Jordan Myrick
Justine Sterling
It’s easy to find a good BBQ chip. But the best BBQ chips? The ones that are smoky and sweet, crunchy and savory, perfectly seasoned and absolutely addictive? Those are harder to find.
Lucky for you, we tasted many, many, many BBQ chip brands and have found the 11 best BBQ potato chips to buy.
What we looked for in the best BBQ chips
We were looking for chips that packed a massive punch of barbecue flavor and also had extreme crunch. Whether it’s sweet, salty, or spicy, BBQ chips should be full of flavor, like a big slab of ribs from the smoker. After trying a plethora of potato chips eaten over the course of multiple taste tests, we awarded these blue ribbons.
Best BBQ chips, ranked
- Great Value Crunchy Potato Chips Smoky Barbecue
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Do you want your BBQ chips absolutely saturated with seasoning? Walmart’s Great Value brand chips are the best barbecue chips for you. They taste like they were totally drenched in BBQ sauce. Could they be crisper? Sure. But that’s the price you pay for a super seasoned chip. — Justine Sterling
Credit: Merc / Walmart
- Kettle Bourbon BBQ Potato Chips
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A little booze does a BBQ sauce good, and I was happy to find out that’s also the case with BBQ chips. I don’t think these really taste like bourbon, which is fine because why would you want a potato chip to taste like bourbon? They do, however, have the flavor of a sweet and sticky bourbon BBQ sauce. And not that I need to mention this because if you’ve ever had a Kettle brand potato chip you already know this, but these chips are sensationally crunchy. — Jordan Myrick
Credit: Merc / Instacart
- Late July Organic BBQ Potato Chips
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If you like a BBQ chip that isn’t sweet, reach for Late July’s Organic BBQ chips. They are super savory and have a great BBQ taste without any sugary notes. One of the most prominent flavors is garlic, which I love because I am, of course, a “garlic girl.” The chips themselves are huge and would be perfect for dunking into ranch dip or stacking on a sandwich. I always considered Late July to be a tortilla chip company, but now I will think of them as a BBQ chip company because they make some of the best barbecue chips out there. — Jordan Myrick
Credit: Merc / Instacart
- Hal’s New York Kettle Chips Barbecue
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If you’re like me, you know Hal’s as the makers of the seltzer you buy when you get a massive Italian sub at a New York deli. But they also make some of the best BBQ chips to go along with that sub and seltzer. Hal’s BBQ chips almost taste like glazed ribs. They’re a little bit sweet—almost like a BBQ sauce made with apple juice—with a touch of heat that hits immediately. — Justine Sterling
Credit: Merc / Amazon
- Hawaiian Crispy & Crunchy Luau BBQ Kettle Style Potato Chips
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Hawaiian brand chips are so elite and underrated. They’re super crunchy, perfectly greasy, and absolutely coated in seasoning. And while I’m such a massive fan of their Maui Onion chips, I didn’t even realize they made a BBQ chip. Lucky for me, we ordered them for this taste test and now I’m hooked. They start out sweet and finish spicy while maintaining a smoky, salty taste throughout. They were definitely one of the most complex BBQ potato chips we tried and that nearly sent them to the top of the list. — Jordan Myrick
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
- Idaho Backcountry Barbeque Chips
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These extremely crunchy kettle cooked chips are real gastropub-level BBQ chips. They taste fresh—like they just came out of the fryer. And they’re lightly dusted with this perfectly balanced BBQ seasoning. But what makes these some of the best BBQ chips is the fact that you can really taste the potato. It makes sense, since they’re from Idaho, the home of the potato. But you really get a good, earthy potato flavor. If you don’t live in Idaho, you probably won’t find these on a shelf at your local grocery store. But our good friend the internet can help you out. — Justine Sterling
Credit: Merc / Amazon
- Deep River Mesquite BBQ Potato Chips
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If you like a BBQ chip with an unimaginable amount of BBQ flavor, grab a bag of Deep River Mesquite BBQ potato chips. These chips are so saturated with seasoning, my mouth is watering just thinking about them. They’re salty, sweet, smoky, and zesty—they truly tap every taste bud on your tongue. I cannot understand why every chip on Earth doesn’t have this much flavor. — Jordan Myrick
Credit: Merc / Amazon
- Bettergoods Carolina Gold Style BBQ
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The whole Sporked staff absolutely adores these BBQ chips from Walmart’s millennial-centric Bettergoods brand. (We deemed them to be the best Bettergoods snacks at Walmart.) They are so different from any other BBQ chip on this list.They taste pickle-y and creamy and mustardy—like Carolina Gold BBQ sauce. And there’s a touch of heat to them, too. If you want something a little different, these are the best BBQ chips to buy. — Justine Sterling
Credit: Merc / Walmart
- Herr’s Baby Back Rib
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Herr’s Baby Back Rib BBQ Potato Chips are wild because they taste exactly like baby back ribs. That’s right: baby back ribs. Not BBQ sauce. It’s so hard to explain, but if you’ve ever had baby back ribs, you’re familiar with the flavor of these chips. Somehow they taste like cooked meat! I don’t know how Herr’s did it, but I’m extremely impressed. If you’re looking for a BBQ potato chip that’s more than just BBQ, these are the best barbecue chips to try! — Jordan Myrick
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Zapp’s Mesquite Bar-B-Que
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Zapp’s Mesquite Bar-B-Que Chips are not only some of the best BBQ chips we tried, they’re also the best Zapp’s chips we tasted. They give you a big punch of BBQ flavor straight to the dome. If these are better than Zapp’s Voodoo chips, you know they’re really freaking good. I’m not saying you should abandon Voodoo (or any other flavor of Zapp’s for that matter). Just know that these are the best. — Jordan Myrick
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Lay’s Sweet Southern Heat Barbecue
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These BBQ potato chips are next level and pure perfection. They are every single thing that is promised in the name. They’re honeyed, hot, and have a distinctly southern BBQ twang. Honestly, they practically taste like bunt ends. They’re downright meaty. These are some of the best potato chips we’ve ever had. These are the perfect BBQ potato chips and the best BBQ chips we tried in all of our taste tests. — Jordan Myrick & Justine Sterling
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
Best Extremely Seasoned
Best Boozy
Best Garlicky
Best with a Sandwich
Best Sweet & Spicy
Best Potato Flavor
Best Crunchy
Best Carolina Style
Best Meaty
Best Cajun Style
Best of the Best
Other BBQ chips we tried:
365 Kettle Cooked BBQ, Siete Chipotle BBQ, Clancy’s BBQ, Tangy BBQ Pop Chips with Ridges, Signature Select BBQ Popped Chips, Boulder BBQ, Pringles, 7-Eleven, Zapps, Dirty, Middleswarth, Miss Vickie’s, Lay’s BBQ Chips, Old Dutch Bar-B-Q Flavored Potato Chip, Alaska Chip Company Grizzly Barbecue Potato Chips, Chester’s Honey BBQ, Nantucket Crisps Cisco Beach BBQ, Kettle Air Fried Texas BBQ, Clancy’s Ridged Honey BBQ, The Good Crisp Company Outback BBQ, Lay’s Baked Barbecue Flavored, Kroger Barbecue Flavored Potato Chips, Ruffles Smokehouse BBQ, Miss Vickie’s Applewood Smoked BBQ, Cape Cod Sweet Mesquite Barbecue
Gwynedd Stuart
Naajia Shukri
You need to try Grippos BBQ chips. They are on Amazon
As a life long Grippos addict, I can say hands down they are the greatest chip ever made and it is not even close.
You never tested the best barbecue potato chips… Snyders Barbecue Potato Chips of Berlin.
I know they are very regional to the south, but if you ever get your hands on Golden Flake Dip Style Mesquite Barbecue, I think they could compete with your very seasoned choice or good with a sandwich choice. (I would also suggest best of the best, but that’s my bias showing haha.)
Just want to say that I’m grateful that you are now regularly including BetterGoods products in your testing! Thanks! Keep up the great work!
Honey twists should not be that low on the fucking tier list this is unacceptable. Please delete this tier list and put honey twists on top ASAP. I think you need to take a break from eating so you can give your taste buds time to recover after all the bullshit tier lists you’ve made.
BBQ baked lays aren’t just the best bbq potato chip on the market. I bet you they are the best potato chip on the market. Kinda hard to find though unfortunately
Lay’s Sweet Southern Heat have always been my favorite BBQ chip, just never heard anyone else agree. But when I dipped them into Helluva Good Bacon Horseradish dip, that really took it next level. Dang, now I have to go out and get my chips
Thanks for the tip about the Deep River bbq flavor chips. DR makes really good chips. My favorite is their Salt & Vinegar. You REALLY have to like the sourness of vinegar to enjoy them, however. I can’t eat them without a sandwich.
Terra Sweet & Smoky BBQ Chips are the best bbq chip by a mile.
Herrs brand chips are incredible. They are super coated flavor bombs. Recommend giving them a try.
I think Clancy’s Mesquire bbq kettle chips from Aldi are fantastic. Especially paired with their teriyaki beef jerky. Eaten together, the kettle chip shards help grind up the jerky.
Have you had Lay’s Honey Barbecue potato chips? They blow regular Lay’s barbecue out of the water. Very good and worth a try if you’ve never had them. Sad I didn’t see them in the list of chips that were tried.