Are Sweet Potato Chips Healthy? The Breakdown

Lunch time comes around and suddenly it hits you: the salty snack craving for CHIPS!  You try to hold out and not give in, but it’s too late.  Your feet are already moving to the pantry and it’s time to dig in.   

But here’s the big question: do you have traditional potato chips in your pantry, or do you have Jackson’s Sweet Potato Chips?  If you have traditional potato chips, then it’s going to be hard to dig out nutrition from them as well as satisfy that gnawing need to crunch. 

From premium oils to delicious sweet potatoes and carefully curated flavors, Jackson’s Sweet Potato Chips are definitely the superior snack designed with you in mind. 

How Sweet Potato Chips are Made 

Now, we can’t speak to how other sweet potato chips are made, but here at Jackson’s we focus on using premium oils, sea salt, and heirloom sweet potatoes.  These three ingredients are wonderful separate, but together, they create a heroic snack that helps keep you full, energized, and ready to face the day. 

Clean Oils 

When we mention clean oils, what exactly are we talking about?  

Well, here’s the deal: most oils are processed and cleaned using chemicals, gumming agents, and a lot of heat to purify the oil.  Vegetable oil, canola oil and more are consistently processed to the point that a great deal of their nutrition is lost. 

We use both avocado and coconut oil (both are delicious!) to kettle-fry our sweet potato chips.  The two oils that we use are obtained at their most nutrient dense state: it is our mission to provide a healthy and heroic snack!  You can rest assured that whenever you eat Jackson’s potato chips, you are getting clean oils and non-GMO sweet potatoes. 

Heirloom Sweet Potatoes 

Rather than searching for mass produced sweet potatoes that have lost some of their nutrition and growing abilities, we get our sweet potatoes fresh from the farmer.  Our sweet potatoes are non-GMO heirloom potatoes that have higher nutrition density, a sweeter taste, and a bright, beautiful orange color that is not because of dyes added to the potato. 

With any heirloom food, keep in mind that flavors are going to be more intense because the plants themselves have not been bred to give a high yield.  A higher yield leads to less nutrition in each potato since the plant has to send nutrients to multiple tubers.  Heirloom potatoes are also healthier plants with more variety and better-established roots.  This is why we rely on our local farmers for fresh potatoes. 

A Note on Other Brands 

While we aren’t going to put other brands on blast, there is a word to the wise to share: read the ingredients list.  Other brands are going to have additional seasonings, copious amounts of salt, and more saturated fat than you can shake your fist at.   

Potato chips are meant to be an indulgent snack, and that is totally understandable!  If you want to still indulge while also watching what you are eating without sacrificing flavor, then it’s a good idea to pick up a Jackson’s Sweet Potato Chips Variety Pack.  You won’t regret it! 

Jackson’s Chips 

There are baked chips, air fried chips, fried chips and kettle cooked.  There are probably more but each of these methods yields an entirely different flavor.  Another addition to that is you can also do high heat cooking or low heat cooking depending upon your goal. 

With Jackson’s our goal is to get the cleanest nutrition to you in the most effective way possible.  This could be through using an air fryer and lightly coating the sweet potatoes with either avocado oil or coconut oil.   

However, that’s just not Jackson’s style.  Instead, the chips are kettle cooked on low heat so that the oil maintains it’s nutrient value.  The lower heat cooks the potatoes through and finishes them with a more uniform crunch (no soggy chips here!) without leaving them full of oil.  Instead, the benefits of both the potato and oil are kept at their optimum level.  

It’s honestly insane that potato chips can taste this good and be good for you! 

Just the Nutrition Facts 

Not only are sweet potatoes lower in the glycemic index – this is a chart that tells you how quickly the sugars from foods are going to go into your blood stream – but they are also high in fiber and other nutrients.  

The fiber is key in lowering the glycemic index: fiber slows down how quickly your body breaks down nutrients and sugars so that your body absorbs them slowly.  This avoids the high peaks and valleys of a blood sugar spike. 

Micronutrients 

Vitamins and minerals galore!  Sweet potatoes and potatoes are often pitted against one another when the truth is that both of them are pretty similar.  What sets sweet potatoes apart is their very high concentration of Vitamin A.  In one serving of sweet potatoes, there’s enough vitamin A for most of your day!  They also contain other critical vitamins and minerals such as magnesium, potassium, vitamin E and iron. 

Macronutrients 

If you still aren’t sold on how amazing Jackson’s sweet potato chips are, then let’s take a look at the nutrition facts from the Avocado Oil Sweet Potato Chips with Sea Salt. 

This is all in a one ounce serving too!  You’ll be surprised just how much that is especially when you start snacking.  All of your core nutrients are here with Jackson’s sweet potato chips and then you also have the addition of fiber, vitamins, and minerals. 

Are Sweet Potato Chips Healthy? 

Sweet potato chips are a healthier alternative with natural sugars and the potential to decrease hypertension.  The only downside with any cooked potato snack is the potential presence of acrylamide. 

Acrylamide is a potential carcinogenic substance that is formed when the building blocks of proteins, amino acids, react with the sugars in the potatoes.  One thing to keep in mind is that studies you may read on this are done with animals and with very high amounts of acrylamide which are extremely difficult to reach with a bag of chips. 

Since acrylamide isn’t much of a cause for concern, then yes, sweet potato chips are a healthier option compared to others.  Keep in mind that you must read the nutrition facts though: not every sweet potato chip is as heroic as Jackson’s.  Happy snacking!