Pringles Jalapeno Potato Crisps Review

I discovered Pringles Jalapeno Potato Crisps this week at Walmart, and figured I’d check them out and write about what I found.

These jalapeno flavored potato chips had a decently warm-to-hot flavor, and the unique jalapeno pepper taste, aside from the heat, I found quite pronounced.  Jalapeno is one of the strongest of the tastes found in the entire Pringles flavored potato crisps line.

The jalapeno pepper bite of these canned potato chips comes from artificial flavorings and chemicals though.  Indeed, the ingredients list makes no mention of any jalapeno pepper whatsoever.  Yet, the illusion of jalapeno seems close to the real pepper.  They coat the crisps themselves with this orange powder that carries the jalapeno taste, and that didn’t look much like the deep green-yellow color of real jalapenos either.  Yet jalapeno is clearly what the food designers intended for this product.

Indeed, these chips tasted enough like jalapeno peppers to get me to admire the obvious ingenuity of making a group of chemicals taste anything at all like a real jalapeno pepper.  The fact that there was any resemblance whatsoever testifies to the sorts of wonders that experienced food engineers can create.  In this way, the jalapeno-like seasoning in this Pringles product highly impressed me.

Pringles Jalapeno Chips are a delightfully switched-up twist away from traditional potato chips.  The stronger jalapeno taste works well here, and Pringles ought to consider strengthening their other flavors to match the boldness of this one.

 

Pros, Advantages, Benefits, and Features

  • This snack is practically oil-less, and the flavor, unlike the more traditional bagged potato chips never gets overly repetitive.
  • This product is fairly easily found in stores.
  • Their sassy jalapeno flavor can win out over that afternoon hunger or those bedtime munchies. The loud crunch shouts Pringles, which have never reached my television tray soggy.
  • The stay-fresh can with the resealable lid well-preserves the brand-newness for some weeks after opening, and many months before breaking the seal for the first time.  So this is a great snack food to store.
  • Zero grams of trans fat.
  • The cans may be stacked vertically or horizontally several layers deep, without worry over cracking their cargo.
  • I found this Pringles product for roughly $1.50 per Super Stack can; a good price for sure.
  • Though the original flavor of Pringles is the one that I like most, I’m excited to see that Pringles now offers numerous flavors of that famous potato-chip-in-a-can, like this jalapeno slant.
  • Like with all other Pringles canned potato chips, these hot ones are all shaped the same, which makes them easier to eat. You can almost effortlessly grasp a big handful of them, and gobble them up with little spillage.

 

Cons, Problems, Disadvantages, and Concerns

  • This selection has much fat and sodium in my opinion at 9 grams and 160 milligrams respectively, per 1-ounce serving.
  • There’s also a long list of high-tech-sounding food additives printed on the can, including sodium diacetate, disodium inositate, disodium guanylate, and lactic acid.  Any natural-ness herein, seems to have been more than wiped out by all of these extra chemicals.
  • Sugar (in the form of dextrose) as well as starch are here too. Get rid of that added sugar, please.
  • I wish these jalapeno potato chips could taste as fine as they do, but without the added sugar, salt, and fat.
  • These crisps could be a little thicker for an improved eating experience, as I often find myself grabbing two or three at a time to get a big enough mouthful. Thicker crisps would not only boost their wholesome taste, but also make them strong enough to hold any chip dip you’d wish to spoon into your mouth with them.

 

Ingredients List

Dried potatoes, vegetable oil, (contains one or more of the following: corn oil, cottonseed oil, soybean oil, and / or sunflower oil), corn flour, wheat starch, and maltodextrin. Contains 2% or less of: rice flour, salt, dextrose, monosodium glutamate, onion powder, whey, spices, sugar, natural and artificial flavors, torula yeast, tomato powder, autolyzed yeast extract, garlic powder, sodium diacetate, citric acid, paprika extract, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, and lactic acid.

Contains wheat and milk ingredients.

 

Nutrition Facts

  • Serving size: 1 ounce (28 grams or approximately 16 crisps). Servings per container: 6.
  • Calories per serving: 15.  Calories from fat: 8.
  • Total fat: 9 grams, 14% DV.
  • Saturated fat: 2.5 grams, 13% DV.
  • Trans fat: 0 grams.
  • Polyunsaturated fat: 4.5 grams.
  • Monounsaturated fat: 2 grams.
  • Cholesterol: 0 milligrams, 0% DV.
  • Sodium: 160 milligrams, 7% DV.
  • Total carbohydrate: 15 grams, 5% DV.
  • Dietary fiber: 1 gram, 4% DV.
  • Sugars: 1 gram.
  • Protein: 1 gram.
  • Vitamin A: 0% DV.
  • Calcium: 0% DV.
  • Vitamin C: 6% DV.
  • Iron: 2% DV.

 

Product Rating

On the whole, I find this Pringles flavored potato chip a pretty good snack; particularly at Mexican-themed parties. Pringles always fit in at just about any gathering, no matter the flavor.  They retain their freshness for at least several hours if poured into a bowl, and are widely recognized as an old and very dear snack tradition. People know Pringles without even seeing the can. So I’d rate this product at 92 of 100.

 

Where To Buy Pringles Jalapeno Potato Crisps

Look for them in the jalapeno-green can with the clear plastic lid at your favorite larger grocery stores.  I’ve yet to spot this flavor at my nearby convenience stores.

 

References

 

Revision History

  • : Moved this piece to the    Tom’s Diet Quest   blog, added whitespace, tweaked content, and adjusted ad placement and category and tag assignments.
  • 2012-04-27: Originally published.