I won’t lie—Hippeas are delicious. My mom brought some on a family trip last year, and I pretty much ate the whole bag before anyone else could have any… That said, I felt kind of disgusted with myself afterward!
Hippeas are healthier than most “puff” snacks, with around half the sodium, 3x the fiber, and 2x the protein of Cheetos Puffs. However, they are still salty snacks made of processed flour and oil. In fact, they have more sugar than Cheetos. They’re much less healthy than whole foods.
Below, I’ll dig into the details of Hippeas ingredients, nutrition facts, and how they compare to other snacks like Cheetos. I’ll also look at the question of whether Hippeas are good for weight loss. And I’ll end by looking at Hippeas Chips!
What Are Hippeas Made Out Of?
Let’s start by looking at the ingredients for Hippeas. Here’s the most popular flavor, from what I can tell. The other flavors have similar ingredients, too:
Vegan White Cheddar Hippeas Ingredients: “Chickpea Flour, Rice Flour, Sunflower Oil, Tapioca Starch, Pea Hull Fiber, Brown Rice Flour, Salt, Cane Sugar, Onion Powder, Citric Acid, Garlic Powder, Rice Concentrate, Lactic Acid, Canola Oil, Natural Flavor, Rosemary Extract.” (All ingredients are organic except for salt, citric acid, lactic acid, and natural flavor.)
So, Hippeas are mainly made of flour and oil—just like other puffs and chips. The biggest difference is that the main flours are chickpea and rice flour—not potato, corn, or wheat. (This also makes Hippeas gluten-free.)
There are two kinds of oil found in Hippeas, but sunflower oil is the main one. Also, as you can see, there are various flavoring ingredients, like salt, onion powder, and garlic powder. Nothing too surprising there.
I’ll evaluate these ingredients in more depth below—but first, let’s take a look at the nutrition facts for Hippeas.
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Hippeas Nutrition
Here are the basic Nutrition Facts for the Vegan White Cheddar flavor of Hippeas. The other flavors are pretty close to this, too:
- Serving Size: 1oz (28g)
- Calories: 130
- Total Fat: 5g
- Saturated Fat: 0g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Cholesterol: 0mg
- Sodium: 140mg
- Total Carbohydrate: 17g
- Dietary Fiber: 3g
- Total Sugars: 2g
- Includes 1g of Added Sugars
- Protein: 4g
As you can see, there’s no saturated fat or trans fat in Hippeas—so that’s one positive thing to notice. I’ll also mention: Look at the 3g of dietary fiber and 4g of protein. Those numbers may not be shockingly high, but they’re better than your average cheese puffs or chips!
Now let’s really get into evaluating whether Hippeas are healthy or not.
Are Hippeas Good for You?
When it comes to judging a food as “healthy” or “good for you,” it always depends what food you’re comparing it with. Any processed food will fail in a head-to-head battle with kale. But Hippeas are not realistically competing with kale in most peoples’ diets.
So let’s start by comparing Hippeas with one of their biggest competitors, Cheetos Puffs.
Are Hippeas Healthier Than Cheetos?
| Nutrition Facts | Hippeas Puffs | Cheetos Puffs |
| Serving Size | 28g | 28g |
| Calories | 130 | 160 |
| Total Fat | 5g | 10g |
| Saturated Fat | 0g | 1.5g |
| Trans Fat | 0g | 0g |
| Cholesterol | 0g | 0g |
| Sodium | 140mg | 270mg |
| Total Carbs | 17g | 16g |
| Dietary Fiber | 3g | <1g |
| Sugars | 2g | 1g |
| Protein | 4g | 2g |
So, here’s what I’m noticing when I compare these snacks:
- Hippeas contain ~19% fewer calories than Cheetos.
- Hippeas are free of saturated fat, while Cheetos are not.
- Hippeas contain ~48% less sodium than Cheetos.
- Hippeas contain over 3x the fiber of Cheetos.
- Hippeas contain more sugar than Cheetos.
- Hippeas contain about double the protein of Cheetos.
Hippeas are healthier than Cheetos by almost every measure. Even when it comes to sugar—the one area where Hippeas lost—the total sugar in Hippeas is still nothing to be too alarmed about (only 2g).
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Are Hippeas Baked Or Fried?
Hippeas are baked, not fried. This may be part of what allows Hippeas to contain only half the fat and around 80% of the calories of Cheetos puffs.
However, being baked doesn’t automatically make a snack food healthy. In fact, most “baked” snacks are only slightly better, if at all. Some health writers believe baked chips are worse than regular chips.
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Are Hippeas Good For Weight Loss?
Hippeas can be eaten in moderation on a weight-loss diet. Compared to other “puffs,” they are lower in fat and higher in fiber and protein, making them more filling with fewer calories. However, they are still easy to overeat due to being a salty processed snack.
When it comes to weight loss, your total calorie balance is what matters most. So any food could be part of a weight-loss diet, if eaten in moderation.
That said, to make weight loss easier and limit your hunger, it helps to eat food with a low calorie density. And it helps to eat food high in fiber, protein, and water, as these components “fill you up” more than the calories they contribute.
Looking at Hippeas from this perspective, they’re better than other “puffs” like Cheetos—but they’re much worse than whole foods like actual chickpeas.
Whole chickpeas have about double the fiber and double the protein of Hippeas per serving. The #1 ingredient in Hippeas is “chickpea flour,” but whole chickpeas would be far better for weight loss.
Here’s why:
- The extra fiber and protein in chickpeas keep you fuller for longer.
- Chickpeas don’t contain any very-high-calorie ingredients like sunflower oil.
- Chickpeas are less addictive and less tempting to overeat.
Are Hippeas Grain Free?
Hippeas are not grain free. They contain rice flour, brown rice flour, and rice concentrate. However, Hippeas are wheat-free and gluten-free.
Are Hippeas Vegan?
All flavors of Hippeas are confirmed vegan. Even the “cheese” flavors are vegan—they are just seasoned with onion powder, garlic powder, and other vegan seasonings. They do not contain milk, eggs, lard, or any other animal ingredients.
Are Hippeas Chips Healthy?
So far, I’ve been talking about Hippeas Puffs. But what about Hippeas Chips? Their ingredients are pretty similar to Hippeas Puffs, but with corn flour instead of rice flour.
To get a quick picture of Hippeas Chips from a health perspective, let’s compare them to normal corn tortilla chips, such as “Original Restaurant Style” chips by Tostitos.
| Nutrition Facts | Hippeas Chips | Tostitos Tortilla Chips |
| Serving Size | 28g | 28g |
| Calories | 160 | 140 |
| Total Fat | 10g | 7g |
| Saturated Fat | 1g | 1g |
| Trans Fat | 0g | 0g |
| Cholesterol | 0g | 0g |
| Sodium | 280mg | 115mg |
| Total Carbs | 14g | 19g |
| Dietary Fiber | 3g | 1g |
| Sugars | 1g | 0g |
| Protein | 3g | 2g |
So, here’s what I see when I compare these chips:
- Hippeas Chips contain ~13% more calories than Tostitos.
- Hippeas Chips contain over 2x the sodium of Tostitos.
- Hippeas Chips contain over 3x the fiber of Tostitos.
- Hippeas Chips contain more sugar than Tostitos.
- Hippeas Chips contain about more protein of Tostitos.
Overall, it’s not clear that Hippeas Chips are better or worse than Tostitos chips. Overall, I’d even say the Tostitos may look slightly healthier.
The bottom line is they’re both relatively simple when it comes to ingredient—but oil, flour, and salt is always going to carry some risk of overeating and not providing many nutrients compared to eating whole foods.
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