The best BBQ chips are crunchy, savory, and sweet. And it’s easy to find a good BBQ chip. I believe BBQ potato chips are the crème de la crème of fried, sliced potatoes. The smoky, sweet seasoning and the fatty, oily chip are a true match made in heaven. I eat them by the fistful so I was thrilled (and highly qualified) to lead this BBQ potato chip taste test.
We were looking for a chip that packed a massive punch of barbecue flavor and also had extreme crunch. Whether it’s sweet, salty, or spicy, a BBQ chip should be full of flavor, like a big slab of ribs from the smoker. After trying a plethora of potato chips, we awarded these eight blue ribbons.
- Fritos Flavor Twists Honey BBQ
More grooves mean more flavor retention, as any pasta aficionado can tell you. That doesn’t just apply to pasta though. Chips with more grooves hold more seasoning. Exhibit A: Fritos Twists Honey BBQ. These Fritos are so BBQ-y and delicious. They coat your fingers in seasoning, creating my favorite post-Fritos snack: Frito fingers (when your fingers become covered in Fritos powder and you get to lick it off). One final thought: Why aren’t we making Fritos chili pies with these?
Credit: Merc / Target
- Kettle Bourbon BBQ Potato Chips
A little booze does a BBQ sauce good, and I was happy to find out that 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.
Credit: Merc / Instacart
- Late July Organic BBQ Potato Chips
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 BBQ chips out there.
Credit: Merc / Instacart
- Hawaiian Crispy & Crunchy Luau BBQ Kettle Style Potato Chips
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 the most complex chip we tried and that nearly sent them to the top of the list.
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
- Deep River Mesquite BBQ Potato Chips
If you’re looking for 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.
Credit: Merc / Amazon
- Herr’s Baby Back Rib
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, try these!
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Zapp’s Mesquite Bar-B-Que
Zapp’s Mequite 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.
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Lay’s Sweet Southern Heat Barbecue
These BBQ potato chips are next level and pure perfection. They are every single thing that is promised in the name. They’re sweet, hot, and have a distinctly southern BBQ twang. These are some of the best potato chips I’ve ever had and I don’t typically care for chips that are not kettle cooked. These are the perfect BBQ potato chips and the best BBQ chips we tried in our taste test.
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
Best Alternative Chip
Best Sauce-Inspired
Best Savory
Best Sweet & Spicy
Best Crunchy
Most Unique
Most Flavorful
Best of the Best
Other Products 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
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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.
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.
Herrs brand chips are incredible. They are super coated flavor bombs. Recommend giving them a try.
Terra Sweet & Smoky BBQ Chips are the best bbq chip by a mile.
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.
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