5. Kettle Cooked Olive Oil and Herbs

The crunch is excellent here, and the olive oil mixes beautifully with rosemary and basil to create a little herbal heat. Moreover, it’s all just so mellow and balanced and pleasant. If a fancy Italian restaurant ever ran out of bread to dip in olive oil & herbs (god forbid), they could substitute Kettle Cooked Lay’s and still be in good shape.

4. Wavy Original

These are the Lay’s equivalent of Fritos Scoops. Similarly flavored to the original, yet not as good. But they’re ultimate dipping chip. On their own, they’re perfectly stackable. Throw some French onion or ranch dip into the mix, and there’s no more formidable chip on the supermarket market.

3. Kettle Cooked Cream Cheese & Chive

Fun personal fact: I make fantastic mashed potatoes, which are lauded for being creamy and salty as hell. The latter happens because I have a heavy hand with my secret weapon, Lawry’s seasoning salt. The former is because of my real ace in the hole, cream cheese, which I use in place of sour cream to make things richer, creamier, and more subtly balanced. I mention this because this unexpected flavor tweak works the same magic in potato chip form. Even a decent sour cream & onion chip still has the aftertaste of sour powdered milk, and it coats your mouth with a film of the stuff. But go with the cream cheese flavor instead? Well, the differences are subtle, but given the double-digit chasm between this entry and Sour Cream & Onion, the subtlety makes a big difference. Now somebody pass the Lawry’s.

2. Cheddar and Sour Cream

The cheese here could taste SUPER fake. But the sour cream truly mellows it out. And, as you can see from the placement of the lightly salted, the extra sodium truly makes a massive difference. Here’s the thing with off-tasting cheese on chips: There’s a reason nacho cheese Doritos don’t taste off-putting despite the multitude of artificial ingredients. Salt makes everything better. And that applies to the Lay’s equivalent. The cheddar is sharp. The cream dulls its edges. And the salt constricts the pores of the tongue to make it all make sense. This is a near-perfect chip. Cardiologist be damned.

1. Original

They’re great alone or with any number of dips. You can put them right on top of sandwiches and burgers. They soak up juices from pickles or hot dog toppings with the zeal of salty, crunchy tofu. They are a thing of savory simplicity. Thin, crispy, appropriately greasy, the original Lay’s is still the best.