Shrek-Inspired Foods You Might Have Forgotten About

"Shrek" is a powerhouse of a franchise with four full-length movies in the main series, as well as two spin-offs featuring the feline character Puss in Boots. According to The New York Times, the film project had a rocky start; not only did a major role in the film have to be recast, but employees didn't support the project and were quitting. Despite initial setbacks, "Shrek" turned into a smashing success. Now, more than 20 years after the release of the first film, the series has taken on a life of its own and become the basis for endless jokes and memes on the internet (via The Atlantic).

Who knows why "Shrek" has become a cultural touchstone? Maybe it is the lack of traditional heroes that speaks to generations, or maybe it is pop-culture comedy. But one thing is certain: The food marketing team for "Shrek” wasted no time in capitalizing on the success of the film. From the odd to the outlandish, we have compiled a list of all the Shrek-inspired edible treats you might have forgotten about.

The classic Twinkies got a new spin in celebration of the movie "Shrek." While the Shrek-inspired snack had the same golden yellow sponge cake with three holes in the bottom and was just as delicious taste as the original version, it's what's inside the cake that received the Shrek treatment. Rather than the traditional white cream filling Twinkies are known for, this themed snack had an "ogre green" filling. As an added bonus, all boxes came with Twinkies coupons inside so you could buy more.

Apparently, the extra coupons worked because the products were a success. While the Shrek Twinkies first hit grocery store shelves alongside the second installment in the "Shrek” franchise, "Shrek 2," they appeared on shelves again for the fourth installment in the series, "Shrek Forever After." This time, people who purchased a box of ogre-colored Twinkies were entered into a giveaway for a chance to win a vacation and "other Shrek-tastic prizes."

We have to hand it to the DreamWorks marketing team for this one, as they went all-out on the Shrek Marshmallows. Unlike some of the Shrek-inspired foods that are just a different color or shape, the Shrek Marshmallows, which were produced in 2010 as part of the franchise's fourth installment, are creative and sound gross enough to be good. To start with, the marshmallows were produced by Circus Peanuts maker Spangler Candy and came in the very on-brand bright green color we have all come to associate with our favorite ogre. 

Instead of being the more traditional square or cylindrical form, each marshmallow is shaped like the title character Shrek's head. The "swamp apple" marshmallows are finished off with a sour apple flavor, which we can only assume is in reference to Shrek's personality. Thankfully, the ears on these Shrek heads do not have his wax build-up that was featured in the first film.

EZ Squirts Ketchup was really the pinnacle of heavily-processed technicolored foods in the early 2000s. According to WPXI, EZ Squirts were brightly-colored bottles of ketchup that were packaged in kid-friendly, plastic bottles with twisty tops, which made them easy to squirt.  

This colorful condiment got its start from none other than the first Shrek movie. The initial color came in the year 2000 and was, of course, green and featured the famous ogre. A red bottle also appeared and featured Princess Fiona (via Reddit.) 

Ironically, this line of ketchup was produced by the Heinz company, which was founded on the principle that you should be able to see the real color of its products, per Fast Company. But that didn't stop the product that Shrek launched from being a massive hit for a time. In fact, as WPXI notes, Heinz sold a year's worth of the ketchup in the first few months before the Shrek-inspired condiment fell off the face of the earth and was all but forgotten.

In 2010, the "Shrek" franchise partnered with frozen meal company Kid Cuisine to offer "Shrek-ified" meals. Kid Cuisine is no stranger to the child marketing game. The meals feature traditional kid foods — all of which are "kid approved" – and come in brightly colored packaging (via Kid's Cuisine).

For its partnership with Shrek, the brand created a meal with chicken nuggets in the shape of Shrek's head, gooey Shrek-shaped mac and cheese, and buggy "swamp pudding" for dessert. The latter is probably something that would only appeal to a child who loves a movie because otherwise, it seems entirely unappetizing. Oh, and let us not forget the best part, as advertised on the box: The meal turns your tongue green.

Of course, what would all this marketing be without some kind of contest? To make kids even more likely to ask their parents for something that includes "swamp pudding," the meal came with a bonus. If the Kid Cuisine included a green tray, the child won a trip to meet the ogre himself.

You might need a drink to wash down all these Shrek eats. Luckily, in 2004, DreamWorks made a deal with Pepsi to offer a Shrek-inspired Sierra Mist in conjunction with the release of the second Shrek movie.

The brand Shrekified the clear, lemon-lime soda by simply putting the ogre on the can. Who does not want to see that big green face smiling at you every time you take a drink?

The company also produced a commercial for the soda that featured Shrek, Princess Fiona, and Donkey riding in their onion carriage. Donkey complains excessively of the heat and when thrown into space by a frustrated Shrek, freezes. This is used to describe the cool and refreshing taste of the soda.

While the Shrek cans are sadly no longer available, plain old Sierra Mist is still made by the company. Additionally, pop culture shop FYE makes a neon green "Sour Swamp" Shrek soda for those who can't get enough of the grouchy ogre.

"Shrek" is a film that features a whole host of mythical creatures, including dragons. It was only a matter of time before someone from a marketing team saw the obvious food tie-in: hot sauce. Dragon Hot Sauce was produced as part of a partnership between DreamWorks and FYE, simply as a branded item and not in promotion of any specific movie. It is a salsa verde hot sauce that uses jalapeno and serrano peppers as its spicy base. While Dragon is a clear 10, the salsa is a 6/10 on the heat scale. The hot sauce is both vegan and all-natural. 

Dragon is a strong, complex character, and we hope for the same from her hot sauce. In addition to peppers, the hot sauce is made with tomatillos as well as some hickory-smoked salt for an added kick. While the bar is not always set high for movie tie-in products, it is clear the people at FYE went out of their way to make a product that both fit the theme and is tasty. Commenters on Reddit were presently surprised by it, and encouraged others to go out and try it. One commenter noted, "No heat to speak of, but it's pretty tasty!"

Why, oh why, would the marketers of "Shrek" not let the green filling thing die? It seems like their best suggestion when it came to marketing products was to turn something green and slap an ogre on it. That is exactly what they did with Shrek Snickers Bars in 2007. Released for "Shrek the Third," according to the Twitter account Discontinued Foods, the bars featured a nougat that was colored ogre green and didn't last more than a year on shelves.

For "Shrek 2" and "Shrek the Third," M&M's came out with not one, not two, but three different kinds of M&Ms. Shrek-inspired M&M's were available in classic, peanut, and peanut butter. They came "ogre-sized" and were green, orange, and brown to match the aesthetic of the movies. 

Sadly, M&M's have since returned to their normal size, and the memory of giant M&M's has faded. For those still looking for their Shrek candy fix, though, FYE offers Gingy's Gumdrop Buttons and Farquaad's Duloc Top Banana Hard Candy.

Summers are hot, and when you are an ogre living in a swamp making major motion picture blockbusters, you need a way to cool down. That must be why DreamWorks partnered with Nestle to produce two different popsicles for "Shrek the Third" in 2007.

The first was a mixed box of Shrek Push-Up pops. Each Push-Up came in one of three combinations of the colors blue, green, and orange. The pops consisted of swirls of fruity sherbet in tube form and the three flavors were named after characters in the movie: Shrek Ogre Apple, Puss & Boots Orange, and Donkey Berry. 

In addition to Push-Up pops, Nestle also released Shrek Swamp Pops, which were popsicles in heart, moon, star, and square shapes. While the name may have you imagining mucky swamp water, the ice pops were available in four fun and fruity flavors, including Shrek Ogre Cherry, Donkey Berry, Sour Puss & Boots Orange, and Fiona Princess Punch.

Shrek Breakfast cereal was truly next level. For a while, it seemed like there was always a box with that big green celebrity on it. Now, however, new idols of pop culture have taken over and many people have forgotten just how strong the Shrek hold on the breakfast industry was at one time.

As noted by MrBreakfast, there was a large variety of Shrek-inspired breakfast cereals released by General Mills in 2004 to celebrate the release of "Shrek 2." The ogre was featured on boxes of Cheerios, Cocoa Puffs, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and Trix, just to name a few. 

Kellogg's also joined in and produced a cereal named Shrek, which was a multi-grain cereal with marshmallows. The brand also cashed in on Donkey's love of waffles with an Eggo Cinnamon Toast cereal.  

Across the pond in England, Nestle produced a Mud and Worms Cereal for Shrek's second movie. Then, to tie in with the final installment, DreamWorks teamed with Mom Brands to produce Shrek Oger O's. Ultimately though, all of the cereals were discontinued or reverted to their original ogre-less state and many people forgot about them.

If breakfast cereal is not your thing, do not worry, there were once plenty of warm Shrek-inspired breakfast foods to be had. For "Shrek 2," Pillsbury came out with an ogre-tastic Shrek Toaster Strudel. According to Mr. Breakfast, a press release from Toaster Strudel described three flavors: ogre cherry with ogre icing, Shrek wildberry with ogre icing, and chocolate sludge with chocolate icing. While we don't know what kind of cherries ogres eat, the box states that the ogre cherry filling contains real fruit, as well as other natural flavors. Harkening back to the standby Shrek-branded color, the frosting is bright green.

If this review from SnackGator of Trix Toaster Strudel is any indication, the pastry was flaky and delicious, but the flavors may not have been exactly what you were expecting. Still, they were unique and made for a fun breakfast. Like many of these ogre-ific breakfast treats, Shrek Toaster Strudel is no longer on the shelves. 

If there was one food that begged for a marketing deal when it came to the Shrek movies, it was waffles. During the first movie, after Donkey meets the ogre, he decides that they are friends and follows him home, regaling with all the plans he has for their first friend's sleepover. The spiel ends with Donkey making himself at home and happily proclaiming, "In the morning, I'm making waffles."

Sadly, Donkey never did get to make waffles for Shrek, at least on-screen. But that didn't stop them from making their way into people's homes. In 2004, Pillsbury introduced Shrek Waffle Sticks, which were blueberry waffles with an appealing "green swamp syrup." In 2007, Eggo came out with Shrek Waffles that featured movie characters on them and claimed to be "Donkey Approved." Both products have since been discontinued, but for those who still want to try Donkey's waffles at home, FYE offers Donkey Waffle mix.

Baked cheese snacks hold an important place in the snack world for Americans. It is no wonder that when "Shrek” went out for branded promotions, the franchise hit the cheezie market fast and hard.

Kraft offered a Shrek version of the classic Cheese Nips, which were baked cheese snacks that came in the shape of your favorite Shrek character. Not to be outdone by another branch of its parent company, for the third installment of the "Shrek" franchise, Kellogg's produced a Shrek Cheez-it. Each box contained cheese crackers shaped like Shrek, Princess Fiona, Donkey, and Puss in Boots.

Last but certainly not least, Cheetos wanted in on the action. Since they couldn't make Shrek-shaped Cheetos, they went with a slightly different approach and made a Cheetos that turned the eater's tongue green. The front of the bag prominently features Chester Cheetah sticking out a bright green tongue, while Shrek peaks over the brand's logo. We don't know what the market was for green-tongue Cheetos, but it must not have been very big as they have also been discontinued.

Ogres and elves teamed up to bring us mini vanilla cookies. DreamWorks joined forces with Keebler to make a Shrek version of their famous mini vanilla wafers. The elves seem to have not wanted to push the envelope too far when they entered this partnership, however and played it safe. According to the package, the wafers are of the same vanilla flavor as the brand's other mini wafers. 

The only two differences are the "Shrek" packaging and the limited edition colors. This time though, someone must have convinced DreamWorks that not everything has to be green because the cookies are the royal colors orange and purple. This is presumably in reference to Princess Fiona, who is featured prominently on the side of the box in a purple dress. Not to be upstaged, though, Shrek is still the only character featured on the front. Sadly, these cookies are available on shelves any longer.

Have you ever sat down to a movie, grabbed a bag of popcorn, and thought to yourself, "I wish this were green?" Well, that is exactly what the people at Pop Secret thought you wanted, so they teamed up with DreamWorks and made Shrek popcorn. The butter-flavored popcorn came in microwavable bags. So far so good. But then comes the color. The popcorn was a light and unappealing shade of green, the go-to color for the marketing team when it came to Shrek-inspired foods. But as any toddler will tell you, green foods are not the most appetizing. 

The popcorn was available for the second installment in the "Shrek" franchise, which was released in 2004, and this snack is definitely a product of that time. Sadly, the popcorn was discontinued and can no longer be enjoyed. However, if you'd like to see it again, this is a petition on Change.org to bring it back.

With the release of "Shrek 2," DreamWorks teamed up with Betty Crocker to make Shrek-inspired versions of two of their fruity snacks (via Twitter). The first is Gushers, a fruit snack that features a gummy outside and a fruity liquid inside that gushes out when bitten. To make them Shrek-tacular, the company produced blue and green candies with a "Fruitomic Punch" flavor. The other fruit snack, Fruit Roll-ups, was "Screamin' Green," which seems to refer to both the color and the flavor of the rolled-up fruity snacks.

Breakfast cereals aren't the only foods with toys inside. As an added bonus, every box of "Shrek" branded Gushers and Fruit Roll-ups came with one of four figurines: Shrek, Princess Fiona, Donkey, or Puss in Boots. All good things must come to an end, however, and now if you want to get the figurines, you must purchase them on eBay.