Steakhouse Onion Funyuns are back. The fan favorite Funyuns flavor (I get a bonus for excessive alliteration) launched in 2015, was discontinued in 2018, and reappeared in the chip aisle this month, which is great news for the 500 or so people who signed an online petition asking Frito-Lay to bring it back. Okay, so not exactly a groundswell on Change.org, but trust me, people love these things.
If you hadn’t already figured it out, the inspo for Funyuns Steakhouse Onion is the Bloomin’ Onion from Outback Steakhouse. If you’ve never had a Bloomin’ Onion, stop reading this. Set down your phone. Go to Outback and get one. It might be the most iconic chain restaurant appetizer ever, and part of what makes it great—along with the flaky, crispy, very well seasoned batter and the novelty of its unique construction—is the tangy, horseradish-y dipping sauce it’s served with. Funyuns set out to take all that greasy fun and flavor and make it shelf-stable. Did they pull it off? We picked up a bag of Funyuns Steakhouse Onion to find out if they’re “just right.”
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Pros: Steakhouse Funyuns are very delicious. They taste onion-y and fried because, well, they’re Funyuns, but there are additional components in the flavor dust that really do channel the zippy, creamy Bloomin’ Onion dipping sauce (sour cream is one of them, according to the ingredients listed on the bag). These are much tangier than regular Funyuns; in fact, two of my colleagues thought they tasted like homemade Chex Mix in that Worcestershire saucy way. People love snacks. People love chain restaurants. This is a really fun idea for a mashup and it’s quite well-executed.
Cons: I guess I’m a Funyuns purist. Are you making fun of me because I just called myself a “Funyuns purist”? Fair enough. But here’s the biggest “con” in my opinion: Steakhouse Onion Funyuns are not as good as regular ol’ Funyuns. I am Andrew Lincoln and Funyuns are Kiera Knightley—to me, they are perfect. You can’t mess with perfection. But you can take a perfect chip and combine it with a perfect appetizer, and get something pretty fun.
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.
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Gwynedd Stuart
Will Morgan
Joe Rumrill
Justine Sterling
