The best sour cream and onion chips are creamy, fatty, pungent, and salty. They should be tangy and herbaceous, and should also fill your mouth with a bold onion flavor (a high tolerance for stanky breath is a must). The potato chip itself should be tasty, too—crispy, crunchy, and potato-y. We set out to find the best sour cream and onion potato chips you can buy.
This taste test was all kinds of mixed up. You’ll notice that several grocery store brands outperformed the well-known chip companies. Whole Foods, Kroger, and Great Value don’t always place in our chip rankings, but here they did very well. I thought chip companies like Herr’s, Utz, and Dirty would do far better, but they just couldn’t hang with the generics. Maybe that’s because sour cream and onion chips are the official chips of watching sports. Perhaps grocery stores, to keep our watch-party bowls filled, make better sour cream and onion chips. Sour cream and onion are big-bag chips; you don’t see many small bags of the flavor hanging out in delis and sandwich shops. That tells me they’re mostly meant for big groups—and these six are a must for your next football watch party.
The following article contains affiliate links that may generate a small commission to us when you make a purchase through the link. Learn more about how we work with affiliates here.
- Whole Foods 365 Sour Cream & Onion Chips
-
A Whole Foods product taking the number one spot, let alone for the best sour cream and onion chip, is a stunner. These are superb, quintessential, and, quite honestly, what a Lay’s Sour Cream & Onion chip should be. There’s more onion flavor in this bougie bag than in any other bag we opened. And that onion flavor doesn’t feel like straight onion powder, either—it’s deep and nuanced. There’s a lovely tang from the buttermilk powder and sour cream powder, and the addition of sea salt adds more depth than just straight-up iodized salt. There’s a little parsley, too, so these chips appear speckled with herbs and make you want to eat them. They’re not too greasy, either; you can really keep munching on these things and not feel too gross. Tangy, salty, and delightfully pungent, Whole Foods Sour Cream & Onion chips are a solid if surprising number one.
Credit: Paula Kunatee/Amazon
- Cape Cod Sour Cream & Onion Kettle Cooked Potato Chips
-
Instead of using straight onion powder, Cape Cod utilizes green onion as well. The flavor here is bold but also quite mild; you can really keep eating these without feeling like your breath is going to be harsh. The aftertaste is just perfect, the type of thing that keeps you coming back to the bag. Cape Cod’s chips are alluringly crunchy with a strong potato flavor. Couple that with a well-rounded sour cream and onion flavor, and you’ve got a winner. I wrote down in my notes that these tasted savory, too.
Credit: Paula Kunatee/Instacart
- Herr’s Sour Cream & Onion Ripple Potato Chips
-
I got a box filled with 12 small bags of these chips that I just keep on my desk for when I want a little afternoon snack. These chips have a classic sour cream and onion flavor, but they’re ridged, too. These “ripple” chips are light, crispy, tangy, and delicious. They’re high in saturated fat and salt, but that’s why I like munching on these one small bag at a time. It’s a delicious, indulgent snack you can eat in small quantities. Not the best sour cream and onion chip, but the best sour cream and onion chip that comes in a small bag for sure.
Credit: Paula Kunatee/Target
- The Good Crisp Company Sour Cream & Onion Potato Crisps
-
Big news: The Good Crisp Company is superior to Pringles. At least that’s the conclusion we’ve drawn on more than one occasion in our potato chip taste tests. Their plain crisps ranked higher than Pringles in our plain chip ranking, and the sour cream & onion version was far superior to Pringles, too. They’re far crunchier than Pringles, and the flavor here is probably the most onion-y of the entire lot. These will seriously leave a lasting impression on your mouth, so, beware if you’re sensitive to a little onion stank on your breath.
Credit: Paula Kunatee/Amazon
- Great Value Sour Cream & Onion Potato Chips
-
I really, really like these chips, and they’re truly only coming in just behind the other chips ranked ahead of them. Great Value’s sour cream and onion chips contain a tangy and bold sour cream flavor, and a savory umami taste from the MSG. Somehow, these have less salt and fat than Herr’s. This is also an enormous, intimidating bag of chips. They’re the best sour cream and onion chips to put in a bowl at a party thanks to their excellent price point.
Credit: Paula Kunatee/Walmart
- Kroger Sour Cream & Onion Potato Chips
-
I love Kroger’s branding with these chips, which have the words “Sour Cream & Onion” taking up most of the white space on the bag. These chips are so creamy, more so than the others, and I’m guessing it’s because they include a small amount of blue cheese in the ingredients. They bring a great onion flavor that doesn’t overstay its welcome. The chips are also quite thin and do this fun thing where they dissolve in your mouth. I was really impressed with these chips and will absolutely be buying them again.
Credit: Paula Kunatee/Instacart
Best of the Best
Best Crunch
Best Small Bag
Best Surprise
Best for a Party
Best Secret Ingredient
Other products we tried: Lay’s, Lay’s Stax, Ruffles Cheddar Sour Cream, Popchips, Utz, Boulder Canyon, Pringles, Clancy’s, Dirty’s, Sunchips French Onion, Late July.
Find the best foods at home and share with us using #SporkedTasteTest for a chance to be featured on our social pages!
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!