Review: Dr. Praeger’s Gluten-Free Fish Sticks

It seems like I’ve been hearing about the gluten-free fish sticks from Dr. Praeger’s forever, but I only recently found them at my favorite health food store. The fish sticks are potato crusted which didn’t sound all that appealing to me, but I decided to give them a try anyway.

The preparation of the fish sticks is the same as with any other version with or without gluten. You put them on a baking tray and bake on each side for a set amount of time. For Dr. Praeger’s product, it took about nine minutes per side. The fish sticks were a deep golden brown which is not the norm for gluten-free fish sticks. The others tend to look a bit more yellowish than golden brown when baked in the oven. Frying them generally improves the color of most of them, but it also adds a whole lot of fat and calories.

As the fish sticks baked and started turning golden brown, I could only hope that they tasted as good as they looked. We all know that looks, and even smells at times, can be deceiving when it comes to gluten-free foods.

There was no need to worry about Dr. Praeger’s Potato Crusted Fish Sticks. They were surprisingly delicious! The potato crust was crunchy, but not too much so and the fish inside was some of the best we can remember having in any type of fish sticks.

The odd thing about them was that there was not much of a potato flavor to them. Before I tasted the fish sticks, I was worried that the crust would be kind of a soggy mashed potato-type coating which was hardly the case. The batter was pretty light and only slightly hinted that potatoes were a part of it at all. I used lemon juice and cocktail sauce (separately) on the fish sticks and each was a very good accompaniment for them.

The ingredients in the fish sticks are the cleanest I’ve seen in this product category. Ingredients: Pollock fillets (wild), potato flakes, potato starch, expeller-pressed canola oil, eggs, salt, and brown sugar. In addition to being gluten-free and made from all-natural ingredients, the product is also certified kosher. All the products in the line are kosher and there is no MSG added to any of them either.

Dr. Praeger’s makes both gluten-free and gluten-containing products so to make it easy to spot their gluten-free items, there is a color coding system for their packaging. Boxes with a red stripe on the top contain gluten and those with a green stripe are gluten-free. Below is some more information about the company:

Tasting is believing.

Dr. Praeger’s philosophy is that good-for-you food should actually taste good, especially if you don’t let artificial ingredients, colors and fillers get in the way. That’s why our products are made with ingredients you recognize, including flash-frozen vegetables and fish from cold Northern waters. Our hearty California Veggie Burger doesn’t conceal its tasty spinach, broccoli, peas, carrots and onions – it puts them right where you can see and taste them! And our gluten-free options are an easy way to keep wheat out of your diet, while keeping the good things in, like fiber and taste bud-pleasing flavor.

Now that I’ve tried the tasty fish sticks in this line, I’m really looking forward to trying the fish fillets eventually. I also want the Sweet Potato Pancakes. Those are low in fat and calories and high in fiber – sounds like another winning Dr. Praeger’s product to me!