Track the Kernels: Is Khloé Kardashian’s Khloud Popcorn Good?

Reality TV star Khloe Kardashian has officially entered the snacking game with Khloud popcorn, a protein-rich snack that is both gluten-free and kosher. Its new range comes in three flavors: olive oil and sea salt, sweet and salty kettle corn and white cheddar. The brand bills itself as “protein popcorn,” jumping on the recent trend for protein snacks. I went to Sprouts and picked up a bag of olive oil and sea salt to see if their popcorn was a snack I could happily eat.

Khloé Kardashian gets into the snacking game with protein popcorn

First, let’s start with the basics. The ingredients listed are popcorn, olive oil, milk protein isolate, mineral salt (Himalayan pink salt, potassium salt), and sea salt. It’s a pretty good mix. There are no weird, hard-to-pronounce ingredients, cornstarch or preservatives. For anyone looking to only buy foods with ingredients they can pronounce, we’re off to a great start.

Now let’s move on to nutrition. A serving corresponds to 3 cups, or 30 grams, or 4 servings per container. This means there are 12 cups, or 120 grams, in the entire bag. I hate to break it to you, but you’re going to have to multiply the nutritional values ​​by 4, because it’s extremely easy to eat the whole bag in one sitting. It filled my popcorn bowl to the top, so it would be perfect for movie night, but it’s definitely a bag you’ll eat in one sitting.

Breaking down the nutritional value

One serving, or a quarter of the bag, equals 150 calories, bringing the entire bag to 600 calories. If you share the bag with someone, that’s only 300 calories, which seems a bit more reasonable in retrospect. If you eat the whole bag in one sitting, you may want to reconsider your decision.

There are 8 grams of fat per serving, or 32 grams per sachet; 13 grams of carbohydrates per serving, or 52 grams per packet; 3 grams of fiber per serving, or 12 grams per packet; and 7 grams of protein per serving, or 28 grams per packet. It’s actually a little better than I expected.

Comparison to original SkinnyPop popcorn

I looked at the nutritional information for SkinnyPop Original Popcorn on Walmart’s website, and it has the same 150 calories to see how it might compare to a competitor. Luckily, the serving size is also 3 cups, even though it only has 28 grams as a serving size. Calories are still the same at 150, but fat is 2 grams higher at 10. Carbs are 2 grams higher at 15, fiber is reduced to 2 grams, and protein is reduced to 2 grams per serving. Eating the whole bag won’t even get you past 10 grams.

So this definitely gives Khloud a small win in the popcorn game because you get more than double the amount of protein. However, if you’re really focused on your protein goals and worried about your calories, many protein powders on the market offer around 150 calories and 20 to 25 grams of protein for a single serving.

But is a protein shake as satisfying as munching on an entire bowl of popcorn? Let’s be honest. Not really.

But what does it taste like?

You probably won’t like what I say next. As my husband said, “Feel free to quote me on this…it tastes like a protein snack.” » If you’re the type of person who scoffs at any type of vegetable chip that claims to be the healthiest version of a potato chip, you won’t like this.

First of all, it’s olive oil and sea salt. Neither of us had the olive oil or sea salt. If someone had handed me an unmarked cup of popcorn, I would have said it wasn’t salty. This does not mean that there is no coating. There is a thin layer of whey on each piece that tastes like protein powder. If you’ve ever made bread with flavorless whey during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and licked it off your fingers, I can tell you it tastes good. Exactly like that, although fortunately it doesn’t leave any residue on your fingers.

Khloé Kardashian decided to create a protein-rich snack, and I would say that in that regard, she definitely delivered. But it’s up to you to decide whether 28 grams of protein is worth the 600 calories it contains.

Is Khloé Kardashian’s Khloud popcorn worth it?

Look, snacks are a very individual thing, so I won’t tell you not to rush out to try them. If you’re a popcorn lover and spot a bag on sale at your grocery store, I actually encourage you to try it to see how it measures up. And if you’re looking for a snack that’s higher in protein and don’t really care about the taste, then go for it.

I haven’t tried the sweet and savory kettle corn or the white cheddar flavor, which might taste better. But I can tell you that if you want to try the flavor of olive oil and sea salt, you better make sure you have a stock of salt. You will need it.