Review: New Lay's Air Pops (Potato, Sour Cream & Onion, Barbeque)

So Good Readers, it’s Monday and I’m back! Who? Me, your friendly neighborhood Junk Food Guy, silly. With September fast approaching, it’s only a matter of time before stores have Christmas stuff on display. No, seriously – I swear I saw some stockings already poking out at the ends of aisles. You gotta be kidding me, Walgreens.

As I was grocery shopping yesterday, I saw these:

New Lay’s Original Potato Air Pops are Frito-Lay’s attempt at getting in on the air popped chip craze…I guess. I mean, Pop Chips, Pop Corners, and Popcorn Indiana Chip’ins have been around for a while now…like a LONG while now. Still, it’s always interesting to see a big company recognize that smaller companies are dominating a niche, and then try to go in and dominate it themselves. Will Frito-Lay succeed here? Unsure..to find out, I bought each of Frito-Lay’s Air Pop line: Original Potato, Sour Cream & Onion, and Barbeque.

Let’s dig in, shall we? First up: Original Potato!

The first thing I noticed about these New Lay’s Original Potato Air Pops was they were a little less crunchy than Pop Chips. They were flatter – Pop Chips had a puffier crispiness than these Lay’s Air Pops. Still it wasn’t like these Air Pops were bad – these Original Potato chips had great potato flavor, and a nice saltiness to them. They were definitely light, and could serve as a nice alternative to potato chips. Think of these almost like a light potato-based cracker. Would I eat these over regular Lay’s? Probably not.

Next: Sour Cream & Onion Air Pops!

The New Lay’s Sour Cream & Onion Air Pops left a lot to be desired. The chip consistency again was a bit flatter than Pop Chips. The Air Pops were still crispy and had a nice lightness to them, and definitely tasted like potato. My problem was I didn’t get much of that great Sour Cream flavor – I got salt, and I got onion. There wasn’t very much creaminess at all to these Air Pops, and which is weird since normal Lay’s potato chips tend to have a very nice creaminess. And there seemed to be plenty of flavor powder too! What WAS all that powder, if not sour cream??? Man. These fell flat for me.

Finally: Barbeque Air Pops!

Of the three offerings, the New Lay’s Barbeque Air Pops were probably the most satisfying and packed with flavor. As soon as I opened the bag, I could smell that familiar Lays Barbeque Chip sweet BBQ smell. It flowed out, all smoky like. As soon as I popped one of these chips into my mouth, I could immediately taste that sweet barbeque smoky flavor. Unlike the Sour Cream & Onion flavor, the flavor profile of these particular Air Pops did a good job mimicking their non-Air Pop counterparts. The flavor was well presented and bold, and the sweet BBQ sauce had a nice little burn/kick at the end. These were definitely my favorite of the three flavors.

All in all, these Air Pops were not bad, and I commend Frito-Lay for finally getting in on the air-popped-chip-game. However, given the choice between these and Pop Chips, I’d still opt for Pop Chips. Sorry, Frito-Lay! This may all change once you release your Chicken and Waffles, Sriracha, and Cheesy Garlic Bread Air Pops, I just know it.

As far as these current flavors, I’d rank them BBQ, Original, and Sour Cream & Onion last. Kinda pricey at $2.99 retail….but then again, Pop Chips are damn expensive too. You’d think with more air added, you’d have lower prices!!! Guess not.

PURCHASED AT: Giant Food Grocery

COST: $2.50 each on sale

Thoughts? Please comment below or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy and read more reviews at JunkFoodGuy.com. Let’s hang out.