Popchips Sour Cream & Onion Potato Chips

Popchips Sour Cream & Onion Potato Chips
Photograph Copyright 2012 by Kelsey Wyatt

Out of all the common flavors for potato chips these days, sour cream and onion is likely the one that will offer the most significantly pungent and noticeable aroma. One of the general issues with potato chips that have a very noticeable smell is that they can tend to overtake the other foods that might be eaten at the same time (say a sandwich or soup of some sort). 

This is why it's usually best to keep the chips closed until the main course is done unless the chips are just a plain sort without any heavy flavoring. But there are some varieties of potato chips out there that won't knock someone over when they're opened up and aren't going to be a flavor that a person seems to smell in their general vicinity hours after they actually ate the chips.

One of these tasty varieties is Popchips Sour Cream & Onion Potato chips, which are one of a fairly extensive line of different flavors that have been on the market for a few years from a company suggesting that its snacks are healthier than most of the other versions out there on the market right now. And generally they would be right since their version of potato chips often has less fat and fewer calories than many of their competitors.

Popchips Sour Cream & Onion Potato Chips
Photograph Copyright 2012 by Kelsey Wyatt

But the Popchips folks seem to go a bit further than just offering a chip that has more attractive nutritional stats as they also suggest that their chips don't have unneeded extras such as preservatives, artificial flavors and colors and cholesterol. And of course one of the best parts of this approach is that they don't have any gluten either.

The company has put out a fairly extensive advertising campaign to get people to try the chips based on their friendly nutritional content, such as the lack of trans fat in the chips, but honestly, all this company would need to do is offer free samples to get people on their bandwagon. The famous faces acting as spokespeople for the chips are literally overkill because these chips are a really great snack, no matter their nutritional content.

And the great thing about them from a gluten-free perspective is that there is likely a flavor out there to suit every taste and if the Sour Cream & Onion variety doesn't float your boat, there are at least a dozen other flavors out there that range from the fairly common (cheddar) to the more exotic (Thai sweet chili).

Popchips Sour Cream & Onion Potato Chips
Photograph Copyright 2012 by Kelsey Wyatt

The most important thing about any food that is gluten free is that the person eating the food because they're allergic to wheat or gluten should be able to enjoy the food without thinking they're having to put up with some sort of lesser substitute. Popchips definitely don't taste like a gluten-free substitute and their light and fluffy (really, they're fluffy, only way to describe them!) texture makes for a fun snack.

For their Sour Cream & Onion flavor, the manufacturer has done a decent job of allowing the taste to stop just short of slapping you across the face with that pungent and familiar flavor of onions.

Popchips Sour Cream & Onion Potato Chips Report Card

Popchips Sour Cream & Onion Potato Chips
Photograph Copyright 2012 by Kelsey Wyatt

The Great Things:

As you can tell from this review, I'm a fan of these things. Although the Sour Cream & Onion isn't their best flavor, this might be a purely subjective observation. 

Not only do Popchips have a great texture and consistency, but they're fairly guilt free as far as the calories and fat content are concerned. 

Often a person requiring gluten free food will have to be very careful with some products as they do tend to be highly caloric or filled with copious amounts of fat (likely due to the manufacturer having to find a replacement for gluten). Not so with Popchips. Feel free to toss back a bag as they taste great and they're not going to put a dent in your diet.

What Could be Improved:

There isn't a lot to suggest for improvements to these little chips. They taste great and are a decent price, plus you get the benefit of the whole "no preservatives, no artificial stuff" advertising pitch as well. It is recommended that you try the different flavors though as it's likely a particular flavor might strike your fancy more than another.