Walkers Sunbites are another range of crisps aimed at healthier eating. Walkers used less fat and whole grains in these crisps to drive the calories down and offer more vitamins and minerals than potato based snacks. The result is a earthy tasting crunchy crisp which is very unlike their usual range but they are radical different in their composition.
They are called Sunbites as whole grains are grown above ground whereas potatoes are made underground, hence the distinction.
The goal is for Walkers to be able to sell to their core customers and those with a healthier all-round diet – the competitors of Sunbites would be the likes of the Eat Real brand, for example.
Sunbites come in two bag sizes – 28g loose packs while you’ll find in the meal deal section and 25g bags you’ll find in multipacks. They also come in two core flavours – sweet chilli and sour cream.
Have Walkers found a way to make a truly low syn crisp? Let’s find out.
Sunbites Syn Values
- A 28g loose bag of Sunbites contains 134 calories. This means that a 28g bag of Sunbites is worth 6.7 syns.
6.7 syns for a bag of crisps is not too bad but not spectacular. They are slightly better than Wotsits, the same as Snackrite and just a little worse than Scampi Fries. Make of that what you will..
- The 25g multipack bag of Sunbites contains 120 calories. This means a 25g bag of Sunbites are worth 6 syns.
This is more or less the same as the 28g bag, really.
So, nothing spectacular to report here. In fact, there are other Walkers crisps which have lower syn values per bag and per gram.
All flavours of Sunbites are worth the same calories/syns so you can use these numbers for any of them. If you’re interest to see the specific breakdown of Sunbites read on.
Are Sunbites worth the syns?
Sunbites are made with better ingredients than most crisps and even when you compare syns and calories they are not quite equal – they are not full of fat and sugar and do contain some fibre and minerals most don’t. If you love Sunbites then you should have them. At the end of the day, 1 syn is the same amount of calories no matter where they’re from.
From a syn management point of view, they’re decent – not brilliant but definitely not terrible. Sunbites’ syns per gram is 0.24 which is at the upper end of the table; this is similar to Chipsticks, Eat Real Hummus and Scampi Fries.
When ranked purely on this, they come 11th out of 31.
Sunbites Nutrition and Ingredients
Wholegrains (80%) (Whole Corn, Whole Wheat, Whole Rice Flour, Whole Oat Flour), Sunflower Oil, Sugar, Sun Ripened Sweet Chilli Flavour [Salt, Tomato Powder, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Paprika, Acid (Citric Acid), Cayenne Chilli Pepper, Ginger Extract, Star Anise Oil, Fennel Oil, Soy Sauce Powder (contains Wheat), Colour (Paprika Extract), Natural Flavouring].
