The potato chip is America’s favorite snack food. You can have it plain, or in dozens of different exciting flavors. Photo of North Fork’s Original Potato Chip by Elton Lin.
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KAREN HOCHMAN, Editorial Director of THE NIBBLE, has, by her calculations, eaten 2,574,088 gourmet potato chips.
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October 2005
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Top 5 Flavored Gourmet Potato Chips
With So Many Great Flavors, Where To Begin?
Far beyond their origins as potato slices fried to a crisp in oil, gourmet chips have risen to an art, enticingly flavored (check out the dozens of options in our Fabulous Flavored Chips review). The five producers below make an impressive selection of flavors, and it’s difficult to nominate just one. But people ask, so we rose to the challenge.
With the “too many chips, too little time” philosophy, our favorite way to enjoy the chips is as a potato chip tasting bar along with a beer tasting. No dips are required—these chips are too delicious on their own. In alphabetical order, here are our choices for “the best gourmet potato chips”—flavored category:
These gourmet potato chips are all natural: no preservatives, no trans fats. While not exactly as healthy as crudités, that counts for something in our book.
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Jack & Ollie’s Handcooked Crisps
Gorgonzola Red Onion
Jack & Ollie’s potato crisps are handmade in small batches the U.K. They’re fried in safflower oil an open kettle with their skins left on. Attentive to the last detail, Jack & Ollie's are the only crisp manufacturer in England to make their own spice blends. Gorgonzola Red Onion is the newest flavor in a family of winners.
- 40-Gram Bag, $1.25
- 150-Gram Bag, $3.29
Available at specialty food stores including Chelsea Market Baskets in Chelsea Market, 75 Ninth Avenue at 15th Street, New York City, and at ChelseaMarketBaskets.com.
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Shown: Pesto is accepting the award for Gorgonzola Red Onion.
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Kettle Chips
Spicy Thai
Voted in by a national fan base of gourmet chip lovers, Spicy Thai chips are a delightful mixes of sweet and spicy: have them with a beer, or layer them in a vanilla parfait. Kettle is the queen of gourmet flavors, so if Thai isn’t your thing, there are more than a dozen other great flavors that are.
- 5-Ounce Bag, $2.29
- 16-Ounce Bag, $4.69
Available at specialty food stores including Whole Foods.
For more information visit KettleFoods.com
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Mama Zuma’s
Mama Zuma’s Revenge~Habañero Potato Chips
With sexy gourmet flavors like Chesapeake Crab, Dill Pickle and Green Chile Enchilada, it was tough to make a choice among Mama Zuma’s niños. But Habañero is hot stuff, literally and figuratively. But not so hot that you’ll lose the nuances of that martini. These muchachos start with a special barbeque blend that gets a generous shake of dried habañero and chipotle powder. Un poco caliente, but brilliant. Even gringos will enjoy them.
- 2-Ounce Bag, $1.00-$1.25 at retail
- 6-Ounce Bag, $3-$3.25 at retail
- Mama Zuma’s Chilihead Fiesta (online only)
Combination case of fifteen 2-ounce bags of Mama Zuma’s
Revenge bags and fifteen 2-ounce bags of
Mama Zuma’s Green Chile Enchilada, plus a
collectible Mama Zuma refrigerator magnet, $40
Available at specialty food stores and at Rt11.com.
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Mama Zuma is hot stuff! Take her out
for a beer...er, with a beer. |
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North Fork
All Natural Sweet Potato Chips
While not technically “flavored” like the other chips on this list, North Fork’s delectable Sweet Potato Chips belong on this list because they’re not plain white potato chips. Thick, crisp, and almost homemade, these are the best sweet potato chips we know of for purchase. So pure, they’re nothing but potato and heart-healthy sunflower oil.
- Case of 12 6-Ounce Bags
$36.00
Available at specialty food stores and at NorthForkChips.com.
Photo shown is of the Original Potato Chips, not Sweet Potato.
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William Poll
Rosemary Potato Thins
Totally flat potato chips made of Yukon Gold potatoes, these are the perfect chip for hors d’oeuvres. You can put them in a bowl and dip them, but you also can top them with dip, goat cheese, salmon caviar, smoked salmon, caponata, or anything else that suits your fancy, and serve them elegantly on a platter.
Available at specialty food stores, at William Poll’s emporium at 1051 Lexington Avenue at 74th Street in New York City (1.800.993.7655) and at WilliamPoll.com.
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