I recently tried Target’s protein bars and was pleasantly surprised, so I was excited when I saw that they also started carrying their own protein chips.
That excitement was quickly thwarted by virtually every single aspect of these chips, because they are a HUGE miss.
Target has two flavors of these protein tortilla chips: nacho cheese and chili lime.
I had never seen these chips before coming across them on the shelf. Had I seen them online, I would have absolutely trusted the 1.5-star average on both flavors and saved the money.
Oh, you’re still reading this? Okay, I guess I’ll break down these chips so you can be confident in your decision to not buy them
The one positive thing about these chips is that the macros are pretty good. 160 calories with 18 grams of protein isn’t quite on Quest Chips‘ level, but they’re not that far off.
Now, let’s pretend you didn’t read the post title or any of the words prior to this sentence. Allow me to take you on a journey to experience these protein chips.
Right off the bat, the chips are extremely thin. To be perfectly fair, Quest Chips are also thin, but they look & feel much more like a regular thin tortilla chip.
Just by holding these Target protein chips, you can tell the texture is going to be dry and crumbly. And while there is some seasoning on the chips, it’s a far cry from Protein Doritos or anything comparable.
But how do they taste?
Bad. They taste bad.
If I told you that these were a fully plant-based chip made from pea protein, you’d believe me. They have that same dry, uninspiring texture that I’ve experienced before with plant-based chips.
They’re not plant-based, but they do contain chia and flax, and that flavor really comes through quite a bit. If you love flax chips, maybe these will excite you, but you’re buying flavored chips, and the flavor is hardly there.
The nacho cheese flavor is overpowered by the strong protein/earthy flavor of the chip itself. Had they added more seasoning to actually coat the chip, maybe it would be an improvement, but the texture still leaves a lot to be desired.
It’s a thin chip, and yet it’s still somehow thick, almost like you’re eating a stale tortilla chip.
The chili lime flavor is at least more prominent, and you certainly taste a strong lime flavor in that version. But that still doesn’t make up for the disappointing texture.
A full team of people had to approve these chips knowing they were going to sit on shelves next to Quest Chips. That’s bold.
And yet, there are suckers like me out there buying 8 total bags of protein tortilla chips and now wondering what in the world they’re going to do with the other 6.
I don’t like being mean. If a product is bad, I like to offer constructive feedback in hopes that the product will improve in the future.
But this is Target. They have the resources, and they should not release a product this bad. I can only hope that these chips get pulled off shelves entirely, because that would be a vast improvement.
If you need protein chips, stick with Quest, Legendary, or even Doritos.
