Walkers BBQ Sauce Crisps, 6 x 25g

A good barbecue sauce is sweet, tangy, rich with tomato and a little smoky, and Walkers BBQ Sauce flavour crisps put the same ideas on a thin potato crisp. This multipack holds six 25g bags, 150g in total. The full product name on the pack is BBQ Sauce Flavour Potato Crisps.

The seasoning, ingredient by ingredient

According to the published pack listing, the crisps are made from potatoes, sunflower and rapeseed oils in varying proportions, a BBQ sauce flavour seasoning and antioxidants (rosemary extract, ascorbic acid, a tocopherol rich extract and citric acid).

The seasoning is one of the longest in the Walkers range, and it reads like a recipe for the sauce. Sugar comes first, as it does in many barbecue sauces. Then flavouring, paprika powder, hydrolysed protein, dextrose, onion powder, potassium chloride, malic and citric acids, salt, tomato powder, garlic powder, carob flour, smoked maltodextrin, smoked sunflower oil, and paprika extract for colour.

What each part does

Sugar and dextrose give the sweetness a barbecue sauce needs. Paprika powder brings a warm, sweet pepper flavour and colour without the burn of chilli, and no chilli is listed. Tomato, onion and garlic powders are the base of most barbecue sauces. Malic and citric acids provide the tang that vinegar gives a bottled sauce. Hydrolysed protein is a savoury ingredient made by breaking proteins down into smaller pieces, and it adds depth much as a dash of Worcestershire sauce does in a marinade.

The smoke comes from two carriers: smoked maltodextrin, a starch powder that has been smoked, and smoked sunflower oil. Carob flour, milled from the pods of the carob tree, has a sweet, roasted, slightly cocoa like flavour, and it adds a darker note under the sweetness.

The numbers for one bag

The label gives 127 kcal, 7.3g of fat, 0.6g of saturates, 13g of carbohydrate, 0.7g of sugars, 1.2g of fibre, 1.6g of protein and 0.16g of salt for a 25g bag. Per 100g that is 509 kcal, 29g of fat, 2.2g of saturates, 2.8g of sugars and 0.65g of salt. On the UK front of pack scale, fat is high, saturates and salt are medium, and sugars are low. One bag is about 6% of an adult's daily energy reference intake and 3% of the salt.

With sugar at the top of the seasoning, 2.8g of sugars per 100g may look lower than you would expect. The seasoning is only a small part of each crisp's weight, so even a sugar led seasoning leaves the crisp green for sugars on the front of pack scale.

Allergens and diet

No allergens from the UK list of 14 are highlighted in the published ingredients. The allergy advice says the crisps may contain cereals containing gluten, milk, mustard and soya. The pack states they are suitable for vegetarians and made with no added MSG or artificial colours. No vegan or gluten free claim is made, so we would not describe them as either. Recipes and factory arrangements change, so check the allergy advice on the pack you receive.

How the crisps are made

The crisp underneath is the thin Walkers slice, cut from washed potatoes, rinsed, and fried in the sunflower and rapeseed blend until the water has gone and the starch has set brittle. The long seasoning is dusted over while the crisps are warm, so the oil on the surface holds it, and the pack says the bags are packaged in a protective atmosphere, which keeps oxygen away from the oil.

Where it fits

BBQ sauce sits between the sweet and the savoury flavours in the range. It is sweeter than smoky bacon, gentler than salt and vinegar, and without the heat of a chilli crisp. That makes it a good match for anything that suits a barbecue sauce: a burger, a pulled pork or pulled jackfruit bun, sausages, or cheese on toast.

For another sauce inspired flavour in the same six bag format, there is Walkers Heinz Tomato Ketchup, and alongside it we stock Walkers Smoky Bacon, Roast Chicken, Worcester Sauce, Prawn Cocktail, Salt and Vinegar and Cheese and Onion. For a barbecue flavour in a different shape, Walkers Bugles Southern Style BBQ is a corn snack in a 110g bag.

Keeping them fresh

The pack advises a cool, dry place. Keep the bags in the outer pack until needed and finish a bag once it is open. Give each bag a gentle shake before opening, because a long seasoning like this one has fine powders that settle to the bottom.

Other 6 x 25g packs of Walkers we stock

Figures as published on each pack's label.

The published listing gives the United Kingdom as the country of origin and names Walkers Snack Foods Ltd 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.