Popchips Sour Cream and Onion 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 sour cream and onion flavour, 85g in all. The full product name on the pack is sour cream and onion 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, potato starch, a sour cream and onion flavour (dried onion, sugar, dried yeast extract, potato starch, potassium chloride, natural flavourings, dried garlic, citric acid, salt and dried parsley), and salt.

Sour cream without cream

No dairy appears on the list. The creamy, tangy side of the flavour comes from natural flavourings and citric acid, the sharpness you would get from soured cream, while dried onion, garlic and parsley give the savoury, green side. That is how a sour cream flavour can carry a vegan statement.

Onion first

Dried onion leads the seasoning, so onion is the first flavour, softened by a little sugar and deepened by yeast extract. Parsley gives the fresh, herby note you would find in a soured cream and chive dip.

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.

Potassium chloride and the salt figure

Potassium chloride sits in the seasoning beside salt. It tastes salty but contains no sodium, and the salt figure on a UK label is worked out from sodium. The label gives 0.83g of salt per 100g and 0.14g for each bag.

Numbers for one bag

The label gives 72 kcal (305 kJ), 2.2g of fat, 0.3g of saturates, 12g of carbohydrate, 0.5g of sugars, 0.8g of fibre, 1.1g of protein and 0.14g 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 426 kcal (1793 kJ), 13g of fat, 1.6g of saturates, 68g of carbohydrate, 2.2g of sugars, 4.7g of fibre, 6.2g of protein and 0.83g of salt.

Reading the front of the pack

On the UK front of pack scale, per 100g, fat at 13g is amber rather than the red of a fried crisp, and saturates at 1.6g are amber, just over the 1.5g line. Sugars at 2.2g are green. Salt at 0.83g is amber.

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.

Rice flour

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

Yeast extract

A little dried yeast extract gives the seasoning a savoury base. It is naturally rich in glutamates, which is worth knowing for anyone who avoids them altogether.

A small bag

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

The texture

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

A new taste

The pack in our photographs carries a great new taste flash. The ingredients and figures on this page are from the current published listing; older packs may differ, so read the pack you receive.

Who it suits

A sour cream and onion chip with no dairy on the list suits vegans who miss the flavour, and the gluten free claim suits a coeliac lunchbox. There is no chilli.

Serving ideas

Sour cream and onion goes with a ham or salmon sandwich, a jacket potato or a salad with a vinaigrette. The light chips suit a picnic or a packed lunch on a hot day.

In the kitchen

Crushed, the chips make a light, herby crumb for the top of a potato salad or a leek and potato soup.

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 Sour Cream and Onion at 85g. In the same five bag format there are Popchips Barbeque and Chargrilled Steak.

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