If potato chips are your weakness, indulging in grease, salt, and high amounts of fat might make you feel a little guilty, not to mention sick to your stomach. I just came upon an alternative marketed as a healthier chip, Popchips. They are never baked or fried. Popchips are made by applying heat and pressure (and according to their website "a little snack magic") to corn and potatoes, and presto chango a new kind of chip is formed.

As you can see they come in a wide variety of flavors, but how do they stack up against other potato chips? To find out, read more.

Here's the nutritional info for one ounce of chips (about 19 chips).

Serving Size
Calories 100 150 150
Total Fat 4 g 10 g 9 g
Saturated Fat 0g 1g 1g
Cholesterol 0mg 0mg 0mg
Sodium 250mg 200mg 170mg
Carbs 20g 15g 15g
Fiber 1g 1g 2g
Sugar 2g 2g 1g
Protein 1g 2g 2g
Ingredients Natural potato ingredients (potato flour, potato starch), Safflower Oil and/or Sunflower Oil, Barbecue Seasoning (Sugar, Whey, Onion and Garlic Powders, Salt, Torula Yeast, Brown Sugar, Tomato Powder, Yeast Extract, Spices, Natural Flavors, Natural Smoke Flavor, Citric Acid, Paprika Extract, Paprika, Rice Flour, Salt, Soy Lecithin. Potatoes, Sunflower Oil, Barbecue Seasoning (Sugar, less than (2%) of the Following: Dextrose, Maltodextrin, Natural Flavor, Molasses, Onion Powder, Monosodium Glutamate, Autolyzed Yeast [Torula], Salt, Spices, Paprika and Extractives of Paprika, Garlic Powder, Tomato Powder, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and Canola Oil, Yeast, Citric Acid, and Mesquite Smoke Flavor), and Salt. Select Potatoes, Safflower and/or Sunflower oil, Honey Powder (Cane Syrup, Honey), Salt, Rice Flour, Onion Powder, Tomato Powder, Paprika, Torula Yeast, Yeast Extract, Garlic Powder, Chili Pepper, Natural Hickory Smoke Flavor, Citric Acid, Paprika Extract, and Cayenne Pepper.



These chips have a wonderful light and crispy texture, and I loved that they weren't greasy like regular potato chips usually are. They sort of melt in your mouth after you crunch on them, and were surprisingly satisfying, even though they're full of air. The barbecue flavor was a little weird, almost a little too strong or burnt tasting.

As for nutrition, yes these chips have less calories, total fat, and saturated fat as compared to the Lay's and Kettle chips, but they also have more carbs and sodium and less protein. Comparing ingredients just makes me cringe. These chips aren't even made with real potatoes — no, "potato ingredients" doesn't count. If I had a hankering for BBQ chips again, I'd go for the Kettle chips. They're made with actual potatoes, have a lot less sodium than the Popchips, less sugar, and more fiber and protein. So what if they have more calories and fat? I'm not eating BBQ potato chips for health reasons here. They're a splurge, so they should taste like it.

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