REVIEW: Pringles Mingles Cinnamon & Sugar
The chorus from the 1980s power ballad by the band Cinderella rings in my head about every time this year, “You don’t know what you got until it’s gone.” Am I thinking of a past love? A long lost pet? Mini USB cables that I thought I didn’t need anymore, but found an external hard drive that uses one? Or am I thinking of a decent potato-based snack that usually comes in savory flavors but, for a moment, came in sweet ones?
If you pick the last one, you’d be correct. But if you picked any of the others, you’d also be correct. But let’s not talk about past loves, pets, USB cables, or guessing my age from a 1980s reference. Let me remind )or introduce you) to sweet Pringles flavors from about a decade ago that have faded away like many casts from MTV’s Real World.
Some were mediocre. Others were good. But none were great. So why do I miss them? Well, because sweet Pringles was such a novel idea, and one I would like to taste again. Also, I’d like them to return from time to time so a new generation of snackers can experience them. Make it happen, Kellanova!
The varieties included Milk Chocolate, White Chocolate, White Chocolate Peppermint, Salted Caramel, Pecan Pie, and Pumpkin Pie. However, one sweet flavor from that era has found its way onto the bowtie-shaped Pringles Mingles: Cinnamon & Sugar.
If you haven’t munched on Pringles Mingles, they are puffy corn-based snacks that have a crunch somewhere between Cheetos Puffs and Crunchy Cheetos. They debuted with savory flavors late last year, but now have come out with this sweet flavor for the holiday season. I enjoyed the savory varieties, and I like this one too.
There’s real cinnamon and sugar on these puffs, and they make this snack pleasing to my sweet tooth. Because they’re corn-based and not made from potatoes, there isn’t that naked potato flakes flavor I remember the original Pringles Cinnamon & Sugar Potato Crisps had once the seasoning had faded. The seasoning on some of these fades too, but that’s mainly because they weren’t well seasoned to begin with. However, when there’s a decent amount of cinnamon and sugar, the sweet flavor tends to have staying power, and there’s a slight butteriness to those pieces. With its taste and texture, it reminds me of a cinnamon-flavored breakfast cereal.
Time will tell whether or not we’ll see this again next year, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they make a return in 2026. I enjoyed them more than the potato crisp version from a decade ago, and they were difficult to stop eating. But if they don’t come back, I’ll just miss them annually with the chorus from an 1980s hair band song playing in my head.
Purchased Price: $3.79
Size: 5.5 oz bag
Purchased at: Target
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (about 35 pieces/1 oz) 150 calories, 9 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 45 milligrams of sodium, 17 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 4 grams of sugar (including 3 grams of added sugar), and 1 gram of protein.
