Greetings and happy weekend everyone! If you are looking for a snack that has more substance the chips, perhaps more protein without being greasy, look no further than new Planter’s Honey BBQ Dry Roasted Peanuts, and Planter’s Roasted Onion & Garlic Dry Roasted Peanuts. I specifically say chips, because these are flavors most often associated with potato chips.

One of the nice things about these nuts is that the flavors are not super assertive–a good thing if you plan on eating more than a few handfuls. This is also a drawback if, say, you like big and bold flavors.

The Honey BBQ flavor taste like honey roasted peanuts a bit–though not as sweet, and with a background flavor that resembles the barbecue seasoning on, well, barbecue potato chips. For me, the flavor was just too subtle. Of course, my nut of choice in this case would more likely be the spicy ones, a la Planter’s “Heat” nuts.

The Roasted Onion & Garlic peanuts were more flavorful and had a really nice savory flavor profile that was also mellow and subtle enough, but with just the right amount of onion and garlic punch. The thought here is maybe that real roasted onion or garlic is more sweet than harsh. If you have ever had Wise brand Onion/Garlic chips (do they still make those?), that’s what these nuts taste like in reference to snacks I’ve had before. And I did like these more than the BBQ ones.

It’s summer and time for outdoor barbecues and just lounging around outside, and these Planter’s peanuts will definitely be a nice addition to your snack pantry for these occasions.

My wife will tell you I’m a sucker for snack foods, particularly new snack foods. The marketing folks have me at “new” when it comes to anything salty and/or crunchy and/or crispy. Throw in spicy, and, well, they may as well have a my bank account number.

Such was the case last week when I saw the new Planter’s “Five Alarm Chili” dry roasted peanuts. I’m just now getting over a bad cold and haven’t been able to properly taste food since buying these, but now I can taste them, and man, are they good. I’ve always loved dry roasted nuts, but Planter’s does them especially well for some reason. Maybe it’s because nuts is what they do.

But I was especially impressed with the fact that these nuts boast a spicy flavor when called “Five Alarm” and, well, they aren’t messing around. On a scale of 1 to 10 as it relates to standard packaged spicy food, I’d say these nuts are about a 7.5 or 8. You novices will need a big glass of water. You pros won’t be able to stop eating them. Not only are they addictive based on taste, but the tingling in your mouth from the spice will also have you reaching for the jar several times.

So if you’re looking for a satisfying snack while watching college basketball this weekend, go for these spicy nuts….would Mikey steer you wrong?