- We tried three brands of frozen fish sticks.
- We tried Gorton’s, Mrs. Paul’s, and Natural Sea.
- In the end, we liked Gorton’s best.
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Fish sticks are a classic freezer food. Keeping them handy is smart, especially if you have kids or pescatarians in your home, but it may not be a food you’ve given much thought too. I’ve had fish sticks before and like them but I couldn’t name a brand. Because of this, I decided to try some fish sticks to see if I could choose a favorite.
As a part of INSIDER’s ongoing taste test series, I tried three types of fish sticks. Previously, we’ve tried boxed mac and cheese and microwave popcorn.
The three fish sticks I tried were:
Gorton’s fish sticks
Mrs. Paul's crunchy fish sticks
Natural Sea wild caught cod fish sticks
Surprisingly, it was tough to find different brands of fish sticks, but I found these at two different grocery stores in Brooklyn, New York. I enlisted my boyfriend to help me do a blind taste test - I pulled them out of the bag and he cooked them, so we both weren't sure which was which until it was over.
We decided to grade them on crunchiness, fish taste, and freshness. We cooked each fish stick in the oven based on package instructions.
The Gorton's fish sticks were by far the crunchiest
The first ones we tried were from Gorton's. They took the shortest time to cook probably because they were the smallest, but we both thought they had the perfect crunch. They definitely had a breadcrumb-y texture but you could taste that it was indeed made of fish, in a good way.
My boyfriend described it as a "meaty" piece of fish and we were both big fans of this one. It was in the middle as far as price at $6.49 for 18 fish sticks.
Mrs. Paul's was a great choice for fish fans
The first thing we noticed about this one was how much it instantly tasted like fish, but in a good way. It was also pretty crunchy but the breading had a bit less flavor and there was less of it. But what the breading lacked, it was made up for by the fish taste, which was pleasant and not overpowering, but strong nonetheless.
The fish in this one was bit softer but it definitely tasted fresh. It was the cheapest at $5.79 for 18 sticks.
The Natural Sea brand also had a lot going for it
The first thing I noticed about this brand is it was a flatter fish stick. It definitely looked the best both out of the box and cooked.
Once I unveiled the fish sticks, I noticed that this one was also described as "sustainably caught," making it a great choice for those who want to shop consciously (although to be fair, I don't know how the others were caught). It was also the most expensive, coming in at $6.99 for 10 sticks.
It wasn't as crunchy as the others and the breading was flakier versus crumbly like the others. My boyfriend likened it to a fast-food fried treat, rather than frozen at-home food. In fact, it tasted, in both of our opinions, a lot like a chicken tender.
The fish was there, but it definitely was a bit less intense than the others, making it a good option for those who want to enjoy a fish stick, but who may not be the biggest fish fans.
In the end, we had to go with Gorton's
Gorton's just had everything we wanted with a great price point. It's a larger brand and seems to be available at most grocery stores (it was available at each of the stores I went to) and it overall, it just had everything we were looking for in a fish stick.
All in all though honestly, these fish sticks all tasted pretty similar, and I would have been pretty happy eating any of them. It seems you can't really go wrong with any of these options, it's all up to your preferences.