Snyder's Of Hanover Nashville Hot Pretzel Pieces Review: Like Crunchy Bits Of Nashville Hot Chicken

Nashville hot chicken is no longer just a regional delicacy. Sure, you'll get the best hot chicken of your life if you visit the Tennessee capitol city, but nationwide chains like Dave's Hot Chicken prove that this specific preparation of fried chicken is pretty trendy. The distinct flavors of this dish are the dry heat given off from the cayenne-base rub on fried chicken, combined with a fresh dill pickle for a unique balance of heat and tang. Pretzel provider to millions, snack company Synder's of Hanover has attempted to capture this unique flavor profile in a new pretzel flavor. Snyder's Nashville Hot Pretzel Pieces are here at last. 

Inspired by the flavors of Music City, Nashville Hot Pretzel Pieces are a new spicy and tangy snack, and we are here to determine if they're worth the hype or not. With crunchy bits of hard pretzel tossed in a seasoning that attempts to capture the two distinct flavors of the city's signature chicken, this snack has quite the legacy to live up to. 

It's time to answer the hot-button questions: What do these Nashville Hot Pretzel Pieces taste like and how spicy are they? After our first bite, we were completely shocked that these hot pretzels didn't taste at all like we expected. 

What we initially anticipated was to taste the spice, but actually, it's the pickle flavor that you taste first. This tangy flavor reminded us of pickle-flavored chips before the heat came on. The spice was moderate, but it stayed on our palate for a bit. You won't need a glass of milk after one of these, they aren't that hot, but eating a few of them in a handful could perhaps leave you thirsty.

The biggest surprise in our taste test of these hot pretzels was that instead of being an overwhelmingly spicy novelty, they are a surprisingly balanced snack. The combination of chili pepper and pickle gives off a smokey sweetness that is chased by a spicy kick. This leaves you ready to dive back into the bag for another sweet and tangy bite.

The serving size for Snyder's Nashville Hot Pretzel Pieces is 1 ounce or about 1/3 cup of pretzel bites. One serving has 140 calories and  8 grams of total fat, with 3.5 of those grams being saturated fat. You may want to watch out for that since one serving is 18% of your daily recommended intake. Sodium is high too, as you might expect from pretzels, at 310 milligrams per serving. The snack doesn't provide any calcium, potassium, or Vitamin D. When compared to a serving of the Hot Buffalo variety of Snyder's Pretzel Bites, we can see these nutritional values are pretty standard compared to the other products in the line. 

Even if you can't eat hot chicken (and feel like you missed the boat), Synder's Nashville Hot Pretzel Pieces are, like the majority of the brand's pretzels, completely vegan. They aren't, however, gluten-free. 

More likely than not, if you live in the States, you'll be able to find a bag of Nashville Hot Pretzel Pieces at a store near you as it is available at retailers nationwide. You can purchase this spicy Synder's snack at stores like Target, Kroger, and other grocery chains, as well as online in places like Instacart. 

Synder's of Hanover Nashville Hot Pretzel Pieces costs about $4.79 for an 11.25-ounce bag, however, the price varies by region and retailer. On Instacart, for instance, these pretzel pieces are currently listed at $5.19. Alternatively, you might be able to find the product at a slight discount. Stop and Shop, for example, lists the Nashville Hot Pretzel Pieces at $4.00 for the same size bag.

At the end of our sampling, our taste buds were burnt out, but overall we were really pleased with what Synder's of Hanover brought to the table with its Nashville Hot Pretzel Pieces. They definitely bring some heat so they aren't for everyone, but if you're a fan of this type of spice (or dill pickle at all) you can't go wrong with them.  

Each of the crunchy pretzel bites is pretty small, but they pack considerable flavor. And indeed these suckers actually ended up living up to the challenge and reminded us of eating Nashville-style Hot Chicken. Obviously, you are getting a salty pretzel at the core instead of a piece of juicy, fried chicken but the constant factor is the salt. That saltiness of the pretzel plays the same role as the fried chicken, making Snyder's Nashville Hot Pretzel Pieces worthy of the title "Nashville Hot."