Taste comparison, Kettle Brand original vs. air fried
BachelorontheCheap.com
You’ve probably seen the TV commercial, Kettle Brand chips, the top-shelf brand with arguably the best chip crunch out there, has come out with an air-fried version.
Kudos for the marketing savvy, Kettle Brand has picked up on the trend of air-fried foods and the concept of making fried foods a bit healthier to eat with the latest kitchen gadget. The tagline for the product is, “We’ve got an air fryer.”
Kettle’s new line of air-fried chips comes in a variety of flavors and are stated to be kettle-cooked and air-finished. The current flavors available are Himalayan Salt, Salt & Vinegar, and Jalapeno.
Kettle-cooked chips are WAY better than standard chips in my opinion, delivering more robust flavor and a far superior chip crunch. For this review I went with the jalapeno variety, I love jalapeno-flavored chips, the tasty heat plus a great crunch is an addictive flavor and texture combination. I’ve sampled Kettle Brand’s Jalapeno Chips before, and loved them, they are definitely repeat buy-worthy. The air-fried version is also quite good. Kettle Brand has done a nice job with their new product, it’s damn close to the original, with the crunch factor only slightly better in the original chip, very slight. Both chip types had robust jalapeno flavor.
But is the air-fried version really any healthier?
Marginally.
Label comparison, the air fried are only marginally healthier
I mean seriously, we are talking potato chips fried in oil after all, not a healthy thing to consume to begin with…
Per the bag, “We batch cook them in kettles, then air fry them for a light & crispy crunch with 100% bold kettle brand flavor.” The company also states the chip has 30% less fat than the original version.
In reviewing the labels, a serving of the air-fried version has 20 fewer calories, 150 calories for the original, and 130 calories for the air-fried. And yes, there is less fat, 9 total grams of fat in the original vs. 6 grams for the air fried. But Kettle has added more salt, sugar, and oddly enough – carbs, to their new product recipe, which kind of negates the reduced calorie count and grams of fat. The amount of sodium per serving goes from 170 grams (7% of the recommended daily intake) in the original chips, to 220 grams (10% of the recommended daily intake) in the air-fried chips. So while there’s 30% less fat with the new chip, the sodium level has been increased by about the same percentage. The original chip recipe contains less than 1 gram of sugar per serving (1% of the recommended daily intake), vs. 1 gram in the air-fried recipe (2% of the recommended daily intake. It would be alarming to state they’ve doubled the amount of sugar, that’s not an untrue statement, but 1 gram isn’t a big deal. The elevated sodium levels and added sugar were done I’m sure to enhance the flavor profile, but here’s the odd thing, where do the extra carbohydrates come from? It has to be the added sugar. The original chips have 15 grams of carbs per serving, the air-fried version has 18.
Again, kudos to the Kettle Brand marketing folks for picking up on the air-fried foods trend. They’re going to sell many bags of those air-fried finished chips. The taste and crunch are oh-so-close to the original version, but frankly, I’m sticking with the original chip. It’s a chip, neither version is a healthy eat.
Costing me $7.00 for the two bags in a “2 for $7” deal at Dillons, I’m giving Kettle Brand Air Fried Jalapeno Potato Chips 4 out of 5 Bachelor on the Cheap stars. The air-fried version is good, just not quite as good as the original. The health benefits are negligible and here’s another reason not to buy the air-fried, it’s a smaller bag, making the chips more expensive per ounce, a.k.a. not as many chips you can consume. The original version bag of chips I bought as part of that deal comes in a 7.5-ounce bag. The new air-fried product comes in a 6.5-ounce bag.
$pend Wisely My Friends…
~ Mike
Related: Food Review: Miss Vickie’s Jalapeno Kettle Cooked Potato Chips
Chip Review: Are the Kettle Air Fried Chips just as good as the original? – Bachelor on the Cheap
Taste comparison, Kettle Brand original vs. air fried
BachelorontheCheap.com
You’ve probably seen the TV commercial, Kettle Brand chips, the top-shelf brand with arguably the best chip crunch out there, has come out with an air-fried version.
Kudos for the marketing savvy, Kettle Brand has picked up on the trend of air-fried foods and the concept of making fried foods a bit healthier to eat with the latest kitchen gadget. The tagline for the product is, “We’ve got an air fryer.”
Kettle’s new line of air-fried chips comes in a variety of flavors and are stated to be kettle-cooked and air-finished. The current flavors available are Himalayan Salt, Salt & Vinegar, and Jalapeno.
Kettle-cooked chips are WAY better than standard chips in my opinion, delivering more robust flavor and a far superior chip crunch. For this review I went with the jalapeno variety, I love jalapeno-flavored chips, the tasty heat plus a great crunch is an addictive flavor and texture combination. I’ve sampled Kettle Brand’s Jalapeno Chips before, and loved them, they are definitely repeat buy-worthy. The air-fried version is also quite good. Kettle Brand has done a nice job with their new product, it’s damn close to the original, with the crunch factor only slightly better in the original chip, very slight. Both chip types had robust jalapeno flavor.
But is the air-fried version really any healthier?
Marginally.
Label comparison, the air fried are only marginally healthier
I mean seriously, we are talking potato chips fried in oil after all, not a healthy thing to consume to begin with…
Per the bag, “We batch cook them in kettles, then air fry them for a light & crispy crunch with 100% bold kettle brand flavor.” The company also states the chip has 30% less fat than the original version.
In reviewing the labels, a serving of the air-fried version has 20 fewer calories, 150 calories for the original, and 130 calories for the air-fried. And yes, there is less fat, 9 total grams of fat in the original vs. 6 grams for the air fried. But Kettle has added more salt, sugar, and oddly enough – carbs, to their new product recipe, which kind of negates the reduced calorie count and grams of fat. The amount of sodium per serving goes from 170 grams (7% of the recommended daily intake) in the original chips, to 220 grams (10% of the recommended daily intake) in the air-fried chips. So while there’s 30% less fat with the new chip, the sodium level has been increased by about the same percentage. The original chip recipe contains less than 1 gram of sugar per serving (1% of the recommended daily intake), vs. 1 gram in the air-fried recipe (2% of the recommended daily intake. It would be alarming to state they’ve doubled the amount of sugar, that’s not an untrue statement, but 1 gram isn’t a big deal. The elevated sodium levels and added sugar were done I’m sure to enhance the flavor profile, but here’s the odd thing, where do the extra carbohydrates come from? It has to be the added sugar. The original chips have 15 grams of carbs per serving, the air-fried version has 18.
Again, kudos to the Kettle Brand marketing folks for picking up on the air-fried foods trend. They’re going to sell many bags of those air-fried finished chips. The taste and crunch are oh-so-close to the original version, but frankly, I’m sticking with the original chip. It’s a chip, neither version is a healthy eat.
Costing me $7.00 for the two bags in a “2 for $7” deal at Dillons, I’m giving Kettle Brand Air Fried Jalapeno Potato Chips 4 out of 5 Bachelor on the Cheap stars. The air-fried version is good, just not quite as good as the original. The health benefits are negligible and here’s another reason not to buy the air-fried, it’s a smaller bag, making the chips more expensive per ounce, a.k.a. not as many chips you can consume. The original version bag of chips I bought as part of that deal comes in a 7.5-ounce bag. The new air-fried product comes in a 6.5-ounce bag.
$pend Wisely My Friends…
~ Mike
Related: Food Review: Miss Vickie’s Jalapeno Kettle Cooked Potato Chips