Cheez-It X Wendy's Baconator Crackers Review: Where's The Beef ... And Bacon Flavor?

Summer is just getting started, and coming in hot is another fast-food chain's collaboration with a grocery-store snack favorite. This time around, the meaty flavors of Wendy's are being recreated within the signature orange square of a Cheez-It. Welcome to this world, Cheez-It x Wendy's Baconator crackers!

Cheez-It has long been an "it" cracker brand, coming into being by way of Dayton, Ohio in 1921. While the original version went on to capture the hearts and stomachs of eaters worldwide, for many years this cracker's formula remained unchanged; it wasn't until the mid-1980s before a low-salt Cheez-It iteration hit supermarket shelves. Things started getting funkier in 1992 with the introduction of White Cheddar Cheez-Its, and even a Party Mix. Since then, the creative juices have continued to flow at Cheez-It HQ, as the crackers continually debut with new flavors, shapes, and sizes. This Wendy's collab is not the first time Cheez-It has teamed with fast-food chains to think out of the box — perhaps you recall Pizza Hut's stuffed Cheez-It pizza, or the time when Cheez-It crossed the border into Taco Bell menu items.  

So, are Cheez-It x Wendy's Baconator crackers a dream pairing, or a cracked-up nightmare? The Takeout took many handfuls from the box for a taste test to find out where the truth lies.

Recommendations are based on firsthand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer. 

Cheez-Its are square crackers made from actual cheese, and these days they are produced and sold by Kellanova. Wendy's Baconator is a double cheeseburger introduced in 2007, and beyond its fun-to-say name, it is most famous for its inclusion of six strips of applewood-smoked bacon. Cheez-It x Wendy's Baconator crackers represents a unique collaboration between the snack brand and the fast-food chain, and it seeks to capture the taste of the burger within the cracker.

However, this Cheez-It flavor seems a little familiar. A few years ago, Cheez-It tried marketing a cheeseburger-flavored version of the snack, but it apparently didn't sell too well, because this was discontinued by 2023. Cheez-It has also dabbled in a bacon-flavored product, offering a Duoz option featuring cheddar and bacon crackers together in one box. Perhaps when both products were simultaneously available, some Cheez-It fanatics experimented by mixing the bacon- and cheeseburger-flavored crackers together in a single mouthful. Regardless, now we all have a chance to find out what that combo will taste like. 

Cheez-It x Wendy's Baconator crackers are a new snack, hitting nationwide retailers in July. They will be found where other flavors of Cheez-Its are sold, which is usually in the snack or cracker aisle in grocery stores. There is no indication that these crackers will be sold at Wendy's locations. These Cheez-Its are a limited-time-only offering, and will be available for purchase in stores and online while supplies last. On the brand's official website, Cheez-It is already offering a snack set of these crackers together with a Wendy's Frosty tag.  

The crackers come in a 12.4-ounce box, and while the aforementioned snack set costs $4.49, Cheez-It management hasn't yet announced its suggested retail price — which can vary according to retailers and market regions. Based on the expiration date stamped on the box I acquired, if left unopened, these crackers will remain fresh for at least eight months. While these crackers are made with real cheese, they are artificially flavored, so don't expect to find genuine chunks of bacon and beef baked into each cracker. Unsurprisingly, this product contains the common allergens wheat, milk, and soy. 

A typically red box of Cheez-Its lies before me, and it is nice to be greeted by the smiling face of the Wendy's logo, here to help sell the dream of (artificially flavored) Baconator crackers. I pried open the plastic packaging for a first-impression whiff. Immediately I am surprised that no scents of bacon nor beef headed toward my nostrils. It mainly just smelled like typically cheddar-rich Cheez-Its. Moving in for a closer olfactory inspection with a direct sniff of the crackers, it emitted more of a sour cream and onion vibe.

The Cheez-It x Wendy's Baconator crackers didn't look all that dissimilar from the brand's regular snacks. Perhaps the orange was a little more browned, and the seasoning that is carrying the flavoring was more lightly dusted on the surface of the crackers. Before taking a full bite, I wanted to become acquainted with the seasoning itself. I started with a lick, which sadly also provided no hint of beef or bacon. Instead, notes of onion and garlic seemed to be leading the way. Next, I tried sucking on a cracker, and here the allium flavors now joined the familiar cheddar taste of a Cheez-It.

When I finally got to eating the cracker as a whole, I was already resigned to it not containing any beefy-bacon bona fides. My informed suspicion sadly proved correct, and the taste was more of the same — though the pungent flavors reminiscent of sour cream and onion chips do pair nicely with a Cheez-It. It's certainly a flavorful cracker, but not exactly tasting of the product being sold. 

After several handfuls of sampling, I came to the conclusion that these Baconator Cheez-Its miss the mark, and the collab is ultimately a missed opportunity. While my now-seasoned fingertips smelled scantly like bacon bits, none of the burger's signature flavors ever translated to the cracker. I was left saying to myself, as the famous Wendy's ad of the 1980s went, "where's the beef?" And, I added, "where's the bacon?"

Before calling it quits, I wanted to re-examine what a Baconator actually tasted like, so off I went to Wendy's with an open mind and an open box of these Cheez-Its. When I unwrapped the burger, I was surprised that it didn't look remotely like the one featured on the Cheez-It box. While there was bacon under the hood, it wasn't as plentiful as advertised. Alas, we are here for the taste, and the Baconator's primary flavor was well-peppered beef. The bacon was present, but it seemed to provide chewy texture more than being a contributing flavor factor. Regardless, none of the flavors I tasted in the burger made their way into the branded Cheez-Its that attempt to mimic the real thing.

My final move was to throw a bunch of the Baconator Cheez-Its onto the Baconator itself. Finally, they tasted like they were supposed to — and in turn, I created the collaboration that probably should have been dreamed up in the first place. The cheddar flavor added even more cheesiness to the affair, and the dry nature of the cracker was a nice contrast to soak up the juiciness of Wendy's square-shaped burger patties.

The fine folks at Cheez-It sent over a brand-new box of its Wendy's Baconator collaborative cracker, in advance of its nationwide launch. The box was stored at room temperature before being sampled. The crackers were taste-tested by me and one other person. While the opinions of my tasting companion were noted, ultimately this chew-and-review is based on my own personal flavor preferences, past experiences with both Cheez-Its and Wendy's burgers, and my present experience with these crackers. After tasting the crackers at home, additional taste-testing was conducted at an actual Wendy's location, where a Baconator was consumed for comparison.

The criteria for this taste test includes flavor, appearance, texture, familiarity, uniqueness, Baconatorness, Cheez-Itocity, overall lovability, and the likelihood that I would buy them again. The short answer is ... no, but I do hope that Wendy's will someday make a Baconator — or any burger-nator — that includes some Cheez-It crackers under the bun.