Review: Herr’s Sloppy Joe Flavored Potato Chips (and a Quick Junk Food Guy Intro)

Well hello there, So Good readers!  I’m Eric, your friendly neighborhood Junk Food Guy.  I write a daily junk food and snack blog called Junkfoodguy.com, but the fine people at So Good have asked me to hop on board and bring some flavor, so here we go. Every other week, I’ll be bringing you a new tasty or disgusting treat or snack and reviewing it for your pleasure.

Today’s junk food: Herr’s Sloppy Joe Flavored Potato Chips!

Herr’s has been on a bit of a roll lately.  The Pennsylvania-based snack company was founded in 1946 making simple salted spuds, and 66 years later here they are, creating flavors that no one in their right mind would think to eat.  Steak flavored chips. Hot dog flavored chips. And now, Herr’s has created Sloppy Joe Flavored Potato Chips? I’m scared. WHO IS REQUESTING THESE FLAVORS?

Sloppy joes are a loose ground beef sandwich that has been thickened up with some sweetened tomato sauce or ketchup served on a bun. When I think sloppy joes, I only remember them from my Upstate New York public school lunches – and they were gross.  Way too sweet.  Way too runny. And all I can think about now is the scene from Billy Madison:

Lunch Lady: Have some more sloppy joes. I made ’em extra sloppy for yous. I know how yous kids like ’em sloppy.
Billy Madison: Lady, you’re scaring us!

And really…are the sauce stains on the words SLOPPY JOE necessary?

The concept of taking that muddled messy meat flavor and putting it on Herr’s Potato Chips is kind of frightening to me.  Moreover, anytime you eat a meat flavored chip, the ultimate question is: “Do these chips taste like the seasoning/sauce that typically goes onto said meat, or do they actually TASTE like said meat?”

A good follow up question is, “Do I *want* chips to taste like said meat?” I’m not sure if I’ve ever sat down and said, “You know, these Salt & Pepper Chips are pretty good, but you know what they need? BEEF SAUCE.”

Herr’s Sloppy Joe Flavored Potato Chips have plenty of things a growing boy needs like sodium, saturated fats, and lots of malic acid.  MMMMMMMM malic acid.

When I opened the bag of these Herr’s Sloppy Joe Flavored Potato Chips, they smelled sweet – like a barbecue chip, to be honest.  I could smell a bit of tomato powder too.  Otherwise, an unremarkable first impression.  C’mon, where’s the beef?

After a few chews of some of these Herr’s Sloppy Joe Flavored Potato Chips, the verdict was…….MEH. Let me break it down for you.

The chips themselves were, as always with Herr’s, large and full of wavy surfaces to trap plenty of flavor powder.  Each chip was brimming with flavor.  Each chip, also, was brimming with SALT, which was part of the problem.  The first thing I tasted when I chewed these chips was salt.  Sometimes a little bit of salt, sometimes a LOT of salt, but regardless, the saltiness of these chips was overpowering.  Once the sodium subsided, a nice sweet tomato powder came through along with the onion powder.  This made for a nice savory flavor that was SLIGHTLY reminiscent of sloppy joes.  The general sweet/savory flavor also had a small hint of smokiness which presumably came from the Worcestershire Sauce components, and I swear I could taste a TINY bit of cumin there too.  So, the flavor profile was close – so close.

The problem? It didn’t taste like meat.  It tasted like all the stuff you would add to ground beef to make sloppy joes, but didn’t go far enough. I’ve had some chips in my lifetime that actually DID have that hint of meat flavor – they usually accomplished it by actually adding meat fat as an ingredient! Here? Maybe there was a bit of beef bouillon in an attempt to round out the flavor, but it was unsuccessful.

I’d pass on these until Herr’s turns down the salt and adds some actual meat fat. Until then, you’re just scaring us, Herr’s.

PURCHASED AT: Walmart

COST: $2.48

Thoughts? Please comment below or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy or LIKE my Facebook Page and message me there. Also, you can always email me at [email protected].

And of course, read more of Junk Food Guy’s reviews and thoughts on food at JunkFoodGuy.com. Let’s hang out.

Sincerely,

Junk Food Guy