Is Khloé Kardashian’s Khloud Popcorn Good?

Reality star Khloé Kardashian has officially entered the snacking game with Khloud popcorn, a high-protein snack that is both gluten-free and kosher. Her new line comes in three flavors: olive oil and sea salt, sweet and salty kettle corn, and white cheddar. The brand advertises itself as a “protein popcorn,” jumping onto the recent trend of protein snacks. I went to Sprouts and picked up a bag of olive oil and sea salt to see if her popcorn was a snack I could feel good about eating.

First, let’s start off with the basics. The ingredients listed are popcorn, olive oil, milk protein isolate, mineral salt (pink Himalayan salt, potassium salt), and sea salt. That’s a pretty good mix. There are no weird, hard-to-pronounce ingredients, cornstarch, or any preservatives. For anyone looking to only buy food with ingredients that they can pronounce, we’re off to a pretty strong start.

Now, let’s get into the nutrition. One serving size is 3 cups, or 30 grams, or 4 servings per container. This means there are 12 cups, or 120 grams, in the entire bag. I hate to break it to you, but you’re going to have to multiply the nutrition facts by 4, because it is extremely easy to eat the entire bag in one sitting. It filled my popcorn bowl right to the top, so it would be perfect for a movie night, but it’s definitely a bag that you’re going to eat in one sitting.

One serving, or one quarter of the bag, is 150 calories, putting the whole bag at 600 calories. If you split the bag with someone, then that’s only 300 calories, which seems a bit more reasonable in retrospect. If you’re eating the whole bag in one sitting, though, you might want to reconsider.

There are 8 grams of fat per serving, or 32 grams per bag; 13 grams of carbohydrates per serving, or 52 grams per bag; 3 grams of fiber per serving, or 12 grams per bag; and 7 grams of protein per serving, or 28 grams per bag. That’s actually a bit better than I was expecting.

I pulled up the SkinnyPop Original Popcorn nutrition facts on Walmart’s website, and it has the same 150 calories to see how it might compare to a competitor. Fortunately, the serving size is also 3 cups, although it has only 28 grams listed as a serving size. The calories are still the same at 150, but the fat is 2 grams higher at 10. The carbs are 2 grams higher at 15, the fiber is down to 2 grams, and the protein is down to an abysmal 2 grams per serving. Eating the whole bag won’t even put you past 10 grams.

So that definitely gives Khloud a bit of a win in the popcorn game, as you’re getting more than double the amount of protein. However, if you are really focused on hitting your protein goals and you’re worried about your calories, many protein powders on the market offer approximately 150 calories and 20-25 grams of protein for a single scoop.

But is a protein shake as satisfying as crunching your way through an entire bowl of popcorn? Let’s be honest. Not really.

You’re probably not going to like what I’m going to say next. As my husband said, “Feel free to quote me on this… this tastes like a protein snack.” If you’re the kind of person who sticks up their nose at any kind of vegetable chip that pretends to be the healthier version of a potato chip, you’re not going to like this.

First, it’s olive oil and sea salt. Neither of us got the olive oil or the sea salt. If someone had just handed me an unmarked cup of popcorn, I would have said it was unsalted. That’s not to say there’s no coating, though. There is a fine coating of whey on each piece that tastes like, well, protein powder. If you ever made bread with unflavored whey during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and licked it off your fingers, I can tell you that it tastes exactly like that, although it fortunately doesn’t leave any residue on your fingers.

Khloé Kardashian set out to create a protein-packed snack, and I’d say, in that regard, she definitely delivered. But it’s up to you to decide whether 28 grams of protein is worth the 600 calories it comes with.

Look, snack food is a very individual thing, so I won’t tell you not to run out and try it. If you are a popcorn aficionado and you spot a bag on sale at your grocery store, I’d actually encourage you to try it to see how it measures up. And if you’re looking for a snack that’s higher in protein and don’t really care about the taste, then go for it.

I didn’t try the sweet and salty kettle corn or the white cheddar flavor, which might taste better. But I can tell you that if you want to try the olive oil and sea salt flavor, you’d better make sure you’re stocked up on salt. You’re going to need it.