8 Discontinued Pillsbury Products We're Desperate To See Return

Pillsbury is an institution as far as baking is concerned. Since its inception in 1869, the company has built its reputation on the promise of making baking easy for even the most inexperienced baker. From its annual Bake-Off Contest that began in 1949 to the plethora of recipes found on its website in the present day, the company has been pretty true to its mission.

With such a lengthy history under its belt, it's natural that Pillsbury would have some products it's decided to retire from the roster. Whether it be from poor sales, shifting customer expectations, or the increased price of production, there are multiple reasons that a company opts to discontinue its products — and it rarely informs consumers the exact reasons why.

With that in mind, we decided to take a dive into the annals of a truly delicious history to discover what Pillsbury products we'd love to see return to store shelves. Whether they are novelty items or simply scratch that nostalgic itch, these are the top Pillsbury products we're desperate to see come back.

Introduced in 2003, Pillsbury Waffle Sticks was one of a plethora of oblong-shaped foods that encouraged on-the-go snacking that made a name for themselves in the early 2000s (remember Go-Gurt?). If you were in need of a quick bite in the morning, Waffle Sticks were there for you. The product came in classic waffle flavors like blueberry, cinnamon, chocolate chip, and "homestyle," which was your basic buttermilk. They were packaged with a cup of syrup — or "dippin' cup," as advertised on the box — and the modest amount of DIY aesthetic made the breakfast food a hit among children who wanted to flex a little independence at the table.

Unfortunately, despite being beloved by many, Pillsbury ended up discontinuing its Waffle Sticks around 2007 or 2008. While plenty of fans have asked that Pillsbury bring back this portable snack food, it hasn't made a return to store shelves as of the time of publication. Of course, you could simply make your own waffles and slice them into strips, instead. If that's your plan, you'll want to make sure you know the trick to extra crispy waffles that can take the plunge into that all-important syrup cup.

If you were to peruse the bakery aisle in search of Pillsbury products, you'd find no shortage of delicious flavors. From classics like red velvet cake and devil's food to zero sugar and gluten free mixes to even fun seasonal selections like pumpkin or a spooky Funfetti slime, there's plenty of tasty representation happening.

However, one flavor you won't find among the Pillsbury lineup is pink lemonade. While what makes pink lemonade pink can be open to interpretation (indeed, its origins are murky at best), the bright, tart, fresh flavor is undeniable. It was 1961 that Pillsbury released its Pink Lemonade Angel Food Cake Mix with a matching box of frosting mix. At the time, the advertisement marketing the new flavor promised that the extra high and light cake — made with more than 14 egg whites to achieve that impressive height — would make any party "taste like a party." Unfortunately for those who would like to taste such amusement, the mix has been discontinued quite a while ago. Now, Pillsbury offers a pink-colored cake mix (Strawberry) and a classic Lemon mix, instead. Perhaps you could combine the two into a layer cake and Frankenstein your own pink lemonade creation.

Speaking of cake, Pillsbury has kicked more than the Pink Lemonade Angel Food Cake to the curb. In 1966, Pillsbury held its annual bake-off and crowned the winner the "Tunnel of Fudge" cake, a Bundt cake that had, well, a tunnel of fudge running through it. This winning vintage dessert led to a run on Bundt pans, with Pillsbury eventually trademarking the name and releasing a series of cake mixes designed around the unique pan itself.

From 1972 and through the 1980s, Pillsbury provided easy, convenient mixes for filled Bundt cakes that so resembled the successful Tunnel of Fudge cake. The boxes came packaged with a cake mix, a filling mix, and a glaze mix, alongside instructions on how even the most hopeless baker could construct a show-stopping Bundt cake right in their own kitchen. Pillsbury even stepped it up in terms of flavors, too, offering varieties like Fudge Macaroon, Fudge Nut Crown, Pound Cake Supreme, Triple Fudge, Lemon Blueberry, and Marble Supreme, to name a few. Unfortunately, the era of "fancy baking" petered out somewhat, and Pillsbury discontinued these nostalgic treats.

The late '90s and early '00s were a weird time for food. For some reason, we really liked coloring things with excessive amounts of food dye, even if that didn't make them look more appealing.

In this instance, Pillsbury really wanted to dress up its Wildberry Toaster Strudel by offering it with bright, turquoise-colored icing. The flaky square pastry pocket was filled with a purplish goo that was alleged to contain the flavors of strawberry, blueberry, and raspberry. Of all the discontinued Pillsbury products on this list, this is the one we remember the most, not the least for the icing's clear resemblance to toothpaste. Another recollection was that, despite being blue, that was where this icing's novelty ended. There was no additional flavor imparted by the blue — no berry or blue raspberry to echo that wildberry filling, for example — just the regular sweet taste of the white version.

Alas, the Wildberry Toaster Strudel — both with and without blue icing — was later discontinued. However, for those willing to travel north, Canada does have the flavor in stock, although not with the nostalgic blue hue we so loved.

Once upon a time – back in 1975, to be specific — Pillsbury decided that pigs in a blanket was the height of elegance. A crowd-pleasing appetizer, the company determined that the tender morsels shouldn't be wrapped in just any dough — although biscuit dough for pigs in a blanket is a pretty delicious shortcut. Instead, it introduced Wiener Wraps.

At the time of release, this dough was available in four flavors: plain, onion, cheese, and Mexican, so you could dress your dogs up however you liked best. Unfortunately, the novelty of the Wiener Wraps — as well as the giggle-inducing name — meant that this product was discontinued before the decade was out.

While the previously mentioned Pillsbury biscuit dough is a suitable enough replacement, for those craving the real thing, they'll have to add it to their shopping list the next time they head up to Canada. It seems Wiener Wraps are still alive and well there, although the unique flavor varieties do remain firmly in the past.

Unlike a lot of discontinued Pillsbury products that seemed delicious, even if we didn't have the pleasure of enjoying them ourselves, the Space Food Sticks of the 1960s hold zero appeal. Also known as "Space Sticks" and "Food Sticks," this Pillsbury product first began its life as a compressed food cube way back in the 1960s before it evolved into a stick format that accompanied astronauts into space. In fact, the creation of the Space Food Sticks was actually part of a government contract awarded to Pillsbury.

Engineered as a source of energy and nutrition, Space Food Sticks were individually wrapped chewy morsels that came in flavors like chocolate, peanut butter, and caramel. The sticks used their ties to NASA and space for a couple years before ultimately dropping the word from the name in 1971, becoming simply "Food Sticks" (which is about as original as the sticks seemed appetizing).

The focus on balance and nutrition remained, but Pillsbury wished to separate itself from space as a food adjective, given the negative connotations. By the 1980s, Space Food Sticks (or Food Sticks) were no longer available for purchase. Despite their relatively brief stint in snack culture they did make their mark in pop culture, appearing in shows like "The Simpsons," which makes us wish we could try these chewy sticks once again.

Toaster Strudel as we know it now is often stuffed with different fruity fillings. Apple, blueberry, cherry, and raspberry all make appearances. Pillsbury even has a savory version — known as Toaster Scrambles — that are actually pretty decent, as we discovered in our ranking of frozen breakfast sandwiches.

However, a flavor Toaster Strudel seems to shy away from these days is chocolate. While Pillsbury loves using chocolate in its cookie dough, brownies, and cake mixes, the flavor is mysteriously absent from its Toaster Strudel lineup, which currently has only one outlier from its usual fruity lineup: Cinnamon Roll.

But this was not always the case. Once, Pillsbury collaborated with chocolate giant Hershey's to create the Hershey's Chocolate Toaster Strudel. The frozen pastry was a departure from the usual in that it featured a chocolate dough, a chocolate filling, and a chocolate icing to drizzle over top. A trifecta of sweetness, it really stretched the limits of what breakfast food could do (although there's plenty of unhealthy breakfast cereals still on shelves, too). Maybe it was too much of a good thing, because, in a reply to a customer on X in 2023, Pillsbury said that the Hershey's Chocolate Toaster Strudel had been discontinued since 2021, so we're unlikely to see it return.

Pillsbury is famous for its sugar cookies, which cover all holidays — pumpkins, snowmen, and Easter bunnies are in regular rotation — as well as movies and pop culture moments. Some of the designs Pillsbury currently offers include a hat design from the movie "Elf," a Grinch complete with hearts, a Creeper from "Minecraft," and a dual set of designs for "Wicked." For these iconic sugar cookies, the design is already done for you. The company even took the work out of it by providing the dough in pre-cut, ready-to-bake rounds, as opposed to the dough log that was emblematic of the slice-and-bake dough.

However, it wasn't always this way. Once, Pillsbury encouraged its customers to take a more DIY approach and brought back cookie baking — and decorating — as a beloved family activity. The original Holiday Cookie kits from Pillsbury appeared in the 1960s and offered cookie dough with stencils for designs. The version we recall best — and wish to return most desperately — is the cookie kits with edible images. Released in 2003, these kits featured a dozen cookies, a vanilla frosting, and edible images that could be stuck to the frosting. Themed for the holidays, there were Halloween, Easter, and Christmas versions of the kits. Alas, they are no more, with Pillsbury telling one hopeful customer on X back in 2018, "We'll make sure that our team knows that you really want to see these cookie kits return."