Sometimes, only a perfectly crunchy snack will do. But our beloved chips are notoriously high in calories and fat. So what's a snacker to do? Check out these healthy snack chips arranged from highest to lowest calories per serving.
The first thing you'll notice is that the old white russet potato does not make the cut. But there are still plenty of veggies ready to satisfy!
Rhythm Chips
The kale chips are 160 calories, 12 g of fat, 1 ounce serving (out of 2 ounce bag)
Rhythm makes a wide variety of crunchy chips, with the veggie always being the first ingredient. You can snack on crisps made of cauliflower, mushrooms, beet, jicama, and shishito peppers. The calorie count is a tad high, but other varieties, including the Beet Chips With Sea Salt, only have 3g of fat per serving.
Quest Tortilla Style Protein Chips
150 calories, 6g of fat; they come in individual snack bags that are one ounce of chips.
With the dietary shift toward relying on protein to fuel both energy and weight loss, you'll notice a lot of manufacturers are pumping up the protein. These chips have 18 grams of protein in one bag. So you don't necessarily have to avoid the higher-calorie vegetable chips if there's a good serving of protein included.
POPCORNERS
140 calories, 3.5g of fat, 1.1-ounce serving (individual-size bag)
The basic ingredients are what you'd use to make popcorn: Yellow corn and sunflower oil. The products are gluten-free and have no artificial flavors. And any time you find food that's baked rather than fried, you're bound to have a healthier snack.
Lay's Poppables Sea Salt & Vinegar
140 calories, 8g of fat, 28 chips per serving
Lay's has been in the chip business for a good long time. These poppables are made from potatoes, which makes it a bit unusual on this list. Lay's traditional potato chips are deep fried, 160 calories for 15 chips, and 10g of fat.
Black Beans SunChips
140 calories, 6g of fat, 14 chips per serving
Despite the name, the first ingredient in these SunChips is corn. You're getting more chips for fewer calories and fat. Regular corn chips are 160 calories, and 10g of fat, with a serving size of ten little chips.
Bean chips also score higher in fiber and protein compared to regular potato or corn chips.
From the Ground Up Cauliflower Tortilla Chips
130 calories, 6g of fat, 10 chips per serving
Rather than corn, cauliflower is the star of this snacking show. Take a closer look, and you'll see other vegetables on the ingredient list, including spinach, broccoli, and carrots. These will also stand up to your dipping needs!
Siete Grain Free Tortilla Chips
130 calories, 7g of fat, 14 chips per serving
These tasty chips are grain-free and are made with flour and starch from cassava. Cassava is a starchy root vegetable. These tortilla chips also contain a good amount of fiber, 3g, which is a nutritional plus for Siete over some of the other choices.
Popchips Sea Salt
120 calories, 4g of fat, 20 chips per serving (individual size bag)
These tasty chips have only a handful of ingredients. They come in seven flavors (calorie and fat content varies by flavor). You can get your sweet or salty fix while staying within your calorie budget. The magic of Popchips is how they get puffed by processing potato starch at high temps under high pressure.
MyProtein Salt & Vinegar Chips
91 calories, 3.5g of fat, one-ounce serving size
The big news with MyProtein chips is, of course, the protein. One ounce packs 10.5g of protein. Landing on the low end of calorie counts on this list, MyProtein is a brand worth trying.
RIND Peach Chips
90 calories, 0g of fat, one ounce serving (out of 2.7 ounce bag)This chip gives you a nice hint of sweetness. They're also fat-free! That's winning.
Brad's Crunchy Kale Chips
70 calories, 5g of fat, 13 chips per serving (about ⅓ of the 2.7 ounce bag)
These chips are plant-based, as you'd expect from a kale chip. They're made with an air-crisping technique that promises to deliver the same nutrients as eating fresh produce. They're so low-calorie compared to others on our list you could go wild and eat the whole bag. But it is better to stick with one serving since while calories are low, there are 5g of fat in each serving.
Nutritionists will tell you you can eat anything you like even while losing weight AS LONG AS you eat only in moderation and take in fewer calories than you're burning.
We know. There's no way around those rules, and it's a little sad. At least this list gives you a bunch of options to enjoy!
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