Carolina Gold Nuggets Microwave Pork Puffies Bake-N-Puffs, Original, 16 Ounce

IF you had an ax to grind with a vegetarian friend, you could trick him or her into thinking that this product is a new fangled version of seitan, and then watch the madness unfold. Since I have no use for such shenanigans in my life, a few notes on this deeelicious product: Protein Needs: Without going into why, my average protein intake per day comes out to .75 grams of protein for each pound of body weight. Let's just call this number a flat 95 grams per day. This product, along with the following two: Pure Protein Value Pack, Chocolate Peanut Caramel, 1.76 oz. Bars, 6 Count, , and Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey Gold Standard, Double Rich Chocolate, 5 Pound are the ones that help me reach that goal. I personally think that fat has been overvillified (as has cholesterol), so I'm ok with consuming up to 30 - 35% of my daily caloric needs through fat, and none of the three products I use really worry me too much. Each 1 oz "unpopped" serving of this product (yes, I eat an ounce at a time) yields 18g protein, with the protein bars coming in at 20 grams per bar and my shakes coming in at 24 grams per scoop (depending on flavor). From a pure taste perspective, of course I'd rather eat pig product throughout the day, but if I brought these into work, people would start asking questions and then I'd have to take time to explain it. Then I'd be known as the "guy who eats pork rinds all day" and I could really do without that moniker. Thus, during the day, I mix a shake with my morning coffee and then eat 1 - 2 of the protein bars at work. Cost Effectiveness: Deeelicious fried pig product: 12.31 per 1lb bag comes to 4.27 cents per gram of protein Protein Bars: 8.14 per box of 6 comes to 6.78 cents per gram of protein Protein Shake: 58$ for a 68 serving tub comes to 3.60 cents per gram of protein As you can see, the cost effectiveness of these delicious products is in the middle, but remember that it tastes so much more deeeelicious (pork is a sweeeeeeeet meat) than either of my other supplements. Ease of preparation: Paper plates, bah humbug. If anyone out there already has one of the Nordic Ware Microwave Popcorn Popper, 12-Cup, White as a result of trying to get healthier by not adding additional seasoning or fats to popcorn, the same device can be used to pop these bad boys. The instructions are almost spot on - 1oz of the unpopped product takes 3 minutes in the microwave. Dog factor: My dogs both know the difference between when this is being popped and when popcorn is being popped. While they won't turn down Amish Country Popcorn, 1Lb Bags, Set of 3 of any variety, they don't follow me closely when that's in the nuke. However, the moment they either hear the bag of pellets or smell it wafting through the house, both come running from whatever they were previously doing in the hopes that I'll drop a piece on the floor. No way suckers, they're all mine. Overall: Great stuff, local product (to me), helps me reach my protein quota as a "supplement" while keeping the spending in check. Dog approved, to boot, though they'll never get any.

I have been eating pork rinds since I became carnivore. It provides collagen and no carbs. I have had a great experience microwaving them. They taste fresh and all the rinds expand nicely. And the bag of rinds actually smelled like bacon.

I try to eat a low carb/keto type diet. I discovered pork rinds make for a nice breading when crushed, which lead me to go pick up a bag from the local grocery. Having never tried them before I did not know what to expect -- and I was greatly disappointed when I popped open the bag and nearly gagged from the smell alone. The taste was off-putting as well, but I still found value in them when used for other purposes (breading substitute, or to make LC "cinnamon toast crunch" cereal). It was much later that I had an opportunity to try some "gourmet" apple cider vinegar dusted skins that I received as a gift from a family member. Wow! Those were incredible, but prohibitively expensive. This is what lead me to buying these Carolina Gold Nuggets -- in an attempt to reproduce the apple cider vinegar variety myself. I am still waiting for my ACV powder to come in, but until then, here are my thoughts.. PREPARATION: Despite reviews stating these tend to not puff up properly in the microwave, I tossed several pieces onto a folded paper towel and threw them in my microwave. In around a minute and a half, all of the pieces had puffed up to near perfection. I watched as they progressed and one lone nugget took it's time to fully fluff and I did end up with one or two small hard corners on other pieces. In the future I will try these in the oven because most likely the results will be more even and predictable, but I was surprised to have little issue with the microwave test. TASTE: I have only had a few different types of pork rinds, but these are most definitely better than the first variety I ever tried in a bag from grocery. I did not find them overly salty one bit and find it difficult to understand how anyone would find them as such. They are on the crunchy side, so if you like a softer/fluffier mouthfeel you may want to look elsewhere. There are no odd off putting flavors you may get from additional flavors or additives that are found in prepackaged varieties. SUMMARY: Overall happy. Flavor is mild with no surprises. Great crunch and no problem cooking them up. Love that I can make the serving size of my choice and will never have to deal with staleness. Excited to try adding my own seasonings and using to supplement low carb recipes.

I have purchased these in the past and have always thrown them in the microwave. After reading several reviews that said try the air fryer, I did. Air fryer is next level! These will do fine in the microwave, but the gentle heat of the air fryer seems to puff these out more evenly with fewer hard spots. These are my favorite Keto snack. The're tasty and make a great substitute for chips when you want something salty. These are a pretty good value. There's a ton in the bag.

They're really just OK. Nothing special. You do need a stronger microwave, or cook them for a longer time, otherwise you're going to have many unpopped pork rinds. They certainly _taste_ healthier than your typical pork rind! Much less fat, much less oily, much less salty. Unfortunately, also much less taste. I read one reviewer write that this had an abundance of porky flavor. I found quite the opposite. The pork flavor is slightly muted. On the other hand, if you're on a keto diet, you're probably going to die of a heart attack at 65 anyhow. Might as well use these as your go-to snack and die at 70 instead (hey -- no disrespect... I'm going to die right with ya!) As with all microwave pork rinds, no need to add oil. You literally put them on a paper towel and nuke them. I nuke them for 2-2.5 minutes, but that number will definitely depend on your microwave. I've found that scattering them on the paper towel is helpful in getting them to pop. If you space them out far enough, you tend to get a much higher pop rate. I've also tried the bag method of cooking these, and it was less than satisfactory. It sounded like a good idea, but like 99% of all good ideas, it simply doesn't work. They lose their heat quite fast. This is because a) you pop them "out in the open" instead of in an enclosed bag, like you do with most other pork rinds, and b) they're not drenched with oils with high heat capacity that pork rinds usually have. They'll become room temperature within 30 seconds. However, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Another thing I don't like about this pork rind is that it's not really crispy. Oh, yeah, sure, it's a little crispy. But compare it to any other pork rind, and it's almost mushy in comparison. If you wait until they've cooled down to room temperature, you'll get a much crispier / crunchier rind. Hot or crispy. Choose one.

These taste good, but they are not as greasy as prepackaged pork rinds. And for the best results we found they had to be spread out on a plate (we use a PAPER plate) and don't overfill it. And they might take more time than the instructions suggest. We put them into the microwave for 90 seconds. We've tried on a regular plate, and also tried them in a paper bowl, but neither of those worked very well at all. If you pull them out of the microwave and they are still small and hard they did not POP. If we had those we put them back in the microwave for a little more time (Increments of 10-20 seconds or so). They are not as greasy as pre-popped pork rinds, but we are doing Carnivore and they do not have any added oils like seed oils. I would buy them again, for sure!

So good, easy to make, very addictive, AND good protein! Can even sprinkle some seasoning on them before you microwave them for a little extra pazazz. 10/10 would recommend.

I was so disappointed in these. I eat Paleo, so crispy snacks are hard to come by, lol. I thought these would be such a great idea - easy storage and you only have to make as many as you want, and probably all of the reasons you are thinking of right now... I have tried popping these in all kinds of microwaves, and they don't pop up well. And a lot of the ones that do pop don't pop all the way, so the edges are really hard. And when I say hard, I don't mean extra crunchy like an overcooked French fry or chips do edible, I mean extra hard like a popcorn kernel - you literally cannot bite through those parts and it hurts your teeth when you accidentally chomp down on a hard bit. If you follow the directions - put 1/4 c. on a paper plate - and put it in the micro - barely any pop. I've tried all kinds of times and all kinds of microwaves. When you put a 1/4 cup on a paper plate, they naturally spread out on the plate. So, I tried making sure they were all spread out - barely any popped. By trial and error, I have finally started to make a pile in the middle of the plate so that they are all touching - more of them actually pop this way - but there are still very few perfectly edible ones without the too hard edges. Which is very disappointing - the popped ones taste great and are warm like popcorn. I WISH the Lawry's microwaveable didn't have bad stuff in them - I'm curious how they pop up for comparison. But if you eat Paleo, my suggestion would be to stick with bags or barrels of already cooked pork rinds. This product will drive you mad with frustration.