Every Zapp's Product, Ranked Worst To Best

A potato chip can be a simple thing. After all, it's usually just a slice of potato fried in oil until crisp, then seasoned (or not). Yet this also makes potato chips a blank slate, offering innumerable ways to cut, cook, and flavor them. And when it comes to unique chips, it's hard to overlook Zapp's. Between the brightly colored, striped or patterned bags, and unusual names (like Voodoo or Evil Eye), this brand stands out in the snack aisle.

All Zapp's chips are kettle cooked — one batch at a time — and feature flavors and names connected to the company's Louisiana roots. In addition to chips, Zapp's also makes flavored pretzels in various salty and sweet flavors. Given its wide range of products, I decided to go deeper into Zapp's offerings. I gathered the full lineup of Zapp's chips and pretzels, then sorted out the brand's top flavors from its less-than-memorable options.

As a professional recipe developer for over 15 years and lifelong pro snacker, I've both sampled and cooked with an abundance of chips and pretzels, including Zapp's. After sampling its various flavors and comparing them head-to-head based on several factors (namely overall taste and flavor balance), here is every Zapp's product ranked worst to best.

Some recommendations are based on firsthand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer.

With a name like Evil Eye, I wasn't sure what flavor to expect — but I was betting on a spicy chip. The ingredients, however, seemed to be going in a different direction, as they include dehydrated tomato, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, onion powder, and the oh-so-descriptive ingredient of "spices."

While the chips have a bright red coating, it doesn't translate to a hot pepper flavor. Instead, there's a ketchup-like taste from the concentrated tomato, a notable sweetness, and moderate tang. A slow burn does start to creep in after a minute, bringing some heat that lingers for a bit. But to be fair, the bag describes these as a mild chip, so any preconceived spicy expectation was my own error.

These chips didn't rank last because I wanted them to have a different flavor, though. The chips are tasty, in fact — I simply felt a disconnect between all the flavors, with the sweet tomato taste and heat at odds. Frankly, this Zapp's flavor had too many ingredients, and none of them worked together as well as the other varieties on this list, hence the bottom ranking.

The first thing I noticed after opening this flavor's orange and white striped bag — dotted with fleur-de-lis symbols — was how plain the chips looked and smelled. Since the ingredients include jalapeño powder, onion powder, and garlic powder, I figured there would be some kind of coating (if not green specks of jalapeño). Sadly, the flavor matched the appearance, and these were far from being hotter than hot.

The first few chips essentially tasted like a plain, salted variety. This isn't necessarily a bad thing — even a plain Zapp's chip has a fantastically light, crunchy bite and good potato flavor — but I wanted the promised jalapeño and a fiery kick.

Now, after digging through the bag to ensure I wasn't missing out on other, more highly seasoned chips and eating several more, I did begin to feel some spicy tingling on my taste buds. Still, heat without flavor is just disappointing. While this wasn't the worst flavor overall, it was too mild and didn't bring enough of the promised jalapeño heat, so it ended up near the very bottom of these rankings.

We love a salt and vinegar potato chip at Tasting Table (and even ranked 13 popular brands). In fact, if I see salt and vinegar anything at the store, from popcorn to almonds? I'm going to try it. Of course, this also means I know how difficult it is to get salt and vinegar just right. I've tasted a lot of snacks that didn't balance the two elements well, either in terms of the flavor of the vinegar, the salt level, or amount of acidic tang. While there is a punchy vinegar aroma coming from the bag, the initial taste is mostly salt. A vinegary bite then settles onto your tongue, but it's not particularly sour or sharp.

Now, since I can acknowledge there are differing options for just how puckering a salt and vinegar chip should be, these didn't fall to the very bottom of these rankings. But they end up in third-to-last because they were far too mild, and weren't a good representation of a salt and vinegar chip. The texture was excellent (crisp but not hard), and you can still taste the potato through the seasonings. But to be a vinegar-seasoned chip, there has to be a stronger vinegar presence, which is simply lacking.

Crawfish boils are popular in Louisiana, and outside of the crawfish itself, the seasoning in the cooking water is the most important part. Due to the high number of different spices that go into it, many people choose to buy a package of boil seasoning for convenience. While every brand is a little different, common ingredients are cayenne, bay leaf, pepper, and coriander. That mix of strong spices is what these chips channel, though the ingredients don't call out specific flavors beyond onion, garlic, and hickory smoke.

The smell is very similar to a bottle of Cajun seasoning, and I specifically picked out celery seed, dry thyme, and the prickle of cayenne and pepper. There isn't a heavy coating of seasoning on the chips, though, and they're mostly blond in color. On that note, crawfish boils are heavily spiced, but these are lighter in flavor than expected.

I still tasted the celery and thyme that I initially picked up, and there's a good amount of heat — especially after eating a few and letting it build. The flavor of the potato itself comes through, too, and is clean and fresh (not oily or stale). Realistically, they don't rank higher simply because they almost seem bland compared to the higher-ranked Zapp's products.

Zapp's introduced the Sinfully-Seasoned Pretzel Stix in 2022, and Jazzy Honey Mustard was one of two initial flavors upon launching. The package describes the twisted design of these bite-size pretzels as ideal for holding an abundance of seasoning — an idea that works for me. Plus, since pretzels and mustard are an iconic pairing, this flavor combination makes perfect sense on paper.

Mustard and onion are the dominant tastes and aromas of Jazzy Honey Mustard Pretzel Stix. As a result, they're definitely more savory than sweet. It's hard to pick out the honey at all, actually, but I think it's better having lighter sweetness than to veer into sugary territory. The twists are generously coated, but the overall flavor isn't super intense. You taste the pretzel as well as the mustard, and the two nicely complement each other. These would make a great snack, and there really isn't anything wrong with them. Rather, some of the other flavors were more captivating, so these defaulted to a slightly lower tenth place ranking.

It only took one whiff to know these would be some very solid barbecue chips — worthy of pairing with a refreshing beer. A classic deep orange color matches the gentle smoky aroma, though the ingredients don't specifically mention any smoke flavor as they do in some other varieties (like the Spicy Cajun Crawtators).

These chips have an ideal blend of smokiness, sweetness, and heat. There's a thick coating of well distributed seasoning, too, so you don't end up with a bag that's half plain chips, half saturated ones. You do taste less of the potato than in some other varieties due to the big flavors, but it's a small concession considering how well Zapp's nailed the barbecue profile.

So why didn't these rank higher? Well, at this point in the tasting, each flavor was delicious and near faultless. As a result, it came down to the fact that if my eyes were closed, I might not be able to distinguish the Mesquite Bar-B-Que flavor from any other brand's barbecue chip. So while delicious, this flavor was simply less original than the higher-ranked varieties.

The only sweet snack in this ranking, these pretzel twists are coated with cinnamon and sugar. Additionally, this variety has the shortest ingredient list of the four different pretzel options from Zapp's, and no real surprises on the bag; most of the flavor comes from sugar, cinnamon, salt, and natural flavors.

Now, the twists look generously covered with sugar crystals, but only taste lightly sweetened. Instead, they're heavy on the cinnamon with a nice amount of salt, which reminds you these are still pretzels (and not a cookie). The effect takes me back to the cinnamon toast I inhaled for most of my childhood. The pretzel itself has a good crunch that's not too hard, so they're very easy to snack on.

In short, these deliver the exact expected flavor. They don't rank higher because other flavors were that much more exceptional, but I'd be happy to work my way through a bag of these anytime.

Plain potato chips often get overlooked for being a little boring, and I understand it can be hard to compare a salted chip to a triple-hot, mega-blast buffalo-cheddar-onion whatever. But regular potato chips can't hide behind anything, either. After all, with little more than potatoes, oil, and salt for ingredients, there's no room to disguise any off-tasting or badly fried chips.

Thankfully, Zapp's Regular Flavor chips are an incredibly satisfying choice. Kettle cooked chips in general can range in thickness, but Zapp's found just the right width. These are crunchy and sturdy, yet not hard or sharp enough to slice your gums. The chips have a consistent blond hue, as well, with a few here and there sporting a thin line of potato peel.

What makes these chips so fantastic is that they're not heavily salted or saturated with oil. Consequently, you can really taste the earthy, concentrated potato (similar to a baked potato). In fact, with so many interesting flavors in the tasting, I was surprised to rank these in the top half. But when something simple is done well, it's hard to beat.

Similar to Zapp's Salt & Vinegar chips, the Cajun Dill Gator-tators feature vinegar powder in the ingredients, so I was curious if they would offer the same mild tang, or have a sharper flavor. Along those same lines, I wasn't sure if these chips were going to be sprinkled with dill, or if they would try and capture the briny taste of a pickle. Besides vinegar powder, the other ingredients skewed more generic, with the listed spices and natural flavor not offering much insight.

It was encouraging to see the chips were flecked with green bits, and the scent of dill wafting from the bag. These are more herby and savory than tangy, so they don't taste like a pickle — especially when the Cajun part of the name kicks in with a slow, spicy burn.

However, the dill is so prominent and backed up with savory garlic and onion, that they taste like their own unique creation (and comparing them to a pickle is irrelevant). This Zapp's flavor couldn't quite crack the top five, but with a near-perfect balance? They're the sort of chip I'll be buying again.

Spicy Cajun Pretzel Stix feature most of the same ingredients as the potato chip counterpart (Spicy Cajun Crawtators), and I was able to pick out similar notes of celery seed and thyme. Yet the experience of eating the pretzels compared to the chips was totally different, which caught my taste buds off guard.

While the chip version has a mild blend of seasoning, these pretzels are bursting with flavor. The thickly coated twists are smoky and sweet, but also peppery, with a strong, fiery burn that sets in almost immediately. The intensity does turn the pretzel more into a vehicle for the various spices, but you can still taste some of the toasty crunch of the pretzel towards the end.

The complex blend of seasonings hits every part of the palate, leaving you wanting another and another. In short, that craveability, combined with the spot-on flavor, granted these twists a spot in the top five of this ranking.

Big Cheezy is described as a cheddar and sour cream flavored chip with Cajun spices, and the ingredients align with this profile. They include cheddar cheese, sour cream powder, garlic powder, and onion powder (along with yellow food coloring and MSG).

These vibrant orange chips are a shockingly bright color, with an impressive uniformity of color and seasoning on each chip in the bag. And unlike other orange-hued snacks, the flavoring is bonded with the chip (rather than being powdery or dusty), so your fingertips stay pretty clean. The bold flavor matches the color with a strong cheesy, salty taste. Sour cream powder gives a creamy quality, but these aren't particularly tangy.

Now, I'm not sure if garlic and onion is what Zapp's meant by these chips having Cajun spices, because I didn't pick up on anything else spicy or herbal. However, I think this works in Big Cheezy's favor because they don't need anything else intruding. One of the cheesiest flavored snacks I've ever sampled, these chips live up to their name, and earn one of the top spots in this ranking for their bold, unadulterated taste.

What does Voodoo taste like anyway? Along with Evil Eye, this name gives away the least in terms of what flavors to expect. Perhaps it also creates a kind of voodoo, though, because I know I have had this flavor before — but I couldn't conjure it up in the slightest. There are the usual ingredient suspects of salt and sugar (along with Zapp's commonly used garlic powder), but then there is smoke flavoring, paprika, and citric acid.

These pretzels smelled like a barbecue potato chip with extra vinegary tang. They're spiced but not hot, and lack the peppery hit of the Cajun pretzels. The interplay of taste is mostly sweet and tangy, but you also get notes of smoke and pops of salt, before ending with the toasted wheat flavor of the pretzel itself. Plus, when you go back for a second to confirm this series of taste sensations ... and then another, and another, before realizing these are so good? Well, you'll no longer want to think about what they are, and just want to enjoy them instead (which is why they're ranked third).

Magic continues with Voodoo flavored snacks and another excellent Zapp's offering. These have almost the same ingredients as the pretzels, but the potato base changes the overall taste. The chips have a pale dusting of orange seasoning, which looks more inconsistent than some of the other varieties like Big Cheezy or Mesquite Bar-B-Que — meaning I wasn't expecting the bold flavor I was about to experience.

In fact, eating a Voodoo chip is like tasting 12 things at the same time — but in the best, most harmonious kind of way. They're tangy, sweet, smoky, and savory all at once, and at the end, you can taste some potato, as well. The multi-faceted group of flavors reminds me of the popular Canadian chip, All Dressed, which combines several different flavors of chips in one. And while these edged out the pretzel version because the potato base works ever so slightly better with the seasonings, it's splitting hairs really, as both are excellent.

Did all iterations of Zapp's Voodoo flavored snacks really sweep the top three of this ranking? They sure did. Because whatever Zapp's has done to create the seasoning blend, they absolutely nailed it. Of course, what made Voodoo Heat top the other two varieties can be explained by the little dolls with X-ed out eyes found on the front of the bag: The spicy kick (which was missing from many other chips in this ranking) is here in spades.

Voodoo Heat edged out all other Zapp's products because a peppery kick rounds out the seasoning — and does so in ways I hadn't even realized the chips needed. You can still taste the sweet, smoky tang that's so delicious on the regular Voodoo chips, but these bring a prickling heat to your mouth that settles on your tongue, and continues to burn well after you're done eating. Furthermore, the spice cuts through the sweetness just enough, giving them the ideal balance of flavor.

Now, this was a tight race to the number one spot. And while you won't be disappointed by any Voodoo flavored item, this particular flavor was the best Zapp's product I tasted, so it comes in first place.

This was a tough ranking — and not just because I have a deep love for potato chips. Every Zapp's product included in this ranking was crunchy, fresh, and well-seasoned, making me wonder why I haven't bought them recently myself.

Of course, while all the flavors were delicious, I had to rank them. Consequently, I used my 15 years of test kitchen experience to evaluate the blend of seasonings, texture, and overall flavor of each list entry, then determined how well each flavor was delivered to the chip or pretzel. If the name of the snack was helpful, I also compared the taste to the description.

I also sampled each chip a few times over the course of three days to ensure the lingering taste of one didn't impact another. In addition to a ranking order, I also ended up fully understanding why crunchy potato chips are so satisfying.