Cracker Barrel might feel like a cozy trip back to simpler times, with its rocking chairs and comforting plates piled high. But hidden among the classics lurk a few dishes that can turn your down-home meal into a regrettable experience.
Some menu items pack in sky-high sodium, questionable ingredients, or flavors that fall disappointingly flat. Before you order, discover 13 Cracker Barrel picks you’re better off skipping altogether.
1. Fried Chicken Livers
Holy cholesterol bombs! These crispy little organs might seem like an old-fashioned treat, but they’re essentially fat sponges soaking up oil while delivering a day’s worth of cholesterol in one sitting.
The breading absorbs grease like nobody’s business, creating a calorie-dense appetizer that leaves many diners feeling sluggish afterward. Even liver enthusiasts admit the heavy coating often masks the natural flavor they’re actually craving.
2. Grilled Chicken Tenderloins
Surprise! The supposedly “healthy” option makes our list. While grilled sounds virtuous, Cracker Barrel’s chicken tenderloins swim in a sodium bath before hitting your plate, often containing more salt than you should consume in an entire day.
The seasoning blend used on these tenders packs a shocking amount of preservatives. Many diners report the chicken often arrives dry and overcooked, requiring drowning in high-calorie dipping sauces just to make it palatable.
3. Country Fried Shrimp
Seafood should be your friend, but not when it’s suffocated under a thick armor of batter! These innocent crustaceans get transformed into calorie grenades through the magic of deep-frying and excessive breading.
The oil used for frying these little guys typically gets reused throughout the day, meaning your shrimp absorbs compounds from everything else that took a dip before them. Nutritional analysis reveals these contain nearly 75% more calories than their grilled counterparts.
4. Sunday Homestyle Chicken
Grandma’s chicken never had this much grease! This weekend specialty might trigger nostalgia, but your arteries won’t be reminiscing fondly. The thick flour coating absorbs oil like a sponge, creating a dish that can pack nearly 1,500 calories when paired with typical sides.
Former kitchen staff reveal this chicken often sits under heat lamps longer than other menu items. The result? Dried-out meat hiding under soggy-then-crispy-again breading that’s been reheated to questionable perfection.
5. Meatloaf
Comfort food alert! This nostalgic brick of meat might warm your soul but it’s setting your health goals on fire. Cracker Barrel’s version comes drowning in a tomato-based sauce that harbors more sugar than three chocolate chip cookies.
The loaf itself combines multiple types of ground meat with bread crumbs and binding agents that create a sodium festival in your mouth. Regular customers don’t realize each slice contains nearly 700 calories before sides even enter the picture.
6. Country Ham
Salt lovers, you’ve met your match! This breakfast staple delivers a sodium punch so powerful it could preserve a small mammal for winter. One serving contains nearly twice the recommended daily sodium allowance, making your water retention reach new heights.
The curing process creates compounds that nutritionists have linked to increased cancer risk when consumed regularly. The thin slices might seem harmless, but they’re cut from ham that’s been processed with nitrates and smoked within an inch of its life.
7. Pancakes
Fluffy discs of deception! These seemingly innocent breakfast favorites are actually sugar bombs waiting to detonate in your bloodstream. The batter contains more sweeteners than you’d expect, even before the obligatory syrup flood begins.
One stack with syrup packs more sugar than three cans of soda. Former kitchen staff reveal the batter often comes pre-mixed with preservatives that wouldn’t make it into your homemade version.
8. Macaroni n’ Cheese (Kids’ Version)
Neon orange alert! The kids’ version of this classic comfort food contains more artificial coloring than actual cheese. Parents might not realize this seemingly simple dish packs more sodium than eight small bags of potato chips.
The sauce relies heavily on modified food starch and preservatives to achieve that unnaturally smooth texture kids seem to love. Nutritional analysis shows minimal protein content despite coming from the “cheese” food group.
9. Apple Dumplin’ Dessert
Sugar overload wrapped in a pastry blanket! This seemingly quaint dessert hides a caloric catastrophe under its rustic appearance. One serving delivers more sugar than five glazed donuts while providing minimal nutritional benefits.
The pastry shell soaks up butter like a sponge, creating a fat-laden vessel for apples that have been stripped of fiber and drowned in syrup. The vanilla ice cream scoop on top is just the final diabetic straw breaking your pancreas’s back.
10. Fried Okra
Vegetables gone rogue! This Southern side dish takes perfectly healthy okra and transforms it into oil-soaked nuggets that barely resemble their plant origins. The breading-to-vegetable ratio heavily favors the former, creating a side dish that’s more carb than green.
The frying process strips away many of okra’s natural benefits while adding a hefty dose of oxidized oils. Many locations prepare large batches that sit under heat lamps, resulting in the worst combination: soggy yet somehow still greasy.
11. Hashbrown Casserole Tots
Potato imposters! These trendy menu additions take the already indulgent hashbrown casserole and transform it into poppable form – multiplying the fat and sodium in the process. The crispy exterior hides a sodium bomb that can make your fingers swell just by looking at them.
Kitchen insiders reveal these tots contain more ingredients than you can count on both hands, including multiple preservatives and flavor enhancers. The cheese sauce for dipping adds another layer of processed ingredients to an already questionable choice.
12. Biscuit Beignets
False advertising on a plate! These aren’t traditional New Orleans beignets – they’re repurposed biscuit dough deep-fried and showered with enough powdered sugar to build a snowman. The result is a dessert that combines the worst nutritional aspects of two different pastries.
The oil-soaked dough creates a heavy, dense texture that bears little resemblance to either authentic beignets or proper biscuits. Nutritional analysis shows one order contains more than half your daily recommended fat intake.
13. Frozen Lemonade
Slushie sugar bomb! This innocent-sounding beverage packs more sweeteners than three slices of pie while providing zero nutritional benefits. What appears refreshing is actually a corn syrup delivery system designed to keep you ordering refills.
Former bartenders confirm this drink contains minimal actual lemon juice, relying instead on artificial flavors and colors to create its “fresh” taste. The frozen consistency masks just how sweet it truly is, allowing you to consume more sugar than you normally would in liquid form.