This Is the Best Potato Chip Brand, According to a Taste Test

Finding the best potato chips

When it comes to snacking, you can’t beat the classic potato chip. They’re crispy, salty, and taste great straight out of the bag—though we love them most paired with our favorite dips. Just because you’re dipping and dunking these chips more often than not, doesn’t mean that you should settle for any old chip. Luckily, Taste of Home‘s Test Kitchen put ten different brands to the test. Their expert panel judged these brands blindly according to these standards:

Flavor
Saltiness
Crunchiness
Dip-ability
Appearance

chocolate drizzled potato chips — Taste of Home

As the king of snacks, there’s a lot to consider when it comes to chips—you can’t have salt but no potato flavor or crunch without a sturdy structure to hold up to all those dips. You have to have the absolute perfect combination of these five criteria if you want to have the best snacking experience. We prefer the taste of classic potato chips, but if you’re the sort of person who enjoys unique flavors, you may want to try one of 13 weirdest potato chip flavors. Unfortunately, none of them ranked in Taste of Home‘s Best Loved Brands blind taste test.

First Place: Clancy’s

The chip with the highest marks across the board came from Aldi. Clancy’s, an Aldi-exclusive brand, ranked well in flavor, saltiness, crunch, appearance, and dip-ability. It could be the perfect chip! What really stood out was how Clancy’s was able to balance a nice fried potato flavor with the right level of salt—not overwhelming but still satisfying. This chip also got the highest scores in the blind taste test for dip-ability, meaning it would be right at home alongside our 55 favorite creamy dips.

Available exclusively at Aldi.

Second Place: Mrs. Fisher’s

Mrs. Fisher's potato chips — Taste of Home

For fans of perfectly salty and crisp chips, you’ll want to try Mrs. Fishers. This old-fashioned brand offered exceptional crunch which kept the taste testers going back for more and more chips. This chip was a touch saltier than the other top picks, but the Test Kitchen knows that there are major salt fans out there that would enjoy that little something extra.

Available at select grocers nationwide.

Third Place: Old Dutch

When it came to appearances, the Test Kitchen loved Old Dutch. This brand looked like the perfect potato chip. It tasted pretty much like the perfect potato chip too! They lauded this chip for its nice potato flavor and satisfying crunch. These chips were a bit thinner than others—meaning it might not hold up to a huge scoop of your favorite dip—but moderate dippers shouldn’t have any problem. Just keep in mind this compelling reason not to double dip!

Available at grocers nationwide.

What to make with potato chips

We know what you’re thinking: You don’t need to make anything with chips! You’d be right, but why not turn your favorite salty snack into a new treat? Potato chips can be crumbled to make crusts and coatings for chicken and fish or even used in cookies for a salty-sweet combo. Just check out these creative ways to use up that bag of chips in your cupboard (though who has leftover chips—you truly can’t eat just one).

Now that you know which chips you’ll be buying on your next trip to the grocery store, answer another age old question… why are potato chip bags never filled to the top?

Originally Published on Taste of Home