Pretz – Crispy Chicken

Pretz is a beloved snack that I have never outgrown, and hope to never outgrow. Sure there are times and lulls where I don’t have any for an extend period, but it’s never intentional. Like long lost lovers who find themselves together each lifetime, I can never stay away from them too long. Today’s version is part of a new line they’ve been experimenting with called crispy.

I can’t be sure, but I believe the 100 on the front of the box indicates that there are about 100 sticks. These sticks are not what I’m used to. Their far thinner and smaller than the one’s I’m used to, which explains how they fit 100 sticks into this small, 55g box. I generally handle Pretz sticks carefully for fear of them snapping prematurely, but these ones look even daintier.

Because of the size of these, these are a very different mouth feel. These are very thin, but very condensed. They aren’t nearly as fragile as the appearance might lead you to believe. They are similar to a very thin stick version of Cratz, which I love. These are less like a biscuit stick that Pretz and Pocky typically release with standard flavours. This has a cleaner snap, and have a bit more crunch. Oddly enough, despite being so thin (I’d wager its at least half the 1/4 of the thickness). I could probably put 4 of these together, and that would give me one standard sized stick. The texture would be quite different though, since the standard ones are a tad airy and dare I say, fluffy on the inside, while these are pretty dense pretzel through and through. Like if you took a standard Pretz stick and kept it flattened throughout the baking process.

In terms of flavour, I wasn’t expecting it to taste like chicken, but it actually does remind me of the typical fried chicken seasoning you’d find in most places. It’s hard to pin what the combination of herbs and spices are, but the most prevalent and noticeable ones are of paprika and black pepper. It actually reminds me a lot of the pepper bacon Cratz flavour, except the black pepper isn’t as overpowering and there is a chicken stock flavour.

Kind of random but these remind me a lot of really thin pretzel sticks that we would get as complimentary dishes at a Japanese Izakaya we once frequented. Which makes sense, since these have the same level of saltiness as Cratz, so I imagine these are meant to be enjoyed with a nice cold beer.

While I was taken aback at first at how small and dainty these are, these have a texture that is very nostalgic for me, and I quite enjoy them. They also sort of remind me of eating uncooked instant noodle. While you aren’t technically supposed to do that, it’s relatively safe to do because they’re basically flash fried. In fact, the flavour kind of reminds me of a chicken flavoured instant noodle I once had as a kid too.

Nostalgia aside, these are quite tasty, and I’d absolutely buy this again. While I haven’t had a chance to audit whether there’s 50 pieces in each pouch in each of the 2 pouches to constitute the 100 piece claim, I feel like there’s so many I would be satisfied even if it wasn’t. This are just as easy to snack on stick by stick, or a bunch at a time because…just because.