Blister reviewer Will Brown happened to call me when I was about halfway through the bag, and he wanted to know about the amount of chip dust—too much or too little?
Personally, I prefer to err on the side of more rather than less when it comes to chip seasoning. And having now gone through three bags of these, I think El Sabroso hit the bulls eye: you rarely grab a chip out of the bag that is lacking in flavor, but your fingers and hands, t-shirt and jeans aren’t completely covered in atomic-orange granular glop.
Let’s now turn to the manufacturer’s claims.
1) “El Sabroso Salsitas Salsa Chips are authentic, gourmet tortilla chips flavored with mildly spicy salsa.”
It’s hard to know what constitutes “authentic,” and I’m pretty sure that the “gourmet” claim may be met with skepticism by one or two foodies who believe that “gourmet” and “purchased in a gas station” are mutually exclusive modifiers.
2) “Salsa Chips—With Real Tomato & Avocado”
If we’re left to ponder El Sabroso’s use of the terms “authentic” and “gourmet,” their use of the word “real” might also give us pause.
However, a quick check of the ingredients list will show that just after “Corn, Vegetable Oil, and Parsley Flakes,” is “Tomato Powder,” and six ingredients after that, “Avocado Powder.” See? Real.
Sort of.
El Sabroso Salsitas Chips are manufactured by the “Snak King Corporation,” of Los Angeles, California, and these guys really know what they’re doing. After all, they’re the Snak [sic] King!
And given that this is a “Product of the U.S.A.”—and an exceptional one at that—I, for one, would like to see a picture of a Spicy Salsa Salsita Chip added to the backdrop of the WIRELESS ACCESSORIES sign in Wellington.
How Addictive?
Back in the day, Lay’s Potato Chips bet us that we couldn’t “eat just one.” But in terms of their comparative addictiveness, Lay’s chips are frozen broccoli, and Salsitas are crack cocaine.
And that really was my biggest problem with the 12-serving bag I purchased: I could not…stop…snaking [sic].
El Sabroso has created an intoxicating blend of Yeast Extract, Citric Acid, and Jalapeño Pepper (ingredients 11-13). But seriously, if ingredients 11-13 were instead Nicotine, Caffeine, and Heroin, I would be a whole lot less surprised.
Per serving, these chips will only load you down with 140 calories, 7 grams of Unsaturated Fat, 1 gram of Saturated Fat, and 160 grams of Sodium. Of course, only people on the East Coast who still think these are unbearably spicy could stop at one serving, so I’d advise multiplying these Nutritional numbers by five or six. Or twelve.
What is the ideal time of day to eat Salsitas Spicy Salsa Chips?
Any time.
Over the course of my extended test, I found them to be amazing first thing in the morning, while the coffee was still brewing and before I’d brushed my teeth. And they proved to be a perfect way to cap off a very, very late Cinco de Mayo celebration in New Mexico.
Bottom Line
El Sabroso Salsitas Salsa Chips are probably the best thing ever.
But use with caution. If you eat the whole bag in one sitting (or one ten-hour road trip), I can assure you, you will feel terrible.
And if you are dumb enough to eat the whole 12-serving bag and then continue to pound gas station coffee, you will likely wish you were dead.
Of course, only an idiot would do that.
NEXT: PROFILE PICS
This is the most helpful review ever. I am getting in my car right now to go to Utah to get a big bag of patriotic salsitas. The flavor, diameter, and chemistry SOUND GREAT.
Great decision, Adam. You will NOT regret it.
(Well, okay, you might.)
I agree with Adam, this is perhaps the most helpful review Blister has done in the last few weeks. I am, in fact, driving up to Denver from Santa Fe this afternoon. I usually stop for gas in one of the fine dining/gourmet fuel stops in Wagon Mound, NM. I SINCERELY hope that these seemingly AMAZING feats of snak engineering are available for retail so that I can test them out for myself (in the future, one additional piece of helpful info might be to include the various retail locations at which such items might be purchased all over the country, not all of us are lucky enough to be passing by such patriotic establishments as this in Wellington). Based on this review, I’ve almost become interested in driving around Santa Fe simply to find them so that I can have an entire 6 hours over which to test their tasty goodness. I especially found the profile photos useful. I like to make sure a chip is good and flat prior to putting it in the pie hole. Thank you for being such a continuous source of reliable and unbiased reviews, keep up the good work.
Thanks for the helpful feedback, Lauren. After I got back from this road trip feeling awful but raving about these chips, BLISTER photographer Ryan Heffernan subsequently found them at Bode’s General Store and Cafe up in Abiquiu, NM, near Ghost Ranch. Ryan takes this as proof that Georgia O’Keefe loved her some Salsitas Spicy Salsa Chips, too.
My friend Bill Reaves then found two bags of these at the Smith’s off of St. Michael’s Drive, but they were their last two bags. I can only hope, for your sake, that they’ve restocked.
Safe travels, and happy snaking.
I’m very sorry to report that Wagon Mound is devoid of tasty goodness
:-(
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Great review, too bad it’s a bit of a stretch travelling from Norway to get some. I’ll just have to settle for some gourmet tortilla chips from my local shop I guess :)
BTW: The sake story would be a nice read I assume!
Kristian: next time I’m in Norway, I’ll bring you some. Or just book a flight to Wellington, UT….
As a ski-snack fiend, I very much appreciate the review. However, it would be helpful to offer comparisons to similar snacking delights, particularly for those of us unable to demo locally and must resort to online purchasing.
Obviously, different snacks cater to different snackers. Do you recommend these for a serious snacker, or are they geared towards those sporting a more playful demeanor? For reference, I’m 5’11” and 165#, and lately I have very much enjoyed Dirty’s Mesquite BBQ and Kettle’s Backyard BBQ potato chips. I’m worried that the El Sabroso Salsitas might not be quite burly enough to quell the hunger and keep me out of the backseat (searching for more snacks) while straightlining past the AWD Audis on pow-day mornings.
PS: You ought to tell the sake story.
Believe me, Zak. I searched high and low for comparisons. But I’ve been to the snack mountain top, and all analogies fail.
I thought about alluding to Dionysius the Aeropagite’s Mystical Theology – where all attempts to name the divine invariably fall short – but then I remembered that I was talking about potato chips….
You do, however, raise a fantastic point about different snacks for different snackers. But I assure you: with a 12-serving bag of Salsitas in your lap, you will NOT be searching around in the backseat on a pow morning. (Unless you’re drinking these with coffee and your water bottle is on the floor behind you.)
So please go buy these—online if you must—and report back. I can’t wait for the reader reviews to start trickling in.
you gotta try the guacachips from the same company.
I have tried the Salsitas guac chips, Lance, but while I used to think they were great, after discovering the Spicy Salsa chips, they just seem like a shadow of the real thing. That added little kick of the Spicy Salsa chips…it completes me.
This review gave me such a goddamned craving for chips that I sprinted to the nearest Allsups. Alas, there were no El Sabrosos available so I had to settle for Tom’s Ruffles. Which is another way of saying I had to settle for my Ruffles. Keep those units metric!
Metric units 4 LYF!
Just had some of these today from a vending machine at work. I can’t argue with a single point in this review. Also, I’m kind of from the east coast (originally from Texas so I don’t know if this counts) and they were just barely spicy to me. Then again most others that lived around me wouldn’t be able to handle them…
Glad you, too, Richard, have experienced and can confirm the glory of Salsitas! But I’m afraid your TX origins most definitely disqualify you as an east coast opiner. (A good thing, in this case.)
Noticed these exotic looking snacks whilst sitting in an Au Bon Pain in Thailand. Marvelling at the unlikely chance of finding mexican snacks in Central Bangkok, I commited to a quick Google search and came by this amazing review. Needless to say I’m off to buy another bag.
Nice, Andrew! We’re very pleased to know that this review continues to inform the snacking choices of travelers all around the world.
And someday, maybe we’ll have to do a Random Review of Bangkok…
I live in North Carolina and I discovered these late one night at Sheetz in Greenville. These chips are something special. While it’s not of the same cloth, Martins Sour Cream and Onion chips are fantastic as well. Back to the Salsitas….I feel that they really hit the nail on the head with this chip and it seems like I’ve been cut short all of my life after eating these. I get them at least once a week, LOL. But yes, it’s not often you search Google to read about a chip you’ve already eaten; they’re that good.
These are the BEST CHIPS EVER!!!!! Every chip is so flavourful and the perfect crunch, the corn flavour is sooo deliciously prominent. I don’t even want any other chips anymore (except maybe a Flamin’ Hot Munchos). If anyone needs some, I can help you! I’m in Ottawa and happy to “chip” anywhere :)