McCoy's Cheddar and Onion Crisps, 6 x 25g

This multipack puts McCoy's Cheddar and Onion into six 25g bags, 150g of thick, ridge cut crisps in total. The full product name on the pack is Cheddar and Onion Flavour Potato Crisps, and each bag is a single serving sealed until it is opened.

A thicker crisp for the lunchbox

McCoy's are ridge cut: the potatoes go through a corrugated blade that leaves parallel ridges on each face, and the slices are thicker than a standard thin crisp. That gives a firmer, louder crunch, and it means the crisps survive a lunchbox better than thin ones, because a thicker slice is less likely to break into crumbs on the way to school or work.

What is in each bag

According to the published pack listing, the crisps are made from potatoes, sunflower oil and a cheddar and onion flavour seasoning. The seasoning lists dried onion, dried yeast extract, dried whey (milk), dextrose, salt, dried whole milk, dried cheese (milk), rubbed parsley, flavourings (containing milk), onion extract and paprika extract for colour.

The oil is sunflower on its own, not a blend, which is worth noting if you compare labels across brands. The dairy side of the seasoning is built from three milk ingredients rather than one, which gives a fuller cheese note, and the dried yeast extract near the top of the list adds the savoury depth. Rubbed parsley is a small herb note, and dextrose, a simple sugar, softens the salt.

Numbers for one bag

The label gives 132 kcal (549 kJ), 7.5g of fat, 0.6g of saturates, 13g of carbohydrate, 0.6g of sugars, 1.1g of fibre, 1.9g of protein and 0.24g of salt for each 25g bag. That is about 7% of an average adult's daily energy reference intake and 4% of the salt. Per 100g it is 526 kcal, 30g of fat, 2.5g of saturates, 2.4g of sugars and 0.97g of salt; on the UK front of pack scale fat is high, saturates and salt are medium and sugars are low.

Compared with a thin 25g bag of Walkers Cheese and Onion, which the label puts at 128 kcal and 0.29g of salt, a McCoy's bag has a few more calories and a little less salt.

The colours on the front

Read against the UK front of pack scale, the per 100g figures give a red for fat, since 30g is well past the 17.5g line that almost every fried crisp crosses. Saturates at 2.5g are amber, inside the 1.5g to 5g band. Sugars at 2.4g are green, under 5g. Salt at 0.97g is amber, towards the middle of its 0.3g to 1.5g band. A single 25g bag, at 0.24g of salt, is a modest share of an adult's daily reference intake of 6g.

Allergens and diet

The published ingredients highlight milk, in the whey, whole milk, cheese and flavourings. The allergy advice says the crisps may contain cereals containing gluten, mustard and soya. The pack says they are suitable for vegetarians. They are not vegan, because of the milk, and no gluten free claim is made. Recipes and factory arrangements change, so check the allergy advice on the pack you receive.

How the crisps are made

Washed potatoes are sliced with a ridged blade, rinsed and fried in sunflower oil until the water has cooked out of the thicker slices and they set firm. The seasoning goes on while the crisps are warm, and the grooves catch more of it than a flat slice would. The pack says the bags are packaged in a protective atmosphere, with the air replaced by a gas mix to keep the oil fresh.

Six bags for the week

Six bags cover a working week with one to spare. A thick cheese and onion crisp suits a hearty lunch: a ham salad roll, a pork pie, a cheese scone or a flask of soup. It is also sturdy enough to crush over a pasta bake without turning to dust, giving a crunchier topping than a thin crisp. For a picnic, the thicker slice copes better with being carried around in a bag than a thin crisp does.

Other ways to buy it

For a single serving there is a 45g bag of the same flavour. Cheddar and onion is also in both McCoy's Classic Variety boxes, two bags in the six bag box and four in the twelve bag box, alongside salt and malt vinegar and salted. In the same six bag format we stock McCoy's Flame Grilled Steak, Salt and Malt Vinegar and Thai Sweet Chicken, and the limited edition Hot Kick Ketchup and Yellow Mustard.

The packets

The published listing says the whole packaging can be recycled with bags at large supermarkets and should not go in home recycling, since crisp packets are a layered soft plastic.

Storage

The pack advises a cool, dry place. Keep the bags in the outer pack until needed and finish each bag once it is opened.

Sizes of McCoy's Cheddar and Onion Crisps we stock

Figures as published on each pack's label.

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