Want to find your new favourite crisp? Good Food has it in the bag

If you hadn’t already noticed, we at Good Food are very passionate about our crisps, and can (and often do) easily lose several hours crunching, comparing and contrasting the latest and greatest in the ever-expanding, always-exciting crisp world.

So, what better excuse than Chip Month to share a few of our favourites, old and new, in the hope you might just discover your next go-to, too? From the basic to the bougie, we have suggestions for almost every craving — plus those you didn’t even know you had yet.

When you need a vinegar or pickle hit

Chappy’s Dill Pickle Potato Chips

The past few years have seen some truly questionable pickle-flavoured products enter the market (dill pickle cup noodles, I’m looking at you). But Chappy’s Dill Pickle Chips actually work. They hit the same sharp, tangy notes as salt and vinegar, but with a lovely herby hit of garlic and dill that even non-gherkin fans can appreciate.

The only tricky part is getting your hands on a bag. They’re stocked in posh restaurants and hotels, and in a handful of delis, but your best bet is to order straight from the website – and while you’re at it, grab a couple of bags of the Smoky Tomato too. Erina Starkey

Boulder Canyon Malt Vinegar & Sea Salt Chips

Malt is our vinegar of choice for hot chips from the local fish ‘n’ chipper, so why aren’t more packet crisps using the good stuff? Boulder Canyon’s small-batch, kettle cooking process yields wish-chips a plenty – none too salty – with a subtle sweetness thanks to our malted friend. The sides of my gums welcome the absence of its harsher sibling, particularly after devouring a whole bag. Emily Holgate

SnackaChangi Vinegar & Salt Chips

Whoever did the branding for these New Zealand-made chips: I want what you’re on. The packaging’s cartooned cover stars speak not to salt nor vinegar; instead, a possessed guinea pig leaps at a dishevelled barbecuing man. Of course it does. What’s inside the packet makes a lot more sense. The kettle-fried chips have a corrugation stronger than Colorbond, and a whack of vinegar strong enough to strip a layer from inside your mouth should you eat the whole packet. Mix in some Twisties for a cheesy reprieve. Tomas Telegramma

Proper Crisps Big Cut Dill Pickle Chips

Proper Crisps had me at “dill”. I was mesmerised by the “low and slow” spiel on the bag until I realised I’d unconsciously shovelled the entire bag of zingy, thick-cut goodness into my maw. So, shout out to Philly – the actual human chef named on the pack – for making these chips so ridiculously dilly. Roslyn Grundy

I like it plain but salty

Boulder Canyon Avocado Oil Classic Sea Salt

These are cooked in avocado oil rather than vegetable oil, but don’t let that put you off – this is a very fine chip (and doesn’t taste like avo). The seasoning is even-handed, so it’s salty enough but not so salty that your tongue shrivels. Plus, this small-batch, kettle-cooked chip is brilliantly crunchy.
Sarah Norris

Pringles ‘Original’

The secret to a great long-term relationship is one dependable partner − and a tube of Pringles has never let me down. Are they the most exciting chip on the market? Hell no. It’s ultra-light, there’s very little textural excitement, and the potato flavour is just a whisper. But the salt-to-chip ratio is always right, the packaging still makes me smile, and there’s something I love about seeing the stack of crisps gradually shrink under my hand. Plus, you can find them just about anywhere in the world. Emma Breheny

The “I know this sounds weird, but hear me out” category

Smith’s Tomato Sauce Crinkle Cut Potato Chips

Chips and sauce belong together, so why not combine the two in single chip form? Smith’s did just that a decade ago with the release of these sweet, tangy, tomatoey, slightly spicy crisps. Nothing fancy, in other words, and more like a taste trip back to the ’80s, schoolyard snacks and lazy beach days. Alas, the flavour is a re-released limited edition. Stock up, I say, and may the Tomato Sauce flavour live long and reign supreme. Megan Johnston

The salty crisp/sweet ice-cream combo

This isn’t about which crisp you buy, but how you use it. There’s no better way to have a crisp, in my sugar-addicted opinion, than salty chips mingling with smooth, sweet ice-cream − vanilla or otherwise. Many crisps fit the bill, but I like to keep it simple with Smith’s originals. This isn’t a matter of sprinkling crisps carelessly into your ice-cream tub, either. Dipping one by one is essential to prevent them from going soggy. Try also slamming a Choc Top into the bottom of a bag of crisps at the movies. Isabel Cant

Nong Shim Shrimp Flavoured Chips

If Prawn Cocktail Pringles have put you off seafood-flavoured crisps, that’s understandable. Still, it’s worth giving shrimp chips another go. There are some genuinely great ones out there. I keep coming back to Nong Shim’s Shrimp Flavoured Chips. They’ve got all the appeal of a complimentary bag of prawn crackers – light, airy and properly crunchy, with that savoury, slightly sweet shrimpy hit, and none of the fingertip grease. Best paired with a cold beer and takeaway fried rice. Erina Starkey

Puff, curls, rings and things

Thins Onion Rings

Stop the office. No, literally stop the office because that’s what happened when we graced them with about 20 packets of different chips to eat after Good Food’s recent crisps and chips photoshoot. But one stood out among the rest − Thins Onion Rings. These light and crispy, melt-in-your-mouth snacks are underrated – a perfect moreish snack that our colleagues couldn’t stop going back for more of. Dion Georgopoulos

Cheetos Flamin’ Hot Puffs

If you’ve seen me chowing down a bag of these on a late-night train after a few wines – lethal red dust coating the pads of my fingers, each puff disintegrating in seconds – no, you didn’t. It might not be a classy chip, but it’s my ultimate guilty pleasure, in all its fluorescent glory (the crunchy version in close second place). The capsaicin listed among the ingredients ensures a mouth-numbing, burning sensation reserved only for the true snack masochist. Heed my warning, IBS friends. Emily Holgate

Herr’s Buffalo Blue Cheese Curls

They’re like a 4D Cheeto: lightweight, puffy, cheesy, a little heat, and, most importantly, a tang that doesn’t quit. I don’t know exactly when the Herr’s Buffalo Blue Cheese Curl appeared in our supermarkets, but it’s been the most addictive snack in the chip aisle ever since. I agree, $8 for chips is cooked, but I also saw someone buy a $20 pint of Asahi at the football the other day, so maybe $8 is a modern-day steal. Vinegar + cayenne + cheese + sugar = the divine formula.
Frank Sweet

For the cheese fiend

Brets Au Fromage Du Jura

If drinking orange wine has taught me one thing, it’s that Jura (located between France’s Burgundy and Switzerland) produces excellent skin-contact wine. And what goes with wine? Cheese. Especially in chip form. Made with comté from the region, it delivers a big cheese flavour that’s slightly nutty. I also enjoy the narrow crinkle ridges of this firm-textured chip. Consume with wine.
Sarah Norris

Brets Camembert

So Frenchy, so cheese, these chips have a more refined ruffle than American Ruffles, and the white-rind flavour permeates every chip in the packet. Upon which, the illustrated gooey cheese is perched on red-and-white gingham because this, like the flavour inspiration, is the picnic MVP (and sweeps those overpriced Spanish paint tin crisps under the rug!). Annabel Smith

Red Rock Deli Trio of Cheeses

Intensely cheesy − dusted in cheddar, parmesan and camembert − this is one of the few flavours to graduate from limited edition to shelf staple. An iridescent yellow, the thin crisps are lighter in texture than their Red Rock stablemates, and are the potato chip equivalent of a quattro formaggi pizza, minus the funk of blue cheese. Annabel Smith

My favourite drink, but make it crunchy

Keogh’s Guinness Irish Potato Chips
Guinness + Irish spuds = heaven, and once tried, this crunchy, hoppy combo − like its liquid counterpart − is impossible to stop throwing down your neck. Deep-ridged crisps are sprinkled with dried Guinness to create punchy, malty flavour bombs that are a million times tastier than they sound. Whack a handful between two slices of white buttered bread for an Irish dinner in a dash. Or serve with oysters and a pint of you-know-what. Andy McGinniss

Best for caviar

Burts Lightly Sea Salted

This is a sturdy chip. Which is what you want when escorting caviar to your mouth. Named after owners Richard Burt and his wife Linda, they’re made with premium UK spuds and hand-cooked, before getting a good salting. Caviar isn’t essential to eat this chip, of course, but when you want to be fancy, this is the chip to do it with. Sarah Norris