Monday, December 14, 2015

Garlic, But Not So Much Cheese, Lay’s Cheesy Garlic Bread Potato Chips Slump Slightly!


The Good: Inexpensive, Some flavorful chips, Distinctive aroma
The Bad: Unfortunately inconsistent flavor, Not overly healthy
The Basics: Another unfortunately underwhelming potato chip, Lay’s Cheesy Garlic Bread potato chips are hit or miss by the chip!


I admire the creativity of Frito-Lay. The company continues to innovate and some of their new flavors that they have gone to consumers to vote upon have been great ideas. Unfortunately, some of the flavors that have been popular and have won their "Vote To Save" contests have ended up underwhelming when they get to the mass production stage. That seems to be what happened with the Lay’s Cheesy Garlic Bread potato chips.

Cheesy Garlic Bread Lay’s potato chips were exciting and I remember being thrilled by them when they were part of the 2013 contest. But, when I sat down today to review a new bag of the Cheesy Garlic Bread potato chips, I found myself . . . underwhelmed. The flavor did not seem nearly as bold as they originally did and I found more chips that tasted simply oily, as opposed to flavorful.

Basics

Cheesy Garlic Bread Lay’s, are a potato chip made from one of the world’s dominant salty snack producers, Frito-Lay. The Cheesy Garlic Bread Lay’s chips feature an occasional dusting of moderately-flavored salt on most of the potato chips. This could have been a great flavor if the chips were more uniformly flavored.

Cheesy Garlic Bread Lay’s come in a 7.75 oz. bag and are only now part of the permanant chip line. At a regular price in the $3.29 range, they are pretty much the standard price for these types of snacks.

Ease Of Preparation

Lay’s Cheesy Garlic Bread are simple to consume; all you need do it open the bag and remove the potato chips from it! There is no trick to eating Cheesy Garlic Bread Lay’s; they are a snack that is ready to go from the bag to the mouth. However, this flavor seems to hinge on eating them by the handful, as opposed to chip by chip in order to get the most out of the flavor.

Taste

Cheesy Garlic Bread Lay’s potato chips smell strongly of garlic. The scent is powerfully of garlic, without any hint of cheese. The aroma hints at a spiced, garlicy chip.

On the tongue, the Cheesy Garlic Bread Lay’s potato chips are salty, buttery and dominated by the flavor of potato. Every once in a while, there is a chip that tastes salty, garlicy and possessing a hint of cheddar or mozarella. The cheese, garlic, and butter flavor tastes exactly like cheese-covered garlic bread, like they are supposed to. Unfortunately, the full flavor is only present on about one in every ten chips.

The Cheesy Garlic Bread Lay’s have a greasy aftertaste, without any hint of other, deeper flavors to it. Even the aftertaste does not last all that long.

Nutrition

Cheesy Garlic Bread Lay’s are a fairly natural snack, with, surprisingly, none of the ingredients being unrecognizable! The primary ingredients are potatoes, vegetable oil, and Cheesy Garlic Bread seasoning. This has a shelf life of only a few months, so it is not the ideal salty snack to stock up on.

Each 1 oz., 17 chip, serving of Lay’s Cheesy Garlic Bread has 160 calories, ninety of which come from fat. There is a single gram of dietary fiber. While there are only 10 grams of fat and 2 grams of protein, the Cheesy Garlic Bread Lay’s potato chips have only 135 mg of sodium, which represents 6% of one's RDA of sodium, which is less than many potato chips. There is a smattering of Potassium, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Iron and Vitamin C, but no other vitamins or minerals. This is not a health snack. There is a dietary note that the Cheesy Garlic Bread includes milk ingredients, which prevents them from being Vegan compliant, at the very least.

Storage/Clean-up

Kept in their bag, Cheesy Garlic Bread Lay’s will remain fresh for only a few months – the bag I bought just over a week ago had an expiration date of December 15 – so this is not an ideal flavor to stock up on. Once the bag is opened, it must be resealed, lest they get stale. I've not had to deal with issues of freshness for my Lay’s potato chips because usually once they are opened, I consume them fairly fast!

Cleanup is simple as well. Cheesy Garlic Bread Lay’s are a dry food, but because they are salty, greasy, and easily broken, they will require one to wash their hands afterward and should be wiped up to clean up.

Overall

Cheesy Garlic Bread Lay’s are occasionally amazing, but more often than not fail to live up to their promised flavor.

For other Frito-Lay snacks, check out my reviews of:
Lays Chicken & Waffle Potato Chips
Ruffles Max Loaded Bacon And Cheddar Potato Skins potato chips
Tostitos Hint Of Lime chips

3/10

For other food and drink reviews, please visit my Food And Drink Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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