I don’t care whether or not you have kids. Your fridge should always be stocked with the best cheese sticks. A cheese stick is a great snack pretty much any time of day. It’s easy. It’s delicious. And it’s kind of good for you. But what are the best cheese sticks to buy? This is important. And we did the work to find out.
Before we get into the ranking, let me just clarify that we are talking about cheese sticks—not string cheese. We have a separate ranking of the best string cheese. Go ahead and check that list out if you’re looking for a pull-and-peel mozzarella stick experience. And, speaking of mozzarella, we’re also not talking about breaded mozzarella sticks. We have a separate ranking of the best frozen mozzarella sticks if that’s what you’re looking for. What we’re talking about here are more grown-up cheese sticks. We’re talking colby jack cheese sticks, pepper jack cheese sticks, and all manner of cheddar cheese sticks.
For this taste test, we simply laid out all of our options and went to town. We tasted like versus like—comparing sharp cheddar to sharp cheddar, colby jack to colby jack, etc. We wanted good cheese that was firm but creamy. And we wanted flavor. Actual cheesy flavor. That may seem like a no-brainer, but so many cheese sticks taste like bland plastic.
Don’t want to eat bland plastic? Here’s our ranking of the best cheese sticks to buy.
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- Sargento Colby-Jack Sticks
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Cheese sticks come in two shapes: rectangular flatties and long dice. Sargento cheese sticks are of the long dice variety. What does that mean? Think of a die, now make it long, so each facet is still a square but the whole stick is a long rectangle. It’s a really satisfying cheese stick shape to eat. And the flavor of the Sargento colby jack cheese sticks is good, too. It’s mild at first with a rich twang on the end. The texture is just firm enough and it finishes clean. You aren’t left with a mouth coated in cheese. If you don’t know what I’m talking about then you haven’t sat down to 17 cheese sticks and found the bad ones.
Credit: Merc / Walmart
- Tillamook Medium Cheddar Sticks
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Tillamook makes some of the best grocery store cheese around. (We’re particularly big fans of their Farmstyle Shreds and their sliced cheddar.) And their medium cheddar cheese sticks are no exception—though, I’d argue they taste more like mild cheddar than medium. The rectangular flatties are very gentle on the tangy cheddar flavor, with just a hint of that pungency at the end. The texture is great. It’s firm, not mushy. Overall, these are classic school lunch cheese sticks.
Credit: Merc / Walmart
- Sargento Sharp Cheddar Sticks
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Sargento cheese sticks are good. If you’re standing in front of the cheese sticks section and you don’t have this ranking memorized, just remember that. You probably won’t go wrong with Sargento cheese sticks. But if you’re especially in the mood for a super savory cheddar that almost tastes like it was smoked, then these are the best cheese sticks from Sargento to buy. The sharp cheddar doesn’t exactly taste sharp, but it’s still good cheddar.
Credit: Merc / Instacart
- Sargento Pepper Jack Sticks
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Another win for Sargento cheese sticks! These pepper jack cheese sticks really taste like pepper. They aren’t just hot, you actually get the flavor of grassy, fruity pepper. And then, of course, you do get that heat. These are actually pretty spicy. But that spice is counteracted by the mild creaminess of the cheese itself. I never considered snacking on pepper jack before but these pepper jack cheese sticks convinced me.
Credit: Merc / Instacart
- Kerrygold Aged Cheddar Snacks
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As good as the Sargento cheese sticks are, Kerrygold (maker of some of the best butter) makes the best cheese sticks of them all. These aged cheddar cheese sticks are cheddar cheese sticks at the top of their game. The flavor is nuanced and riched and layered—like an aged cheddar you’d find on a cheese board. We found these bad boys in a big ol’ bag at our local Costco, and I suggest you do the same. You’re going to want a lot of them.
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Best Colby Jack
Best Medium Cheddar
Best Smoky Cheddar
Best Pepper Jack
Best of the Best
Other cheese sticks we tried: Cracker Barrel Cheddar Jack, Good & Gather Colby Jack, Great Value Colby Monterey Jack, Cracker Barrel Extra Sharp Yellow, Great Value Sharp Cheddar, Good & Gather Pepper Jack, Member’s Mark Colby & Monterey Jack, Simple Truth Organic Colby Jack, Kroger Colby Jack, Jarlsberg Cheese Snacks, Great Value Mild Cheddar, Good & Gather Mild Cheddar
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!