We’re back from a lovely Sunday stroll through Costco, where we perused the aisles and bought way too many bulk products, as usual.  One of the new items that caught my eye was the Alpha Foods Plant Protein Crispy Chik’n Patties, which looked a lot like classic fast food/chicken nugget style breaded chicken patties, but were fully plant based.  Considering the great strides that have come in the plant-based meat category throughout the last couple of years, I picked up the Costco pack of 10 (really committing to a product I’ve never tried!) and eagerly took them home for my lunch.

These Chik’n Patties are made up of soy protein and textured wheat protein, which are plant-based proteins that offer a good protein source and can be manipulated to be a texture similar to shredded or ground chicken.  The flavoring seems to be a variety of yeasts and yeast extracts, along with onion/garlic powder to give some umami/meaty elements while staying vegan.  In addition, they use various starches and gums (cornstarch, cellulose) as binding agents to keep it all together.  The ingredient statement is clearly that of a processed food, but to me doesn’t seem too far off of an average fast-food breaded chicken nugget, which could also have some soy and other binders in them.  Each patty is 170 calories with 13g of protein and 6g of fat, which seems pretty good to me compared to fast food chicken nuggets!

Upon taking them out of the package, they looked just as expected and were a very good size (the perfect size to fit a standard hamburger bun, I might add).  I baked them at 425 for 20 minutes, flipping at 10 minutes, as per the package instructions.  They came out of the oven slightly bubbly and greasy, which is honestly what I want from a chicken (or Chik’n) patty.  We tasted one on it’s own to get the full flavor/texture experience, then made one into a fully loaded chicken (Chik’n) sandwich to rate it as a lunch experience.

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The Chik’n patty on it’s own wasn’t bad!  Very mild in flavor, but the flavor was chicken-y.  The texture was a little loose on the inside right out of the oven, but it set up into a slightly firmer texture as it cooled.  The textured wheat protein did give the texture similar to ground chicken, and I felt that the overall experience was very similar to eating a processed chicken patty.  The breading got nice and crispy on the outside, which is all I could ever want in a chicken (Chik’n) sandwich patty.  Once it was all dressed up into a chicken sandwich (I used a hamburger bun, Honey BBQ Ranch dressing from Bolthouse Farms, sliced tomatoes, and lettuce leaves), I could barely tell it was a plant-based patty.  The flavor was still very mild, but it blended nicely with the other flavors of the sandwich and never stood out as artificial in any way.  The crispy breading held up throughout the eating experience, and the protein filled me up really nicely.  I would almost not notice that this was a plant based patty if it was presented to me in a fully dressed up sandwich, and I actually thought it was really good!

Overall, this chicken (Chik’n) patty was really good, and I’m not mad that I have most of a Costco-sized pack left in my freezer.  Chris also enjoyed his, and is looking forward to eating more Chik’n sandwiches for his work from home lunches this week.  If you are looking to incorporate more plant-based options into your lifestyle, I would say this was a pretty good option!  If you see these at your local Costco and check them out, let me know your thoughts!

This post was not sponsored by any of the brands listed, and I spent my own money on these products.  Genuine review from a fan!