Walkers Meaty Variety Crisps, 14 x 25g

The Walkers Meaty Variety box is named for its flavours, not its ingredients. It holds fourteen 25g bags, 350g of crisps: three Smoky Bacon, three Roast Chicken, four Prawn Cocktail and four Cheese and Onion. None of the four lists meat or fish, and the pack says all of them are suitable for vegetarians.

Four savoury flavours without meat

According to the published pack listing, every bag starts from the thin Walkers crisp: potatoes, sunflower and rapeseed oils in varying proportions, and antioxidants (rosemary extract, ascorbic acid, a tocopherol rich extract and citric acid). The pack says the potatoes are 100% Great British potatoes and states no added MSG or artificial colours.

The flavours come from the seasonings. Smoky bacon uses flavourings, yeast extract, salt, yeast powder, potassium chloride, citric and malic acids and paprika extract. Roast chicken, in the recipe used in the Walkers roast chicken multipacks, uses sugar, potassium chloride, salt, flavourings, onion powder, dried sage, citric acid and paprika extract. Prawn cocktail uses flavourings, sugar, citric acid and potassium acetates, dextrose, potassium chloride, salt, yeast powder, onion and tomato powder, spice extract, paprika extract and a small amount of sucralose. Cheese and onion uses dried onion, salt, whey, lactose, sugar, a flavouring containing milk, cheese powder, dried yeast, acids, whey protein, dried garlic and colours from annatto and paprika.

How crisps taste of meat with no meat

The trick is savoury depth. Yeast extract and yeast powder, naturally rich in glutamates, give the same kind of savour that meat and gravy have; they lead the smoky bacon seasoning. Dried sage and onion give roast chicken its Sunday dinner smell. Prawn cocktail borrows the sweet, tangy sauce rather than the prawns. Cheese and onion is the non meat flavour of the four, included for balance. For a vegetarian who misses those tastes, this box is a straightforward way to have them.

Four nutrition panels

Per 25g bag, the panels give smoky bacon 128 kcal and 0.17g of salt; roast chicken 127 kcal and 0.16g of salt; prawn cocktail 127 kcal and 0.16g of salt; and cheese and onion 128 kcal and 0.29g of salt. Per 100g, the first three sit between 0.65g and 0.67g of salt, while cheese and onion carries 1.2g. Sugars per 100g range from 0.8g in smoky bacon, whose seasoning lists no sugar at all, to 2.6g in cheese and onion. On the UK front of pack scale every flavour is high for fat, medium for saturates and salt, and low for sugars.

The colours on the front

Every flavour in the box falls into the same front of pack pattern per 100g: red for fat, because fried crisps sit well above 17.5g; amber for saturates, between 1.5g and 5g; green for sugars, under 5g; and amber for salt. Within that amber, cheese and onion sits higher at 1.2g, and the other three sit near the middle of the band at 0.65g to 0.67g.

Allergens and diet

Milk appears only in the cheese and onion seasoning, and the listing highlights milk for the box because of those bags. The sweetener sucralose appears only in the prawn cocktail, which the pack names as containing sugar and sweetener. The allergy advice for the box says the crisps may contain cereals containing gluten, mustard and soya. No vegan or gluten free claim is made. Recipes and factory arrangements change, so check the allergy advice on each bag you hand out.

How the crisps are made

Every bag is the thin Walkers slice: washed potatoes cut thin, rinsed of surface starch and fried in the sunflower and rapeseed blend until the water has cooked out. Each seasoning is dusted onto warm crisps so the oil holds it, and each bag is sealed on its own.

Who the fourteen bag box suits

Fourteen bags is two weeks of lunches at a bag a day, or a week for two. It suits a household that prefers savoury, meaty flavours to plain or sharp ones, and it is a good box for mixed groups where some people eat meat and others do not, since the crisps themselves are suitable for vegetarians according to the pack. Sorted into four bowls, it also makes a party table with a choice of flavours and no heat anywhere.

Other ways to buy these flavours

The Meaty Variety box also comes with twenty bags, five of each flavour. Each flavour is sold on its own too: we stock Walkers Smoky Bacon, Roast Chicken, Prawn Cocktail and Cheese and Onion in six bag multipacks. For the plain and sharp classics instead, the Walkers Classic Variety box swaps smoky bacon and roast chicken for ready salted and salt and vinegar.

Storage

The pack advises a cool, dry place. Keep the bags in the box until needed and finish each bag once it is opened. When the box is opened, it helps to sort the bags by flavour, so the cheese and onion (milk) and prawn cocktail (sweetener) bags are easy to spot.

Sizes of Walkers Meaty Variety Crisps we stock

Figures as published on each pack's label.

The published listing gives the United Kingdom as the country of origin, and the pack names Walkers 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.