10 Chomp Meat Sticks, Ranked Worst To Best

Chomps meat sticks are a great example of how a classic snack can be upgraded for modern consumer tastes. If you love the idea of a shelf-stable, highly portable protein source but aren't enthused by conventional jerky's iffy meat quality or sugar and carb content, Chomps was made for people like you — and me. I've hit the point where I cannot look at another cup of cottage cheese or high-protein yogurt; I just can't. (I mean, I can, but I'm, whey, whey, burned out at the moment, y'all.) So, when Chomps hit my local grocery store, I had to stop and take a look. Then I went home and did a little digging into the brand and its products to see if this is something I could cycle into my lifestyle.

Founded in 2012, Chomps makes meat sticks with zero sugar (a source of energy we're advised to keep under 10% of our daily calories), and they're free of several ingredients that can give jerky a questionable reputation. This includes artificial nitrates or nitrites, fillers and binders, and common allergens such as wheat, soy, and dairy. Chomps checks a lot of dietary boxes: it's friendly to the keto crowd, the paleo pack, and the gluten-free gang. It's also made with 100% grass-fed and finished beef and venison, as well as antibiotic-free turkey and chicken.

I sampled 10 Chomps meat sticks to find a savory, no-spoon-required snack that provides 10 to 12 grams of protein. Three Chomps sticks were downright tasty and easy to chew. Another three were "no thank yous," and the rest were varying degrees of "perfectly fine."

Some recommendations are based on first-hand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer/distributor/etc.

Chomps Jalapeño Beef Stick is the brand's original beef with jalapeño flavor added. As the packaging indicates a medium level of heat, I didn't really know what to expect spice-wise. In terms of flavor, I thought for sure this would offer the green, vegetal notes I enjoy in the real-deal pepper, complementing the beefiness of the meat.

In reality, this Chomps stick left a lot to be desired — it just wasn't quite enough of anything and had the least personality of all the flavors. The spice level was more on the lower end of medium and sputtered out pretty fast on my palate. It was distinct from the other meat sticks in that I could taste the jalapeños, but just barely, and the texture was also a dealbreaker. Beef jerky is going to be dry (it is what it is), but other Chomps sticks didn't have this one's unusual desiccated mouthfeel and lack of toothsome chewiness.

With a name like Taco Seasoned Beef, this Chomps flavor made big promises. The name gave me visions of ground beef cooked with cumin, garlic, chili powder, and all manner of taco-meat goodness dancing in my head. Even when I peeled open the wrapper, I caught a nice whiff of cumin that promised to follow through on my hopes. Unfortunately, the delivery of big-time deliciousness never made it.

Like the jalapeño beef, this Chomps stick wasn't bad-tasting at all, but its flavor simply didn't hit nearly as hard as I'd hoped. It contains such promising ingredients, too. Along with the taco seasoning trifecta I had envisioned, you'll find paprika, red pepper, onion powder, and oregano (plus a few other spices). On my palate, though, I mostly got a bit of cumin. Hints of onion and garlic emerged with each successive bite, but it was too little, too late. That said, this is more flavorful than the last-place Chomps stick, and the texture is much better, with more moisture and a pleasantly firm bite.

Speaking of promises, how is "Savory Breakfast Chicken" as a name that gets you salivating? I didn't read the flavor's product page before sampling this, so I didn't actually know what to expect. I thought maybe "chicken and waffles," though I didn't know how Chomps would accomplish the "waffle" part of the deal without sugar. Upon tasting this meat stick, I immediately understood what its name means, and it tastes exactly like what it's supposed to — chicken breakfast sausage. The stick is seasoned with white pepper, sage, ginger, nutmeg, thyme, and red pepper, and they all work together to create a highly original meat stick.

Two features keep this Chomps stick near the end of the ranking. The first is the texture. It's extremely dry, and I actively disliked biting into and chewing it. The saltiness is also a bit overwhelming, even though it contains just 10 more milligrams of sodium than the ninth- and last-place meat sticks. Somehow, though, the salt comes through much more intensely in this chicken stick, perhaps because chicken is simply a milder-flavored meat overall. That's too bad, because I actually enjoyed its flavor more than the next product's.

Chomps' Sea Salt Beef Stick has one of the simplest ingredient lists of all 10 products I sampled. Sea salt and garlic powder are its primary seasonings, with the latter the second-to-last item on the list before the beef collagen casing. It seems this is designed to be a pretty basic, bare-bones snack, and indeed it was. It even lacks the black pepper foundation of the Original Beef Stick.

Be that as it may, it does its job admirably. This would be a good stick of jerky for a consumer who isn't much of a fan of cured, dried meats. There's just enough meaty flavor to keep it from being boring, but it doesn't taste like the overwhelmingly beefy, salty, unyielding slabs one might typically associate with bad beef jerky. The texture is surprisingly pliable — more so than the Original Beef flavor, in fact. If I were going to shred jerky and add it to other foods for a high-protein hit, this might be the stick to do it with: it would enhance without overpowering. It's not amazing, though, and there are six other Chomps sticks that offer more.

Out of these 10 Chomps flavors, the Nashville Hot Chicken stick makes the boldest claims. Every Chomps package includes a spice-level indicator, and this was the only one I tried with three flames, meaning it's rated "hot." That's exactly as it should be, because while recipes vary, Nashville Hot Chicken is known for its fiery kick. Fans of the dish wouldn't accept a jerky version that didn't at least try to make them say, "Whew!" As soon as I opened the package, I could already catch the heat from the aroma.

Texture-wise, the casing was slightly moist and sticky, and the stick was supple and pliable; it was dramatically better in this regard than the Savory Breakfast Chicken. As for how the spice hits on the tongue, it's a little complicated. The heat crept up on me (on the first bite, I thought it wouldn't do much), and it left a nice tickle in my throat. But this isn't "Whew!" hot — at least, not to my taste buds. I know several people to whom it would be. If you don't like spicy food, obviously don't buy this, but if nothing is ever spicy enough for you, this chicken stick won't be, either.

The flavor was fine, but that's not a great place to land for something bearing the name of this iconic dish. This is just a spicy, salty, slightly sweet jerky (though still zero grams of sugar). One of the many differences between Nashville Hot Chicken and Buffalo Chicken lies in their flavor complexity. Taste-wise, this one's so nebulous that if it bore the name "Buffalo," I wouldn't bat an eye. The higher-ranking flavors taste distinctively like what they are.

While Chomps produces multiple beef stick flavors and three chicken varieties, its Original Turkey Stick is one of a kind: the sole representative of the gobble squad in the brand's jerky lineup. This makes sense — how many different ways can you do turkey, after all? But it got me wondering how interesting this flavor could be. Turkey isn't the most exciting prospect, minus the side dishes of a holiday feast or the zippy condiments on a sandwich. Surprisingly, though, this basic turkey stick held its own, presenting a more satisfying distinctiveness than both Nashville Hot Chicken and Sea Salt Beef.

First off, it really does taste like turkey. There's a light, natural sweetness to it, and it comes across as less salty than the beef jerky, even though it contains 10 fewer milligrams of salt. The texture is definitely different from that of the beef sticks. It's drier, but not so dry that it causes a problem (unlike Savory Breakfast Chicken). There's a protein bonus, too: This meat stick offers 12 grams of protein (as do the chicken sticks), while a beef stick offers 10 grams. Ultimately, this isn't the most tasty Chomps out there, but I really enjoyed it. It's refreshingly different, especially after munching six different beef sticks. There is another poultry stick that was just a tad more yummy, though.

This Chomps' Original Chicken Stick came in a trial pack with the Savory Breakfast Chicken and the Nashville Hot. I admit that when I looked at the trio, I assumed this flavor would be the boring one, and theoretically, it is. OG Chicken has its charms, though — so many that it finds itself in fourth place in this ranking.

The Original Chicken Stick has a ton of flavor. Like the Original Turkey, there's that hint of poultry sweetness, but it's definitively chicken. There's a homey familiarity to it, like the essence of a nice roast chicken dinner concentrated into stick form. This isn't surprising given that the ingredients contain the typical flavorings for such a repast: black pepper, onion, paprika, marjoram, rosemary, garlic, and thyme. Texture-wise, this is easier to chew and bite into than most of the other meat sticks, and it's pleasantly moist. My only quibble is that the saltiness sticks out a bit too much, as it did with the Savory Breakfast Chicken. It isn't so intense that this Chomps should be ranked any lower, but perhaps if it were a tad toned down, it might have bested the meat stick in third place.

The Chomps meat stick that started it all, the Original Beef Stick, has a lot to offer. It's got a nice salty, beefy aroma that creates anticipation for that first bite, and the texture is friendly — easy to bite and chew, but still jerky-like enough to be fun to sink your teeth into. The level of saltiness is the perfect backdrop to the flavor, which is exactly as described by the brand with its hint of smokiness, noticeable black pepper foundation, and subtle tinge of spice.

It edges out the Original Chicken by offering just a bit more flavor. While the chicken is pretty clucking good, the Original Beef has the makings of a classic despite coming from a relatively young company. It's an excellent meat stick, and its third-place finish comes down to two other flavors building on this solid foundation with bold additions that make them even more delicious.

Chomps' Smoky BBQ Beef stick is black pepper-forward, much like the Original Beef, but there's a lot more going on. For starters, it's a full flame hotter on the spice chart, earning two flames instead of the Original's one. The meat stick is smoked over natural hardwoods and seasoned with its barbecue spice blend. I expected a ton of flavor, and it delivered. The rich barbecue aroma was the first sign this flavor might be something special, and it absolutely lived up to that promise.

While this may not be Chomps' most creative flavor, it is one of the most enjoyable. If I had my choice of this and Original Beef, I'd pick this. Being from Texas, BBQ-anything always reminds me of home, and I might even go so far as to call this stick comfort food. While it's not the most BBQ-y beef jerky I've ever eaten, it's still delicious. The texture is great, too, with that happy little snap as it gives between your teeth. For a while, I thought this must be number one — it's traditional and delectable. But believe it or not, after all the hyping up I've done of this one, it couldn't beat the stick encased in the bright green wrapper.

When I first laid eyes on the Chili Lime Beef stick, I had no idea it would become my favorite Chomps flavor. While chili and lime are a great pairing, I assumed the Taco Seasoned Beef would be the more exciting of the two Tex-Mex-inspired options. But one look at the ingredients list made me rethink that assumption. The chili pepper, garlic, chipotle pepper, granulated onion, and cumin promised a bold flavor experience, while the cilantro, lime oil, basil, and oregano sounded like the perfect combination to balance those richer spices.

And they delivered. From the moment I opened the package, the chili-lime aroma jumped out at me. It's easily the best-smelling of the 10 flavors, and the taste is every bit as vibrant as the scent. It's bright, zesty, and packed with the perfect balance of savory beef, tangy lime, and warming spices. The texture is spot-on, with the ideal snap and chew, and the medium heat lingers pleasantly alongside the layered flavors. I like most of the other Chomps sticks, but I genuinely love this one.

Since every Chomps flavor is made with high-quality ingredients and contains zero grams of sugar, I based this ranking primarily on flavor and texture rather than nutrition. The best Chomps sticks delivered bold, satisfying flavors that were memorable on their own and lived up to the descriptions on the packaging. A stick advertised as smoky, spicy, or citrusy should clearly showcase those qualities rather than taste like a slight variation of the Original. 

Texture also played a major role. While meat sticks are naturally firm and salty, neither characteristic should overwhelm the eating experience. Products that were excessively dry, overly chewy, or aggressively salty lost points, while those with a pleasant snap, balanced seasoning, and enjoyable chew rose to the top.