Walkers Oven Baked Sea Salt Crisps, 6 x 22g

This is Walkers Oven Baked Sea Salt as a six bag multipack: 22g bags, 132g in all. The full product name on the pack is 6 x Sea Salt Flavour Baked Potato Snack, and the pack names Walkers Snack Foods Ltd as the maker.

Sea salt, not ready salted

This multipack is sometimes listed as ready salted, but the current pack reads sea salt, and the full product name on the pack says sea salt flavour. Both names describe the plain bag of the range.

The ingredients

According to the published pack listing, the snack is made from potato flakes, starch, rapeseed oil, sugar, an emulsifier (lecithins), a sea salt seasoning (sea salt, salt and flavourings), sunflower oil and a colour (annatto norbixin).

Potato flakes

Potato flakes are cooked, mashed and dried potato, the same kind used for instant mash. In the baked snack they carry the potato flavour, and starch gives the dough the strength to hold its thin, ridged shape in the oven.

A baked snack

Potato flakes, which are cooked, mashed and dried potato, are mixed with starch, shaped and baked; the pack pictures thin, ridged ovals and says the range is always baked, never fried. That gives a light, even snap rather than the hard crunch of a fried slice.

Sugar in a plain snack

Sugar is the fourth ingredient in the recipe, ahead of the seasoning, and the label gives 1.2g of sugars in each 22g bag. It rounds off the potato flavour rather than making the snack sweet.

Lecithins

Lecithins are emulsifiers, often made from soya or sunflower, that help oil and water mix evenly. The published list does not name the source used here, and soya is in the may contain advice.

Numbers for one bag

The label gives 96 kcal, 2.8g of fat, 0.3g of saturates, 16g of carbohydrate, 1.2g of sugars, 1.4g of fibre, 1.3g of protein and 0.19g of salt for each 22g bag. 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 438 kcal, 13g of fat, 1.4g of saturates, 73g of carbohydrate, 5.4g of sugars, 6.3g of fibre, 5.9g of protein and 0.85g 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 5.4g are amber, just over the 5g line, with sugar the fourth ingredient in the recipe. Salt at 0.85g is amber.

Allergens and diet

No allergens from the UK list of 14 are highlighted in the published ingredients. The allergy advice says the snack may contain cereals containing gluten, milk, mustard and soya. The pack says it is suitable for vegetarians; there is no vegan claim and no gluten free claim. Recipes and factory arrangements change, so check the allergy advice on the pack you receive.

A plain bag for small appetites

At 22g, each bag is a modest portion, and the mild, plain flavour suits younger children and fussy eaters. Six bags cover a working or school week with one to spare.

Plain for a reason

A plain bag is the easiest one to hand out: it does not fight with a sandwich filling or a dip, and it is the natural choice when you do not know what everyone likes.

Compared with the single bag

The 22g bags carry the same recipe as the 37.5g single bag of Walkers Oven Baked Sea Salt. A 22g bag gives 96 kcal and 0.19g of salt, against 164 kcal and 0.32g of salt for the 37.5g bag.

The paper outer bag

The brand says the outer bag of this multipack is now paper based and can be recycled at home, while the six inner bags are still plastic, to keep the snack fresh, and can be taken to store recycling points. The published recycling guidance says the bag can be recycled.

What the pack leaves out

The pack says there are no artificial colours, preservatives or added MSG. The golden tone comes from annatto, a natural colour from the seeds of the achiote tree.

Lunchbox ideas

A plain bag goes with any filling: ham, cheese, egg or tuna. It also makes a mild side for a bowl of soup or a salad. For a party, tip a few bags into a bowl beside a dip.

In the kitchen

Crushed, the ovals make a light, neutral crumb for fish fingers or chicken strips. Add herbs, lemon zest or paprika to flavour the crumb.

Storage

The pack advises a cool, dry place. Keep the bags in the outer bag until needed and finish each one once opened.

Other flavours

In the same six bag format we stock Walkers Oven Baked Cheese and Onion, Prawn Cocktail and Salt and Vinegar, and the Walkers Oven Baked Variety box, which holds two bags of sea salt alongside salt and vinegar and cheese and onion.

Sizes of Walkers Oven Baked Sea Salt 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.