Walkers Oven Baked Salt and Vinegar Crisps, 37.5g

Salt and vinegar is the sharp one in any crisp range, and in Walkers Oven Baked it comes on a baked potato snack rather than a fried slice. This is the 37.5g single bag; the full product name on the pack is salt and malt vinegar flavour baked potato snack, and the pack names Walkers Snack Foods Ltd as the maker.

Baked from potato flakes

The base is potato flakes, which are cooked, mashed and dried potato, with starch to hold the shape. The mixture is shaped and baked rather than sliced and fried, and the pack pictures thin, ridged ovals. The legal name, baked potato snack, reflects that.

The ingredients

According to the published pack listing, the snack is made from potato flakes, starch, rapeseed oil, a salt and malt vinegar seasoning (flavourings containing barley malt vinegar extract, citric acid, salt, lactose from milk, potassium chloride and paprika extract for colour), sugar, an emulsifier (lecithins), sunflower oil and a colour (annatto norbixin).

Where the vinegar comes from

There is no liquid vinegar in a dry snack. The tang comes from flavourings made with barley malt vinegar extract, which give the malty sharpness of chip shop vinegar, and from citric acid, which sharpens it. Lactose, the natural sugar in milk, carries the powder and softens the acid a little.

Malt vinegar

Malt vinegar is brewed from malted barley, fermented first to a beer like liquid and then to vinegar, which gives it a rounded, slightly sweet sharpness that sets it apart from clear spirit vinegar. That is the taste the seasoning copies.

Barley and milk

Two allergens come in through the seasoning. The malt vinegar extract is made from barley, a cereal containing gluten, and the lactose comes from milk. Both are highlighted in the published ingredients, so this is not a snack for anyone avoiding gluten or milk.

Salt and potassium chloride

Potassium chloride tastes salty but contains no sodium, and the salt figure on a UK label is worked out from sodium, so it adds saltiness without adding to that figure. The label gives 0.88g of salt per 100g and 0.33g for the bag.

Numbers for one bag

The label gives 163 kcal, 4.8g of fat, 0.5g of saturates, 27g of carbohydrate, 2.2g of sugars, 2.3g of fibre, 2.2g of protein and 0.33g of salt for the 37.5g bag, which it treats as one serving. That is about 8% of an average adult's daily energy reference intake, 7% of the fat and 6% of the salt. Per 100g it is 435 kcal, 13g of fat, 1.4g of saturates, 72g of carbohydrate, 5.8g of sugars, 6.1g of fibre, 5.9g of protein and 0.88g 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 1.4g are green. Sugars at 5.8g are amber, just over the 5g line, with sugar in the recipe as well as lactose in the seasoning. Salt at 0.88g is amber.

Allergens and diet

The published ingredients highlight barley, a cereal containing gluten, and milk. The allergy advice says the snack may contain mustard and soya. The pack says it is suitable for vegetarians; it is not vegan, because of the milk, and there is no gluten free claim. Recipes and factory arrangements change, so check the allergy advice on the pack you receive.

What the brand leaves out

The brand says Walkers Baked contain no preservatives, artificial colourings or MSG. The colours on this list are paprika extract and annatto, both from plants.

The texture

A snack made from flakes is lighter than a fried slice, with a crisp, even snap, and the ridges hold the seasoning so the vinegar comes through on every piece.

Who it suits

A light, baked salt and vinegar suits anyone who likes a sharp flavour but prefers a lighter snack than a thick, hand cooked crisp. Check the allergy advice first for anyone avoiding gluten or milk.

A single bag

A 37.5g bag is a single serving, sized for a lunchbox or a desk drawer. A sharp flavour suits a plain lunch: a cheese sandwich, an egg mayonnaise roll or a jacket potato.

Serving ideas

Salt and vinegar goes with fish, from a tuna sandwich to fish fingers, and with anything creamy that softens the sharpness.

In the kitchen

Crushed, the ovals make a sharp, light crumb for fish goujons or a topping for mushy peas.

Storage

The pack advises a cool, dry place. Finish the bag once it is opened.

The six bag pack

For a week of lunches, we stock the same Walkers Oven Baked Salt and Vinegar in a six bag multipack of 22g bags, at 96 kcal a bag.

Other Walkers Oven Baked flavours

In the same 37.5g bag we stock Walkers Oven Baked Cheese and Onion, Prawn Cocktail and Sea Salt, and in 150g sharing bags there are Walkers Oven Baked Sun Dried Tomato and Basil and Slow Roasted Beef. For a fried salt and vinegar crisp, Walkers Salt and Vinegar comes in a 45g bag.

Sizes of Walkers Oven Baked Salt and Vinegar 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.