Cracker Barrel Side Dishes Ranked Worst To Best

If you grew up hating vegetables, it was probably carrots cooked like this that caused your distaste. First off, the choice of baby carrots was a mistake. They're good served raw as a snack with ranch or hummus, but they quickly turn into mush when cooked too long. And boy howdy, the ones from Cracker Barrel were cooked too long. They had a grainy, soggy texture that was quite unpleasant to choke down.

The seasoning didn't help matters either. The carrots were begging for more salt, but instead, they seemed to be doused in either white sugar or honey — the already-sweet cooked carrots didn't need the extra infusion of sucrose. This side was just a quick trip through the food processor away from being baby food. Babies are the only people we could imagine enjoying this dish since they don't have any teeth and haven't lived long enough to know what good food is yet.

Cracker Barrel doesn't specify what fruits come in this side; it may vary seasonally. We received it exactly as pictured on the menu: a blend of pineapple chunks, cut-up strawberries, and whole blueberries.

At the time of our visit, strawberries and blueberries were out of season, and it showed. The strawberries, especially, were incredibly tart, with no sweetness to speak of, even though they looked beautiful and red. The blueberries had a little more sugar but still tasted more sour than we would have liked. The pineapple looked pale and unripe and tasted as bland as it appeared.

On the positive side, the pineapple was nice and crunchy, and all the fruit did indeed seem like it had been freshly cut relatively recently — none of the chunks was overly beaten up. If you order this during the summertime when more fruits are in season, you might have a better experience.

Do you like plain broccoli? Then you will enjoy this side, because, as far as we can tell, this cooked broccoli was completely unseasoned. While this was a little disappointing (we generally expect restaurants to add some kind of special touch to the food they prepare), the broccoli still won out over a couple of the other vegetables because it was properly cooked.

It appeared to be either blanched or steamed and was bright green, so it had clearly been cooked fresh and hadn't sat in a warmer forever. It had a perfect tender-crisp texture — not crunchy and raw inside, but not too soft either. With no seasonings to cover it up, the earthy, mildly bitter taste of the vegetable shone through. Even in the absence of salt, the broccoli was still more flavorful than the carrots or the corn. Since it was so plain, we ended up only eating a couple of bites and then using the leftovers to make a stir-fry the next day.

Any Southern-style restaurant should have excellent greens, whether they be collard, mustard, or turnip. The turnip greens from Cracker Barrel had some excellent qualities, but they were ultimately underwhelming. The best part was that they were super tender and soaked in the liquid from the bottom of the pot, which any greens aficionado knows is essential. The texture of the dish was perfect.

Flavor-wise, however, these turnip greens needed a little help. Although they were mixed with a generous amount of country ham, the meat didn't impart a ton of flavor to the cooking liquid. We would have guessed it was turkey rather than ham because of the blandness. The greens also needed some salt, and we would have liked to taste a touch of acidity, heat, and sweetness as well. Without these balancing elements, the bitter essence of the turnip greens was more noticeable than it should have been.

Like the baked potato, the mashed potatoes from Cracker Barrel weren't fluffy, but we didn't mind that as much in the context of this dish. Instead of being light and whipped, these potatoes were dense and slightly chunky, and they reminded us of the homemade mash we ate at family dinners growing up. They packed a ton of potato flavor and had enough fat to make them pleasantly rich. Flavor-wise, they reminded us of KFC mashed potatoes – if KFC used real spuds instead of instant mash.

You can order these taters three ways: plain, with brown gravy, or with white sawmill gravy. Plain potatoes are for kids and we prefer white gravy with biscuits, so we chose brown gravy. This tasted less real than the potatoes, as it had a strong beef bouillon and powdered gravy vibe. Nevertheless, it was yummy, with a strong savory character and plenty of salt and black pepper. We'd order this again, but we still liked a couple of the chain's potato dishes more.

No establishment serving country classics could survive without making decent biscuits, and Cracker Barrel's version was quite tasty. They had a buttery flavor and were very salty, with a hint of baking powder in the aftertaste. They also seemed fresh, which is key for biscuits — this type of bread starts going downhill the second it's removed from the oven. They didn't have any sweetness to them at all, which we enjoyed, but some people might prefer biscuits with a hint of sugar.

Texture-wise, these biscuits were more on the fluffy-bready rather than the flaky-crispy side of the spectrum. They were soft, with just a hint of chew, and were perfect for eating with soup or sopping up the juice from turnip greens. Ultimately, they were a solid blank slate for absorbing other flavors, but they weren't the most spectacular biscuits we've had; we weren't drawn to eating them plain.

Taking Cracker Barrel's hashbrown casserole, cutting it into chunks, breading it, and deep-frying it added all the texture and browning that the regular casserole lacked. The flavor of the tots was basically the same as the original component — that is, delicious. Creamy cheese melded with bites of onion and tender potato really works well together. 

If anything, we'd guess that there might be even more cheese in the tots than in the casserole. They certainly tasted cheesier, but that might be a flavor enhancement from frying and extra seasoning rather than the actual addition of more cheese. Frying also softened up the chunks of onion, which we liked more than the near-raw onions in the casserole.

The exterior of the tots wasn't super-crunchy, but it had a soft crispness and plenty of browned flavor. This side also impressively lacked the amount of grease you would expect from something that spent time in a deep-fryer. It was pure salty, potato-y bliss.

This dish's humble name belies the complex mix of flavors and textures hidden in the broth. Speaking of the broth, it was rich and deep, with a red color that hinted at the presence of tomato puree. It tasted quite meaty, but we're not sure if any meat was used to make it — if so, there's no mention of it on Cracker Barrel's menu. 

Swimming in the broth were chunks of tomato, peas, multiple types of beans, and corn. The beans really asserted their flavor, adding a comforting starchiness to the mix. The hefty amount of vegetable pieces made the soup feel quite hearty — it wasn't watery at all, and every spoonful had at least a couple of beans in it.

As with most of Cracker Barrel's food, the seasoning of the vegetable soup was simple yet effective. There was enough salt to maximize the flavor of the ingredients, and chunky bits of black pepper added zest to each bite. We'd love to curl up with this soup on a cold winter day.

If you have an older relative from the South, you've probably heard them grumble that all the cornbread people make these days is far too sweet. Cracker Barrel's cornbread muffins seem like they were made to please people like this. They tasted like they contained the barest hint of sugar, but they mostly leaned into a savory cornbread flavor profile, and they were better for it. The corn taste really came through in a powerful way — these tasted more like corn than the fresh corn side dish did.

The cornmeal imparted a slightly gritty texture to the muffins, which was a good thing in this context; we like a bit of grit in our cornbread. Although the muffins were hearty, they weren't heavy. We were impressed by their fluffy texture and soft crumb. They left just the barest hint of oil on our fingers after we ate them, indicating they were made with the appropriate amount of fat. We'd pick these muffins over the biscuits to go with most entrees at Cracker Barrel because it's hard to find cornbread this good elsewhere.

Cracker Barrel's mac and cheese reminded us of Stouffer's frozen mac in the best way. It was made with large, plump elbow macaroni cooked past al dente (but not mushy). The pasta was coated in a ton of incredibly creamy cheddar cheese sauce. This was not an old-school baked macaroni casserole where the cheese and macaroni fuse together into a homogenous whole. This dish is for people who like their macaroni to stay creamy and loose no matter how long it sits out. It did have a little browning on top that suggested it had been baked, but it didn't stay in the oven long enough to dry out.

The sauce itself was luxuriously rich and had a pleasant American and cheddar cheese taste. The flavor was super cheesy, but it had clearly been made with mild cheeses, so it wasn't overwhelmingly sharp or tangy. The texture was perfectly smooth, with no graininess whatsoever. Other chain restaurants need to step up their offerings because Cracker Barrel is winning the mac and cheese game.

Sometimes the simple things in life are the best, and that's the case with Cracker Barrel's pinto beans. They're a masterclass in how a basic ingredient, when treated with the proper respect, can be much tastier than a complicated recipe.

These pinto beans had the firm texture and robust flavor we associate with beans cooked from dry. While canned beans are convenient, they're bland and mushy compared with dry beans that have been rehydrated and cooked for hours on the stove. The serving we got was chock-full of tender chunks of pork as well, and the meatiness worked in perfect harmony with the rustic flavor of the beans. Though these beans weren't as soft as canned ones, the insides were still creamy and smooth. Give us these pinto beans as a main course with some cornbread muffins, and we wouldn't need anything else for dinner — they were that good.