Ranking of TGI Fridays’ Frozen Appetizers

If you, like me, frequently scour the frozen section in search of your next favorite appetizer, you’re in good company. The often bite-sized cuisine is typically meant to be shared and can provide a good common experience among a group of diners at the beginning of a meal. It’s also a great choice if you’re looking to supply a gathering with some easy-to-prep (and delicious) snack options. Brands are numerous when it comes to frozen appetizers, but today, we wanted to zero in on one in particular: TGI Fridays. 

Even if you’ve never been to the chain restaurant, chances are you’ve at least heard of it. Like other culinary establishments, TGI Fridays has made its way into the frozen section of many major grocery stores, with a selection of appetizer and meal options meant to replicate some of the restaurant’s popular dishes. I’m no newbie to frozen appetizers — I’ve sampled many brands over the years with varying degrees of enjoyment — and I can safely say that TGI Fridays makes some good options. Today, I’m ranking all the brand’s frozen appetizers (all those available near me, anyway) primarily based on how they stack up to a fresh version of the dish. I definitely wasn’t impressed by all of them, but there are a select few I’ll definitely be buying again. 

Taking the unfortunate last spot on my list is TGI Fridays’ spinach and artichoke cheese dip. While I didn’t have super high expectations for the frozen dip, I’m a fan of spinach and artichoke dip in general, so I’d hoped that it would at least be comparable to a restaurant version. Alas, what I pulled from the microwave was a sad copy. You can tell just by looking at the above photo — not only does the dip look nothing like the picture on the box, but it looks woefully soupy and just lackluster in general.

I still held out some hope that the dip’s flavors would make up for its appearance, but those were soon to be unfounded. Rather than being stretchy and amply cheesy, it had a gluey, creamy consistency akin to a can of creamed soup. It was also a little too salty for my taste, without much of the savory appeal I expect from spinach and artichoke dip. It’s passable if you’re really out of options, but I can’t say it would satisfy a dip craving; you’re probably better off making your own spinach and artichoke dip. 

I’ll admit off the bat that jalapeño poppers aren’t my favorite appetizer; however, I can still appreciate a good popper when I come across it, and I can’t say these fit the bill. I made the jalapeño poppers in the air fryer, which was definitely an effective method — the outside of each got nice and crispy while the inside was melty. That’s about the only good thing I have to say about TGI Fridays’ cream cheese stuffed jalapeño poppers. 

My biggest qualm with this appetizer was that they were impossible to bite through. The jalapeño skin is too tough to separate easily, forcing you to eat a whole popper in one bite (even if you come across a big one, like the one I tried to cut above). I also didn’t think they were very well-balanced. While each was packed with cream cheese, the jalapeño was negligible. This appetizer only scored higher than the spinach and artichoke dip because of its textures; the brand did a great job of achieving that crisp outside and creamy interior, but other than that, I don’t have many positive comments about these. 

I usually love boneless wings and was a bit surprised to rank TGI Fridays’ Buffalo style boneless chicken bites so low. At the end of the day, these really didn’t meet any of my expectations for the dish, and I’d be more than disappointed to get this at a restaurant. It hardly had any of the textures and flavors one would expect from boneless Buffalo chicken bites. This selection only ranked this high because it wasn’t unappealing like the previous two; however, I can hardly say it’s a good appetizer. 

I definitely can’t call this the best Buffalo sauce in the world. It was fairly lackluster and more spicy than anything else. While I expect spice in any Buffalo sauce, I also expect more complexity of flavor that this sauce just didn’t possess. It was also very thin and didn’t do a great job of coating the chicken bites. Beyond the sauce’s shortcomings, the chicken hardly got crispy on the outside, and it refused to give the crunch I expected from biting into a boneless wing. If you want a relatively simple Buffalo wing and aren’t turned off by textural concerns, you might find these passable, but personally, I did not. 

This and the following appetizers are all selections I would buy again if in need of an easy, yummy appetizer. TGI Fridays’ cheddar and bacon loaded potato skins were better than I expected from a frozen loaded potato skin. Were they stellar? No, and if you have the time to DIY these, you could probably make them better than the brand’s frozen version. However, if you need passable potato skins (especially if you have other toppings to add to them), these aren’t a bad buy.

My favorite thing about these potato skins was how melty the cheese got (and yes, I did experience a significant cheese pull upon taking a bite). The textures as a whole were on point — the melted cheese and soft interior of the potato contrasted nicely with its crispy top, giving an overall pleasurable eating experience. They’re not packed with flavor, but they’re definitely flavorful enough for being frozen potato skins. I’d suggest topping these off with a dollop of sour cream and some chives should you serve them at your next casual dinner party. 

I liked TGI Fridays’ honey BBQ boneless chicken bites far better than its Buffalo-flavored version of the same, which came as a bit of a shock — previously, I’d have gone with Buffalo over honey BBQ any day, but this appetizer just might convert me. For starters, the chicken here was far better textured than the aforementioned Buffalo chicken bites, despite each being cooked at the same time in my air fryer. 

Unlike the previous chicken bites, these got a thick and crispy outer breading, and I’m still not sure what to attribute that to. I assumed each box would have the same type of base chicken bites, but there’s definitely a quality difference between the two. The sauce was also far superior; it got thick and sticky, which let it adhere well to the chicken. It tasted sweet and smoky while not at all being overwhelmingly saccharine (a fear I frequently have with honey BBQ sauces). If you’re trying to choose between the two boneless chicken bite offerings, I’d recommend the honey BBQ flavor hands-down. 

Here’s a ranking that really surprised me — despite ranking the boneless Buffalo bites much lower, TGI Fridays’ Buffalo-style chicken wings earned an easy number two spot on my list. For some reason the sauce and chicken married much better here than with the boneless chicken bites. I’m inclined to think the sauce was the same (each tasted and was textured very similarly), but I can’t be sure; either way, these were far superior. 

The chicken wings absorbed the thin Buffalo sauce like a sponge. Seriously — they soaked it in to such an extent that they were hardly messy to eat. While the Buffalo sauce was still spicy and rather one-note, because each wing took to it so well, they invited the eater to pair another cool sauce with it (like ranch or bleu cheese) for some balance. Moreover, the wings achieved a crispy exterior, and they were amply meaty on the inside. I haven’t tried every frozen wing option on the market, but if you want a solid choice, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend these. 

Last but certainly not least is my favorite of TGI Fridays’ frozen appetizers: its mozzarella sticks with marinara sauce. I’m a mozzarella sticks girl at heart, so I definitely have a bias toward the appetizer, but I’m also pickier about mozzarella sticks than I am about most other frozen foods. These are a solid choice, without a doubt. Their texture, flavor, and cheese pull all stack up to the best frozen mozzarella sticks I’ve had (and trust me, I’ve tried quite a few). 

If you’re in the market for a gooey, stringy mozzarella stick that you can cook from frozen, you’ll be hard-pressed to beat TGI Fridays’ offering. These cooked in my air fryer in just seven minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and the results were near restaurant-worthy. They have a great cheese pull and a thick and crunchy outer coating. They’re also flavorful without trying too hard — I can tell the breading is well-seasoned, but it’s not too herby like other mozzarella sticks I’ve tried. A big selling point of these frozen mozzarella sticks, in particular, is that they come with a flavorful, herby marinara sauce. I haven’t yet found a frozen mozzarella stick brand that beats these; if you think you can top them, be sure to let me know. 

Fortunately, I’ve had freshly made versions of each of these before (even if not necessarily from TGI Fridays), so I had a decent baseline of comparison for each. The items at the bottom of my list don’t hold a candle to their fresh counterparts. The spinach and artichoke dip was the most disappointing in this respect; it had the same texture I’d expect from a cream-of-soup dish, with none of the cheese pull that I’d expect a spinach and artichoke dip to have. The jalapeño poppers were equally disappointing, a poor mimic of how they could taste as a fresh appetizer. 

Items toward the top of my list held up relatively well compared to restaurant versions. Obviously none of them totally matched up — after all, a frozen appetizer will rarely have the same appeal as a newly-made one will — but they at least got close. The mozzarella sticks had ample cheese pull and a crispy outer coating, and were flavorful to boot. Similarly, the Buffalo wings were meaty and crispy, a pretty good dupe of what I’d expect to find at a restaurant location.