Dirty Potato Chips: What Are They And Where To Find Them

You don't often see the word dirty in the snack food aisle. After all, nobody wants to think of their food as unclean, but Dirty Kettle Style Potato Chips decided to embrace the word as an homage to where potatoes begin and made it the name of its brand. What makes these chips dirty is also what makes them unique. Since 1986, the chips have been cooked the same way: Potatoes are partially peeled, sliced, and then fried without having their natural starch or juices rinsed off. In other words, they are left dirty. Rinsing sliced potatoes keeps them from sticking together in the fryer, streamlining the production process, but Dirty chips attributes their superior crunch and flavor to skipping the wash, even though it requires more stirring while frying so they don't clump together.

Although it was started as a small company in Tennessee, that is not who owns Dirty Kettle Style Potato Chips today. The company is one of several snack food brands owned and distributed by Utz Brand, Inc. Its portfolio includes Zapp's, Boulder Canyon, and, of course, Utz itself to name just a few. Being part of a large brand also helps with distribution and, using the store locator, Dirty Kettle Style Potato Chips can be found across the country at major retailers like Walmart in addition to being sold online via Amazon and directly from the company.

There are 10 flavors of Dirty Kettle chips. Although this is a smaller list than its parent brand, as we found out when we ranked 22 flavors of Utz, it's still a big enough range to cover the most popular flavors and then branch out into more unique offerings. There are the expected sea salt, salt and vinegar, and barbecue options along with more distinctive flavors like Maui Onion and Funky Fusion, which is described as a blend of flavors including barbecue and salt and vinegar. Dirty even offers a salted sweet potato chip for someone looking for a different potato experience altogether.

When we ranked the best chip brands, Dirty Kettle Style Chips landed a respectable eighth place out of 20. Our taster enjoyed each flavor they sampled and found the seasoning to be generous and the promised deep crunch and potato taste to be delicious. It is well-worth looking for one of the brightly colored bags adorned with the image of a few dirty potatoes at the store the next time you shop.