8 Tyson Products To Keep Out Of Your Grocery Cart, According To Reviews

The Tyson brand has a hand in many different kinds of meat, including pork and beef. However, its most famous product is chicken. Tyson's frozen chicken has likely ended up in your cart at one point or another; the brand is absolutely everywhere. With such long-lasting brands (Tyson Foods is 90 this year), there is inevitably going to be change — to the logo, to the product, and to the services provided. Such as removing antibiotic-free labeling, or changing their production to remove certain dyes and colors. Whatever changes a company, its consumers will take note.

Over the past five years of change for Tyson, the company has been involved in numerous recalls due to problems such as foreign matter contamination and deadly listeria outbreaks, specifically regarding its chicken products. For a company that is responsible for about one fifth of the production of chicken, beef, and pork in the United States, Tyson Foods cannot seem to avoid controversy. From mishandling COVID-19 regulations to recent allegations of Child Labor Law violations, the multinational corporation has been in an unenvious spotlight. While the quality of a company's products is not always tied directly to how honestly and ethically the company is run — it appears that this time the writing is on the wall. Even diehard Tyson fans have noticed a change in the products they once so loved. According to their reviews, several products are just no longer worth picking up on your grocery run.

Chicken wings are supposed to have succulent and juicy meat with a crispy outer skin, like in this easy classic buffalo wing recipe. While many enjoy their wings dipped in sauce or prepared with a flavorful marinade or rub, it is important that chicken wings be recognizably composed of chicken. That would seem self-explanatory, but as reviews of a number of Tyson chicken wing products reveal, the company seems to have forgotten the simple step of making its chicken taste and feel like chicken.

In a thread on Reddit and the only Amazon customer review as of writing, there is a common theme of Tyson chicken wings tasting strange across multiple batches. While flavor is a personal preference and what tastes strange to one may click with another, there are some universally accepted norms for chicken wings. One of those is their mouth feel, and the actual texture of these wings is all wrong. A coarse and grainy consistency is usually a byproduct of overprocessing the product. This speaks to a lack of confidence in the natural production of Tyson's chicken, and unfortunately, this is not the last time the texture of the chicken comes up.

When buying frozen chicken, there are certain expectations for when it comes time to cook the meat. The most important thing is that it does not have any additional flavor, besides what is advertised on the packaging. This includes not having the bitter taste that freezer burn can impart. Another expectation is that the chicken remains present in whatever dish you are cooking, as the protein is supposed to be the star of the meal.

Tyson frozen chicken thighs fails both of these expectations; according to several Amazon reviews, not only did the thighs look unappetizing upon opening the package, but once they were cooked, there was so little chicken left that some speculated Tyson had shortchanged the packaging. Shrinkage is a normal process while cooking any meat, but there is a difference between meat losing bulk because fat is being rendered and juices are cooking off, and the protein all but vanishing because it relies on fillers.

As for the flavor of the thighs, not only do all the above-mentioned Amazon reviews mention it's terrible, but it is similarly referenced in many reviews left on the Target listing for the thighs. The only advice given by various commenters across Amazon, Target, and Reddit is to use strong flavors to mask the taste of the chicken. While bold palates, like this recipe for honey soy marinated baked chicken thighs, can be delightful and really make a meal special, having to rely on a marinade or sauce to completely mask the flavor of the meat does not speak highly to the quality of the product.

Tyson advertises its Honey Battered Breast Tenders as dippable treats filled with chicken breast meat. A glance at Tyson's product website or the packaging for the tenders shows this to be a deceptive technical truth. While the Honey Battered Breast Tenders do indeed contain some chicken breast meat, it is a proprietary blend of breast and rib meat shaped into a pattie fritter. 

The only fully truthful part of the product title is the fact that the meat is fully cooked and honey battered, as these are neither only breast meat nor actual tenders. This product should not be considered as chicken tenders, though the difference between chicken tenders and fingers can be subtle. Tenders are a specific cut of breast meat, while chicken fingers are defined by their shape.

Deceptive packaging aside, if the product was able to deliver on quality and flavor, it may still be worth picking up; unfortunately, Tyson could not follow through on the promise of either. Consumer reviews on the Walmart listing confirm that the breading is often soggy or overwhelming, and there's a peculiar aftertaste that makes enjoying the tenders difficult. One Reddit thread discusses how strange it is that the Honey Battered Breast Tenders are called tenders in the first place, also noting that the chicken is strangely textured.

Considering Tyson has thus far proved its inability to properly produce relatively plain chicken products, it should come as no surprise that the more flavorful and experimental offerings also fall short. If you were holding out hope that a smaller portion of chicken would be harder for Tyson to fumble, you should prepare for disappointment. The smaller bite-sized pieces of the Any'tizers BBQ Flavored Chicken Bites appear to have just given Tyson more fail points to work with. Maybe the brand should read up on what makes a perfect barbecue sauce.

Any'tizers are advertised as easy-to-make and tasty snacks; it's why their name is a portmanteau of anytime and appetizer. However, between the reviews given by Walmart and Target customers, and threads on Reddit, it appears that these chicken bites are nothing like advertised. The most common complaints come back to the ratio of breading to chicken, and the strange synthetic aftertaste the faux honey barbecue leaves in the mouth. 

There are also texture complaints, as with most of the other Tyson chicken products, with some calling out the stringy and tough chicken texture or the soggy, sticky breading that refuses to crisp without burning. One commenter even made a point to mention that despite the sogginess of the bites, they were still dry and difficult to swallow. Nothing about his product works well, and it should be avoided at all costs.

Let's say you're looking for the sizzling flavors of a chicken fajita at home. If you have a couple of hours and the ingredients, you could put together this simple one-pan chicken fajitas recipe. If you don't have the time to spare, you may find yourself looking for easier cook-from-frozen options. Tyson touts its line of Fajita Flavored Chicken Strips as a flavorful and labor-saving way to spice up any Mexican dish, like Tex-Mex flatbread or fiery nachos. It should come as no surprise that instead of a spicy, tasty addition to a meal, these Chicken Strips are a rubbery, over-salted mess.

One does not have to scroll very far on the Walmart review pages to find multiple people complaining of the gross overabundance of seasoning and the styrofoam-like texture of the chicken, and those are the reviewers who were able to find a bag of these chicken strips that didn't seem spoiled upon purchase. Even on Reddit, a relatively positive review ended with the commenter agreeing that these would be a miss on their shopping list going forward. Unless you're looking to double your blood pressure and burn out your taste buds in one sitting, it's advisable to avoid dropping these Fajita Flavored Chicken Strips into your cart.

The main complaint from the last several products centered around the flavors added to the chicken. Perhaps it is simply a case of Tyson not knowing how to tread the delicate balance of flavoring, and overdoing it in an attempt to appease the palate of the buyer. Sadly, with this inclusion to the list, you can strike that thought as these chicken strips are about as stock-standard an addition as one can have. This take on a classic chicken tender seems perfect for dipping into your favorite sauce mixture. After all, what is a chicken strip save for a vehicle for sauce?

A good chicken strip should have two elements: a juicy and tasty cut of chicken, and a nice coating of breading that gives the chicken a crispy, flaky crust. Tyson crispy chicken strips check neither of those prerequisites off. Review after review on Amazon and Walmart reference the inadequate breading-to-chicken ratio, lamenting the fact that instead of buying a bag of crispy breaded chicken, they appear to have bought a bag of soggy breaded breading. Those who can find the chicken beneath the breading complain of the unappetizing texture. A few reviewers even mentioned their chicken was still pink in the middle. It appears Tyson could not follow through reliably on the product's description, instead producing half-cooked soggy breaded strips. Hard pass!

Tyson chicken patties are one of the brand's most recognizable products, consistently appearing in lists of Tyson's top products alongside its chicken nuggets. However, this pillar of the chicken patty world has recently fallen victim to shrinkflation, which has affected not just the size of the final product but also its overall reliability. Shrinkflation, sometimes also called Skimpflation, occurs when a product or service is reduced in size, quantity, or quality without a corresponding reduction in price. This practice has been seen across the world in brands like Cadbury, Heinz, and Dove — and it appears Tyson is following the same path.

Besides the shrinking issue, there are the usual complaints of flavor and texture that have plagued many of the previous entries. Walmart and Target can't shake the bad reviews, even with Tyson's representatives going out of their way to reply to individual commenters. The disgust in these comments is real, and not all of it is aimed at the flavor and texture. Consumers are beginning to see how the brand's business practices are negatively affecting them, and are making themselves heard.

It is always a shame to have a favorite fall from grace. This was the experience researching this particular article, as Tyson chicken nuggets were a staple in the household while growing up. A quick review of the comments left on Walmart, Target, and Amazon was disheartening at best. Issues like rubbery chicken, chemical smells, shrinkflation, poor breading, and failure to crisp in the oven dominate the 1- to 3-star reviews on these sites. The chicken nuggets had the largest percentage of 1-star reviews out of any of the previous products on Target's review section. Tyson chicken nuggets couldn't even crack the top frozen chicken nuggets ranked worst to best on this very site!

It appears that the problems Tyson has with its other chicken products are exemplified in the chicken nuggets. The sour chemical taste of the meat indicates that the blend of white breast meat is held together with mostly fillers and overprocessing — this is corroborated by the strange and spongy texture of the meat. The breading is too abundant and does not crisp up properly, which is symptomatic of skimpflation; Tyson prioritizes the breading since it's cheaper than the chicken. Coupled with people complaining about missing nuggets in their purchases, the picture of how Tyson treats its consumers becomes clearer. Even this former gold standard for frozen chicken nuggets is now no longer worth placing in your shopping cart.