Our Top-Ranked Potato Chip Might Start Some Drama

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Potato chips are the classic party snack: they’re salty, greasy, and the ideal vehicle for dip. But if you’re anything like us, you go your supermarket’s chip aisle and experience the paradox of choice. There are so many brands, so many styles, and so many flavors that it can feel overwhelming. Should you get kettle or regular chips? Wavy or smooth? The options are endless!

So we did the hard work for you by rounding up some of the most popular potato chip brands. After an extremely scientific taste-test of 38 types of chips, our team of experts determined the best of the best. And because we need specific chips for specific situations, we identified the top tuber for several different categories.

Want to know which barbecue chip to bring to your summer barbecue? Need to find the perfect party snack that'll win over even the pickiest of eaters? Want to know if a brand on the rise is actually worth the hype? You can find all the answers (and more) in our roundup below.

Now you can take the stress out of shopping and rest assured that your chip picks are Team Delish-approved. Whether you’re looking for the ideal chip to serve with cheesy caramelized onion dip, to stack in a sandwich, or just eat straight out of the bag, we’ve got you covered.

Have a favorite brand that we didn't include in our roundup? Let us know in the comments below.

Best Overall: Cape Cod Original

Of all the potato chips we tasted, Cape Cod stood out as our clear favorite. One of our tasters noted it was the “yummiest and most well-seasoned” of the bunch. While some other chips had excessive amounts of salt and oil that overwhelmed the potato flavor (we’re looking at you, Lay’s), Cape Cod is just salty and fried enough. “It’s a little greasy, but I like it," said one of our tasters.

Best Splurge: Bonilla a la Vista Potato Chips

If you want to eat potato chips while feeling fancy, you need to try this brand from Spain. Bonilla a la Vista fries their potatoes in olive oil, which lends a light flavor without leaving an unpleasant film on your tongue.

The high-quality ingredients plus the hefty import fees make this brand a special occasion snack. But if you're already shelling out the cash, you might as well indulge in the giant 500-gram tin.

Best Barbecue: Hal's

Every barbecue chip we tried had a wildly different flavor, much like the regional varieties of barbecue itself. The brand that won over our experts, however, was Hal’s.

Where other chips were a little too heavy-handed with the orange dust, Hal’s struck “the perfect balance of seasoning and crunch.” There was a slight hit of sweetness that was mild enough to allow the other spices to shine. One of our tasters said, “It’s got the classic taste that you want with barbecue chips."

Best Spicy: Zapp's

Our group of taste testers had varying spice tolerances, which split the vote of our favorite jalapeño chips. If you’re a spice-lover, you NEED to pick up a bag of Zapp’s Hotter ’N Hot Jalapeño. After one of our editors took a bite, all he could say was “Wow! Now that’s jalapeño!” These chips have a nuanced spiciness, and you can actually taste flavor of the peppers rather than just generic heat.

Best Salt & Vinegar: Kettle

Love them or hate them, salt and vinegar chips are a staple in the potato-chip aisle. Many of our tasters said Kettle Salt and Vinegar chips were their favorite, not just in this category but across all of the chips we tried. Someone even went so far as to say it’s the “best chip of all time.”

It was delightfully crunchy and full of tangy flavor without being overly sharp. Another taster called them “epic” and noted that Kettle achieved the “perfect ratio” of salt and vinegar.

Best Sour Cream And Onion: Ruffles

While most of our top picks were kettle-style, our taste testers fell back on a classic for our favorite sour cream and onion chip. Ruffles Sour Cream and Onion had a nostalgic flavor and reminded us why we all loved eating these growing up. “You can’t go wrong,” one of our tasters said, “Will not NOT eat these.” Another described these chips as “complex, but perfect.”

Best Truffle: Torres Black Truffle Chips

Truffles are finding their way into just about every packaged food. From pasta sauce to honey to hot sauce, the truffle takeover is inescapable. But few things pair as well with the fragrant fungus than the humble potato chip.

Torres's black truffle chips are a cut above the rest for their hearty texture and clean truffle flavor.

Best Potato Crisp: The Good Crisp Company

Fun fact: they technically aren't considered potato chips! These crunchy snacks are made with dehydrated potato flakes and might be in a category of their own, but they're still delicious in their own right.

As tempted as we were to choose the classic brand that pioneered the product (and the signature metal tube), The Good Crisp Company edged out all the competitors. It has the same shape and texture that you know and love without the weird, slightly processed flavor.

Best For Dipping: Trader Joe's Ridge Cut Potato Chips with Sea Salt

There are few things more frustrating than dipping a potato chip into a bowl of creamy onion dip only for it to snap in the bowl. These wavy potato chips from Trader Joe's are guaranteed to withstand the weight of even the thickest of dips. They're sturdy and mild enough in flavor to avoid competing with your chosen condiment.

Best For Sharing: Zapp's Voodoo

Zapp’s Voodoo chips had “such a unique flavor” that we struggled to accurately describe it. Some of us came up with "barbecue and vinegar” and “vaguely Cajun”—but we all agreed that these chips are amazing. It's a one-size-fits-all flavor that everyone is guaranteed to enjoy. If you bring a bag of these to a party, it'll be one of the first snacks to run out.

Best Shoestring Chips: Utz Original Potato Stix

Usually relegated to the bottom shelf of the chip aisle, shoestring potatoes are too often overlooked. But for topping salads, layering in sandwiches, and even making latke-inspired cookies, these skinny snacks deserve a spot in your chip rotation.

Compared to all of the other brands, Utz is the most reliable. They strike the ideal potato-to-oil ratio and are generously dusted with salt.

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