Danny Palumbo
Justine Sterling
Ariana Losch
Salt and vinegar chips exist on a spectrum. Some people prefer them mild. Others want more salt than vinegar. And some of us want salt and vinegar chips so tangy and salty that they completely destroy our mouths. We want vinegar and salt chips instead of salt and vinegar chips.
How we found the salt and vinegar chips for our taste test
We love salt and vinegar potato chips here at Sporked, so we try to do a thorough job sourcing the salt and vinegar chips brands every single time we return to this taste test. (This is actually our third update of the best salt and vinegar chips.) We tried to hit as many regional chip brands as we could (thanks in large part to our regional ChampionCHIP contest, which overloaded our office with boxes and boxes of regional brands), as well as the big brands you’ll find at any grocery store.
What we looked for in the best salt and vinegar chips
The balance of salt and vinegar is key in this taste test. Bold tang is great, but if it tasted too much like citric acid and not enough like actual vinegar, we docked points. Ideally, the chips themselves should taste like potatoes. Bring us flavor, heft, natural ingredients, and a tasty balance. The best salt and vinegar chips don’t need to reinvent the wheel, they just need to wow with their simplicity. (Note: Our previous #1 salt and vinegar chips, Spludlove, were discontinued. Sad!)
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- Clancy’s Sea Salt & Vinegar Kettle Chips
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Clancy’s is an Aldi brand, so you’ll only find these chips in one of their stores, but they’re very underrated all the same. They’ve made what’s nearly a perfect kettle chip. Clancy’s salt and vinegar chips have a great crunch and a convincing vinegar flavor. The alchemy of salt and vinegar is so perfect that it’s mouth-smackingly good. If you’re a regular Aldi shopper, these are the best sea salt and vinegar chips for you. —Danny Palumbo
Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Instacart
- Wise Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips
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These salt and vinegar chips from Wise are aggressive and pack a seriously tart punch. That intense vinegar flavor will keep you coming back for more. They’re also quite thin chips, so much so that they kind of dissolve in your mouth. If you find kettle chips to be too crunchy and thick, these are the best salt and vinegar chips for you. Punch me in the mouth and steal my money, Wise. —Danny Palumbo
Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Amazon
- Snyder of Berlin Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips
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Snyder of Berlin salt and vinegar chips have a great, balanced salt and vinegar flavor. They are on the mild side of the salt and vinegar chip spectrum, so if you find brands like Zapp’s or Cape Cod to be too strong (more on those later), you should try Snyder. Also, it’s not a kettle chip. Sometimes chips like these get roughed around a little bit in the bag during shipping, and the chips kind of break and become crumbs, which are good for sprinkling on tuna sandwiches but not great for snacking. Still, I think Snyder’s makes an excellent product. They understand balance and how to use quality ingredients. These chips are just pleasant to eat. —Danny Palumbo
Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Amazon
- Dirty Deli Style Salt & Vinegar
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You can really taste the potato in these chips. To some of you, that sentence sounds kinda dumb. But these are “partially peeled,” so you can taste the earthy flavor of potato skins on some of them. Every once in a while, you get a more burnt and browned chip that tastes extra potato-y, which I’m weirdly into.These make great deli chips, with a texture that’s delicate compared to other kettle chips, but still nice and crunchy. The salt and vinegar flavor is neat and balanced, but not especially bold—if you want that super strong vinegar tang, they might not be the best salt and vinegar chips to buy, but I still really like them! —Ariana Losch
Credit: Liv Averett / Ralphs
- Tim’s Sea Salt & Vinegar
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Surely the packaging plays a role in my fantasy here, but sticking my hand into a big bag of Tim’s Sea Salt & Vinegar Chips brought me back to a lobster shack on the Florida coast, mainly frequented by boaters who tie up and stop in. The vinegar is bright and tart (but the boldness varies from chip to chip, which I actually kind of like?), with a maltiness that I know would taste so good with fried fish. To be clear, “malt vinegar” isn’t listed in the ingredients here (just vinegar), but there is malic acid, which I think is the culprit for that extra touch of sourness. The chip is on the lighter side of a kettle chip, with a nice crunch that won’t break your teeth. They aren’t the best salt and vinegar chips on earth, but I’m into them. —Ariana Losch
Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon
- Zapp’s New Orleans Kettle Style Salt & Vinegar
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These salt and vinegar chips from Zapp’s have a lot of bold flavor—they are bolder than most on this list. I love that they go hard with vinegar and salt. This is the type of chip that’s going to cut up the insides of your mouth and make it hard to talk, but that’s what I’m looking for with salt and vinegar chips. Go ahead and file these in the “painfully delicious” category. Zapp’s makes so many great products, it’s impossible to not recognize that while salt and vinegar might not be the best Zapp’s flavor, it’s still damn good. —Danny Palumbo
Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Amazon
- Miss Vickie’s Sea Salt & Vinegar
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There’s a special place in my heart for bars that carry little bags of chips, and Miss Vickie’s is a common brand you see out here in Los Angeles. (It’s owned by PepsiCo, so you probably see it a lot of places.) These salt and vinegar chips are crunchy and have a good roasted potato flavor. The ingredients list buttermilk too, so there’s a bit of extra tang here. The salt and vinegar dust that coats these chips doesn’t destroy your mouth; it’s just really pleasant to eat. The best salt and vinegar chips to enjoy with a beer. —Danny Palumbo
Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Amazon
- Cape Cod 40% Less Fat Kettle Cooked Sea Salt & Vinegar
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Cape Cod salt and vinegar chips have a nice, robust vinegar flavor. The ingredients list both white vinegar and apple cider vinegar, which already sets them apart from most brands. The dual vinegars combine to form a refreshingly tart potato chip. The satisfying crunch of a Cape Cod kettle chip is iconic. And the salt enhances the tangy zip even further. These chips are brightly acidic, and would be the best salt and vinegar chips to take with you on a beach day with a sandwich. Also, they’re 40% reduced fat and they still taste this good. Crunchy and not greasy? Sign us up. —Danny Palumbo
Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Amazon
- Boulder Canyon Malt Vinegar & Sea Salt Kettle Cooked Potato Chips
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Salt and malt vinegar chips? Why aren’t more brands doing this? These might be my favorite chips on this entire list thanks to their refreshingly different malt vinegar flavor. Quite frankly, Boulder Canyon has successfully recreated the malt-vinegar-and-french-fries aesthetic in a way that I didn’t think was even possible. We tasted some chips that used different vinegars (balsamic, for instance) and they didn’t work the way we want a salt and vinegar chip to. Malt is as far as we’re willing to go outside of the classic white vinegar flavor, but I would argue that it’s an incredible addition into the vast canon of salt and vinegar chips. This is a big win here. It’s just so surprisingly different and tasty. —Danny Palumbo
Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Amazon
- Herr’s Salt & Vinegar Chips
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Herr’s is proof that not every chip has to be kettle cooked to be successful. These chips have a strong potato essence, and a delicious, natural vinegar flavor that most other chips are missing. You can actually taste the potato skin on these bad boys. These have a ton of sodium (my math says 10% more than Kettle and Spudlove) and, therefore, a lot of salt flavor, but these fresh, crisp chips can hold a lot of salt and acid because they’re not overly processed. “The chip quality is just outstanding,” remarked managing editor Gwynedd Stuart. Being a Western Pennsylvania boy, I’m partial to Herr’s, but in my experience at Sporked, once I introduce somebody else to the product, they become hooked. Discover Herr’s for yourself. —Danny Palumbo
Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Amazon
- Kettle Brand Sea Salt & Vinegar Chips
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I don’t think these are my second favorite, but we need to acknowledge the greatness of Kettle Brand chips. It’s impossible to beat the satisfying crunch of a kettle chip. The vinegar flavor is strong, as it should be, and there’s a pleasant greasiness here that makes it feel like the chips were freshly fried. Tangy, salty, sharp, and potato-y—you pretty much can’t go wrong with these. If you’re a kettle chip or bust type of person, these are the best salt and vinegar chips for you. —Danny Palumbo
Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Amazon
- Great Value Salt & Vinegar Chips
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These gigantic salt and vinegar chips are so thin and delicate and crispy. I’m usually a kettle chip person, but I couldn’t get enough of these. And when I say gigantic, I mean the size of my palm. Seriously, they’re huge. And they’re cheap as heck for a big ol’ bag. They’re nicely salted and have a particularly good potato flavor that melds well with the vinegar flavor, which leans slightly malty. If you shop at Walmart, these are definitely the best salt and vinegar chips to buy. And if you’re shopping for a party, they’re your best bet, too. —Justine Sterling
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
Best Budget Kettle
Best Vinegar Flavor
Best Mild
Best Potato
Best with Fish Fry
Best with a Sandwich
Best Bar Chip
Best Beach Chip
Best Malt Vinegar
Best Potato Flavor
Best Kettle
Best Budget
Other brands we tried:
Starbucks, Great Value Kettle, Kettle Brand Air Fried, Uglies Kettle Salt & Vinegar, The Good Crisp Company, Private Selection, Siete Hint of Serrano, Pringles, Lay’s Poppables, Lay’s, Lay’s Kettle Cooked, Wilde, Sprouts, Late July, Popchips, Utz, Terra Vegetable Chips Sea Salt & Vinegar, Hal’s New York Salt & Vinegar Chips, Idaho Rock Salt & Vinegar Chips
Jordan Myrick
Gwynedd Stuart
Naajia Shukri
