Popchips Sour Cream and Onion 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 sour cream and onion flavour in the 85g sharing bag, which the label suggests serves three to four. 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, and dried onion, garlic and parsley give the savoury, green side, which is how a sour cream flavour can carry a vegan statement. The pack puts it simply: the dip is already in the chip.

Onion first

Dried onion leads the seasoning, so onion is the first flavour, softened by a little sugar and deepened by yeast extract. Parsley adds the fresh, herby note of 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.

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.

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 0.19g for a 23g serving.

Numbers per serving

The label gives 98 kcal (412 kJ), 3g of fat, 0.4g of saturates, 16g of carbohydrate, 0.5g of sugars, 1.1g of fibre, 1.4g of protein and 0.19g of salt for each 23g serving. That is about 5% of an average adult's daily energy reference intake, 4% of the fat and 3% 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.

What the pack leaves out

The pack says there are no artificial flavours or colours; the flavourings are natural and there is no colour on the list. Yeast extract, which is on the list, is naturally rich in glutamates, worth knowing for anyone who avoids them altogether.

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.

A bowl for several diets

With no dairy, egg, meat or gluten containing cereal on the list, one bowl of these suits vegans, vegetarians and anyone avoiding gluten, which makes the bag an easy choice for a mixed table.

Three to four servings

At 85g, the bag suggests three to four servings of 23g. Tip a serving into a bowl rather than eating from the bag, and keep the rest in an airtight container.

Serving the bag

Sour cream and onion suits a picnic, a film night or a drinks table. Serve the chips with crudités, a salmon platter or a cold glass of cider.

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 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 Sour Cream and Onion in a five bag pack of 17g bags. In the same 85g bag there are Popchips Sea Salt, Sea Salt and Vinegar and Barbeque.

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.