Gwynedd Stuart
The best Sun Chips flavors are a blast from the past. See, when Sun Chips first hit stores in the early 1990s, it truly felt like a revolution was afoot. You’re telling me these corrugated crisps are made with 100% whole grain?? Finally, a crunchy, salty snack that’s also a health food! Of course, this is not true. While they are whole grain, Sun Chips are fried like potato chips. They’re less fattening than, say, Plain Lay’s, (6 grams in a serving of Sun Chips versus 10 grams in a serving of Lay’s), but they don’t exactly constitute a snack your trainer is going to give you a pat on the back for eating. And if you’re keeping an eye on carbs, forget it—French Onion Sun Chips have 19 grams in a serving!
All that said, if you aren’t expecting Sun Chips to be anything other than what they are—i.e. a salty, crunchy, not-especially-good-for-you chip—they sure are good. By reader request, we recently sought out all the Sun Chip flavors that are currently available, tasted them, and ranked them based on overall flavor, texture, and general enjoyability. I was positive French Onion was the best flavor of Sun Chips, so this taste test was a real eye opener! Put some Pearl Jam in your Discman and let’s rank some Sun Chips, shall we?
- Sun Chips Original
-
Something we should establish right off the bat: Every flavor of Sun Chips tastes good. Take Original Sun Chips: They taste grainy in the best way possible, and they have a hint of sweetness on the finish that perfectly balances the salt with which they’ve been sprinkled. Original Sun Chips are good Sun Chips, they just aren’t the best Sun Chips flavor. Despite being fried, I swear they taste a little less fried than other varieties but they still have the same fat content. They feel drier as you eat. In the absence of a flavor, these Sun Chips are still good, but you can definitely do better.
Credit: Merc / Instacart
- Sun Chips Garden Salsa
-
I’m in love with the concept, but I’m only in like with the execution. See, along with corn, wheat, oat flour, and rice flour, Sun Chips are made with a decent amount of sugar (there’s more sugar than salt in Original Sun Chips, in fact). Because the chips themselves have a whole wheat bread sort of sweetness to them, the sweetness of this tomatoey flavoring is just too sweet overall. Truly, A+ idea, I just wish this was a more delicious Sun Chips flavor overall.
Credit: Merc / Instacart
- Sun Chips Made with Black Bean Spicy Jalapeño
-
These relatively new “made with black bean” Sun Chips are a little thicker and crunchier than regular Sun Chips, and they also lack that signature Sun Chips hint of sweetness. Personally, I prefer regular Sun Chip chips over the black bean version, but these are pretty excellent, too. If you love trying new takes on old snacks, you should absolutely give them a shot. And I gotta say, everyone at Sporked HQ was pleasantly surprised by how genuinely spicy this Spicy Jalapeño flavor is—it really lingers, too. A nice sizzle in the back of your throat. They also manage to chemically reproduce the flavor of fresh jalapeño. Pretty nice! One change I would make: I would have called these Spicy Jalapeño Lime because they have a pretty distinct citrus tang, kind of like a hint of lime chip. But if you’ve ever wanted a combo jalapeño/hint of lime chip, you’re really gonna like this Sun Chip flavor.
Credit: Merc / Instacart
- Sun Chips Made with Black Bean Southwestern Queso
-
I absolutely love these. They’re super cheesy and zesty and have a little bit of heat, too. The flavor is almost like a chip dipped in a cheesy bean dip. And there is a lot of flavoring on these Sun Chips. If you don’t like flavor-blasted snacks, you won’t like these. But wow, if you like an intense spicy cheese flavor a la Doritos flavors, this is just about the best Sun Chip flavor going. I highly recommend trying these!
Credit: Merc / Instacart
- Sun Chips French Onion
-
As I mentioned earlier, French Onion Sun Chips have always been my de facto favorite Sun Chips. Honestly, I would probably still pick a bag of these over a bag of Harvest Cheddar (more on those in a sec), but from a taste-tester’s perspective, French Onion falls a little flat. Let’s be honest: These are sour cream and onion flavored chips, but they get away with calling themselves French onion because the chips themselves have a bit of sweetness that channels the flavor of caramelized onions. It feels like a little bit of a cheat. Don’t get me wrong: These are still delicious and absolutely one of the best Sun Chips flavors, it’s just that there’s one flavor that’s slightly more perfect.
Credit: Merc / Instacart
- Sun Chips Harvest Cheddar
-
Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips have always seemed so boring to me. And what is harvest cheddar anyway? I’m pretty sure that’s not how cheese works. Anyway, tasting these alongside all the other flavors was a real revelation. The flavor of the savory cheddar seasoning combined with the honey-wheat flavor of the chips is as close as you can get to perfection when you’re looking for the best Sun Chips flavors. I feel like people are going to yell at me about this one. But I said what I said! Try these with fresh eyes (and mouths) and tell me they aren’t great.
Credit: Merc / Instacart
Sun Chips!
Sun Chips!
Sun Chips!
Sun Chips!
Sun Chips!
Sun Chips!
We were unable to source: Sun Chips Chili Lime
Subscribe
Get all the top food rankings, new product reviews, and other grocery content delivered to your inbox every other week.
By clicking submit you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Jon Gutierrez
Jordan Myrick
