I absolutely love Pringles. They’re light, crispy, and come in a tube that’s mostly effective at preventing them from becoming completely pulverized in transit. I even liked the fat-free kind that the brand had to warn might give you anal leakage. Mostly, I love Pringles because they’re a great canvas for creative flavors. Sure, we’ll always love Sour Cream & Onion and BBQ, but you’re cheating yourself out of a world of flavor fun if you don’t pay attention to their newer and limited edition releases.
Case in point: Pringles’ collab with Hot Ones, a YouTube program on which people of note test their tolerance for progressively hotter hot sauces. The chip brand recently released three limited edition flavors as part of its Scorchin’ line: the Classic, Los Calientes Rojo, and Los Calientes Verde. We tried our damndest to get our hands on all three flavors, but couldn’t find Classic. You’re on your own with that one. But here’s how we thought the other two stacks of chips stacked up.
Not only are these chips delicious, they helped me discover that I have extreme anxiety about properly pronouncing the word “verde”! These green hot sauce-inspired chips have an excellent smokiness on first bite that really fills your mouth and then stays with you as you munch. “I think they’re sensationally flavorful for a potato chip,” my colleague Jordan Myrick said. They also live up to their promise of being genuinely spicy. If you can get your hands on these, do!
These chips have big-time buffalo sauce vibes, but don’t quite bring the heat the way the verde version does. Granted, we expected a lot of heat from a Hot Ones chip, but if you pick these up expecting to sizzle your palate, you might be disappointed. All the same, they’re still plenty tasty. A solid seven Sporks in our book.
Howdy! I’m Gwynedd, Sporked’s managing editor. I live in Los Angeles and have access to the best tacos the U.S. has to offer—but I’m a sucker for a crunchy Old El Paso taco night every now and then. I’ve been at Sporked since 2022 and I’m still searching frozen mozzarella sticks that can hold a candle to restaurant sticks.
Why you should trust me: I’ve been a journalist for 20 years (yikes), a consumer of food for 40-plus years, and I’m truly hard pressed to think of foods I don’t like (or that I can’t tolerate at the very least). Oh and one time I cooked my way through Guy Fieri’s cookbook and wrote about the journey through Flavortown.
What I buy every week: Trader Joe’s Original Savory Thins. Fat free plain yogurt (usually Fage or Nancy’s). Honeycrisp apples. Sweet cream coffee creamer for my at-home Americanos. A frozen cauliflower crust pizza and some jarred mushrooms to top it with. Old El Paso Stand ‘N Stuff taco shells and Gardein Ground Be’f, even though I think “be’f” is a nightmarish contraction.
Favorite ranking: Stouffer’s frozen dinners. I don’t own a microwave (I get my cancers the old fashioned way!), so I love taste testing things that I don’t really buy to eat at home.
Least favorite ranking: Soy sauce. Don’t get me wrong, I love soy sauce—but consuming that much sodium in one sitting is probably illegal in some countries. Our frozen enchilada taste test was a close second; the smell of microwaved corn tortillas still haunts me.
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!
Gwynedd Stuart
Jordan Myrick
Justine Sterling
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!