Eat Real Salted Lentil Chips, 95g

Eat Real makes chips from pulses and grains rather than potato slices, and this is the plain lentil chip in a 95g sharing bag, which the label suggests serves five. The full product name on the pack is lentil based chips seasoned with salt, and the pack names Eat Real Ltd as the maker.

Five ingredients

According to the published pack listing, the chips are made from lentil flour (43%), potato starch, rapeseed oil, maize flour and salt. There is no seasoning blend, and sugar and colour do not appear on the list, one of the shortest in our range.

A chip made from lentils

Lentil flour, ground from dried lentils, makes up 43% of the chip. Potato starch and maize flour bind it into a dough that is formed into thin chips, which gives a light, airy crunch and a nutty, earthy flavour.

Why lentils

Lentils have been a staple across the Middle East and South Asia for thousands of years, eaten in dals, soups and flatbreads. Ground to flour, they give a snack with more body than potato and a savoury, slightly nutty taste that needs nothing more than salt.

Maize flour

Maize flour, ground from dried corn, sits beside the potato starch as a binder and adds a faint sweetness and a golden colour to the chips.

Nothing else on the list

Sugar, flavouring and yeast extract do not appear on the list, so the chips taste only of lentil and salt; the label gives 0.7g of sugars per 100g, from the ingredients themselves.

Rapeseed oil

The only oil on the list is rapeseed oil, a light oil grown widely in Britain, and the label gives 1.5g of saturates per 100g.

Numbers per 100g

The label gives 456 kcal (1913 kJ), 18g of fat, 1.5g of saturates, 59g of carbohydrate, 0.7g of sugars, 4.4g of fibre, 13g of protein and 2.2g of salt per 100g. With five servings suggested, a serving is about 19g, a fifth of the bag.

Reading the front of the pack

On the UK front of pack scale, per 100g, fat at 18g is red, just over the 17.5g line, and salt at 2.2g is red too. Saturates at 1.5g are green, right at the line, and sugars at 0.7g are green.

The salt figure

At 2.2g of salt per 100g, the chips carry more salt than many potato crisps, so a small bowl is the way to serve them. The Eat Real Chilli and Lemon Lentil Chips carry more still, at 3.45g per 100g.

Allergens and diet

No allergens from the UK list of 14 are highlighted in the published ingredients, and the listing gives no may contain advice. The pack says the chips are suitable for vegans and vegetarians and carries a gluten free claim with the Crossed Grain symbol, the gluten free mark licensed by Coeliac UK. Recipes and factory arrangements change, so check the allergy advice on the pack you receive.

Kosher

The pack carries the KLBD mark, the kosher certification of the London Beth Din, useful for households that keep kosher.

What the pack leaves out

The pack says there are no artificial flavourings, and with five ingredients there is nothing on the list that could be. Sugar and colour do not appear on the list.

A table for several diets

With lentil flour, potato starch and maize flour in place of wheat, and no dairy or egg on the list, the chips suit several diets at once, which makes them a practical bowl for a gathering where guests are vegan, vegetarian or coeliac.

The crunch

Formed from a lentil dough, the chips have a crisp, even crunch and a light, airy bite, firm enough to scoop a thick dip without breaking.

Serving the bag

Plain lentil chips are made for dips: houmous, guacamole, baba ganoush, a tomato salsa or a tzatziki for anyone who eats dairy. Put out a small bowl with a spread of dips and crudités.

Serving size

At 95g, the bag suggests five servings of about 19g, a small bowl each, which suits a chip with this much salt.

Who it suits

A plain lentil chip suits anyone who wants a crisp style snack that is not made from sliced potato, and anyone who likes a short, simple ingredient list.

In the kitchen

Crushed, the chips make a crunchy, gluten free topping for a lentil soup, a salad or a bake, or a coating for fish or chicken. Add paprika, cumin or herbs to flavour the crumb.

Storage and packaging

The pack advises a cool, dry place, and the bag is packaged in a protective atmosphere; clip it shut between servings. The published recycling guidance says the whole packaging can be recycled with carrier bags at large supermarkets and should not go in home recycling.

Other Eat Real packs

For single portions of the same chips, we stock Eat Real Salted Lentil Chips in a five bag pack of 18g bags. There is also Eat Real Chilli and Lemon Lentil Chips in the same 95g bag, and Eat Real Veggie Straws in two flavours.

Sizes of Eat Real Salted Lentil Chips we stock

Figures as published on each pack's label.

The tasting notes on this page are our own editorial assessment against the current pack format and the brand's published description.