Popchips Barbeque Crisps, 5 x 17g

Popchips are popped rather than fried: small pieces of a potato dough are heated under pressure until they puff up into light, crisp chips. This multipack holds five 17g bags of the barbeque flavour, 85g in all, and the pack gives a freepost address for KP Snacks.

The ingredients

According to the published pack listing, the chips are made from dried potato, rice flour, sunflower oil, a barbeque flavour (sugar, maltodextrin, potassium chloride, rice flour, dried onion, natural flavourings, dextrose, dried tomato, ground spices of smoked paprika and red chilli pepper, dried garlic, dried yeast, dried yeast extract, salt, citric acid, paprika extract for colour, smoked maltodextrin, and extracts of rosemary as an antioxidant), potato starch and salt.

Sweet and spicy

Sugar leads the seasoning and dextrose follows, so the first taste is sweet, like a barbecue sauce. Dried tomato, onion and garlic give the sauce base, smoked paprika and smoked maltodextrin the smoke, and red chilli pepper a gentle kick. The pack describes it as a sweet and spicy barbecue flavour.

How a popped chip is made

The dough of dried potato, rice flour and potato starch is heated under pressure in small pieces, which pop into light, airy chips. The pack sums it up as popped, not fried, and the texture sits somewhere between a crisp and a rice cake.

Dried yeast and yeast extract

Dried yeast and dried yeast extract add a savoury depth under the sweetness. Yeast extract is naturally rich in glutamates, worth knowing for anyone who avoids them altogether.

Rice flour

Rice flour appears twice, in the chip and in the seasoning. It contains no gluten, and with dried potato and potato starch in place of wheat, the pack can carry a gluten free claim.

How hot is it

Red chilli pepper is on the list, but it comes after the sugar, onion and tomato, so the heat is a gentle warmth behind the sweetness rather than a burn.

Potassium chloride and the salt figure

Potassium chloride comes third in the seasoning. It tastes salty but contains no sodium, and the salt figure on a UK label is worked out from sodium. The label gives 0.64g of salt per 100g and 0.11g for each bag, the lowest salt of the Popchips we stock.

Numbers for one bag

The label gives 74 kcal (310 kJ), 2.4g of fat, 0.3g of saturates, 12g of carbohydrate, 0.9g of sugars, 0.7g of fibre, 0.9g of protein and 0.11g of salt for each 17g bag. That is about 4% of an average adult's daily energy reference intake, 3% of the fat and 2% of the salt. Per 100g it is 434 kcal (1824 kJ), 14g of fat, 1.7g of saturates, 68g of carbohydrate, 5.5g of sugars, 4.2g of fibre, 5.5g of protein and 0.64g of salt.

Reading the front of the pack

On the UK front of pack scale, per 100g, fat at 14g is amber rather than the red of a fried crisp, and saturates at 1.7g are amber. Sugars at 5.5g are amber, just over the 5g line, because the seasoning is sweet. Salt at 0.64g is amber, in the lower part of its band.

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. Recipes and factory arrangements change, so check the allergy advice on the pack you receive.

Gluten free and vegan

Dried potato, rice flour and potato starch take the place of wheat, and there is no dairy, egg or meat on the list, so one bag suits vegans, vegetarians and anyone avoiding gluten.

Antioxidant

Extracts of rosemary protect the oil in the seasoning from going stale; at the small amount used, they are not there for flavour.

A small bag

At 17g, each bag is smaller than a standard 25g crisp bag, which suits a light snack or a younger child's lunchbox. Five bags cover a working or school week.

The crunch

Popped chips have a light, airy crunch that dissolves quickly, gentler than a thick fried crisp, and they are not greasy to the touch.

Compared with the sharing bag

The 17g bags carry the same recipe as the 85g sharing bag of Popchips Barbeque; a 17g bag gives 74 kcal, against 100 kcal for a 25g serving from the sharing bag.

Serving ideas

A sweet barbecue flavour goes with a chicken wrap, a cheese sandwich or a crunchy salad. The light chips suit a picnic or a packed lunch on a hot day.

In the kitchen

Crushed, the chips make a sweet, smoky crumb for chicken strips or a topping for a bean salad.

Storage and packaging

The pack advises a cool, dry place; finish each bag once opened. 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 Popchips packs

For a sharing bag of the same flavour, we stock Popchips Barbeque at 85g. In the same five bag format there are Popchips Chargrilled Steak and Sour Cream and Onion.

Sizes of Popchips Barbeque Crisps 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.