The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has been linked with caloric overeating and weight gain. We employed a mediation analysis to determine whether pandemic-associated overeating was a direct effect of COVID-19-related anxiety (affect regulation theory) or mediated by a coping mechanism of escape eating (escape theory). A diverse pool of college students participated in a repeated cross-sectional study during three separate waves: May 2021 (wave 1, n = 349), December 2021 (wave 2, n = 253), and March 2022 (wave 3, n = 132). The results revealed a significant indirect effect of COVID-19-related anxiety on high-caloric overeating mediated by escape eating, but no direct path between COVID-19-related anxiety and caloric overeating. Analysis of racial/ethnic status uncovered significantly greater COVID-weight gain in Hispanic participants compared with White, Black, and Asian participants. Our results suggest that COVID-19 weight gain is a byproduct of a mediated escape mechanism differentially affecting racial/ethnic groups.