This Lay's Potato Chip Flavor Is Far Above The Rest

When you're craving a bag of potato chips, are you a sour cream and onion kind of snacker? Tangy salt and vinegar? Sweet and smoky barbecue? Do you prefer just plain old salted spuds? To be sure, these are all heavy hitters, but none of these classic varieties topped the list when The Takeout tried and ranked 22 Lay's potato chip flavors. The unexpected winner was Loaded Baked Potato, and surprisingly, the chips that took the crown were the baked version instead of the fried ones.

"This is one of the best tributes to a classic baked potato with all the fixings that I've ever tasted in chip form," wrote our taste tester, adding that they could distinguish each popular baked potato topping, including bacon, butter, cheddar cheese, chives, and sour cream. Indeed, nearly all of these ingredients are mentioned by name on the nutrition label of the salty snack. Instead of these flavors being conjured up by a nebulous combination of spices, natural flavors, and artificial flavors, they really taste like a loaded baked potato because of the genuine cheddar cheese, sour cream, and pork fat. Not only did they beat out all the classic flavors, they also triumphed over interesting, tasty-sounding numbers like Dill Pickle, Bacon Grilled Cheese, and Cajun Spice.

Rather than being made with just simple sliced spuds, Lay's Baked Loaded Baked Potato chips use dehydrated potatoes instead. Similar to Pringles, baked Lay's are technically potato crisps, not chips. Unlike Pringles, however, the Lay's version doesn't feature a number of other starches and flours aside from some cornstarch. Our taste tester likened the texture of Lay's Baked Original to a thicker Pringle, but they have a bolder potato flavor — they actually taste like the creamy, starchy, earthy vegetable rather than just salt and oil.

While it's somewhat controversial for the baked snacks to win out over the Lay's potato chip brand's classic, kettle-cooked, and wavy varieties, you just can't argue with that snappy crunch. Texture is what our taste tester considered to be the most important factor in their ranking, further affirming that a bag of Lay's Baked Loaded Baked Potato is definitely worth munching on.