I Tried the New Lay’s Brazilian Style Garlic Sauce Chips—Find Out if They’re a Buy or a Bust

Lay’s doesn’t half-ass anything—and that is certainly the case when it comes to the new flavors they’re dropping in celebration of the World Cup. While other companies are out here slapping some American flag motifs onto their packaging and calling it a day, Lay’s is releasing 40 globally-inspired flavors around the world. We’d love to try them all (do it, Lay’s, send us all the chips!), but for the time being we only have access to the three new flavors Lay’s is dropping in the States: French Onion Soup, Argentinian Style Steak with Chimichurri, and Brazilian-Style Garlic Sauce. 

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Today, I’m here to talk about that final flavor: Brazilian-Style Garlic Sauce. Before we get into what these new Lay’s chips taste like, let’s first discuss the inspiration. What exactly is Brazilian-style garlic sauce? I believe the garlic sauce the chips are trying to emulate is molho de alho, a creamy mix of garlic, butter, mayo, salt, pepper, and oregano—often with a little lemon or lime juice, as well. It’s served as a sauce with meat or just used as a dip for bread.

Good sauce. Good idea for a chip flavor. But did Lay’s do it justice? Read on for my full review. 

New Lay’s Flavor!

Lay’s Brazilian Style Garlic Sauce Chips

Target

Pros: They are very garlicky and quite buttery, which, according to my research, is a pretty important characteristic of molho de alho. The garlic is cooked in butter to infuse the butter with lots of flavor before it’s thickened into a roux and mixed with the other ingredients. That garlic butter flavor really comes through. And there’s a good, bright, tangy flavor on the end to help cut through that rich flavor. It ends up tasting a bit like shrimp scampi, just without the shrimp.  

Cons: It’s a lot of flavor. And it’s a lot of the same flavor. These are good chips, to be sure. (They’re the thin-style of Lay’s, btw, so you get a lot of oil.) But I don’t think they’re quite interesting enough for me to want to power through a whole bag. 

Verdict: If you’ve been let down by garlic-flavored chips in the past, then you’re going to finally be sated by these. But they need to be paired with something. They are excellent chips to put on a sandwich. Or they’re also really good eaten with one of the other new Lay’s flavors: Argentinian Style Steak with Chimichurri, which totally makes sense since the garlic sauce is meant for meat.

Credit: Liv Averett / Target

Rating:

7/10

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