The Ultimate Fakeaway
The ‘fakeaway’ is now a permanent feature of UK home cooking. It’s the attempt to replicate a takeaway favourite for a fraction of the price, usually on a weeknight. A new design concept takes this idea to its logical conclusion: the four-minute fakeaway.
A mockup for a Salt and Pepper Chicken Pot Noodle has caught the attention of snack fans. The packaging, rendered in a striking black pot, positions the flavour as part of a ‘Real Flavour Innovation Editions’ series. The caption that accompanied the image was direct. “The ultimate fakeaway in 4 minutes.”
Salt and pepper is a takeaway titan. Specifically, it’s a flavour profile strongly associated with Chinese takeaways across Britain, combining fried chicken pieces with coarse salt, black pepper, spring onions and fresh chilli. It’s a dry, savoury, and spicy dish, and a departure from the saucier noodle pots that dominate the category.
The Instant Noodle Aisle
Pot Noodle’s existing range covers a lot of ground. The brand has its mainstays, the flavours that have been shelf fixtures for decades. You have the Original Curry, the Beef & Tomato, and the Chicken & Mushroom. Those are the classics.
The lineup then extends into more specific meal ideas. There’s a Piri Piri Chicken, a Sweet & Sour, a Chicken Fajita, and even a Sticky Rib flavour in the larger King Pot format. The brand does have a Chinese Chow Mein variant, which is the closest current product to this new concept. But the flavour profiles are very different. Chow Mein is about soy sauce and stir-fried noodles; salt and pepper seasoning is a much sharper, spicier proposition that has become a modern classic in its own right.
What the real range looks like
The current Pot Noodle range includes Original Curry, Beef & Tomato, Chicken & Mushroom, and Chinese Chow Mein, alongside flavours like Piri Piri Chicken and Sticky Rib. A Salt and Pepper Chicken flavour would sit with the more takeaway-inspired options like Chow Mein, but with a distinctly spicier, drier seasoning style.
- Pot Noodle Sweet Sour
- Pot Noodle Beef Tomato
- Pot Noodle Original Curry
- Pot Noodle Chicken Fajita
- King Pot Noodle Sticky Rib
- Pot Noodle Beef and Tomato
- Pot Noodle Chicken Mushroom
- King Pot Noodle Beef Tomato
- Pot Noodle Piri Piri Chicken
- Pot Noodle Chinese Chow Mein
Frequently asked questions
- What is salt and pepper chicken?
- It’s a popular dish from British Chinese takeaways. It typically consists of pieces of fried chicken (or other ingredients like squid or ribs) tossed in a seasoning mix of salt, ground black pepper, five-spice, chilli flakes, and sliced fresh chilli and spring onions.
- Does Pot Noodle have other Chinese takeaway flavours?
- Yes, the brand produces a Chinese Chow Mein Pot Noodle. This flavour is based on a classic stir-fried noodle dish with a soy sauce base, whereas the Salt and Pepper Chicken concept is based on a dry, spicy seasoning.
- Is Salt and Pepper Chicken Pot Noodle a real product?
- No. This product does not exist and is not for sale. It is a Snackfish — a mockup created by the artist UK Snack Attack — and it is not sold anywhere.
You have been Snackfished!
Snackfish :
[sn-a-ck-fish] verb
A snack that lies about its legitimacy as an official product online for internet clout and attention. Most commonly fabricated in Adobe Photoshop or using the unofficial Snackfish AI