Homemade Fat Pocky Recipe (A Super-Easy, Allergy-Friendly Treat)

Recently, satirical news site The Onion ran a headline guaranteed to strike fear into the hearts of parents: “Son Needs Costume, 30 Individually Wrapped Treats Tomorrow Morning for Some Celebration.”

While the rest of us parents simply laughed, Australian chef Adam Liaw decided to use the article as inspiration. He tweeted:

I am going to write a recipe for something that you can make 25 portions of in 5 minutes that can keep unrefrigerated for 8 hours and contains no dairy, nuts or eggs. I don’t know what it is yet but I will make it work for the good of us all.

Onion Article Inspires Chef to Create Easy, Affordable Allergen-Free Snack

He quickly came up with a fast, inexpensive, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free treat that’s perfect for school parties. It can easily be made gluten-free, too! By dipping hard breadsticks in chocolate, Liaw created what he calls “Fat Pocky,” a homemade allergen-free version of Pocky. Chef Liaw also shares tips for transporting the Fat Pocky, as well as cost and weight information!

I had to try this recipe for myself. Once I brought home the ingredients, my kids took over and made it, proving that this is a very fun and easy recipe! The breadsticks I found at my little grocery store are thinner than the ones he recommends, but they still worked. If you have trouble finding safe bread sticks in the store, you can make your own with this dairy-free grissini recipe.

Chef Liaw melts the chocolate using the microwave method, but Alisa’s foolproof method simplifies a step and avoids scorching the chocolate. He uses Enjoy Life chocolate chips to keep the recipe allergy-friendly, but you can use whatever brand of dairy-free chocolate chips fits your needs.

Many thanks to Chef Liaw and others who help make this parenting gig easier for all of us.

Special Diet Notes: Homemade Fat Pocky

By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, optionally gluten-free, nut-free, peanut-free, soy-free, vegan, and vegetarian.

Homemade Fat Pocky

Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

2 mins

Total time

22 mins

This easy, allergy-friendly recipe takes just 5 minutes of hands on time, and a few minutes in the freezer. The chef saves the leftover chocolate, but we make a quick "breadstick bark" with it.

Author: Adapted from Chef Adam Liaw

Serves: 25 pocky sticks

Ingredients

25 plain dairy-free crunchy breadsticks (gluten-free if needed, such as Schar)
375 grams (13.25 ounces) dairy-free dark or semisweet dairy-free chocolate (such as Enjoy Life)
Allergy-friendly sprinkles, if desired

Instructions

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Melt the chocolate.
Dip one end of each breadstick in the chocolate, gently shaking off excess chocolate. Place each breadstick on your prepared baking sheet about an inch apart.
Scatter sprinkles on the chocolate, if using.
Let the chocolate harden at room temperature or place the breadsticks in your freezer for 10 minutes.
Leftover Breadstick Bark: Spread the excess chocolate on parchment paper and sprinkle with broken breadstick pieces. Let it harden or place it in the freezer for 10 minutes. Break it up into large pieces.