We Ranked 20 Different Lay's Flavors and the Winner is One You've Probably Never Tried

Lay's Chips Ranked

As we here in the U.S. stock up for our Memorial Day cookouts and parties, potato chips are sure to be a staple on everyone’s shopping list.

With so many brands, varieties and flavors of potato chips to choose from, it can be tough to decide which to pick—but we’re here to help. We’ve done rankings of other potato chip brands—including the best Utz chips and the best salt and vinegar potato chips—and now it's time to test another iconic brand: Lay's.

Lay’s is one of the most well-known legacy potato chip brands. The company has been making potato chips for more than 75 years and is proud of its history of using potatoes carefully grown on specially chosen farms. They stick with a proven technique that produces a signature taste and texture that Lay’s fans have come to know and love.

The only issue? There are a LOT of Lay's flavors, which can make choosing one a little overwhelming. To help you make the best choice for you in the chip aisle, we tasted our way through 20 different bags of Lay's chips to rank the best Lay's potato chip flavors from worst to best.

How We Tested These Chips

I enlisted the help of several other members of my chip-loving family and we crunched our way through 20 of the most popular Lay’s flavors. After we each recorded our weighted rankings, I averaged out the results to create this ranking.

Related: The Best Tortilla Chips, Ranked

20 Lay's Potato Chips Flavors, Ranked Worst to Best

It's crunch time! Read on for all the salty details from this epic snack fest.

20. Lay's Chile Limón Potato Chips

This flavor definitely isn’t subtle—the combination of spicy chilies and zesty limes hits you like a punch to the gut. Whereas you can eat some chip flavors mindlessly by the handful, that’s not the case with this variety, as every bite has a powerful zing. It has a strangely unique flavor which wasn’t a winner for us, but might be worth trying if you like your chips spicy.

19. Lays' Sweet & Spicy Honey Potato Chips

The name of this variety clearly tells you what to expect. Although this variety tries to appeal to fans of two major chip flavor profiles, in the end, it doesn't fully satisfy eitherTh of them. It has two distinct flavors, but the combination might be a little too sweet for some and too spicy for others. We noticed that you get the sweet flavor first, then the heat hits you a bit later.

18. Lay's Limón Potato Chips

This option is like Chile Limón without the heat. It has a sharp lime flavor that reminded us of lime-flavored Tostitos. We imagined this might be what chips would taste like if they were coated with lime soda and the artificial flavor wasn’t a winner for us.

17. Lay's Wavy Funyuns Potato Chips

If you like Funyuns, you’ll gobble up these chips—especially if you're a fan of the wavy-style chips. Your appreciation for these chips will depend largely on how much you like onions. With the wavy texture, they would be great for scooping up sour cream and onion dip. Then again, you could just save yourself a step and go with the Sour Cream & Onion variety instead.

16. Lay's Kettle Cooked Sea Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips

This variety combines two elements that each tend to provoke strong opinions— vinegar flavor and kettle-cooked texture. If you really like both of those, you'll love these chips, but if you’re lukewarm on either component, you’d be better off opting for a variety that’s more specifically focused on the flavor or texture you prefer.

15. Lay's Kettle Cooked Original Potato Chips

I’ll admit, most of the taste-testers in my family prefer chips that have more of a light and airy texture, so we’re a little biased against kettle-cooked chips. We find them a bit too hard and crunchy for our liking—but this variety has the classic Lay’s taste, so if you like kettle-cooked chips, this is a solid choice.

14. Lays' Sweet Southern Heat Barbecue Potato Chips

This variety has a sweet, mild flavor. It’s a good choice for people who don’t like their chips overly spicy because Lay’s didn’t go heavy on the heat with this one. We liked these fine, but they just didn’t stand out enough to make it into our top ten.

13. Lay's Dill Pickle Potato Chips

My son described this flavor as “similar to salt & vinegar, but with training wheels.” There’s definitely a hint of vinegar, but it’s not as intense as you’d find with salt & vinegar chips. We’re fans of all things pickle-related, so we gave these a thumbs up, but ranked them in the middle of the pack.

12. Lay's Kettle Cooked Mesquite BBQ Potato Chips

Compared to other BBQ varieties, this flavor seems more subtle—at least at first. It increases in intensity (slightly) after a moment. This is a great BBQ option for those who like kettle-cooked chips, but we liked some of the other BBQ varieties better.

11. Lay's Kettle Cooked Jalapeño Potato Chips

If you like kettle-cooked chips and enjoy flavors with a moderate amount of kick, you should try these. Sometimes jalapeño flavoring can be overbearing, but these chips have just the right amount of heat.

10. Lay's Kettle Cooked Flamin Hot Potato Chips

Here’s a kettle-cooked variety for those who like to turn up the heat. This has straight heat—we felt it was the spiciest among all the flavors we tried. Two warnings: these chips are coated in a red powder that will leave remnants on your hands—and we advise eating these slowly because the heat builds, so you might overdo it and realize a little too late that it feels like your mouth is on fire.

Related: Kettle Brand Chips' New Korean-Inspired Flavor Will Delight Your Taste Buds

9. Lay's Sour Cream & Onion Potato Chips

Sour cream and onion is one of our favorite potato chip flavors, and Lay’s delivers the rich taste you would expect from this variety. We definitely enjoyed these and think they're an excellent representation of this classic flavor. We would have ranked them higher if there hadn’t been other varieties we found more exciting.

8. Lay's Cheddar Jalapeño Potato Chips

Unlike the kettle-cooked jalapeño variety mentioned above, this variety has the classic potato chip texture we prefer. It also has just the right balance of rich cheddar and jalapeño, without being too spicy. We’ve heard these can be tough to find in stores, so we’d suggest stocking up if you do spot them.

7. Lay's Wavy Original Potato Chips

This variety doesn’t try to be fancy or hit you with too much extra flavor. This classic chip delivers exactly what you expect: the signature Lay’s flavor in a wavy format. We loved using it to scoop our favorite dips because the flavor of this chip complements their flavors perfectly and the ridges help grab onto every last drop of dip.

6. Lay's Barbecue Potato Chips

Here’s another one that’s reliable and delivers what you expect, which makes it a perfect go-to comfort food. It has the traditional BBQ flavor without any enhancements, and with the classic light texture. We could eat this variety every day and will make sure to have it on hand for every cookout.

5. Lay's Cheddar & Sour Cream Potato Chips

You might be seeing a pattern here: we're a sour cream-based flavor crowd. We consider cheddar and sour cream to be a winning combination and are happy to report that this variety didn’t disappoint. We didn’t feel the need to add any dip because these chips are packed with deliciously satisfying flavors that don’t need anything else.

4. Lay's Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips

We realize salt and vinegar is a flavor that tends to be polarizing—people either love it or hate it, with no apparent middle ground. We happen to be in the “love it” camp, and if you too are a fan of this flavor, you will love this classic Lay’s take on it. The chips are thin and crispy and the coating is perfectly tangy. Eat these solo or add them to a fish sandwich for a fun upgrade (or make a fried fish sandwich using crushed chips as the breading).

Related: We Ranked the 12 Best Salt & Vinegar Chips, Including a Small, Fan-Favorite Brand

3. Lay's Classic Potato Chips

This variety probably doesn’t need a lot of explanation. It’s the tried-and-true traditional potato chip flavor, with the signature light and thin texture of classic Lay’s. This iconic yellow bag is a reliable winner that’s always a hit in our house.

2. Lay's Summer Fiesta Salsa Fresca Potato Chips

We didn’t quite know what to expect from this variety, since it was a bit of a mystery. Salsa Fresca is a recently launched limited-edition summer flavor, so it was the wild card in our taste test lineup. It ended up throwing us a curveball, but in a delightfully delicious way! It has a one-of-a-kind flavor—and in this case, that’s a good thing. There’s a zesty hint of lime and a flavor-packed salsa element that usually requires dipping your chips in a heaping serving of salsa. This flavor likely won’t stick around for long, so grab as many as you can while you have the chance.

1. Lay's Wavy Hickory BBQ Potato Chips

With so many great options in this lineup, it was tough to pick a winner, but we all really loved this variety. It has a wavy texture that’s hearty and perfect for scooping, not that you’ll need to add any dip because this has a sweet BBQ flavor that perfectly hits the mark of being robust and satisfying without being too spicy or too sweet. The wavy texture is a fun way to mix up your standard bbq chip game. This one is perfect for all of your summer outings (picnics, cookouts, beach days).

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