Hot Pockets

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File:Hotpocketlogo.gif
The Hot Pockets brand logo.

Hot Pockets are microwaveable sandwiches usually composed of cheese and meat, sometimes accompanied with vegetables or a type of sauce, wrapped up in crust. Hot Pockets are currently produced by Nestlé.

There are over 20 varieties of Hot Pockets, including both breakfast and lunch/dinner varieties (see list below). Nestlé also offers Lean Pockets, Croissant Pockets, Pot-Pie Pockets and Hot Pocket Pizza Minis; in 2005, Hot Pockets Subs and Hot Pocket Fruit Pastries were introduced.

Hot Pockets were invented by Paul Merage and David Merage in the 1970s. They founded the company Chef America Inc. and began producing Hot Pockets for profit in 1983. In 2002, the Merages sold Chef America to Nestlé for $2.6 billion. Initially only available in the United States and Canada, they are now sold by Nestlé in France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom under the Maggi brand. Quote from Nestlé 2005 Full Year Financials: "In Europe, the roll-out of Hot Pockets, small microwaveable frozen meals, is gaining momentum in France, Germany, Spain and the UK."

Hot Pockets, which come frozen, are often known for a "sleeve" or "crisper" (technically, a susceptor) in which they cook in the microwave. The sleeve converts microwave energy into heat to crisp the crust, which would normally be penetrated by microwaves.

Recently, Hot Pockets brand has introduced whole grain crusts, following a trend of many convenience product purveyors of offering lower carbohydrate choices. This new variety is part of their "Lean Pocket" line, under the heading "Lean Pocket Ultra".

List of varieties

Hot Pockets


Hot Pockets Subs

  • Meatballs & Mozzarella
  • Philly Steak and Cheese
  • Ham & Cheese
  • Pepperoni Pizza


Hot Pockets Biscuits

  • Bacon, Egg, and Cheese
  • Sausage, Egg, and Cheese


Pot Pie Express

  • Chicken
  • Chicken & Broccoli
  • Turkey

Lean Pockets


Lean Pockets Ultra

  • Meatballs & Mozzarella
  • Supreme Pizza
  • Ham & Cheese

Lean Pockets Subs


Croissant Pockets

  • Chicken, Broccoli & Cheddar
  • Chicken Parmesan
  • Egg, Sausage & Cheese
  • Five Cheese Pizza
  • Ham & Cheddar
  • Italian Style Chicken Melt
  • Meatballs & Mozzarella
  • Pepperoni Pizza
  • Philly Steak & Cheese
  • Turkey Bacon Club

Hot Pockets Fruit Pastries

  • Apple
  • Cream Cheese & Strawberry
  • Strawberry

Hot Pockets Pizza Minis

  • Pepperoni
  • Sausage & Pepperoni
  • Double Cheese Pizza


Hot Pockets Calzone

  • Four Cheese, Four Meat
  • Pepperoni & Three Cheese
  • Supreme

Hot Pockets in popular culture

  • One of Mike Myers' characters in the Austin Powers trilogy, Dr. Evil, offers a Hot Pocket to his son, Scott Evil, in 1997's Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. And in the sequel, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Dr. Evil asks Mini-Me if he would like a Hot Pocket. He also encourages his subordinate, Frau Farbissina, to enjoy a Hot Pocket while awkwardly conversing about their previous night's unsatisfying sexual encounter.
  • Jack McFarland serves these at the cafe that he has set up outside of his apartment on a 2002 episode of the NBC sitcom Will & Grace.
  • The character Taz 'Rat' Finch in the 2003 film The Core is obsessed with Hot Pockets to the point where he requests them in addition to Xena tapes as payment for "hacking the planet."
  • Jim Gaffigan has a comedy routine about Hot Pockets in which he talks extensively about:
    • their origin ("Why don't we fill a Pop Tart with nasty meat? We can cook it in a sleeve thing and...dunk it in the toilet?") His comedy skit has begun to cast Hot Pockets in a negative light.
    • their white trash ethos ("Warning! You just bought Diarrhea Pockets! Better be drunk or heading home to a trailer, you hillbilly!")
    • the fact that their centers are either frozen or "boiling lava hot"
    • their alleged tendency to give the eater diarrhea
    • a fictitious "Hot Pocket" style Hot Pocket ("It's a Hot Pocket filled with a Hot Pocket...Tastes just like a Hot Pocket.")
    • the introduction of the Breakfast Hot Pockets ("Now you can have a Diarrhea Pocket for breakfast, a Diarrhea Pocket for lunch, and be dead by dinner")
    • the product's jingle, which Gaffigan sings often, in an odd falsetto voice ("Not as good as your "By Mennen" but it's good").
    • their vegetarian variety, "For people who don't want to eat meat but would still like to have diarrhea."
    • Lean Pockets ("step one: remove from package step two: place directly in toilet," implying the eater will most likely suffer from extensive diarrhea from eating a Lean Pocket).
  • In the South Park episode "Make Love, Not Warcraft," the boys are seen eating only Hot Pockets and playing World of Warcraft addictively.
  • On The Simpsons, the character Comic Book Guy is a fan of Hot Pockets.
  • Hot Pockets has a new spokesman, Master ReDai, a pseudo Chinese kung fu master who apparently lives and breathes Hot Pockets. He humorously berates the targeted individual first, then follows up with his slogan: "you no hungry for (insert current object of interest, example: girl), you hungry for Hot Pocket!"
  • In the third season of The O.C. Julie Cooper offers Dr. Neil Roberts a Hot Pocket when he arrives at her trailer unexpectedly.

See also

External links

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