Skinny Pop Vs Smartfood Popcorn: Which Is Better?

The options for snacking are endless nowadays, with grocery store aisles riddled with chips, candies, sodas, trail mixes, crackers, cookies, granola bars, and of course, classic popcorn. There is perhaps no better snack to enjoy while watching a movie than good old popcorn, and with a plethora of options readily available at the grocery store, you don't need to go to a movie theater to enjoy it. Boxes of microwave popcorn are a go-to for those who want to replicate the theater feel, but for those who don't want to deal with a microwave, there's a whole treasure trove of ready-to-eat popcorn waiting in the chip aisle.

Two brands that dominate the scene — Smartfood and Skinny Pop — may appear quite similar to the untrained eye. They are typically placed next to each other on the shelf, they sell incredibly similar products, and their names are even similar, seemingly implying a smarter or more health-conscious way to enjoy popcorn. The flavors also overlap, particularly when it comes to white cheddar, which is the staple for Smartfood and a popular offering for Skinny Pop. 

Considering how comparable the two brands are and the fact that they each offer a bagged popcorn with the same flavor, I put Smartfood's and Skinny Pop's respective White Cheddar flavors to the taste test. When comparing the two, I looked for which had the most accurate cheddar flavor, overall balance, and which one simply tasted best and would be most-suited for an at-home movie night.

Anyone who has enjoyed a bag of Smartfood popcorn before has most likely tried the White Cheddar flavor — but that's far from the only option this brand offers. Though the specific selection may vary depending on seasonality and location, other widely-available Smartfood popcorn flavors include Flamin' Hot White Cheddar (like Flamin' Hot Cheetos), Movie Theater Butter, Kettle Corn, and Doritos Nacho Cheese. Smartfood is also known for dropping creative limited edition or seasonal flavors, like Chocolate Cake Pop, Cheddar BBQ, and Chocolate-Glazed Donut.

Aside from the obvious convenience of ready-to-eat popcorn, Smartfood also boasts its "quality ingredients" in each and every bag. To use the White Cheddar flavor as an example, the popcorn is gluten free and contains no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. As for nutritional breakdown, 1 cup of Smartfood White Cheddar popcorn has 70 calories, which comes out to 160 calories per serving (with the serving size on the bag being 2 ½ cups). Per serving, you'll also find 10 grams of fat, 200 milligrams of sodium, 15 grams of carbs, and 2 grams of sugar. Ingredients, aside from popcorn of course, include vegetable oil, natural flavors, whey, maltodextrin, buttermilk, cheddar cheese, and salt.

Much like Smartfood, Skinny Pop is another brand of ready-to-eat, bagged popcorn that is often found in the chip aisle. Though Skinny Pop does indeed have a White Cheddar flavor (and Dairy-Free White Cheddar), it's perhaps more known for its Original, standard popcorn flavor. Other flavors of Skinny Pop include Sea Salt, Butter, Kettle Corn, Cheddar Jalapeño, Aged White Cheddar, and Sea Salt and Pepper. It's safe to say that Skinny Pop errs on the side of more "normal" flavors compared to Smartfood, but there is some overlap in the brands' offerings, like White Cheddar and Kettle Corn.

Skinny Pop also boasts a certain higher standard when it comes to its product. A bag of White Cheddar Skinny Pop is gluten free with no artificial ingredients, and in fact, the ingredient list is pretty short: popcorn, sunflower oil, non-dairy cheddar flavor, salt, rice flour, natural flavor, and lactic acid. As for calories, 1 cup of Skinny Pop White Cheddar popcorn has 43 calories, and each serving (which is 3 ½ cups per the nutrition facts panel) has 150 calories. Other nutritional stats include 9 grams of fat, 160 milligrams of sodium, 15 grams of carbs, and no sugar. 

We've already established that Skinny Pop and Smartfood are similar brands when it comes to what product they offer and how they offer it, and unsurprisingly, there's also a pretty big overlap when it comes to the price and availability. I purchased each bag of popcorn from a Target location, though both brands are generally easy to find at most large grocery store chains, including Walmart, Jewel, and Sam's Club. You can even find a box of 1-ounce Smartfood popcorn bags on Amazon, and the same goes for Skinny Pop. The availability of specific flavors is where things get dicey, with certain seasonal or limited edition flavors of Smartfood likely being harder to find than others. Smartfood has a store locator when in doubt, and you can click on a specific product of Skinny Pop on the brand's website to see where it's available near you.

As for price, this also varies depending on where you live, where you shop, and what size bag you buy. In Chicago, I paid $4.69 for a 6 ¾-ounce bag of Smartfood and $5.89 for an 8-ounce bag of Skinny Pop (which are standard and sharing-size bags, respectively), so it's safe to say that you'll find the products for a similar price point at your local grocery store.

When I first opened the bag of Smartfood popcorn, I could already tell that it was going to be pretty flavorful. Based on smell alone, it had that classic popcorn scent to it, along with a nice aroma of white cheddar; not an actual cheese scent, per se, but a sort of savory, cheese-like odor that chips and popcorn brands manage to capture so well. Nonetheless, the flavor is what's important, and I certainly wasn't disappointed on that front. Salty, cheesy, and surprisingly savory, Smartfood's White Cheddar popcorn checked all of the boxes in terms of what I think a white cheddar popcorn should taste like.

For starters, the white cheddar flavor was very apparent. It wasn't so strong that it was overly-cheesy or off-putting, but a nice, consistent cheddar taste that was just cheesy enough. I appreciated the fact that the popcorn was evenly coated with white cheddar, making for a balanced snack that was consistently good with every bite. The popcorn itself was nice and crunchy with an almost velvety feel to it thanks to the cheddar powder. I don't really have anything bad to say about Smartfood's White Cheddar popcorn — it was cheesy and balanced, and I could see this being a go-to snack.

When I first opened the bag of Skinny Pop White Cheddar popcorn, I was notably not met with the same distinctly cheesy scent that the Smartfood popcorn had, despite the fact that both products were meant to be the same flavor. Upon trying the first couple of bites of this popcorn, I didn't find any offensive or off-putting flavors ... but I also struggled to find any flavor at all. Sure, this popcorn boasted a classic popcorn taste, but aside from that, there really wasn't a whole lot of complexity at play.

The biggest disappointment with Skinny Pop's White Cheddar popcorn is that it really didn't taste like white cheddar. There was a faint hint of cheddar flavor at play, but it was really subdued, which struck me as both odd and disappointing. Another downfall is that I felt this popcorn would really benefit from more salt, helping to enhance what little white cheddar flavor was there — or at least simply to make the popcorn more flavorful. The salt was really lacking here, much like the white cheddar flavor, which made for an overall bland snack.

I certainly wouldn't call Skinny Pop's popcorn bad, as it's pretty difficult to mess up popcorn so long as it's not completely burnt. But I was expecting a lot more flavor. Since there wasn't even so much as a pop of saltiness to make this popcorn stand out, I struggled to find any true redeeming qualities in this one.

Based on sheer flavor alone, there was a clear winner in the Skinny Pop vs. Smartfood popcorn competition, and unsurprisingly, that would be Smartfood. There are a few key reasons why Smartfood's popcorn prevailed. For starters, the white cheddar flavor was actually apparent, while it was severely lacking in Skinny Pop's version. Also, I felt like Smartfood struck a really nice balance overall — you've got the popcorn flavor itself, the white cheddar, a little bit of saltiness, and maybe even a touch of sweetness. Skinny Pop's popcorn was just bland all-around, and it definitely didn't taste balanced as it needed more saltiness.

Ultimately, these popcorns are quite similar in terms of texture and appearance, but the flavor really set one apart from the other. Now, I will say that if you're more concerned with a snack being as low-calorie as possible, then Skinny Pop isn't a bad option. The popcorn wasn't bad, it just wasn't super flavorful, but it is undeniably the more low-calorie snack out of the two options. Also, the Skinny Pop popcorn is dairy-free, which does make it more dietarily inclusive than the Smartfood option. If flavor is the main factor for you, however, and you're not as concerned with dietary considerations, then there's no reason not to go for Smartfood.

When comparing Smartfood and Skinny Pop as brands, I knew I'd have to sample respective popcorns from each that were as close in flavor as possible. The reality is that both brands create very similar products, packaged similarly, and appealing to a similar crowd. So it really came down to flavor, and since both brands offer a white cheddar popcorn, that was the obvious choice for sampling.

Both popcorns were texturally very similar — that's the perk about ready-to-eat popcorn, you don't have to worry about it burning or having a bunch of unpopped kernels — so I knew it would come down to the white cheddar flavor. I was a bit surprised by how much one brand was able to capture it while the other wasn't so successful, but it made it pretty clear which popcorn was superior flavor-wise. 

I did consider and note other factors, like the fact that Skinny Pop is a lower-calorie option and that it's more inclusive to dietary restrictions. However, since the two products are ultimately similar in nutritional breakdown, equally as easy to find in store, and sold at a similar price point, I determined that flavor would have the ultimate say in naming Smartfood the supreme brand.