On March 10, one chip-related tweet by @KevonStage set social media ablaze.
His ranking of the Frito-Lay variety pack of chips sparked all kinds of hot takes as to what flavours were the best.
But that tweet only merely scratched the surface. The video didn’t even touch the dozens of other flavours available.
If we’re going to rank chips, may as well do it right and include all of them.
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People are crazy for March Madness anyway, so in lieu of a bracket, why not rank all the chip flavours from worst to best?
A few qualifiers; we’re excluding off-brand chips because 1. There are dozens upon dozens of more options and 2. Most of them aren’t worth your time.
So, here it is – a definitive list of chip flavours ranked from worst to best.
45. Lay’s Classic
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This is absolutely the last resort if ever you’re in a chip emergency. Only break this open in extreme cases.
44. Lay’s Lightly Salted
43. Tostitos Hint of Lime
42. Sun Chips Harvest Tomato
This might be the healthiest-tasting chip on the list. But it’s still a chip.
41. Hickory Sticks
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In theory, a full bag of Hickory Sticks makes sense, but does anyone ever exclusively eat Hickory Sticks on their own? No, of course not.
40. Tostitos Restaurant Style
Let’s be honest, nobody is eating these things by themselves. Tostitos are merely a vessel for copious amounts of salsa, cheese, and guac.
39. Fritos Original
38. Lay’s Dill Pickle
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If these are your jam, Lay’s Dill Pickle are great. For the other 15% of the population, Dill Pickle is one of the last chips you’d pick in the aisle.
37. Munchos
If you’ve ever wondered what a salt lick tastes like, look no further than Munchos. They’re salty as hell, if that’s your thing.
38. Cheetos Puffs
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37-32. Various Doritos Flavours
We’re grouping together a slew of Doritos flavours here (Zesty Cheese, Bold BBQ, Jalapeno, Spicy Nacho, Sweet Chili Heat and Flaming Hot Nacho) because they’re all very similar. Some of these, you might close your eyes and swear you’re eating just regular Nacho Cheese Doritos.
31-24. Various Miss Vickie’s Flavours
Again, we’re lumping a whole whack of Miss Vickie’s flavours together (everything outside of three core flavours) because they’re all kind of “one note” chips.
23. Lay’s BBQ
Verging on the almost-too-sweet territory, it’s a notch above the original Lay’s, but not by much.
22. Fritos BBQ
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21. Lay’s Smokey Bacon
20. Ruffles Salt & Vinegar
19. Miss Vickie’s Sour Cream & Caramelized Onion
A slightly tamer version of the traditional sour cream & onion, but with a little more class.
18. Ruffles BBQ
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17. Sun Chips French Onion
A soup in chip form? Sure, why not?
16. Tostitos Multigrain
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The superior version of Tostitos, not because they’re healthier, but because they’re saltier.
15. Ruffles Sour Cream & Bacon
Sub out the onion for the bacon; good decision, Ruffles.
14. Sun Chips Harvest Cheddar
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Don’t kid yourself, just grab a bag of Doritos instead.
13. Ruffles Original
Ruffles Original is a well-built chip. Hefty, suitable for dipping, and solid enough to stand up on their own.
12. Cheetos Crunchy Cheddar Jalapeno
11. Lay’s Ketchup
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People who love their ketchup chips absolutely adore them. For some reason, they are unwavering in their support for this snack. Have at it, ketchup chip people.
10. Pringles Original
The “eating chips from a tennis ball container” thing never gets old. Pringles feel like they were made to survive nuclear holocausts and they may very well do so.
9. Miss Vickie’s Original Recipe
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A fine kettle chip if ever there was one. This one spawned the many-a-flavour of Miss Vickie’s chips, but there are so many more intriguing flavours in the family.
8. Lay’s Salt & Vinegar
Lots of vinegar flavour here, but might be verging on a little too sour for some tastes. Still a good chip, though.
7. Ruffles All Dressed
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Ruffles All Dressed contains the holy trinity of chip flavours: ketchup, salt & vinegar, and BBQ. For the longest time, these used to be exclusive to Canada, but much like Drake, All Dressed chips conquered their homeland and migrated elsewhere.
6. Lay’s Sour Cream & Onion
The upper echelon of the Lay’s chip offerings. Sour Cream & Onion ranks up there, but not quite as high as its Ruffles brethren.
5. Cheetos Flaming Hot Crunchy
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Credit to Cheetos, they found a way to make the lowly crunchy Cheeto relevant in the 21st century. The mediocre snack food was elevated with the inclusion of the flaming hot coating. It’s not unbearably hot, but spicy enough to keep you coming back for copious handfuls of this addictive snack.
4. Doritos Cool Ranch
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Not really cool, not really ranch, but somehow these flavours work.
3. Ruffles Sour Cream & Onion
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This is a thick, thick chip. It feels like you get your money’s worth in a bag of Sour Cream & Onion Ruffles.
2. Miss Vickie’s Salt & Malt Vinegar
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At any given moment, it feels like one of your molars might give out, but damn it if it isn’t worth the potential dental work. The kettle chip platform is the perfect vessel for this chip. Really, Miss Vickie’s could’ve stopped putting out new flavours after this one, because it doesn’t get any better than Salt & Vinegar.
1. Doritos Nacho Cheese
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Don’t even think about the ingredients that make up the cheese-dust coating. Just suspend disbelief and crunch on. This is a nearly perfect chip flavour. It has universal appeal, from young to old. Doritos Nacho Cheese is the OG chip flavour. In the end, cockroaches will live off 200-year-old bags of Doritos.