Aldi Potato Chips, Ranked Worst To Best

If you're hankering for cheap snack food, Aldi is the place to go. Not only should you visit the grocer to get your fill of cookies and delicious chocolate candies, but you should also make a stop if you're in the market for tasty potato chips. Despite being a relatively small grocer, Aldi carries an impressive range of flavors and varieties of potato chips under its Clancy's umbrella. Not only will you get classic favorites like sour cream and onion and barbecue, but you'll also find an array of crispy kettle chips that rival big-name brands, with some interesting and unique novelty flavors thrown in there for good measure. There's something for everyone, whether you're planning a tailgate or just want to have a few bags stocked in your pantry. And you'll get a great price on them all — it is Aldi we're talking about here. 

To decide which of Aldi's potato chips were worth adding to your cart, I decided to rank all the flavors and varieties I could find. I considered several factors, including the overall flavor balance, saltiness, and whether or not they were satisfying enough to warrant purchasing again. So grab your quarters and reusable bags; we're making a trip to Aldi-land! 

If there is one thing you should know about me, it's that I'm an absolute fiend for sour cream and onion chips. I could talk for hours about how it's the best potato chip flavor ever made. And while I have eaten a ton of great sour cream and onion chips in my day, this Aldi product is not one of them. I was even surprised that I ranked them below the original potato chips. 

The flavor of these chips — in one word — is "dusty." There is no brightness or acidity to brighten up the palate. The chips aren't even oniony enough to warrant being called "sour cream and onion." They're coated in a lactic acid-like powder that gives them a slight bit of tang, but it's not enough oomph to really convince me that sour cream was the muse. Luckily, I didn't find them as off-puttingly sour as when I ate them for the first time, although they were still mealy and stuck to my molars like Pringles. Their baked-esque texture and lackluster flavor place them about as far down on this list as possible.

Don't buy these chips thinking they will taste like an exact replica of a salty, greasy potato chip, because they're far from it. When you open the bag, the first thing you notice is the curled-up shape of the chips. They look like sweet potato slivers that had been left in the oven for too long, which is seemingly what happened. The chips are dry and brittle, yet still crunchy enough to add texture to your sandwich or meal.

I'm not a big fan of sweet potatoes, and this is particularly true when talking about sweet potato fries. Needless to say, the flavor of these is not my cup of tea. There's no amount of salt you can add to make this a savory chip, as the sweet potato flavor would get you every single time. The flavor was distracting, and I think the sweet potatoes are just too moist to get the proper crackle that I've come to expect with a good potato chip. 

I tried the original chips first, allowing them to set the stage for the other chips I would be tasting for this review. Unfortunately, I didn't find them to be as light and crispy as Lay's, my favorite potato chip brand. The Aldi chips had a briny flavor that coated my tongue, along with a slightly potato-forward undertone that overwhelmed my palate. Unlike the other potato chip flavors on this list, there was no reprieve from the saltiness, which is why this bag ranked lower than some of its more flavorful counterparts. 

If you're after quality, you're better off going with a name-brand potato chip rather than these. You could disguise them by coating them in chocolate or stuffing them into a sandwich for some added crunch, but they're not memorable enough to warrant buying a bag and eating them straight. And that's quite a shame, given the low price. 

As a rule, I'm not a fan of baked potato chips. It seems wrong to take a perfectly crispy, fried chip and stick it in the oven until it's dry and decidedly un-chip-like. There will undoubtedly be a pack that proves me wrong, but I'm yet to find it.

And while the Aldi version of baked chips is slightly better than other baked chips I've had (earning them a higher spot on the ranking than the bottom), they aren't the answer to my prayers. I think they have a snappier texture that makes them more satisfying to eat. Otherwise, though, these chips don't have anything going on. They're as bland as the regular chips, and there's not even a greasy flavor to help distract from the lack of character in the flavor. I would have liked them to have a little bit more flavor, and as it stands, I would not buy these chips again. 

In compiling this list, I tasted a total of four different bags of barbecue chips. By the end, I was certainly barbecue-fatigued. These baked barbecue chips had all the same textural drawbacks as their lower-ranked baked predecessor. They are so mealy, and I don't think anyone would confuse their appearance with that of a regular, plain ol' chip. 

I also have some gripes with the flavor of these chips, mainly that they didn't emulate the same depth of barbecue flavor as my top-ranked selections. I was met with a sweet flavor, but it lacked the smoky notes and complexity you get from a quality barbecue sauce and a good barbecue chip. I was missing something savory and salty to tie the flavors together and really make the chip remarkable. They did have slightly more going on than the regular baked chips, enough to put them higher on the list. 

I walked by these chips in the Aldi Aisle of Shame, and I will admit that I was swindled into buying them, thanks primarily to their novelty. I've seen a lot of odd potato chip flavors in my short life, and beer cheese was not one I had come across previously. Try everything once, right?

As we know, Beer cheese has one purpose and one purpose only: Encouraging people to drink more. There's supposed to be some hint of heat from Dijon mustard, ale, and/or spices, but all I got with these kettle chips was a lackluster cheese flavor. I think Aldi could have just called these "cheese kettle chips" and gotten away with it. After I eventually took to licking the chips to try to find the "beer" portion (I'm not ashamed to admit it), I started to find it. I had to close my eyes and think really hard about it, but there was some ale-like flavor to these chips under all that cheese. It's brief and wholly underdeveloped, which is why these chips rank low. Fun and novel? Yes. A good chip? Absolutely not. 

The thought of a Cuban-sandwich-flavored potato chip is a little jarring, and I wasn't a believer until I tried them for myself. These chips are very pickle-forward, and that flavor overwhelms the rest of the bite. It's not the sharp dill of a fresh pickle. Instead, it's more like those shelf-stable pickles that have been sitting on the grocery store shelf for who-knows-how-long. As a result, the flavor of these chips is almost stale.

Besides the pickle, there is a little bit of Dijon mustard, but it is butts heads with the pickle undertones. I don't taste anything particularly porky and meaty about these chips. There might be a little Applewood-esque flavor, but it's a far cry from an all-out-Cuban sandwich served by a Miami street vendor. 

While these chips are certainly novel, they don't deliver enough on the Cuban sandwich front to be successful. I also think that their uniqueness limits their versatility. It is easy to imagine snacking on them alongside a ho-hum sandwich, but I wouldn't reach for a bag to snack on solo. There were other novel and unique Aldi chip flavors that were just better conceptualized, pushing the Cuban sandwich chip to the middle of my list. 

When I say that I could take or leave barbecue chips on the whole, these are the chips that I'm referring to. Sure, they boast some solid hickory notes, and there is a mostly sweet, almost-maple profile to them, but I don't really think there is anything special besides that. Each to their own, of course.

One of the main issues with these chips is that they were sweet — too sweet for my liking. There wasn't enough salt to counteract the sweetness and convince my hand to drift back to the bag for another handful. I do think they were a little more savory than the baked barbecue chips, allowing them to rank substantially higher. Nonetheless, I found that the barbecue seasoning was not standardized across all the chips in the bag, so I encountered a few that were well-seasoned and others that were like regular chips impersonating barbecue ones. Compounded with a mealy consistency, this pushed these barbecue chips away from the top of my list. 

Jalapeño and ranch are far from my favorite flavors of anything, so I wasn't too keen to see that Clancy's united them in one pack of ridged potato chips. However, the combination does make some sense. After all, the neutral and buttermilk-like ranch could quell any heat from the peppers and make for a more balanced bite. 

The little flakes of jalapeño on these chips are small, and there's something acidic in the background that meets the peppery undertones. I would be hesitant to call it a distinct "ranch" flavor. I wanted something more buttermilk-like and rich, but I didn't get that from these chips. I will give Aldi some credit, as the pepperiness was controlled enough to the point where it prickled by taste buds without assaulting them.

I think some dill or other herbs could have brought some balance to these chips and sold me more on the ranch component. They're peppery and have something going on, and I think someone who appreciates the flavor and freshness of jalapeños would like them very much. I'm just not one of those people. Still, a solid mid-table finish for these chips.

I wasn't aware that Aldi carried cheddar and sour cream chips. If I were, I would have bought a bag sooner. These chips have a slightly more well-rounded flavor than the beer cheese chips, and I got the feeling of dipping my hand into a bag of Cheetos (in the best way). They have that plasticky, definitely-not-real-cheese flavor that's more butter than cheese. They're not a high-end chip, but they do the job, particularly if you're hungover and craving something greasy. 

What would have really sealed the deal was if they were a kettle chip instead of a normal potato chip. Like the original and sour cream and onion flavors, these had a slightly mealy texture that made eating one of them a little less than satisfying. I'm also missing out on that sour cream flavor. Aside from a slight tanginess on the back end, there's very little creaminess to balance the richness of the cheese. I would buy these again if I were headed to Aldi to pick up a bag of chips of my choosing, but that isn't enough for them to break into the top five. 

I will almost always choose kettle chips over the classic ones, except for certain circumstances. I think kettle-cooked ones boast a far better texture and are, overall, more satisfying than a regular ol' chip will ever be. Again, taste is subjective, but something about a kettle chip really hits the spot.

These are not the best kettle chips I've ever had — that honor is reserved for the one and only Cape Cod — but they have a far better texture than the original chips and a less salty flavor profile. These chips are crunchy and all different sizes, with a solid number of folded-over chips tossed into the bag for good measure. Ideally, these chips would be a little crispier. The kettle chips had just enough crunch to be passable, but I would still like to see a little bit more from Clancy's in the texture department to truly set them apart from other brands. It would still be a bag I would buy and take to the beach, earning it a spot near the top of this chip hierarchy. 

The Nashville hot chicken kettle chips have been calling my name, and I finally reached the point where I needed to give in. I will say this with full disclosure: I don't eat meat, and I've never sampled the iconic Nashville hot chicken before. But you don't have to take a stand on the Dave's versus Hattie B's debate to have high hopes for these kettle chips. 

If you take a look at the color of these chips, you can assume that the flavor you're getting will be bold. I don't have a high tolerance for spice, but I could still get through these chips without my eyes watering. There is a paprika and pepper undertone to them that's somewhat hot sauce-like, and it leaves a subtle burn on your palate as you swallow them. You could probably dip these chips into some ranch or sour cream to tamp down the spice a little bit, but all in all, they're far from the spiciest chip I've eaten. If you want to experience true "Nashville Hot," I would recommend looking elsewhere, because these chips won't give you the spicy explosion you crave. However, they add just enough flavor to the classic kettle chip to make them worth buying over the plain version. 

The smell of Clancy's hot barbecue chips was intoxicating. I don't like barbecue chips on the whole, largely because I think they have a little too much going on, but that same reason is why I really liked Clancy's hot barbecue chips. The smell in the bag is like an uncapped container of liquid smoke put in front of a fan. It's strong, woodsy, and draws you in to grab a chip. 

The "hot" and "bursting with flavor" claims are genuine, and these chips have a sweet, Applewood-smoked flavor with some undertones of hickory. The chips are quite sweet, but that sweetness is accompanied by a paprika-like warmth that makes your taste buds quake. The heat level is not oppressive to where you need to chug a glass of milk afterward, but it could knock you off your feet if you're not expecting it.

One of the reasons why I ranked these chips highly was because they delivered on the heat yet remained deliciously moreish. I also found the chips lighter and less mealy than Clancy's other chips, like the original and sour cream and onion. They just didn't have the same great texture as my top two chips, so it is a bronze medal for the hot barbecue.

Okay, I think that I can consider myself a barbecue chip convert now, especially after tasting these fantastic mesquite barbecue kettle chips. While similar chips on this list boasted a flavor that was more on par with something Applewood-smoked or hickory, these clearly tied themselves back to the dry rub magic of mesquite. They are bold and salty, and I appreciated that the sweetness level was a little dialed back here, allowing the savory elements of the chip to shine through. 

This chip reminds me of sitting on a beach at sunset, which is why it ranked higher than some of the other flavors. I think that the flavor was a little less versatile than my top pick, though even I can admit that these chips are super, super satisfying. Tremendous, in all the right ways.

As previously mentioned, I'm not a jalapeño person, but even I can admit that these chips boast an impressive flavor. Whereas the lower-ranked jalapeño and ranch chips only really had a slight prickle of spice, these brought the pepper flavor to the forefront, along with a little bit more salt. I found that the salt improved the overall flavor of the chip and really helped make this packet more addictive than the other chip flavors that I sampled for this review. 

Again, the spice here isn't overwhelming, and it's about as fresh as can be in a shelf-stable bag of chips. These chips were well-balanced and flavorful and satisfied my craving for something salty and indulgent. It wasn't a difficult decision to award these jalapeño kettle chips the prestigious title of "top chip." 

In order to rank these chips, I had to eat a lot of chips. Along the way, I considered several factors, including the texture, taste, and how satisfying each flavor was. Potato chips should be indulgent and salty, and I ranked bags with a more unique (and fleshed-out) flavor higher than those that didn't really pack a full-bodied taste. The top-performing chips on this list were versatile and flavorful and would ultimately be ones I would consider stocking in my own pantry.