Kettle Lightly Salted Potato Chips, 130g

Lightly Salted is Kettle at its simplest: select potatoes, oil and sea salt, hand cooked in batches. This is the 130g sharing bag, which the label suggests serves five. The full product name on the pack is Hand Cooked Potato Chips, Lightly Salted.

Three ingredients

According to the published pack listing, the chips are made from select potatoes, vegetable oils (rapeseed and sunflower, in varying proportions) and sea salt. That is the whole list. The label adds that the chips may be fried in either oil or a blend, depending on supply. The pack says the potatoes are British and states absolutely nothing artificial.

What hand cooked adds

With only salt on top, the cooking is what you taste. Kettle cooks its chips in batches: each batch of slices lowers the temperature of the oil when it goes in, and the chips then cook more slowly as the oil recovers. That drives the water out gradually and sets the starch hard, giving a thicker, crunchier chip than a continuously fried crisp, with a deeper golden colour, curled edges and the occasional folded slice. A plain chip shows all of that.

Lightly salted, by the numbers

The label gives 0.65g of salt per 100g. For comparison, the thin ready salted crisps in our range show 1.2g per 100g on their labels, nearly double. Lightly salted means what it says: the salt is there to bring out the potato, not to dominate it.

Numbers per 100g

The label gives 494 kcal (2068 kJ), 25.4g of fat, 3g of saturates, 56.7g of carbohydrate, 0.1g of sugars, 4.1g of fibre, 7.7g of protein and 0.65g of salt per 100g. With five servings in the bag, a serving is about a fifth of the bag.

Reading the front of the pack

On the UK front of pack scale, per 100g, fat at 25.4g is red. Saturates at 3g are amber. Sugars at 0.1g are green, essentially none. Salt at 0.65g is amber, in the lower half of its band.

Allergens and diet

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

Select potatoes

The first ingredient is listed as select potatoes, and the pack says they are British. With nothing but sea salt on top, the potato matters more than in any flavoured chip: its sugar content decides how golden the chips fry, and its dry matter decides how crisp they become. Batch cooking brings out both.

Why the colour varies

Open a bag and some chips will be paler and some darker, a few with a deeper brown edge. That is normal for hand cooked chips. Potatoes vary in natural sugar through the year and with storage, and chips from sweeter potatoes brown more in the fryer. The variation is part of the character of a batch cooked chip.

The oils

The label lists rapeseed and sunflower oils in varying proportions, and notes that the chips may be fried in either oil or a blend, depending on supply.

The dip chip

A thick, plain, hand cooked chip is one of the best vehicles for a dip. It is strong enough to scoop a thick houmous, guacamole or cheese dip without snapping, and it adds crunch and a little salt while leaving the flavour to the dip. For a mixed table, the pack's vegan statement and gluten free claim make it a safe base for most guests.

Salt in a sharing bowl

The whole 130g bag holds less than 1g of salt, going by the label's 0.65g per 100g, which is modest for a sharing bag. Shared between five, each serving carries very little, which makes this a sensible choice for a table where some guests are watching salt.

Serving the bag

Serve it in a wide bowl with two or three dips, beside a sandwich platter, or with a bowl of soup. It also suits a glass of Champagne or a dry white wine, where a plain, salty crisp is a good partner.

In the kitchen

Crushed, lightly salted chips make a plain crumb for coating fish or chicken, or a crunchy topping for a gratin. They take on whatever herbs you mix in.

Storage and packaging

The pack's own storage advice is a cool, dry place away from bright light. The published recycling guidance says the whole packaging can be recycled with carrier bags at large supermarkets and should not go in home recycling. The pack names Kettle Foods Ltd as the maker.

Other sizes and flavours

The same flavour comes as a five bag multipack of 25g bags. In the same 130g bag we stock Kettle Sea Salt and Crushed Black Peppercorns, Sea Salt and Balsamic Vinegar of Modena, Mature Cheddar and Red Onion, Brie and Caramelised Onion and Honey Dijon Mustard.

Sizes of Kettle Lightly Salted Potato Chips we stock

Figures as published on each pack's label.

The published listing gives the United Kingdom as the country of origin. The tasting notes on this page are our own editorial assessment against the current pack format and the brand's published description.