Gwynedd Stuart
Ariana Losch
Jessica Block
Potato chips are the backbone of the snack world. Just try to imagine lunches without them. That’s like someone telling you to eat food without any form of sauce. What kind of joyless existence would that be? Society needs potato chips to function—and you deserve the best potato chips out there.
We’ve taste tested a lot of varieties of potato chips in our time. The best BBQ chips? Check. The best sour cream and onion chips? You bet. The best dill pickle-flavored chips? Buckle up, baby—we’re ready to take you to tang town. In this article, you’ll find all of the best of the best chips from all of our potato chip rankings.
What we look for in the best potato chips:
- Crunch: Delicate, thick, kettle-cooked, or wavy, we want a satisfying snap that doesn’t shred the inside of your mouth.
- Fresh flavor: Salty, savory, and balanced base flavor is a must—no stale oil taste, please.
- Umami depth: Flavors that challenge your basic chips to be better, bolder, deeper, and coated in dust.
Basically, no matter what type of chips you think are the best chips, we’re here to steer you toward the most killer version. Make some room in the pantry and ready your sandwich fixin’s, because these are all the best potato chips we’ve tried in our taste tests.
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- Trader Joe’s Ode to the Classic Potato Chip
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I hadn’t had these Trader Joe’s potato chips until recently and, no lie, I actually said “wow” out loud when I tried them. They have all the thin, oily shatter of original Lay’s, but somehow retain a certain je ne sais potato that reminds you that these were once a part of a root vegetable. The “earthy, fresh, potato-skin flavor” really “sent these over the top” for the Sporked team. If you love the simplicity of plain potato chips, these are the best potato chips you can buy. —Jessica Block
Read the full ranking of the best plain potato chips
Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Sporked
- Lay’s Sweet Southern Heat Barbecue
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When we updated our ranking of the best BBQ potato chips, a new chip took the number one spot: Lay’s Sweet Southern Heat Barbecue. You could call it a barbecue coup (I have; a lot)! Here’s why they topped the list and joined the pantheon of the best potato chips at the grocery store: They’re sweet, hot, and have a distinct Southern BBQ twang. In general, most everyone on the Sporked team prefers kettle chips to thin-and-crispy chips, but in terms of BBQ flavor, you just can’t do better than these. —Gwynedd Stuart
Read the full ranking of the best BBQ potato chips
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Trader Joe’s Garlic Butter Irish Potato Chips
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2025 has been a dumpster fire, but Trader Joe’s did release two “Irish potato chip” flavors this year that did make life worth living, at least for the duration of a chip bag. The Irish Blue Cheese Potato Chips were limited-time only (please Joe, for our collective sanity, bring them back!), but these Garlic Butter Irish Potato Chips are just as incredible and still, thank god, on the shelves. If you’ve ever baked a whole bulb of garlic in the oven until the cloves have softened into paste, then you’ll have an idea of how concentrated and aromatic these are. And if their rich, buttery, roasted garlic flavor isn’t enough, the chips themselves have the perfect sturdy thickness and crunch, too. These are my favorite chips of the year, and honestly…maybe some of the best potato chips ever made. —Ariana Losch
- Deep River Snacks New York Spicy Dill Pickle
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In my opinion, pickle chips are the best chips. I recognize that not every gal is a pickle chip gal—I also recognize that most gals under 70 don’t refer to themselves as “gals,” but what can I say? I’m an original. And so are these Deep River potato chips, the best potato chips you can buy if you’re also a pickle chip gal. These chips are so “crunchy, greasy and dilly” that Sporked’s Jordan Myrick has made them part of their daily routine. Have you ever done that with a chip? I would guess not. As Jordan wrote, they’re great on their own, but they’re also “hearty enough to stay crunchy when placed on a sub and they definitely wouldn’t break when dunked into dip.” These things are truly special. Not to mention that they are New York style. Does that mean anything? No. But think how cool it will be to eat chips that have the subway map memorized. —Jessica Block
Read the full ranking of the best dill pickle potato chips
Credit: Merc / Amazon
- Great Value Salt & Vinegar Chips
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Some of you might get up in arms that we named Walmart’s Great Value Salt & Vinegar Chips our #1 one best salt and vinegar chip, but hear us out! These chips are huge (we’re talking, like, the size of your palm), delicate, crisp, malty, and cheap as hell. We’re not asking you to forget about your favorite kettle brand, but the next time you’re hosting a party, do yourself a favor and pick these up. —Ariana Losch
Read the full ranking of the best salt and vinegar potato chips
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Herr’s Hot Sauce Chips
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Not to get existential, but what does it really mean to be a “spicy chip?” Herr’s tackles that question with specificity and nuance—bringing us a delicious, zingy potato chip flavor that tastes exactly like a real vinegar-based, Louisiana-style hot sauce. These are truly unforgettable. And yes, it’s worth noting that Herr’s Hot Sauce Chips are actually #3 on our best spicy chips ranking. Our #1 isn’t currently available, and our runner-up is a spicy cheese curl! But Herr’s Hot Sauce Chips still earned 10/10 Sporks, which is nothing to sneeze at. Though you might sneeze when you eat them. They’re pretty spicy, y’all. —Ariana Losch
Read our full ranking of the best spicy chips
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Kettle Brand Honey Dijon
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Honey mustard is an underrated flavor in most contexts. There, I said it. This is especially true when it comes to potato chips. When we taste tested all the Kettle Brand flavors, we discovered that the best potato chip in their lineup is—you guessed it—the Honey Dijon flavor. The Sporked team called these “sweet, tangy, and mustardy,” adding that the flavor is “powerfully rich and deliciously savory.” If that doesn’t get your taste buds a tinglin’ then I’m not sure we can be friends. If you like sour, salty, and sweet mixed together, these are the best chips to add to your snack rotation. —Jessica Block
Read the full ranking of the best Kettle Brand chip flavors
Credit: Paula Kunatee / Instacart
- Lay’s Wavy Funyuns
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We tried 18 different flavors of Lay’s chips, and yes, Lay’s Wavy Funyuns came out on top. I can sense you pulling away already. Don’t. Stay here. Listen to us. This is one of the best potato chip collaborations of our generation, and it’s all because of that superb onion flavor. If you’re imagining old, stale Funyun flavor dust, we promise that’s not what this is. These taste like a better sour cream and onion chip, and yeah, we’re obsessed with them. —Ariana Losch
Read the full ranking of the best Lay’s flavors
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Clancy’s Sour Cream & Onion Flavored Potato Chips
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If you’re not familiar with Clancy’s chips, you clearly aren’t spending enough time shopping at Aldi. Clancy’s is one of their proprietary brands that makes cheap reliable snacks, and that includes potato chips, naturally. We tried every flavor of Clancy’s potato chips and decided that sour cream and onion are the best chips they’re making. They’re fresh, crunchy, salty, and have a distinct creaminess we loved. They taste oniony without tasting like cheap onion powder like so many other sour cream and onion chips. The next time you’re at Aldi, be sure to give these a shot. —Gwynedd Stuart
Read the full ranking of the best Aldi chips
Credit: Merc / Aldi
- Kettle Brand Unsalted
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When we set out to find the best low sodium potato chips, we didn’t expect that totally unsalted chips would be the best ones we tried. But Kettle Unsalted chips are truly something special. They’re ultra crunchy and satisfying, and taste like fresh oil and potatoes—they don’t even need salt to enhance their flavor. They’re flavorful enough as it is. These are the best potato chips to eat with a salty dip or to pile on a sandwich made with a salty meat like pastrami—they’ll add crunch without overloading you with salt. —Gwynedd Stuart
Read the full ranking of the best low sodium potato chips
Credit: Merc / Instacart
- Lay’s Cool Ranch Doritos Flavored Potato Chips
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If you love Cool Ranch Doritos, you’re really going to love Cool Ranch Lay’s. These are the best potato chips for ranch fiends by a mile. They have all of that wonderful tang, but on a more neutral canvas. Don’t get us wrong. Cool Ranch Doritos absolutely slap, but the corn chip flavor can distract from the flavor of the ranch seasoning. These chips were initially a limited offering, but Lay’s has kept them in stores for a while now. We are eternally grateful, Lay’s, because these are some of the best chips we’ve ever had. —Gwynedd Stuart
Read the full ranking of the best ranch chips
Credit: Merc / Ralphs
- Zapp’s Mesquite BBQ
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I know everyone thinks that the best Zapp’s potato chips are Zapp’s Voodoo, but we need you to give their Mesquite BBQ a shot. These are so deeply smoky and flavorful (and they don’t even contain MSG, which genuinely surprised us). As I put it in my Zapp’s ranking, “These taste like campfires and backyard BBQs and everything that’s good about living in the South in the summertime (everything besides the humidity and the mosquitos).” And none of this is to mention the excellent quality and crunch of the chips themselves. If you’re a Zapp’s fiend, these are the best chips to toss in your cart. —Gwynedd Stuart
Read the full ranking of the best Zapp’s potato chips
Credit: Merc / Utz
- Doritos Tapatio
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“Ariana…Doritos are corn chips, not potato chips.” Yes, okay, you’re technically correct. But c’mon, can’t we be inclusive in this day and age? Doritos deserve to be acknowledged as some of the best chips you can buy, and I’d argue they’re potato-chip-adjacent enough to earn a shout-out on this list. And hey, the fact that we loved Doritos Tapatio more than classics like Cool Ranch and Nacho Cheese should tell you a lot. We don’t try to be subversive around here—these are just that good. (Even those two dudes on Good Mythical Morning agree with us. Random, I know.) These taste specifically like Tapatio hot sauce in a way that really surprised us. The spice mix with notes black pepper and garlic is just so, so addictive. If you’ve never tried them, you must! —Ariana Losch
Read our full ranking of the best Doritos flavors
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Ruffles Baked Cheddar & Sour Cream
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Baked chips can be kind of a letdown when it comes to the best potato chips—give us grease, dammit!—so flavor is highly important in this arena. That’s why Cheddar & Sour Cream Baked Ruffles topped our list of the best baked chips. They’re bold and cheesy and tangy, plus the ridges give them even more texture and crunch. If you insist on eating reduced fat chips, these are the best potato chips we found. —Gwynedd Stuart
Read the full ranking of the best baked chips
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Pringles Sour Cream & Onion
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As it turns out, Sour Cream & Onion Pringles are the best sour cream and onion chips. This was a collective revelation we at Sporked had after trying a bunch of other brands back-to-back and failing to understand why they tasted…wrong? And while we do think sour cream and onion chips have changed for the worse over the years, that creamy, sour, tangy flavor dust on Pringles remains iconic and unmarred. Props, Pringles. Please never change. —Ariana Losch
Read the full ranking of the best sour cream and onion potato chips
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Pringles Cheddar & Sour Cream
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There’s a time and a place for Pringles (personally, I love these for a road trip since they’re easy to reseal), and when that time comes, we highly recommend Cheddar & Sour Cream, the best chips in the Pringles lineup. They’re saturated with cheesy, creamy flavor. They taste full fat and luscious, kind of like whipping cream. They may not be the best potato chips, but they’re in the running for best potato crisps, for sure. —Gwynedd Stuart
Read the full ranking of the best Pringles flavors
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Sensible Portions Garden Veggie Straws Zesty Ranch
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Sorry to shatter any illusions you may have about veggie straws, but for the most part, their main ingredient is, in fact, potato starch! So like it or not, I consider them to be potato chips. These Zesty Ranch veggie straws from Sensible Portions truly understand how raw veggies and creamy ranch go hand in hand. The salt and herbs really come together, and you sort of feel like you’re eating the snack version of carrots and celery dipped in ranch. Are they healthy? Who knows. Are they delicious and addictive? You bet. —Ariana Losch
Read our full ranking of the best veggie straws
Credit: Merc / Walmart
Best Plain Potato Chips
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Best BBQ Potato Chips
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Best Garlic
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Best Dill Pickle Potato Chips
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Best Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Best Spicy Potato Chips
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Best Kettle Brand Potato Chips
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Best Lay’s Flavor
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Best Aldi Potato Chips
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Best Low Sodium Potato Chips
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Best Ranch Potato Chips
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Best Zapp’s Potato Chips
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Best Doritos Flavor
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Best Baked Potato Chips
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Best Sour Cream & Onion
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Best Pringles
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
Best Veggie Chips
Rating:
9/10
Sporks
Griffin Parker
Jordan Myrick
