate fan club, but they reliably report for holiday duty.

The Least Popular Easter Foods

Once the candy wrappers are cleared away, the findings become more controversial. Several familiar Easter dinner foods attracted surprisingly high dislike rates.

Roast Lamb: Traditional but Divisive

Roast lamb was the least favorite Easter dish for 35% of surveyed celebrants. At the same time, Instacart customers were 5.5 times more likely to purchase leg of lamb during Easter weekend than during an average period. That is a dramatic example of tradition overpowering personal enthusiasm.

Lamb has longstanding religious and seasonal associations. It appears in many Christian Easter traditions, while lamb also carries important historical connections to Passover. Western Easter tables commonly feature ham, spring vegetables, and baked breads, while lamb remains especially prominent in several Orthodox Christian celebrations.

Flavor and preparation may explain some resistance. Lamb has a distinctive taste, and an overcooked leg can become dry enough to make the gravy boat feel like emergency equipment. A well-seasoned, properly rested roast may convert skeptics, but hosts should not assume every guest is eagerly awaiting a large serving.

Deviled Eggs Divide the Table

Deviled eggs were rejected by 34% of Easter celebrants. Their creamy filling, mustard flavor, sulfurous aroma, and slippery texture create a dish people tend to adore or avoid. There is rarely a neutral deviled-egg voter.

They remain practical for entertaining because they can be prepared ahead, served cold, customized with herbs or spices, and arranged attractively. However, hosts may be wise to make a smaller batch rather than producing enough eggs to feed a conference center.

Ham and Scalloped Potatoes Are Not Universally Loved

Honey-baked ham and scalloped potatoes were each named among the least favorite Easter foods by 27% of celebrants. Nevertheless, honey-baked ham orders increased by 424% around Easter in the purchase period studied. The ham may receive mixed reviews, but it continues to arrive at the party wearing its shiny glaze and expecting the best seat on the table.

Ham remains convenient because it can serve a crowd, requires relatively little last-minute work, and produces useful leftovers. Scalloped potatoes offer rich comfort but can feel heavy beside glazed meat, rolls, desserts, and other holiday dishes. Pairing them with crisp vegetables, a tart salad, or roasted asparagus can make the meal feel more balanced.

The Most Purchased and Least Loved Passover Foods

Passover grocery trends require additional cultural context because many foods are not merely menu options. They help tell the story of the holiday. The Seder includes matzah, bitter herbs, charoset, wine or grape juice, vegetables dipped in saltwater, and other symbolic foods arranged through a structured ritual meal.

Matzah Is the Essential Passover Staple

Matzah was one of Instacart’s strongest Passover performers, reaching an order share roughly 12.5 times its yearly average. Horseradish root, commonly used as a bitter herb, rose to about 10.4 times its usual share. These increases are not surprising: Matzah is central to Passover observance, while bitter herbs help symbolize the bitterness of slavery in the Exodus story.

Instacart’s earlier holiday research also found major increases in matzah, matzo ball soup mix, brisket, rack of lamb, and gefilte fish before Passover. Its 2026 follow-up found that purchases during the week leading to Passover rose 1,239% above average for matzah, 742% for gefilte fish, and 673% for matzo ball mixes. Traditional foods remain commercially powerful even when opinions about them are complicated.

Gefilte Fish Takes the Least-Loved Title

Gefilte fish was the most disliked Passover dish in the survey, with 44% of celebrants saying it was among their least favorites. Traditionally associated with Ashkenazi Jewish cooking, it is generally made from ground fish formed into portions and poached. Its pale appearance, soft texture, and reputation as a jarred holiday obligation can intimidate newcomers before the first bite.

Preparation matters considerably. Fresh, homemade versions can be light, tender, and mild rather than dense or overly sweet. Modern recipes also vary in fish selection, seasoning, presentation, and accompanying horseradish. The problem may not always be gefilte fish itself; sometimes it is the particular gefilte fish someone met during childhood and has been avoiding ever since.

Even Matzo Ball Soup Has Critics

Matzo ball soup was named a least favorite by 22% of Passover celebrants. That result may surprise diners who consider it one of the holiday’s most comforting dishes. Texture is a possible dividing line: Some families prefer light, fluffy “floaters,” while others proudly serve dense “sinkers.” A guest expecting one style may regard the other as a personal betrayal.

Passover cuisine also extends far beyond these nationally recognized Ashkenazi dishes. Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewish communities bring different culinary traditions, ingredients, spices, meats, vegetables, and desserts to the holiday. Treating gefilte fish and matzo ball soup as the complete Passover menu would overlook the enormous diversity of Jewish food culture.

Why People Keep Buying Foods They Say They Dislike

The Instacart Easter and Passover food data demonstrates that “popular” can mean several things. A dish may be popular because people enjoy it, because it is widely purchased, because it is ritually important, or because removing it would cause three relatives to begin telling the same story about how holidays were better in 1987.

Tradition Is Part of the Flavor

Food carries memory. The aroma of brisket, the crunch of matzah, the glaze on a ham, or the sight of colored candy eggs can transport people to earlier family gatherings. Even an imperfect dish may feel essential because it connects the present celebration to previous generations.

Hosts Shop for the Group, Not Just Themselves

Grocery purchase data reflects household compromise. One person controls the shopping cart, but that shopper may be buying for children, grandparents, guests with dietary needs, religious observance, or a partner who considers Cadbury Creme Eggs a separate food group.

Holiday Foods Have Limited Seasons

Seasonality also creates urgency. Many candies and prepared foods are promoted for only a few weeks. Shoppers may purchase them because this is their annual opportunity, not because they would eat them every Tuesday. The National Retail Federation reported that 92% of Easter shoppers planned to buy candy in 2025, while 89% planned to buy food. Americans were expected to spend billions on both categories, demonstrating the economic power of the spring celebration.

How to Build a Holiday Menu People Will Actually Enjoy

Keep the Meaning, Adjust the Portion

A culturally significant dish does not need to disappear because it has a mixed approval rating. Serve a smaller amount, especially when only a few guests actively enjoy it. This preserves tradition without producing a refrigerator full of leftovers that everyone suddenly becomes “too busy” to take home.

Offer One Familiar Dish and One Fresh Alternative

Pair lamb with roasted chicken, ham with salmon, or scalloped potatoes with a bright spring salad. At Passover, traditional family recipes can share the table with vegetable dishes, roasted meats, salads, or recipes inspired by Sephardic and Mizrahi cuisines, depending on each household’s observance and customs.

Ask Guests Before Shopping

A short group message can prevent culinary guesswork. Ask whether guests have dietary restrictions and which traditional dish matters most to them. This is much more useful than discovering at dinner that twelve people expected brisket while the host prepared enough lamb to provision a small medieval kingdom.

Buy Seasonal Candy Early

Instacart’s jelly bean surge suggests that many shoppers wait until the day before Easter. Buying candy earlier can provide a better selection and reduce the risk of building a basket from whatever remains on the shelf: three cracked chocolate bunnies, licorice nobody requested, and a mysterious pastel candy last redesigned in 1994.

A Real-World Holiday Shopping Experience: What the Data Feels Like at Home

Picture the typical holiday host beginning with a calm, organized plan. The menu is written neatly. The shopping list is divided into produce, meat, pantry items, candy, and flowers. There is even a reminder to buy ice. For approximately eleven minutes, everything appears under control.

Then the family messages begin. One guest wants the traditional ham. Another has stopped eating pork. Someone remembers that the children only ate rolls last year. An aunt asks whether there will be deviled eggs, while a cousin responds with an egg emoji followed by a green face. A relative volunteering to bring dessert does not specify which dessert, how much dessert, or whether dessert will arrive before everyone has gone home.

This is where Instacart’s findings become recognizable. The host does not purchase food according to a clean national preference chart. The cart becomes a negotiation. Ham goes in because it is expected. A smaller chicken goes in because not everyone eats ham. Scalloped potatoes remain on the list because they are traditional, but a crisp salad joins them because the table needs something that has recently seen daylight.

Easter candy creates a different challenge. Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs are easy to choose because almost everyone recognizes them. Cadbury Mini Eggs look festive and can be divided among several baskets. A chocolate bunny feels mandatory even though experience suggests that a child will eat the ears, abandon the remaining torso, and rediscover it behind a couch cushion in June.

Jelly beans are often forgotten until the baskets are assembled. Suddenly, the empty spaces around the larger candies become obvious. The host rushes to add two bags, unknowingly participating in the last-minute purchasing spike documented by Instacart. This is less a shopping strategy than an annual ritual of remembering that Easter baskets require decorative gravel.

Passover planning brings deeper questions because many foods have ceremonial or cultural meaning. Matzah and Seder plate ingredients are not casual additions that can be removed simply because they score poorly in a preference poll. The host must distinguish between ritual essentials, family customs, and optional dishes. A household may need several kinds of matzah, fresh horseradish, charoset ingredients, wine or grape juice, and foods that comply with its specific Passover practices.

Gefilte fish presents the classic dilemma. Perhaps only two relatives genuinely enjoy it, but both would notice its absence immediately. The practical solution is not necessarily to banish it. The host might serve a smaller portion, purchase a preferred brand, make a fresher version, or present it with strong horseradish and attractive garnishes. Tradition stays on the table without taking over an entire refrigerator shelf.

By the time guests arrive, the menu rarely resembles the host’s original minimalist vision. Yet that abundance reflects the real purpose of holiday food. The dishes accommodate different generations, memories, beliefs, preferences, and appetites. Not every item will be loved by every person. That is fine. A successful holiday table is not one where everyone chooses the same food; it is one where everyone can find something meaningful, satisfying, or at least safely covered in chocolate.

Conclusion

Instacart’s most popular Easter and Passover foods reveal more than America’s taste in candy and holiday meals. Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs dominate Easter baskets, jelly beans thrive under deadline pressure, and regional favorites keep the national picture interesting. Meanwhile, roast lamb, deviled eggs, ham, scalloped potatoes, gefilte fish, and matzo ball soup prove that frequent purchases do not guarantee universal affection.

The strongest lesson is that holiday food cannot be judged by preference alone. These dishes carry symbolism, identity, nostalgia, and family history. Hosts do not need to abandon tradition, but they can serve smaller portions, offer alternatives, and ask guests what they genuinely enjoy. The result is a table that respects the past without forcing everyone to pretend they wanted a second helping.