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

Salt & Vinegar Chips ranked

Just about everyone loves potato chips—but not everyone is wild about the salt and vinegar variety. This is one of those “love ‘em or hate ‘em” foods that seem to evoke strong feelings among snackers. In my family, we're strongly in the "love 'em" camp, so we were excited to take on the challenge of ranking the best salt and vinegar chips out there.

As you can probably guess from the ingredients in the name, salt & vinegar chips are both salty and tangy. The ideal chip in this category should be tart enough to make your mouth pucker. This is no place for wimpy or subtle flavors.

Most diehard salt and vinegar aficionados say the key to success is a strategically balanced combination of flavors and textures that makes for a taste explosion. “Essential to a good salt and vinegar chip is that you be able to taste the potato and the salt but it also has a nice bite from the vinegar,” says potato chip and sandwich expert Barry Enderwick.

Related: 12 Popular Tortilla Chips, Ranked Worst to Best

The 12 Best Salt & Vinegar Chips, Ranked

My family includes several “salt and vinny” fans, so we have some firsthand expertise in this area. Armed with that experience and some input from online reviews and thoughts from Enderwick, we ranked our top salt & vinegar chips, from fine to absolutely unforgettable.

12. Utz Salt ‘n Vinegar Potato Chips

YouTuber Spencer Does Reviews noted that these Utz chips were “heavy on the vinegar,” so these will definitely appeal to those who are fans of a tangy salt and vinegar snack. We actually think they were pretty generous with the salt shaker, as we felt the salt component was the stronger element. These are still a tasty treat, but not as balanced as some of the other options.

11. Spudlove Organic Sea Salt & Vinegar Thick-Cut Potato Chips

These chips from Spudlove are thick-cut, so they may not be a hit with those who prefer the classic thinner-style chip, but they are perfect for those who like chips with some heft and substance. They’re organic and taste very potato-y, which is something we really like.

10. Herr’s Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips

Herr’s is a brand known for chips that have a robust potato taste – and that’s true with this variety, too, despite the fact that salt and vinegar can both be overpowering. These chips are sturdy and crunchy, but they might be a little too intense for most snackers.

9. Siete Sea Salt & Vinegar Chips with a Hint of Serrano

TikToker @julianburzynski loves these Siete chips—and likes the “extra kick” that hits you like a delayed reaction—but says they’re not like the standard salt & vinegar chip, and we have to agree. They may not necessarily be exactly what you’d expect, but that just means they stand in a class by themselves.

Related: All 29 Utz Potato Chip Flavors Ranked, From Worst to First

8. Nantucket Crisps Steps Beach Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips

This salt & vinegar variety gets its name from an out-of-the-way beach in Nantucket. Like their namesake beach, these chips are a bit off the radar but worth the effort to track down at a store near you. They have a unique texture that’s more than a flat chip yet not exactly like your typical kettle chip (the company says that’s due to their unique frying process that gives the chips a soft crunch).

7. Zapp’s New Orleans Kettle-Style Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips

These Zapp’s chips have a lot going on. They’re kettle chips, which means you can expect a hearty crunch. And the New Orleans recipe gives them plenty of kick. This is a loud, spicy chip that won’t be ignored. They might be just a little too extreme for some tamer taste buds.

6. Route 11 Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips

Compared to the potato chip industry giants, Route 11 is a tiny operation, but they like it that way. By focusing on small batches, they can give each chip their full attention, to ensure quality control and make sure every bag of chips delivers that perfectly tangy flavor you want in a salt & vinegar chip. And they aced that mission, as these chips are delicious.

5. Miss Vickie’s Sea Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips

If you could whip up a batch of amazing salt and vinegar chips yourself at home, it would probably taste something like these chips from Miss Vickie’s. The flavor is what you would imagine handmade chips created with care in small batches would taste like, and they have a kettle-cooked crunch. The strength of this flavor isn’t quite as powerful as some of the others, but it’s still perfectly satisfying.

Related: The Easiest Way to Upgrade Store-Bought Chips

4. Lay’s Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips

These chips from Lay’s are among the most popular in this category, and for good reason. They're a thinly cut chip, which many people prefer, and they strike the perfect balance of tart and salty. It’s a reliable favorite that we frequently break out at parties, and it’s consistently satisfying.

3. Kettle Sea Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips

If you like your chips tart, thick, and crunchy, these will probably be your idea of heaven. They’re tangy and bitter to the max. TikToker @scrutmonkey liked the salt/vinegar balance and gave them a 9 out of 10. Other TikTokers crunched them up as breading for fish or layered them on a sandwich.

2. Martin’s Sea Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips

These chips from Martin’s earned top marks from Enderwick, who noted that he got that “vinegar bite” right away—and in fact the strong smell of vinegar hit him as soon as he opened the bag. They have a thicker texture, which Enderwick likes because you can still taste the potatoes despite the strength of the vinegar. The only issue? They're only available in stores from New York to North Carolina, so if you see them, you might want to stock up.

1. Cape Cod Sea Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips

These salt and vinegar chips from Cape Cod are our personal favorites. They disappear almost instantly as soon as we bring them home from the store. To us, there’s just the right amount of salt and vinegar, but you also get plenty of potato goodness. They’re kettle-cooked, which means they are thick and crunchy. While Enderwick didn’t love these quite as much as we do, he still gave them a bragworthy 4.4 out of 5.

Next up: The 15 Best Trader Joe's Dips, Ranked by a Former Employee