Dr. Praeger's Fish Nuggets & Sticks

The frozen food aisle.  Not a place I visited, besides for the ice cream, much at all, until ... the pandemic.  Gone were my free office lunches, my travels around the world eating out, and in their place ... me, at home, needing to feed myself.  After the "novelty" of needing to source groceries, meal plan, and cook for myself wore off, let's just say, that frozen foods aisle sure looked appealing!

It was in that aisle that I discovered Dr. Praeger's.

"Dr. Praeger’s Sensible Foods has delicious and convenient frozen food options for just about any type of lifestyle and families of all ages."

I'll admit, I only paid attention to Dr. Praeger's because many of their products, aimed at kids, were actually, uh, kinda fun?

Dr. Praeger's makes a number of frozen food product lines, including fairly boring items like a range of veggies burgers and hash browns, but also some more fun things like "puffs" - think tator tots, but made from veggies like "kale puffs", "cakes" - think crab cakes, but again, made from veggies like brussels sprouts cakes, "littles" - bite sized, usually cute shaped, finger foods/appetizers like dino shaped sweet potato bites, bear shaped chocolate oatmeal bites, star shaped brocoli bites, and more, and a range of seafood.  You know, fish sticks.  It is this later product line I focused on.

Seafood

The seafood lineup from Dr. Praeger's is fairly extensive.  You could opt for standard fish sticks, lightly (panko) breaded, or go for the gluten-free rice crusted version.  Prefer larger pieces?  Opt for the breaded (or rice crusted) fish filets.  Want some thing more fun?  Go for the fish shaped nuggets (again, available breaded or rice crusted).  Even more fun?  The bites, available in "fish taco" (tortilla coated, Mexican flavor infused) or "buffalo fish" (carrots, celery, and buffalo sauce included in them!).

All are made with Alaskan Pollock.

Lightly Breaded Fishies.

"Crispy, tasty, fish bites that kids love."

The first product I tried was the little fishie nuggets, panko breaded version, not the gluten-free.  They were adorable.

These were very kid friendly, obviously, not only in shape, but in contents.  The inside was minced Alaskan pollock combined with potatoes, not very fishy, mostly like mashed potatoes.  It was very midely spiced.

As an adult, I didn't care for all the filler, but I see how it would make these more appealing to children.

Baked Lightly Breaded Fishie.

The crust I did like though, and they crisped up perfectly in the toaster oven as instructed (bake at 450* degrees for 9 min, flip, another few minutes).  It was well seasoned breading with a bit of garlic and onion.  I'm not really sure why they call these "lightly breaded", as the breading level was perfect. 

Overall, a fine product, but not for me.  I really liked the texture and crunch of the breading, but just not the mushy potato-y interior.

***.

Rice Crusted Fish Sticks.

"Wild caught Pollock fillet sticks in a savory, crispy rice coating. Gluten Free Fish Sticks."

I moved on to actual fish sticks, made with small fillets rather than minced seafood.  No filler for these, literally, just stick shaped fillets of pollock.  Mild, flaky, decent white fish.

These were gluten-free however, with a rice based coating rather than the crispy seasoned panko.

Rice Crusted Fish Sticks: Inside.

The cooking instructions for the sticks was similar to the fishies, same temperature, but for longer.  However, they didn't cook quite as easily.

The instructions say to put on an ungreased pan, which I did, but mine stuck when I went to flip them.  Why not greased?  The instructions also add in the word "carefully" before "flip", so clearly, I am not unique in having flipping problems.  I was careful, but, alas, the breading came off.

Flipping issues aside, I really liked these.

The texture and flavor of the crust was very different, but there was something about the rice version that I really liked.  A subtle ... mochi-ness.  Like the other breading, it got perfectly crispy in the toaster oven, and I enjoyed the crunch.

I'll gladly eat more of these, obviously not a gourmet item, but, good little fish sticks, when you want something easy.

****.