Epicurean Delight: Burger King Onion Rings

A few weeks ago Alex posted a picture on his Facebook page from the vending machine at work. I laughed out loud because the same item showed up in our vending machine as well: Burger King Onion Rings (Flavored Snacks)

One thing worth noting is that at my job, they cost only 55 cents. Must be that downtown Minneapolis markup.

At any rate, I have a well documented history of eating things out of vending machines, so it wasn\’t long before I had to try these things (and I do mean \”things\”).

Here\’s a closer shot of the bag:

So, for 55 cents what did I get? I got .75 ounces of snack, which is markedly lower than the customary 1 ounce snack size of potato chips for the same price. I also got the following ingredients:
Corn meal, vegetable oil (corn/soybean/sunflower/cottonseed depending on which was the cheapest at the time the product was created), salt, rice flour, minced onion, monosodium glutamate, whey, buttermilk powder, caramel color, natural flavors, corn syrup solids, maltodextrin, sodium caseinate, lactic acid, disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate, artificial colors, canola oil, and artificial flavor.

Well, there are a number of things I can\’t pronounce, but honestly none of them are too terrible. No trans fat, no HFCS, although the inclusion of so many \”artificial colors and flavor\” leave much to be desired. But who cares what\’s actually in these things, how were they?

The serving size of .75 ounces works out to 21.3 grams and \”about 15 pieces\”.

Careful observers will note that there are only 12 rings present. I guess \”about\” is a pretty relative term in the snack food industry.

The aroma of the snack is… stale. Not particularly strong or appetizing. Sort of a cross between rice cakes and a faint mix of onion powder and BBQ chips.

Taking a bite the texture is actually quite pleasant. Somewhere between a cheese puff and Cheeto. Firm, crunchy, but a structure the collapses when bitten into, as opposed to breaking apart like a Cheeto. Somewhat similar to a Cheez Ball.

However, the flavor more closely aligns with the smell. Somewhat ashen, stale. Surprisingly not salty given the 200mg of sodium per serving. Nothing remotely \”onion ringy\” about it in the least.

But fear not folks, our friends at The Inventure Group, you know… those folks who brought us O\’Boisies (their O\’Boisterous!), and Tato Skins, they have a few other BK items up their sleeves such as: Hot & Spicy Onion Rings (maybe they will at least have some flavor in them), French Toast (mmmm, vending machine snacks aren\’t just for lunch anymore!), something called \”Flame Broiled\” (think potato chip flavored like…well, I\’m not 100% sure), and \”Ketchup & Fries\” (which I\’m sure will be an even worse version of any number of ketchup flavored chips I\’ve had in the past).

In conclusion: besides the texture, BK\’s Onion Ring snacks don\’t deliver at all. They are flavorless, artificial, and a terrible investment of 55 (or 60) cents. In the immortal words of Nancy Regan: Just Say No.