Snack Chat April 2025

Hey, Snackology readers. Welcome to Snack Chat for April 2025.

This new Snackology feature will bring you the major snacking news of the month. Upcoming fast food releases, new soda flavors, limited edition cookies — it’ll all be in your email on the last Wednesday of every month.

Snack Chat will also have handy links to reviews that I’ve done about new products. (You can easily find them in this newsletter by looking for the 🍪 symbol next to an item.)

While Burger King topping a slushy with Nerds has my attention, we’re kicking off the first edition of Snack Chat with the news that McDonald’s is finally bringing back chicken strips in the form of McCrispy Strips. While the classic McNuggets have never gone away, chicken strips have come and gone from the McDonald’s menu over the years. There were Chicken Selects. There were Buttermilk Crispy Tenders. And now in 2025, we’re getting the appropriately branded McCrispy Strips.

I’ll have my early review of McCrispy Strips later this week. For now, here’s Snack Chat for April 2025 ...

Fast food

• McDonald’s Takes Dipping to the Next Level with Brand-New McCrispy Strips and Creamy Chili Dip (McDonald’s): “We’re raising the chicken game to a new level with McCrispy Strips: irresistibly craveable chicken strips made with juicy, 100% white meat, coated with crispy golden-brown breading and bursting with a bold, new black pepper flavor. McCrispy Strips also come with a perfect pairing — Creamy Chili Dip, a savory, sweet and tangy sauce that unlocks the full Strips experience.”
• Taco Bell Brings Back Fan-Favorite Chicken Nuggets With Ambitions To Make Crispy Chicken Permanent In 2026 (Taco Bell): “Taco Bell’s Crispy Chicken Nuggets are making a comeback on April 24, after selling out nationwide in December 2024 in less than a week. This time, they’re bringing bigger plans with them. Followed by a menu pipeline of chicken-led innovation, the nugget’s return is the start of Taco Bell’s journey to become a go-to destination for crispy chicken with a permanent mainstay by 2026.”
  • 🍪 Snackology Review: Taco Bell isn’t chicken when it comes to entering the nugget wars: “In a weird way, I’d say, yeah, these are nuggets done how Taco Bell would do nuggets. The breading is its own thing. But it’s done in a much subtler way than you’d expect from Taco Bell. The breading isn’t made of crushed Doritos or Cheez-Its.”
• Burger King Just Made a Drink That Tastes Like Middle School Summer (Stephanie Gravelese, Food & Wine): “Available nationwide starting April 24, the limited-time drink layers a strawberry — or blue raspberry — slush base with a tangy sprinkle of Nerds candy. The base is smooth and cold, while the candy adds a burst of texture and a tart finish that cuts through the sweetness.”
• KFC Just Brought Back A Distinctly Southern Menu Item After 5-Year Hiatus (Meghan Overdeep, Southern Living): “After five long years, KFC is finally bringing back a popular sweet-and-savory menu item Southerners are all too familiar with: Chicken & Waffles.”
  • 🕰️ FLASHBACK: KFC Just Debuted Chicken And Waffles ... So We Tried ’Em (Hannah Loewentheil, BuzzFeed): “The waffle was pretty mediocre — not bad, but very much like the stuff you were probably served in your high school cafeteria on breakfast for lunch days.”
• Fresh Ways to Frosty: Wendy’s Reimagines Famous Dessert with April Launch of Frosty Swirls and May Launch of Frosty Fusions (Wendy’s): “Wendy’s is reimagining the famous Frosty with new ways to experience the beloved frozen treat! Fans can enjoy a fresh take on Frosty with the introduction of Frosty Swirls, which feature new sauces, and Frosty Fusions, which include sauces and various sweet treat mix-ins such as Pop-Tarts and OREO cookies.”
  • 🍪 Snackology Review: ‘You have to test all of them, Mom’: I bought all six new Frosty Swirls flavors: “While the brownie batter sauce works with both the chocolate and vanilla Frostys, I just can’t get over the taste of the vanilla Frosty in this situation. The Brownie Batter Frosty Swirl in chocolate was our daughter’s winner of the entire wave, noting that ‘It’s yummy to me.’”

Cookies

• Oreo unveils new and limited-edition flavor: Chocolate Covered Pretzel (Amaris Encinas, USA Today): “Chocolate Covered Pretzel Oreos, the brand’s ‘first-ever sweet and savory cookie,’ will make its debut at retail locations nationwide starting May 5, all while supplies last.”
• Pepperidge Farm Brings Back Limited-Edition Cookie Flavor Fans Are ‘Obsessed’ With (Marisa Losciale, Parade): “Pepperidge Farm’s London Fog Milano cookies initially began rolling out in March 2024 and quickly went viral with Ted Lasso’s Hannah Waddingham even supporting the release before it eventually disappeared.”

Candy

• A Fan-Favorite M&M Flavor Is Back (But Only at One Store) (Makenna Stark, Sporked): “Looks like the M&M bosses wanted to see if these lil treats could make it in the big leagues, the summer candy category, as opposed to the short-lived Easter lineup. It’s also very important to note that the famously anxiety-riddled orange M&M was chosen to adorn the bag in place of the famously sexy green M&M that adorned the 2023 version.”
  • 🍪 Marshmallow Crispy M&Ms might be too sweet … but I dare you to stop eating them: “Marshmallow Crispy M&Ms are not your standard variety of M&Ms, having a white chocolate core instead of the usual milk chocolate center. M&Ms flavors that attempt to mimic more sugary foods often go in the white chocolate direction in order to let those flavors — Rice Krispie Treats, Strawberries & Creme, candy corn — shine through.”

Soda

• Mountain Dew Drops New Flavor At Little Caesars & It Could Rival Baja Blast (Amanda Mactas, Delish): “Fans were quick to proclaim their excitement for the Little Caesars newcomer. ‘I NEED IT,’ one commenter practically shouted. ‘Gimme gimme,’ wrote another.”

Other snacks

• Pringles and Miller Lite: Two of America’s Favorite Cookout Staples Combine Their Iconic ‘Crisp’ Flavors for the Snack of the Summer (PR Newswire): “No need for a grill — limited-edition Pringles x Miller Lite crisps perfectly combine your favorite beer-infused barbeque staples, bringing all the best flavors of a cookout into a single can of snackable crisps. From Beer Can Chicken to Grilled Beer Brat, each mouthwatering Pringles flavor tastes like your favorite grilled foods and tantalizes taste buds with Miller Lite’s hoppy, malt beer aroma.”
• Utz Launches Limited Edition Lemonade Potato Chips (BusinessWire): “‘Just in time for summer, Utz Lemonade Potato Chips bring together the nostalgic sweet and tart taste of classic lemonade with the satisfying crunch of another seasonal favorite — potato chips. The new chips are summer in a bite.’”