Snack Stick Stuffer Tube Size: Match It to Your Casing

For most snack sticks, we’d start with a stuffing tube about 3/8 inch (10 mm) in outside diameter, especially if you’re using 19–21 mm casings. The tube needs to fit inside the casing with enough room for the casing to slide off smoothly as you fill it.

A 1/2-inch (about 12 mm) tube may work better with a roomier casing, such as a 21–23 mm casing, but it can be difficult to load onto a narrower one. Our team recommends choosing by the tube’s outside diameter and the casing’s stated diameter rather than assuming that two parts labeled “snack stick” will fit together.

Slide an empty casing onto the tube before loading the stuffer: it should go on without force and feed off without catching. If it bunches tightly or tears, try a narrower tube; if it slips off before you can control the fill, adjust how you hold the casing at the tube’s end.

Fill at a controlled pace so you can avoid both overstuffed sections that split and loosely filled sections with air pockets. Keep your meat mixture cold during preparation, follow your casing and recipe directions for cooking or curing, and wash and dry the tube thoroughly after use.

Our Vertical Sausage Stuffer with 3L Capacity & 3 Stuffing Tubes gives you three included tubes to consider for different casing sizes. For snack sticks, select whichever tube has an outside diameter that fits your casings comfortably; the product name alone doesn’t establish the sizes of those tubes.