Popchips Barbeque Crisps, 85g

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 is the barbeque flavour in the 85g sharing bag, which the label suggests serves three. The full product name on the pack is barbeque flavour popped potato snacks, 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, smoky and a little spicy

Sugar leads the seasoning and dextrose follows, so the first taste is sweet, like a sticky barbecue sauce. Dried tomato, onion and garlic give the sauce base, smoked paprika and smoked maltodextrin carry the smoke, and red chilli pepper adds a gentle kick behind it all.

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.

The texture

Popped chips have a light, airy crunch that dissolves quickly, gentler than a thick fried crisp, with a texture somewhere between a crisp and a rice cake. They are not greasy to the touch, which suits a sharing bowl.

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 rather than a burn. Most children who like barbecue flavours will be fine with it.

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, the lowest of the Popchips we stock.

Numbers per serving

The label gives 100 kcal (420 kJ), 3.2g of fat, 0.4g of saturates, 16g of carbohydrate, 1.3g of sugars, 1g of fibre, 1.3g of protein and 0.15g of salt for each 25g serving. That is about 5% of an average adult's daily energy reference intake, 5% of the fat and 3% 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. 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.

A bowl for several diets

With dried potato, rice flour and potato starch in place of wheat, and no dairy, egg or meat on the list, one bowl suits vegans, vegetarians and anyone avoiding gluten, which makes the bag an easy choice for a mixed gathering.

Antioxidant

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

Three servings

At 85g, the bag suggests three servings of 25g. Tip a serving into a bowl rather than eating from the bag, and keep the rest in an airtight container.

Serving the bag

Barbecue chips suit a garden party, a film night or a picnic. Serve them with a coleslaw, grilled chicken or halloumi, a tomato salsa or a cold drink.

In the kitchen

Crushed, the chips make a sweet, smoky crumb for chicken thighs or a topping for a bean chilli.

Storage and packaging

The pack advises a cool, dry place and, once opened, an airtight container. 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 single portions of the same flavour, we stock Popchips Barbeque in a five bag pack of 17g bags. In the same 85g bag there are Popchips Sea Salt, Sea Salt and Vinegar 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.