In this new installment of Tight Chips, I will review some of the new flavors of potato chips I’ve enjoyed and discovered over the past two years, since my last chip review roundup. I pride myself on sticking to a budget and keeping my impulse buys and “retail therapy” in check, but one way to sucker me out of a few bucks is to come out with new and weird flavors of potato chips. I always feel obligated to try them, especially five years into this food blog, under the flimsy excuse of “JOURNALISM!” and even “SCIENCE!” I used to be like that with sodas too (especially as a non-drinker), but at least I’ve managed to cut back on those.
But it’s almost July 4th, a time when we celebrate our country’s independence (while hopefully realizing we still have a long way to go to improve things here) and get together with family and friends for cookouts and dangerous explosions, often eating lots of chips. Perhaps this blog entry can serve as a guide for those of you who offer your guests salty, crunchy snacks in between grilling out, drinking heavily, and blowing things up.
I’m going to start with some of my favorite potato chips I’ve ever tried: Zapp’s, out of Gramercy, Louisiana. Zapp’s specializes in thick, crunchy kettle-fried chips with strong, bold flavors. You can usually find them at Wawa, 7-Eleven, Publix, and Winn-Dixie stores, at least here in Orlando.
Zapp’s most popular flavors may be Voodoo and Voodoo Heat, which combine salty, savory, sweet, smoky, and tangy flavors, similar to the Canadian-inspired all-dressed chips I have reviewed before. I give the slight edge to Voodoo Heat, which, as you might guess, is spicier than the delicious but mild Voodoo flavor.
If you like it spicy, but also tangy and sweet, these are awesome.
I must admit preferring the thinner, crispier, Lay’s-style potato chip to Zapp’s crunchier, thicker chips, but Zapp’s has recently started offering its own “Thinz,” which are more like Lay’s, texture-wise, but with the superior Zapp’s flavors. Winn-Dixie carries larger bags of Zapp’s Thinz.
The Voodoo Thinz taste just as good as the thicker kettle chips:
Zapp’s Bourbon Street Smoky Sweet is kind of like a sweet barbecue flavor minus the tanginess of tomato, and they are also really good. I’ve only seen the Thinz version sold around here:
But you can’t go wrong:
Zapp’s Evil Eye is more of a tomato-forward flavor that I like, but not as much as the Voodoo:
But they don’t skimp on the seasoning:
Finally, Zapp’s Cajun Dill Gator-Tators are kind of like a mildly spicy dill pickle flavor, but not overly spicy, so don’t worry. They don’t taste like alligator at all, so don’t worry about that either. 
They are one of the better pickle-flavored chips out there, but I will be covering a few more here.
The Voodoo flavor is such a breakthrough hit, other companies have similar versions. Southeastern Grocers, the parent company of Winn-Dixie, has a surprisingly excellent New Orleans Blend potato chip flavor that is thin and crispy like Lay’s and Zapp’s Thinz, and large bags are ridiculously cheap compared to the name brands. They also go hard on the seasoning and are excellent quality. 
These are better than they have any right to be:
I only ever see the Dirty brand of potato chips in small bags near the Publix deli (not in the chip aisle). These are thicker kettle chips. My wife likes the plain ones from time to time (she doesn’t share my fascination with flavored chips), but one day I tried the Funky Fusion, and it is essentially the Dirty version of Zapp’s Voodoo flavor. Not nearly as good, though.
Not bad, but they’re no Zapp’s.
All this talk about July 4th cookouts and then the flavors of New Orleans might put someone in the mood for an icy cold, refreshing beer. If you want one, enjoy it responsibly, but I can caution you against bothering with Clancy’s Beer-flavored potato chips, which are occasionally available at Aldi supermarkets. Clancy’s is Aldi’s private label for chips and other salty snacks like pork rinds. Some are great (including Moscow Mule- and Bloody Mary-flavored chips I have reviewed before), but this wasn’t one of the great ones. 
They were mostly bland, vaguely earthy-tasting, and incredibly salty, even by potato chip standards. I wouldn’t get them again.
I mentioned Clancy’s Bloody Mary and Moscow Mule-flavored chips, which I enjoyed in the past, but the smoked Kentucky bourbon flavor was another miss from this Aldi store brand.
They tasted a little smoky, but not in a good way, like smoked meat or barbecue sauce. Mostly they just tasted overwhelmingly salty. I used to enjoy Maker’s Mark bourbon, and there is no substitute for the real thing.
To close out the Aldi chip discussion but tie it back to the cookout theme, Clancy’s also came out with a grilled ribeye steak flavor, which I didn’t love either. 
These had a subtle “burned on the grill” taste with more overwhelming saltiness and also a peppery flavor, but they sure didn’t taste like steak or any other meat. I think I just don’t care for the “Krinkle Cut” style of ridged chips that much, at least not from the Clancy’s brand. They always taste much saltier to me.
I bet you didn’t realize how classy potato chip flavors have become. Barbecue and beer are one thing, but bourbon and ribeye steak are new. Going beyond that, a Spanish company called Torres makes really upscale chips, including a sparkling wine flavor I recently found at Publix, and another snack company I love, Herr Foods, Inc., out of Nottingham, Pennsylvania, came out with Herr’s charcuterie board-flavored potato chips earlier this year! Forget cookouts, these are the perfect chips for a really fancy soiree or a date!
It’s uncanny how much the Torres chips actually tasted like sparkling wine — sweet, acidic, fruity, sour. It isn’t the most satisfying flavor combination overall, but they are definitely worth a try for those who share my fascination with novelty and weirdness.
And as my longtime readers know, I am a pretty serious aficionado of cured meats. I love that the Lunchables generation has turned charcuterie boards into a thing, but I would rather have my salami, prosciutto, soppressata, capicola, and other delicious deli meats on a sub or hoagie, topped with cheese, vegetables, and condiments, rather than arranged beautifully on a wooden board. But when you don’t have access to either, you probably want to try these new Herr’s chips. They definitely have a delicate, salty, porky flavor, but didn’t taste like any specific cured meat that I could pick out. I should note that I’ve only ever found this Herr’s flavor at Deli Desires, which is one of Orlando’s more underrated spots.
These chips did not include any meat in the ingredients, so you’re welcome, vegetarians!
I love Herr’s chips, and being a Pennsylvania-based company, you can always find them at Wawa convenience stores, another Pennsylvania company. My most recent chip finds are these three “Flavors of Philly” Herr’s chips: tomato pie, roast pork sandwich, and Korean BBQ wings. 
I tried the tomato pie chips first, inspired by Corropolese Italian Bakery & Deli in Philadelphia. Tomato pie is similar to Sicilian pizza, but the thick, rectangular slices have a sweet tomato sauce and are topped with Romano cheese, but no mozzarella. The closest I’ve found to it in Orlando is the tomato pie at Tornatore’s, which is more of an upstate New York version, but the scachatta at Alessi Bakery and La Segunda Bakery in Tampa is similar to tomato pie, sweet sauce and all, only they have finely ground beef in their sauces. These chips tasted like sweet tomato sauce with a dash of pungent cheese, so they nailed it as best they could.
The roast pork sandwich chips are specifically inspired by John’s Roast Pork, a Philadelphia legend I haven’t had a chance to try, although I did have two pretty amazing roast pork sandwiches when I was there last month. Be on the lookout for that review coming soon. Anyway, these chips were a lot more subtle, with garlic emerging as the main flavor (aside from salt). It’s a delicious sandwich when made well, especially when topped with sharp provolone and bitter broccoli rabe, but much more subtle than an Italian hoagie or a cheesesteak.
What I wasn’t expecting was that Herr’s Korean BBQ wings flavor, inspired by Mike’s BBQ restaurant in Philly, would be the best-tasting chips in this new trio. But I should have guessed, because Korean-style chicken wings kick ass, whether you order them from Hawkers, Domu, Kai Asian Street Fare, or bb.q Chicken.
And Herr’s just keeps on barreling forward with wild flavors. I admit I didn’t think much of these Loaded Tots chips, but it was an ambitious experiment:
There were some interesting flavors present, but I know I couldn’t pick out bacon and cheese and sour cream and chives!
Earlier this year, Herr’s sold new Sandwi-Chips with four “extra bold” flavors, exclusive to Wawa stores, marketed to be put into sandwiches. That’s something I’m going to do if I have a sandwich and chips together anyway, so I took it upon myself to sample all the new flavors, inspired by condiments and sandwich toppings.
Everyone knows I love mustard, to the point where I write a recurring mustard review feature called Cutting the Mustard, so I tried the Herr’s mustard Sandwi-Chips first.
Needless to say, these tasted bright and tangy and acidic, just like yellow mustard. If you’re making a ham, turkey, or roast beef sandwich or a burger, go to town with these. You won’t regret it.
The sweet onion Sandwi-Chips were almost too strongly oniony, compared to a more mellowed-out sour cream and onion flavor.
They were kind of a lot, as my students used to say.
Next up, I had to try the ketchup Sandwi-Chips, because I have always really liked Herr’s regular ketchup chips. That is a popular Canadian chip flavor, but not nearly as popular in the U.S. I’ve never been to Canada, but always wanted to, as I have a fondness for its culture and people, with their reputations for being polite. In fact, several people have thought I, your friendly neighborhood Saboscrivner, am Canadian, between my voice (your guess is as good as mine) and my unfailing politeness. I’ll take it as a compliment, eh?
Anyway, to make this a truly scientific experiment (well, not really), I had to compare and contrast Herr’s original ketchup chips, which I’ve had several times, with the new Sandwi-Chips.
They tasted very similar, and I’m honestly not even sure if I mixed up the photos or not. I’ve always appreciated that the regular ketchup chips are heavily seasoned, and they will definitely turn your fingertips RED. They are tomatoey, tangy, and sweet, and I like them a lot. Always have, always will.
I think the only difference I noticed was that the “extra bold” ketchup chips might have had even more seasoning on them, but I couldn’t discern any unique taste. But I liked both!
Finally (at least for these), Herr’s came out with a spicy pickle flavor of Sandwi-Chips, and they tasted very pickley, as one would expect and hope, but somewhat light on the spice.
They were fine. They would go particularly well on any sandwich or burger where you would normally add pickles, or even if you actually did add pickles.
As long as we’re talking about pickle-flavored chips, I should note that I used to hate pickles, until I embarked on a mission to learn to appreciate pickles by comparing, contrasting, and reviewing a bunch of different pickles.
The pickles that made me a fan were Grillo’s pickles, which I waxed rhapsodic about in that above review, “A Plethora of Pickles.” The Utz Quality Foods company, another snack company with Pennsylvania roots (Hanover, this time), actually created Grillo’s pickle chips, which a good friend shared with me after buying a ginormous bag at Costco.
These are maybe the best pickle chips I’ve ever tried, and I was grateful to not have to buy the whole pillowcase-sized bag of them.
I can’t say I’m the biggest fan of Frito-Lay’s extremely popular Flamin’ Hot flavor, regardless of its heartwarming and/or apocryphal origin story. What exactly does it taste like? HOT. It tastes like hot, and there might be a bit of lime, but maybe that’s all in my head. All the Flamin’ Hot chips (Cheetos, Ruffles, Lay’s, etc.) are fiery, angry red, and sometimes after the fact, other things are fiery, angry red too.
Even though I would have ignored this flavor in the past, when I saw Flamin’ Hot Dill Pickle Lay’s, I had to give them a try. 
They weren’t gross like I expected. The sourness and the dill helped offset the intense Flamin’ Hot flavor (like nothing else in nature!), and I ended up thinking these would be good pickles to crush up on a burger or in a sandwich — maybe something that already had real pickles on it. They would be great with some kind of cool, creamy dip, too. 
And while we’re still on the condiment-flavored chips, Trader Joe’s offered these Patio chips over the summer of 2021 (and possibly still, although I haven’t looked for them since). 
The bag contained a blend of multiple chip flavors: sea salt and vinegar, delicious dill, homestyle ketchup (for all the people who make their own ketchup in a world where Heinz is easily available, cheap, and superior), and smokin’ sweet BBQ. I appreciated this ambitious experiment, but I don’t think any of the Trader Joe’s flavors stood out on their own, and crunching on multiple flavors in the same mouthful didn’t work as well as I would have guessed. If these have since been discontinued, I wouldn’t even be surprised.
As long as we’re talking about pickled things, the Kettle brand makes really tasty pepperoncini-flavored chips, which would be awesome crushed up on an Italian hoagie, a gyro, or a Greek salad, or anywhere else you might enjoy those pale green, mildly spicy pickled peppers.
Keep in mind these are also thicker, crunchier chips. I don’t buy the Kettle brand very much because they only come in large bags, but I’m glad I took a chance with this particular flavor. They really did taste like pepperoncini peppers!
So let’s switch gears now and talk about some more spicy chip flavors, after that flawless segue. Lay’s briefly offered an Adobadas flavor in 2022, featuring chile peppers, tomato, and lime.
They were okay. I only bought one small bag one time, and that was fine with me.
On my 2022 sojourn to the senses-shattering Buc-ee’s, a colossal convenience store that pretty much sums up the American experience and all of its excesses, I bought these “Hot” flavored chips:
And they delivered. They were hot, but not overwhelmingly so. Definitely not “Flamin’ Hot.” I would have preferred some nuance, though.
These Southeastern Grocers Sweet Hot Barbecue chips came from Winn-Dixie, so you know they were cheap. But were they good?
Actually, yeah. I love the sweet, tangy smokiness of barbecue chips, and these packed more heat than most. 
I still prefer the New Orleans Blend, Southeastern Grocers’ Voodoo knockoff flavor, though.
Have you tried hot honey as a condiment? Mike’s Hot Honey is the main brand, and it has a lot more heat than other companies’ versions. It is awesome on pizza, just FYI. And Utz makes a Mike’s Hot Honey potato chip flavor:
They are sweet and hot, so I guess I like my potato chips like I like my women.
Just in case anyone else cares about such things, Utz owns both Zapp’s and Dirty chips, in addition to its own brand.
Lay’s short-lived chile mango chips were also sweet and hot, but I didn’t care for the flavor combination as much:
This was a one-and-done flavor for me. I love mangos like crazy. I will eat mangos like they’re going out of style, and I’m a sucker for anything mango-flavored. I was excited to find these and disappointed I didn’t love them, but you don’t have to take my word for it! 
On a lucky trip to Walgreens (admittedly a while back), I found not one, but two new flavors of Lay’s: Hot Sauce (specifically Frank’s Red Hot, the perfect sauce for classic buffalo wings), and Kettle Cooked Beer Cheese. I like Walgreens because they almost always get new chip flavors first, and unlike Publix, they sell them in small bags, which make me feel much less guilty about eating chips in the first place. What do you get, six or seven chips in these wee bags?
I like Frank’s Red Hot sauce in the first place because it balances the cayenne pepper-based heat with the acidic tang of vinegar, and I love anything vinegary. If you shy away from spicy food and order “mild” or plain wings, you probably won’t like these. But if you do like typical hot sauce flavors, you will be in for a real treat with these chips, especially if you have some good blue cheese dip or dressing to go with them.
The Beer Cheese Lay’s were a lot more subtly flavored. I’ve had real beer cheese before, and it is delicious. A friend in Kentucky assures me it’s a big deal up there, whereas it is a little harder to find around Florida. But these chips didn’t taste too strongly of anything. I rarely regret trying new chip flavors, but I wouldn’t bother getting these again. I haven’t seen them in a long time, so they may already be discontinued.
One more spicy flavor, and then we’re done, if you can believe it! I’m guessing Game Day Chili Lay’s might have been timed to come out around the NFL playoffs and the Superb Owl. I didn’t find them until early March (2021 or 2022?), and I was really surprised to find them at all. These were yet another Walgreens find. I love chili in all its forms, so I was excited to tear into this bag. 
This flavor was also a little disappointing, especially given how much I love chili. It wasn’t overly tomatoey, and I didn’t pick up on cheese at all. It wasn’t very spicy either, and nothing about it tasted “meaty.” I’ve already gone on at great length about how I love tomatoey flavors in my chips, but this one was a letdown. At least I didn’t spring for a larger bag. 
Well, that’s a pretty good rundown of the new potato chip flavors I’ve tried since 2021 — the good, the bad, and the weird. If you have tried any of these, I want to hear about it. Which ones have you enjoyed? Were any disappointing or gross? What are your favorite chip flavors and brands, especially if I haven’t covered them, and where can I get my hands on some? I might not be an influencer, but if anyone wants to send me chips to review, I would probably graciously accept them!
So enjoy your Fourth of July, stay safe, have something delicious to eat (ideally accompanied by people you like spending time around), and remember to stay hydrated in this insane summer heat, especially if you’re munching and crunching on salty chips.
As usual, the included chili peppers were sad sacks of seeds, not really worth trying to eat. But even though I’ve never seen Angelo Parodi products for sale in Florida (not even at 
BarbaCuban sauces (
This was a winning combination. The Brown Sugar Bourbon added a subtle sweetness that wasn’t overwhelmingly sweet. I thought it would go great with hot dogs to cut their extreme saltiness, and would also go well with most deli meats like turkey, roast beef, or ham, as long as the ham isn’t overly sweet already.
I was pleased that despite being labeled as “stone ground,” neither of these French’s mustards had whole crunchy seeds in them. As I’ve remarked before, I am not a fan of eating mustard and feeling like I’m crunching away on a mouthful of Nerds candy.
The Texas toast is spread with Duke’s mayo, after I chopped up an entire HEAD of garlic and added it directly to the Duke’s jar, so I always have garlic aioli at the ready. Then I grilled the entire sandwich in a pan like a big ol’ grilled cheese. Brilliant, and the different kinds of sweetness from the mustard, the sausage, and the Peppadews really sent this one over the top.
Of course rye bread would be the industry standard here, but if you know someone who can hook you up with club rolls, you’ll never want your pastrami on rye again.
We both really wished some of those sodas were sold in bottles or cans, since we would have definitely bought a few different ones to savor later, but alas, they were fountain drinks only.
To the right is a chopped brisket sandwich that was also really good — pre-wrapped in foil like the pulled pork sandwich, and mixed up with sweet sauce. I liked it even better than the pulled pork.
Personally, I like the U-Bet vanilla and coffee syrups even more than the chocolate, which speaks volumes about how good they are. Both of these are thinner than the thick, sticky chocolate syrup, but they are so good. They are harder to find around here, though. I found the coffee syrup once at a “bougier” Publix than my normal location, and last fall, I was lucky enough to find some vanilla U-Bet bottles marked down for clearance after Yom Kippur at another swankier Publix, so I grabbed them all. 
I buy every bottle of Polar toasted coconut seltzer on the shelf every time I see them at Sprouts, just so we never run out!
I almost never drink coffee due to the aforementioned acid reflux, but I like the taste of a sweet, creamy, chilled, coffee-flavored beverage. Naturally, I enjoyed comparing it to the Fox’s U-Bet coffee syrup and using it in some coffee egg creams with plain and toasted coconut seltzer. I decided the Autocrat works great for coffee milk, but nothing can touch the flavors of the Fox’s U-Bet products for egg creams.
I left off the condiments to get their full flavor… which wasn’t much to speak of, even with the two peppers they had been canned with. I drained the oil, as I always do, but it didn’t impart much flavor either. That could have been because it was vegetable oil instead of the superior olive oil. A schmear of mustard and some fresh and pickled vegetables would have helped turn these into superior sandwiches, even with mediocre ‘dines, but I wanted the full, unadulterated Hot Titus experience.
I’m not a big fan of black olives, so I bought this can specifically to review here on The ‘Dines List. You’re welcome! I ate the whole can, though — olives and all, to get the full Mediterranean experience.
The cross-pack is usually about a dollar more expensive than the other varieties, but I don’t like them quite as much. Don’t get me wrong, they are fine, and might even be a good “gateway” sardine for the uninitiated, but I just prefer the taste of the jalapeño two layer variety. The cross-pack ‘dines are definitely blander, but you can include them in some really creative recipes and jazz them up that way.
I just heat up the frozen pretzel sticks on a tray in the toaster oven for nine minutes at 350 degrees, and they come out crackly and crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside. They are way better than you’d think frozen pretzels could possibly be — better than many fresh soft pretzels I’ve had. Plus, pretzels are a perfect mustard delivery device, so let the grand experiment begin! On to the mustards!
I have never been a huge fan of any Dijon mustards for everyday use on things like sandwiches, hot dogs, or burgers, so I wasn’t enamored with a big dollop of Sir Kensington’s Dijon on the soft pretzel here. If you’ve had the more famous Grey Poupon (but of course!) or even a cheap store-brand Dijon, you know what you’re trying here — smooth texture, a little flavor from white wine, a little spice you can feel in your nostrils. But I keep this particular mustard on hand for one purpose: LAMB. Dijon goes so well with the rich and slightly gamey flavor of lamb, which my wife and I both love. I buy thick-cut lamb loin chops at Costco, rub them with Dijon mustard, sprinkle with salt and pepper and whatever herbs I feel like using, and roast them until they are rare. It’s a winning flavor combination, and one of the only situations where my wife tolerates any form of mustard.
I don’t think Mild & Creamy Dijon is spicy or pungent enough to complement hot dogs or classic Jewish deli-style sandwiches like pastrami, corned beef, or tongue, where the salted, cured meats usually beg for something tangy, spicy, or garlicky. But for more everyday sandwiches, it’s a wonderful choice, and I did not mind having some straight up on the soft pretzel.
I haven’t eaten enough tarragon in my lifetime to confidently, competently describe what it tastes like on its own, and it isn’t terribly garlicky either. Think of this as a yellow mustard that isn’t as “bright,” tangy, vinegary, or salty as you’re used to from a lifetime of cookouts. There is an extremely subtle sweetness to it that isn’t there in regular yellow mustard. I’ve tried it in several sandwiches since my first taste, including with some sardines, and also mixed it into chicken salad, where it is pretty inoffensive. I didn’t love it, but didn’t hate it either. At least the price was right.
I stocked up on a few bottles of this, because I don’t go to Walmart that often, but it is really good. Publix doesn’t carry any equivalent of this, and Winn-Dixie carries a Cuban mustard from the Plochman’s brand, which is a few dollars more than the Sam’s Choice. I haven’t tried the Plochman’s Cuban yet, but at least I know I like this one a lot for anything that normally calls for yellow mustard.
It’s on the creamy side, and very pickley. It tastes more like sour pickles than dill. Normally I’d put mustard and pickles on burgers or sandwiches, so I’m trying to think of uses where you might want this mustard to cover both bases, without making it redundant by using actual pickles. I also dipped some homemade sweet potato oven fries in it and mixed a lot of it into some chicken salad, and those worked okay. I think I’d rather use other mustards and then just add 
I think it would work well in a sandwich with savory meats like roast beef and turkey. It would be an inspired main ingredient in a glaze if you were baking a ham (and then you could leave out some sugar), but it might be a little much spread onto a sweet ham sandwich. It would be great as a dip for heavy, salty fried foods like french fries or fried chicken, or made into a barbecue sauce.
This mustard would go well on or in anything. If you can find a jar, treat yourself and pick one up, even at regular Robert Rothschild prices. I give it my highest possible Saboscrivner recommendation.
The Saboscrivner 