If you can’t consume gluten, chances are it’s been awhile since you’ve had a Cheez-It. And you probably glorify them, right? There are plenty of good, naturally GF snacks to choose from—Fritos, tortilla chips, most plain potato chips—and lots of good GF versions of snacks that typically do contain gluten, too, but things like Cheez-Its can become forbidden fruit. You fixate. You covet.
Well, covet no more, GF friends: Gluten Free Cheez-It crackers are finally here. The brand just launched a bunch of new products for the new year (including these tasty new Grooves) and finally saw fit to invite gluten free folks to the party. We snagged a box of the new Gluten Free Cheez-It to find out whether they taste as good as you’d hope they would.
Pros: Gluten Free Cheez-Its are made with a GF flour blend that includes rice, sorghum, and yellow corn, and I gotta say, it’s a pretty good blend. If they’d only relied on rice, the crackers would be too weird and crispy, and while these are certainly crispier than regular ol’ Cheez-its, the texture is pretty accurate. In fact, we all liked the slightly crispier texture, even though it seemed to result in more crumbs and fewer whole crackers in the box. All in all these are pretty damn faithful to their source material. Our trusted GF taste tester, Logan Castrodale, gave these an enthusiastic thumbs up.
Cons: Okay, you know how Cheez-It have that baked-in cheese flavor that doesn’t really taste like cheese? It’s salty and tangy, but it almost tastes like Play-Doh smells? Well, these have that flavor, but it’s even more pronounced, which makes them taste just a little strange. I noticed it as a person who pretty regularly eats non-GF Cheez-Its, but I highly doubt anyone who’s had to give them up would notice or care.
Howdy! I’m Gwynedd, Sporked’s managing editor. I live in Los Angeles and have access to the best tacos the U.S. has to offer—but I’m a sucker for a crunchy Old El Paso taco night every now and then. I’ve been at Sporked since 2022 and I’m still searching frozen mozzarella sticks that can hold a candle to restaurant sticks.
Why you should trust me: I’ve been a journalist for 20 years (yikes), a consumer of food for 40-plus years, and I’m truly hard pressed to think of foods I don’t like (or that I can’t tolerate at the very least). Oh and one time I cooked my way through Guy Fieri’s cookbook and wrote about the journey through Flavortown.
What I buy every week: Trader Joe’s Original Savory Thins. Fat free plain yogurt (usually Fage or Nancy’s). Honeycrisp apples. Sweet cream coffee creamer for my at-home Americanos. A frozen cauliflower crust pizza and some jarred mushrooms to top it with. Old El Paso Stand ‘N Stuff taco shells and Gardein Ground Be’f, even though I think “be’f” is a nightmarish contraction.
Favorite ranking: Stouffer’s frozen dinners. I don’t own a microwave (I get my cancers the old fashioned way!), so I love taste testing things that I don’t really buy to eat at home.
Least favorite ranking: Soy sauce. Don’t get me wrong, I love soy sauce—but consuming that much sodium in one sitting is probably illegal in some countries. Our frozen enchilada taste test was a close second; the smell of microwaved corn tortillas still haunts me.
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!
Gwynedd Stuart
Ariana Losch
Danny Palumbo
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!