Carolina Gold Nuggets Microwave Pork Puffies Pork Rinds, Original, 5 Pound
- Pork rinds have less fat, carbs, more protein and a higher fullness factor than most other snacks
- Easy, microwave or bake to enjoy fresh cooked pork rinds
- No preservatives, no MSG, gluten free, low carbohydrate snack
- 12 month shelf life and no refrigeration required
- Process cooked pork rinds in food processor to make low carb, gluten free breading
- Free of antibiotics and hormones "federal regulations prohibit the use of hormones."
Maxine Robinson
LOVE these
I tried a smaller bag of these and loved them so much I ended up getting a 5 lb bag! I found the best way to cook them is actually in a ceramic bowl. Three minutes in the microwave cooks 1.5 oz of puffies perfectly. I did find that the bowl type seems to make a difference- my Ikea stoneware bowl works best. There is sometimes 1-2 puffies that don't puff, so pay attention when you are eating! The unpuffed ones could probably break a tooth. These are great in a taco salad or dipped in salsa. They hold up quite well, and stay crispy.
Kan Dice
I could be a salesperson for these things!
I love these pork rinds so much that I would be the best sales person they have. I need to get business cards and sesnd them my info for payroll! :-) You cannot beat the nutritional makeup of these little beauties. I'm a LCHF but could see these on any healthy diet plan!
Nicole Farquhar
Perfect puffs.
These continue to be my favorite pork rind - I originally got them when on keto because they are one of the ONLY pork rinds available without unnecessary carbs. Delicious and cost effective! Pro tip: If you have a microwavable air-popping popcorn bowl, you can skip the baking or paper plate nonsense - throw 1/4 of rinds (I've even managed a 1/2 cup, but a few didn't fully pop) and microwave for 2 minutes, adding or subtracting 10 seconds in either direction if you find the rinds too hard or burnt after the first batch.
Ariful Islam
Pigskins in bulk
I love fresh pork rinds but they are hard to come by. A couple of stores here used to carry the Lowery's but have stopped. I have ordered the Lowery's before and liked them and saw these in the smaller bag and decided to try them. Unlike the Lowery's you provide your own baking surface. A plate works well. The instructions tell you how much to put on the plate and although it looks kind of bare keep in mind that these things grow in size a lot. Within about 90 seconds you will have a fresh batch of pork rinds that you season to your own taste. Since the large bag was not resealable my wife put the bulk rinds into 2 zip lock bags. I've had them about a month and I'm about 2/3 down 1 bag! There are no leftovers from a fresh batch! If you have a chip or two that doesn't puff up, just save them for the next batch. Usually they will puff up then. If you like pork rinds you can't get them much fresher than this!
Evangelina Dela Cruz Lacsina
Weight Loss, Vivid Dreams, and Pop-Fizz Goodness
Pork rinds are sweeping the globe! Well, maybe not, but after I discovered pork rinds I found a surprisingly universal culture of pork rind cuisine in pork-eating nations (In Newfoundland they're called scrunchions!) I bought these as part of an attempt at weight loss on a low carbohydrate diet. Along with shirataki rice, this was a mainstay. For the uninitiated: Imagine popcorn, except essentially pure protein. Take a small scoopful of these unappetizing-appearing little pellets and place them on a paper plate. Pop them in the microwave for 90 seconds and watch as they explode into light, puffy goodness. My testing of oven vs microwave weights heavily in favor of the latter--the oven left a dry, pasty taste while the microwave retains a poppy feeling (think just a hint of pop-fizz candy). Sprinkled with a bit of homemade cool ranch dressing, a giant plate of these taste like a high-calorie decadence that should be repented of rather than the under-100-calorie weight loss engine they in fact are. Cons: -Pork rinds will pop on your tongue and scare you at first -People judge you when they say you're eating pork rinds. Until they try them, and then they will buy their own bag. -Vivid Dreams --For real on this point! Pork rinds contain glycerin, which while it will improve your skin tone and flexibility, may give you vivid dreams. This is not something they teach us in medical school, but it checked out after a round of googling why I was suddenly having supervivid dreams. This may be bug or feature depending on your outlook.
Janet E Mountcastle
How do you spell flavor??????????
A gastronomical orgasm!!!!!! Full flavor pork rinds, I keep buying them over and over, last order I received was full of grease but tasted better than ever. I have never tried pork rinds this good in my life!!!! THANK YOU CAROLINA GOLD NUGGETS !!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for my review you jacked up the price
Rob Sinclair
Awesome pork rinds!
These taste awesome! I figured out the trick to making sure they cook is to separate them on the paper plate. I assume the same holds true for the oven. I tried cooking in the oven first. I think I overloaded the cookie sheet since I had so many half-done pieces. But once I put them on a paper plate, made sure none were touching each other and put them in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes, voila! Wonderful, light, fluffy pork rinds, delicious! I love them because they're high protein, crunchy snacks. I just wish they were a little lower in sodium, but I can live with that. Just don't eat as many. So glad I found these, well worth it.
Fre Man
Closest to roast pork skin possible
I do not like the pork rinds that are being sold ready to eat. They are so puffed or expanded that there is no taste to it. I like the taste of roast pork skin. This is the closest to that. First I bake it at 350 degrees for 4 minutes. This will not make it puff, but rather thick and crispy, I then increase the heat to 400 for 2 minutes. I watch it carefully because if you wait the whole 2 minutes sometimes it is overcooked---and sometimes it is just right-- so you have to be there and watch it. The result is a combination of puffed pork rinds with some thick and crispy layer. This gives me the best taste possible.
Claudia Kaya Leal
great flavor
There seem smokier than my last brand - in a very good way. Easy and economical in a microwave. Will buy more.
Fatimah Amin Cory Cruz
Proper microwaving is essential
I've read a couple if different methods for microwaving these Carolina Gold Nuggets pork rinds. These methods include using a paper plate and using the Nordicware Microwave popcorn bowl. My first two batches were, in fact, tried using these two microwave methods. Neither of these two methods succeeded in giving me pork rinds that were fluffy, crunchy and properly cooked. What I ended up getting was portions that were tough, teeth cracking pieces. Some parts were fluffy, some were hard-crispy and some parts weren't cooked no matter how long I left them cooking. I have tried the Lowrey's Microwaveable pork rinds in the past which cook in what look like Microwave popcorn bags. These bags always produce fantastic, crispy, crunchy and fluffy pork rinds with no chewiness or teeth cracking pieces. The problem with Lowrey's bags is that they're pricey and heavy with salt. I bought the Carolina Gold Nuggets in hopes that I could save some money and reduce the amount of salt on them. Sure enough, they come unsalted. Unfortunately, I couldn't seem to reproduce the texture of what Lowrey's microwave pork rind bags give. At first, I thought the pork rinds were some how different from what Lowrey's uses. I found that to be wrong. Instead, what I've determined is that there's really only one way to microwave pork rinds properly... and that's in the bags that Lowrey's uses for their cooking method. Why does this method make such a big difference? Steam. When you cook on a paper plate or in a Nordicware microwave bowl, too much steam escapes. In the microwave bag, the steam doesn't escape. The steam is released from the pork rinds and it is this steam that is used to reinforce the cooking power of the microwave. The steam leaves the pork rinds even fluffier, crispier and without any hint of a rubbery texture or any hard pieces to break your teeth. This method ensures that every piece in the bag cooks fully and completely. This means getting a bag and trying this method. When packing the bag, you must make sure the pieces don't overlap, so you need to move the bag around so that the pieces lay flat inside the bag. The Lowrey's bags show you how to do this. In my microwave, the cooking time is 2 minutes to perfectly cooked pork rinds (even using Carolina Gold Nuggets) using a bag. I couldn't get anything close to this with 3 or more minutes using any other method. Using an old Lowrey's bag, the rinds come out perfect. If I cook on a paper plate or in the Nordicware popcorn bowl, they come out unevenly cooked, including break-your-teeth hard pieces. This is wasteful and unnecessary when those pieces could have fully cooked. If you've bought any Lowrey's in the past, save the bags and reuse them for the Carolina Gold Nuggets. You can reuse the bags over and over. You might even be able to reuse microwave popcorn bags. You'll just need to wipe them out after each use. I don't dare try this with a standard brown lunch bag as they're not designed for this purpose and might catch fire. The Lowrey's bags are designed for this cooking purpose. A single bag has withstood several reuses without any hint of browning (i.e., fire). These are great pork rinds when cooked properly. However, Carolina Gold Nuggets needs to sell us the same commercial microwave bags like what Lowrey's uses so we can properly cook them. I'm rating this 5 stars because the pork rinds are perfect when properly cooked. Unfortunately, we need the proper tools to make that happen. Hopefully, this helps you get better rinds out of your microwave with the Carolina Gold Nuggets. Good luck.