If you're of the "a chip is a chip" mindset, you clearly haven't eaten enough chips. Because we just tasted 12 brands of sour cream and onion chips, and even the low tasters of our bunch could decipher some pretty distinguishable differences between the best and the worst.
There's a reason you buy sour cream and onion chips -- presumably, it's because you want your chips to taste like sour cream and onion. Most of the time, you're lucky if they just taste like onion powder, as sour cream "flavor" can be very elusive. Because really, what's sour cream except "tangy" once you turn it into a powder and strip it of its cool and creamy attributes? So for true sour cream and onion perfection, what you're really looking for is a solid balance of salt, onion, tang and crispiness. Plus, it's GOT to pack enough punch. Basically, we want flavor powder all over our fingers and faces by the time we're done.
We rounded up 12 popular brands and blind-tasted them. Check out the results below for the ranking, and read our comments before you head out to the store for your next bag.
As always, this taste test is in no way sponsored or influenced by any of the brands involved. Or anyone, really.
This story appears in Issue 73 of our weekly iPad magazine, Huffington, available Friday, Nov. 1in the iTunes App store.