Jack Link’s Pepperoni Beef Sticks I noticed some time back. Since I love eating pepperoni pizza and pepperoni by itself, I very much like this smaller, 0.8-ounce size of each beef stick. While this is a highly processed, highly seasoned cured meat product, these pepperoni beef stix effectively derail hunger in afternoon workplaces, and are a great evening snack to savor when it’s too early to go to bed but too late to eat anything really heavy.
Benefits, Pros, Advantages, and Features
- These beef snacks taste exactly like the pepperoni I’ve enjoyed on pizzas for many years. So when you can’t eat a pizza, try these.
- They have a texture and flexibility similar to the famed Slim Jims snack sticks, but do not snap as crisply.
- Pieces of these beef pepperoni sticks get stuck in the teeth far less than beef jerky, but on a par with Slim Jims.
- This preserved beef never requires refrigeration; not even after opening. So it will keep several months in your pantry. The best-if-used-by date falls roughly a year out from the purchase date. But they’ll stay fresh and pleasant-tasting for much longer if kept cool.
- I can’t imagine growing bored with this Jack Link pepperoni flavor.
- Kids like these seasoned beef strips, which is nice since they have far less added sugar than candies, cakes, or other sweet, sugary treats.
- Not much spicy juice comes out when you bite into one of these. I kind of missed that, after eating Slim Jims. But the pepperoni bite taste more than makes up for the reduced grease.
- They stock this snack in about any store, service station, or other convenience center.
- I found no bone fragments in this snack. Jack Link does a fine job filtering out all that byproduct debris from the meat in these pepperoni snacks.
- This product has a pleasant, subtle aroma that mirrors its actual taste. So smelling these sticks can make the mouth water, as the smell stokes the anticipation of the wonderful experience to come to the tongue.
- Not too spicy. Actually, these taste a bit less spicy than most pepperoni products I’ve sampled. Yet they still look and taste very much like pepperoni; just a smaller-diameter stick is the big difference. Mild indeed.
- These have a good diameter for biting. It’s easy to bite off a good-sized morsel, and then, not too hard to chew it up. Thicker sticks can be harder to access and chew. But not these.
- Only 7 grams of fat per serving, with 3 of those grams being saturated fat. While this probably does not qualify as a health food per se, its relatively low fat content makes it a now-and-then worthy snack for even the most cautious dieters.
Disadvantages, Cons, Problems, and Concerns
- Of course, the smaller the diameter of the beef stick, the more casing surrounding the meat you get, and less of the actual meat. Still though, I did not find this objectionable. The casing provided a little extra chew-ability that facilitated savoring the pepperoni flavor just a little bit longer.
- As noted, this is a highly processed food with a sizable list of undesirable food additives, including dextrose, salt, corn syrup, BHA, and BHT. It’s also a little high in sodium at 380 milligrams per serving. These numbers qualify this product as a once-in-a-while snack treat, though its deliciously satisfying pepperoni flavor might tempt you to eat it more frequently than that.
- These don’t snap apart into smaller pieces as easily as Slim Jims.
- I had hoped for a slightly stronger pepperoni flavor. Not necessarily a hotter flavor,mind you, although slightly more kick in these sticks would do no harm.
Ingredients List
Beef, water, salt. Contains 2% or less of corn syrup, dextrose, flavorings, paprika extractives, sugar, sodium erythorbate, lactic acid starter culture, sodium nitrite, BHA, BHT, citric acid, soybean oil. Treated with a solution of potassium sorbate to insure freshness. Contains soy.
Nutrition Facts
- Serving size: 1 stick, 0.8 ounces, 23 grams. Servings per container: 9.
- Amount per serving: Calories: 100. Calories from fat: 70.
- Total fat: 7 grams, 12% DV.
- Saturated fat: 3 grams, 15% DV.
- Trans fat: 0 grams.
- Cholesterol: 20 milligrams, 8% DV.
- Sodium: 380 milligrams, 16% DV.
- Total carbohydrate: 1 gram, 1% DV.
- Dietary fiber: 0 grams, 0% DV.
- Sugars: 0 grams.
- Protein: 5 grams.
- Vitamin A: 0% DV.
- Calcium: 0% DV.
- Vitamin C: 0% DV.
- Iron: 4% DV.
BHA, BHT, and citric acid added to help protect flavor.
Product Rating
I’d highly recommend these mini pepperoni sticks, as they’re the best I’ve sampled so far. I’d rate this snack product at 95 of 100. They’re quite good. So watch out at work should you decide to take this snack there with you, as once your compadres know you’ve got these at your desk, they’ll be after you relentlessly for one, or two, or the whole bag.
Where To Buy Jack Link’s Pepperoni Beef Sticks
Look for these snacks at gas stations, 24-hour convenience stores, and in grocery shops large and little. They come in a red, white, and green wrapper with the white, black, and red text. However, these often sell out. So if you eat these regularly, your best bet may be to order them online, well ahead of the time you’ll actually need them.
References
Revision History
- : Moved this post to the Tom’s Diet Quest blog, added whitespace, adjusted ad placement, and tweaked the content.
- 2012-05-07: Originally published.