Ask a food expert about potato chips, and you might be surprised. Even a chef with a five-star reputation for dishing up fancy fare often will share heartfelt and enthusiastic appreciation for a favorite hometown brand. Talking about chips brought up stories of holiday gatherings, fishing trips with Grandma and the singular joys of onion dip made with Lipton Onion Recipe Soup and Dip Mix.
It seems that even if you’re a genius with truffle oils, infused vinegars and caviar, sometimes you’re just happy to eat a bag of chips, no questions asked. In fact, more than one of our experts admitted that a favorite part of the chip-eating experience is shaking out those crumbs at the bottom of the bag.
“That’s where all the seasoning is,” said Rick Mace, owner and executive chef of Tropical Smokehouse in West Palm Beach, Florida, and “bag shake” aficionado.
“Let’s be clear here — there’s magic in the combination of potatoes, oil and salt,” said Sandy Davis, chef for New York-based Roxo Events. “They’re so simple and yet so captivating.”
And you can do more than eat them straight out of the bag. They’re also a great ingredient for other dishes. Perhaps the ultimate “off label” use is as a sandwich crunchifier, and many chefs shared their favorites versions. “Please don’t forget the greatest white trash sandwich of all time: white bread, Miracle Whip, and potato chips,” Davis said. “I couldn’t count the number of those little darlings I had growing up.”
Robin Selden, executive chef and managing partner of Marcia Selden Catering, told HuffPost, “I grew up with the love of potato chip crunch added to my sandwiches, and my favorite is a tuna fish sandwich with potato chips. That crunch elevates the sandwich.”
Another suggestion came from Demetrio Zavala, executive corporate culinary director for Solstice, who said, “One of my go-to sandwiches is made with pickles and Lay’s Classic Chips between bread.” He shared another chip-eating method that he swears by. “I pour an entire container of Dean’s French Onion Dip into a bag of Lay’s Classic Chips, mix it with a spoon and eat the entire bag. It’s absolutely delicious.”
The crunchier the chip, the better it might be as a coating or topping. “I like to crush them up to coat a fish like cod,” Selden said. “It’s like next-level fish sticks.”
Federico Tischler, chef and owner of Well Fed in Coral Gables, Florida, said: “You can make a Spanish potato tortilla with chips instead of raw potatoes. It makes an amazingly smooth tortilla.”
The chefs’ top-recommended chips
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“I f**king love them, seriously,” said Brian Nasajon, chef and owner of Miami’s Beaker & Gray. “I’m a sucker for both BBQ and Salt & Vinegar. It’s the slow, low cooking temperature that makes the starch set, which gives them that extra-hard crunch. In my opinion, it’s the only way a chip should be. I’m that guy who’s dumping the crumbs from an empty bag straight into my mouth.”
“Much as I loved Wise chips when I was a kid, my chip taste altered forever when I had my first Cape Cod potato chip,” said Chef Rossi, owner and executive chef of The Raging Skillet. “They had a powerful crunch and tasted nearly homemade. You could get away with eating a Wise chip in a library but not a Cape Cod chip.”
Selden agreed that they feel like they're homemade: “Give me a bowl of onion dip, a bag of these chips and I’m a happy girl.”
Chef Marshall O’Brien told HuffPost that he’s “wired for salt” and loves this brand, especially the Salt & Vinegar flavor. “My saliva glands go into overdrive when I see a bag of them at the store,” he said.
Registered dietitian nutritionist Amanda Frankeny loves the brand’s Sweet and Spicy Jalapeno flavor.
“I love the Mediterranean taste of EVOO,” registered dietitian nutritionist Sharon Palmer said. “I really prefer these chips to the traditional ones of my childhood. They’re crunchier, more flavorful, and they have cool add-ins, like truffles, red peppers and sea salt. When chips are more special like this, I’m satisfied with fewer of them.”
Selden chimed in and offered an opposing viewpoint to that “eat fewer” idea: “I’m obsessed with the EVOO flavor, which is irresistible. If I open a bag, I cannot stop.”
Zavala is another fan of this OG chip. “I first tasted them with my grandma,” he said. “I would go fishing with her when I was a kid, and she would always bring a bag of Lay’s Classic Chips.”
Purchase a 6-ounce bag for $2.49 at Trader Joe’s.
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