It's Crunch Time: Ranking potato chip flavors
hard-hitting investigative journalism
If you know me, you know that I am incredibly indecisive and I hate ranking things. More importantly, I love chips, and especially trying unique flavors of chips. This dedicated hobby really took off last year, so here’s a painstaking ranking of some chips I’ve tried in the past 12 or so months. No rubric, just vibes.
15. Adobadas (Lay’s)
Chile, tomato, and lime. This was the only World Cup special flavor that I tried. It tasted good, but was fairly ordinary in the grand scheme of chips.
14. Sweet Basil (Lay’s Thailand)
I ate these a while ago and “not bad” were my only notes. So, not bad.
13. India’s Magic Masala (Lay’s India)
These have a great earthy spice flavor. But, they’re not my favorite. I would eat them again, but there’s just too much talent on this list for this one to be ranked higher.
12. Roasted Garlic Oyster (Lay’s China)
Garlicky, fishy, tasty. Nothing crazy.
11. Buffalo Ranch (Hal’s)
Just adding some diversity to the list — and I love buffalo sauce. These were good.
10. Sabor a Jamón (Ruffles)
Straight from Spain, these tasted shockingly like ham at first, until my mouth became desensitized and they just tasted like barbecue chips. Yummy!
9. Roasted Cumin Lamb Skewer (Lay’s China)
Very solid. Points for doing a good job tasting like what it claims to be.
8. Sukhothai Coconut Curry (Lay’s Taiwan)
Pretty great, tasted like green curry! Still, I wanted a stronger flavor.
7. Mexican Chicken Tomato (Lay’s China)
Very pleasant, fresh tomato flavor and a great blend of spices that aren’t too subtle.
6. Cucumber (Lay’s China)
Okay, I don’t think I would ever select this one to willingly snack on, but I was blown away at the accuracy of the flavor. It tasted exactly like cucumber, with some light seasonings vaguely reminiscent of ranch. Honestly, many people would probably dislike this flavor, but I’m ranking it on the higher side for novelty, innovation, and memorableness.
Top 5:
Brace yourselves, we’re entering gourmand territory!
5. Nori Seaweed (Lay’s Thailand)
These were great. They tasted like thick sheets of dried seaweed. Great when you crave a seaweed snack but would rather spend $5 on a 3-ounce bag of chips from a random store near Times Square.
4. Spanish Tomato Tango (Lay’s India)
Ugh, yes. If ketchup was a chip. Perfect, nostalgic flavor. 100/10.
3. Chicken (Bluebird)
Australia. 2019. My aunt opens a bag of chips and we all begin snacking. Slowly, I realize… “are these chips meat flavored?!” Apparently chicken chips is a thing down under, as commonplace as sour cream and onion stateside. They’re also popular in New Zealand, where I was lucky enough recently to taste them again — and take a photo. They are delicious. To be honest, if I were in charge, these Bluebird chips would be more strongly flavored, but these earn the #3 spot just for being chicken-flavored alone. Bring chicken chips to America!!!
2. Numb and Spicy Hot Pot (Lay’s China)
If sichuan peppercorn was dusted on a chip <3
Finally, last but quite literally the opposite of least…
1. Green Pepper Spicy Hot Pot (Lay’s Taiwan)
The elite chip…. A bit like numb and spicy hot pot, but better — special edition. More depth of flavor. Sophistication and gastrological mastery in a chip.
P.S. Honorable Mentions (I just forgot to take photos of these bags):
Smoked Salmon Cream Cheese (Lay’s Thailand) — it was good and tasted like a lox bagel in chip form!
Trader Joe’s Turkey and Stuffing — would probably rank this one low on the list. Generous points for creativity and achieving the vision, but unlike cucumber, I wasn’t wowed by the innovation and instead chose to stop eating them because they tasted kinda weird. Stuffing should be soft I guess!
What flavor should I try next?
finally searched for a list like this after thinking about reading takes in this area (specifically the international lays) for a long while. i knew i was dealing with someone serious when i got to my favorite at #2, and now i MUST try #1!!!
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