Pringles Light BBQ Potato Crisps Review

Nonetheless, Pringles Light BBQ Chips are a charming, conventionally-flavored potato chip snack that harks back to LG brand BBQ potato chips. The flavor is much milder than what you find in LG, but still yummy though.

They utilize the fat substitute olestra (aka Olean) instead of the high-calorie oils found in other Pringle’s products. In short: I’m quite impressed with how rich these chips taste in spite of their lightness. Olestra mimics vegetable oil pretty closely in terms of flavor and texture. Yet unlike plant oils that contain 120 calories per tablespoon, olestra has zero calories. This cuts the calorie counts virtually in half for Pringles potato chips. Though olestra is a man-made chemical, it’s been put to use in many high-calorie foods for over a decade now, no serious problems with human consumption have appeared. Olean is fast-becoming a time-tested fat alternative thus.

These barbecue-flavored non-fat Pringles potato chips had clearly-barbecue flavor, but tasted weaker than some of the traditionally-bagged BBQ chips I’ve sampled such as Snyder’s and Lay’s. While the flavor was definitely BBQ, the bright orange color found on more intensely flavored BBQ chips, was much less noticeable on these fat-free chips. They have enough of this BBQ flavoring to easily see, but not enough to create a truly spicey chip. Further, the barbecue potato chips flavor here is derived from artificial flavors.

Benefits. Advantages, Pros, and Features

This product is pretty easy to find at some of the bigger grocery stores.
Their light barbecue flavor can rapidly suppress that afternoon famine (smile) as lunch begins to fade, or those bedtime stomach pangs. The drier-than-typical crunch is still inimitably Pringles, which have never arrived at poolside soggy.
This 70 calorie snack is not greasy, and the flavor, never gets old. Nor will these chips leave much of an oily mess on table cloths.
The stay-fresh can with the re sealable lid keeps these low-calorie BBQ crisps fresh for weeks after opening, and many months longer if you do not break the seal. This is therefore, a great snack to stockpile.
Zero grams of trans fat in these light barbecue Pringles. In fact, zero grams of fat of any kind according to the nutrition facts label. However, trace amounts of partially hydrogenated soybean oil appear in the ingredients list.
Cans may be stacked vertically or horizontally several layers deep, without worry that the potato crisps inside will be cracked. Each flavor of Prigles is a different color. So spotting the flavor you desire in your pantry is child’s play.
I found this BBQ Pringles Light product for roughly $1.50 per Super Stack can; a good price I’d say.
Though the original flavor of Pringles is the one that I most relish, I’m pleased that Pringles today offers many flavors of that famous potato-chip-in-a-can, like these light barbecue chips. I’m also glad that so much effort has been put into developing the fat substitute Olean used in this product.
I’ve experienced none of the documented side-effects of olestra from eating these chips.
As with all other Pringles canned potato chips, these ones are all shaped identically, which makes them easier to demolish. You can easily grasp a sizable handful, and gobble them down without much crumbs spilling all over your clothes.

Disadvantages, Cons, Problems, and Concerns

These light BBQ crisps could be somewhat thicker, as I often must grab two or three crisps at a time to get a big enough mouthful. Thicker chips would not only raise their wholesome taste, but also make them sufficiently strong to carry any dip you’d wish to scoop with them from the container to your mouth.
Though they’ve eliminated all fat from these chips, they still have 140 milligrams of sodium, per 1-ounce serving.
There’s also a sizable list of high-tech- and unnatural-sounding food additives printed on the can that includes monosodium glutamate, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, and alpha-tocopherol acetate. Any present natural-ness herein, seems to have been more than cancelled by all of these additives.
Sugar (in the form of brown sugar and dextrose) as well as modified corn starch have been added. Do away with added sugar, please. I wish these chips could taste as good as they do but without the added sugar and salt.
The barbecue flavor is a bit too weak and lacks zest, though it is a bit more prominent than some of the other Pringles flavors I’ve sampled, such as Mexican Layered Dip and Mexican Layered Dip chips.

Ingredients List

Dried potatoes, olestra (Olean brand), modified cornstarch, maltodextrin, and rice flour. Contains 2% of less of: salt, brown sugar, sugar, natural flavors (including Worcestershire sauce and smoke extract), monosodium glutamate, onion powder, dextrose, autolyzed yeast extract, malted barley flour, garlic powder, paprika powder, citric acid, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, malic acid, paprika extract (color), caramel color, polyglycerol esters, mono- and diglycerides, alpha-tocopherol acetate (vitamin E), tocopherols (to protect flavor), vitamin A palmitate, vitamin K, and vitamin D.

Nutrition Facts

Serving size: 1 ounce. Servings per container: Approx. 6.
Calories per serving: 70. Calories from fat: 0, 0%.
Total fat: 0 grams, 0% DV.
Saturated fat: 0 grams, 0% DV.
Trans fat: 0 grams.
Cholesterol: 0 milligrams, 0% DV.
Sodium: 140 milligrams, 6% DV.
Total carbohydrate: 15 grams, 5% DV.
Dietary fiber: 1 gram, 4% DV.
Sugars: 1 gram.
Protein: 1 gram.

Product Rating

On the whole and aside from the too-elusive BBQ taste, I find these Pringles potato chips a reasonably pleasing snack; particularly at southern-themed party gatherings. The zero-fat content is a hallmark achievement in food technology, and you can serve these BBQ potato chips with less guilt over corrupting the healthy diets of your guests. In fact, Pringles BBQ chips do well at any gathering. They hold their freshness for several hours when poured into a bowl, and are widely recognized as a snack tradition. People know a Pringles chip without even seeing the can. I’d rate this product thus, an 85 of 100, only because barbecue potato chips have never been one of my most-preferred snacks. However, they work well when nothing else in the house works.

Where To Buy Pringles Light BBQ Potato Crisps

So look for them in the pale sky-blue colored can that’s purple near the bottom, with the clear plastic lid that tops it at your favorite larger grocery stores. I’ve yet to see this flavor at my local convenience stores.

References

Revision History

2015-01-22: Moved this piece to the Tom’s Diet Quest blog, added whitespace, tweaked content, and adjusted ad placement and category and tag assignments.
2012-05-04: Originally published.