The company Pinty’s is known for their pub style chicken products like chicken wings and chicken chunks. They also carry a line of “Eatwell” products that are a healthier version of the same convenient foods. One of these “better for you” options are the Pinty’s Gluten-Free Eatwell BBQ Chicken Tenders from Costco. As a huge fan of chicken tenders, I couldn’t help but worry ‘d be sacrificing flavor for health when I picked these up to try. Was my concern justified?
Other gluten-free products from Costco are the Hippeas Chickpea Puff Snacks, Chocolats Crispeez Favoris, Milton’s Cauliflower Crust Pizza, Starbucks Sous Vide Egg Bites, Kirkland Signature Deluxe Cauliflower Crust Pizza, Pinty’s Crispy Chicken Wings, Pinty’s Buffalo Chicken Flings and the Pinty’s Oven Roasted Chicken Breast Strips.
Location in Store
These can be found in the refrigerated deli section at Costco, near the sausages and fresh pasta. The item number is 1759249.
Taste
I tried the tenders cold first. I found them surprisingly dry despite the fact that they looked and felt kind of greasy. There’s a fairly thick layer of breading on the outside and I think it was mostly responsible for the dryness and somewhat grainy texture of the cold tenders.
The tenders were much better after I heated them up. The breading was crispy and not so grainy. The chicken seemed moister. I used the oven method, but I’m sure the air fryer method would work well too. Either option is definitely better than eating the tenders cold. I wouldn’t do that if you can avoid it!
The barbecue flavor on the tenders is fairly mild. It’s more sweet than smoky. I didn’t love it; I’d rather have a plain chicken tender with some barbecue sauce on the side. It was fine though.
The quality of the chicken is mostly good, but I got one piece out of the four I tried that had quite a bit of gristle in it, so that was disappointing.
Cost
These chicken tenders aren’t cheap! I paid $18.99 Canadian for the 907 gram two-pack. I think the price is so high because of the convenience and the fact they’re gluten-free.
Convenience
You can enjoy these hot or cold which makes them really versatile. The packages need to be kept refrigerated until you use them and the best before date is about a month from when I purchased them. If you’re not going to use the chicken tenders by the best before date, you can definitely freeze them, I froze one.
You can heat the chicken tenders in the oven or air fryer, we heated ours in the oven and served them with fries. I definitely recommend heating the chicken tenders, but I wouldn’t recommend microwaving them because I think they’d turn out pretty soggy.
You could serve these as a meal with fries or rice, add them to a salad or have them as an appetizer with some barbecue sauce for dipping!
Nutrition
Calories
Three tenders contain 190 calories, seven grams of fat, 19 grams of carbohydrates, zero grams of fiber, two grams of sugar, 13 grams of protein and 390 milligrams of sodium. I wish there was a little more protein than 13 grams! These definitely aren’t as low in calories or fat as a plain chicken breast.
Ingredients
The ingredients list isn’t full of a ton of unhealthy ingredients but there are definitely a few like soy oil, canola oil, sugars, maltodextrin and dextrose.
Scoring
Taste: 7/10
Cost: 5/10
Convenience: 10/10
Nutrition: 4/10
Overall
Give it a try!
These chicken tenders are decent as long as you heat them up. I wouldn’t recommend eating them cold. If you want to serve them cold on a salad or something, I would still cook them first. Personally, I could have done without the barbecue seasoning, but it’s not bad.
Have you tried these BBQ chicken tenders? What did you think of them?
Please note that this review was not paid for or sponsored by any third party. This product was purchased by Costcuisine for the purpose of producing this review. The opinions in this review are strictly those of Costcuisine. Costcuisine is not affiliated with Costco or any of its suppliers. In the event that Costcuisine receives compensation for a post from the manufacturer of a product or some other third party, the arrangement will be clearly disclosed (including where the manufacturer of a product provides Costcuisine with a free sample of the product).
