The best kettle cooked potato chips have a satisfying crunch and rustic flavor you just don’t get from thin, crispy chips that weren’t deep fried in small batches in an old-timey kettle in someone’s woodland cabin (because, clearly, this is how all kettle chips are made). Okay, even if the best kettle cooked chips are made in sterile, totally uncozy factories, they still channel simpler times, when chips were cut thick and fried with care. Most of our potato chip taste tests are either brand or flavor-centric, but kettle chips always perform well. From sour cream and onion kettle chips to BBQ kettle chips to kettle chips that are actually called Kettle Brand chips, these are the best kettle cooked chips we’ve found in our taste tests.
- Kettle Brand Honey Dijon
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Kettle Brand makes some of the best kettle cooked potato chips (no surprise there), but if you haven’t tried their Honey Dijon flavor, you’re really missing out. These things are sweet, savory, and have a nostril-tickling mustard-y tangy that makes them so unique—really, why aren’t more brands making honey mustard chips? These are the best kettle chips to bust out when you want to really spice up the ol’ snack spread.
Read the full ranking of the best Kettle Brand potato chips
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- Cape Cod Sweet & Spicy Jalapeño
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Cape Cod chips are a classic. Honestly, if you’re craving crunch, you can’t go wrong with any flavor of these kettle cooked potato chips. That said, the Sweet & Spicy Jalapeño flavor is a real standout. The pepper gives them a pleasant sweetness, as well as a respectable kick. These are some of the best kettle chips for heat seekers.
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- Cape Cod 40% Less Fat Kettle Cooked Original
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Yes, we’re telling you that the best plain kettle cooked potato chips are reduced fat. They’re crispy and light, but still have a very respectable crunch. And, don’t worry—they’re still salty and greasy enough to scratch that kettle chip itch. These are the best kettle chips to pair with dip.
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- Cape Cod Sour Cream & Onion
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The best sour cream and onion kettle chips don’t taste like straight-up onion powder—they actually taste nuanced and mild like green onion. Plus, they have that signature Cape Cod crunch we can’t get enough of. These are the best kettle chips if you’re craving sour cream and onion but don’t want kickin’ breath for the rest of the day.
Read the full ranking of the best sour cream and onion potato chips
Credit: Paula Kunatee / Instacart
- Zapp’s Mesquite Bar-B-Que
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It’s pretty widely accepted that Voodoo is the best flavor of Zapp’s kettle cooked potato chips, but leave it to us to respectfully disagree. If you haven’t had the iconic kettle chip brand’s Mesquite Bar-B-Que flavor, ya gotta. These aren’t just the best Zapp’s chips, they’re also the best BBQ kettle chips period. As Sporked’s Jordan Myrick put it, they give you “a big punch of BBQ straight to the dome.” They’re smoky. They’re sweet. They’re pretty much perfect, especially if you’re craving the crunch of kettle chips.
Read the full ranking of the best BBQ potato chips and the best Zapp’s potato chips
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- Deep River Snacks New York Spicy Dill Pickle
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Pickles are crunchy. So are kettle cooked potato chips. That’s part of the reason these Deep River Dill Pickle chips work so well—they have crunch and tang and lots of dill flavor. What sets these apart from actual pickles? Big potato flavor and plenty of satisfying grease you’ll be licking off your digits as you eat. We’re not totally sure what makes them New York style, but they’re so good we kind of don’t care.
Read the full ranking of the best pickle flavored potato chips
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- Kettle Brand Sea Salt & Vinegar
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The best kettle cooked potato chips should taste freshly fried and pleasantly oily, and you can always rely on Kettle Brand to pull off that particular feat. They reminded us of chips you’d get fresh out of the deep fryer at a better sandwich spot—and they’re bursting with vinegary tang, too. These weren’t the best salt & vinegar chips we tried in our taste test, but they deserve a shoutout for being the best kettle cooked salt & vinegar chips we tried.
Read the full ranking of the best salt and vinegar potato chips
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- Kettle Brand Unsalted Potato Chips
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When we ranked low sodium potato chips, no one on team Sporked thought totally salt-free chips would land in the top spot, but that’s how good these Kettle brand chips are. They have so much flavor, even without salt. They taste like potato and fresh oil and it doesn’t get better than that. These are the best kettle cooked chips to pair with a dip that’s already super salty.
Read the full ranking of the best low sodium potato chips
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Best Kettle Brand
Best Cape Cod
Best Plain
Best Sour Cream & Onion
Best BBQ
Best Dill Pickle
Best Salt & Vinegar
Best Low Sodium
There were no Tim’s Cascade Style chips included, so this list is sadly lacking, imho.