Is everybody ready for this? Because Lay's just took their chips to the next level, and it's awesome. By now we're all familiar with Lay's "Do Us A Flavor" contest. People submit their favorite chip ideas, we try them, we vote on them and one of those becomes a chip forever and ever. (West Coast Truffle Fries 4lyfe!)
As we mentioned a few weeks ago, Lay's has done something different this time with their Passport to Flavor, giving us four chips inspired by the flavors of the world: Chinese Szechuan Chicken, Indian Tikka Masala, Greek Tzatziki and Brazilian Picanha. And because we care (and we love eating chips!) we tried them on your behalf. So how did the chips stack up for us at Cooking Panda? Let's discuss.
4) Chinese Szechuan Chicken
Unfortunately, Chinese Szechuan Chicken was our least favorite of the bunch. I'm even someone who generally enjoys the taste of chicken flavored chips, but this one had a very interesting after taste. As someone said, "It tastes like chicken. And I want to keep eating it. But...I don't." If you do like things with strong flavors that you wouldn't expect in chip form, then this might be your jam. Sadly, it wasn't for us.
3) Indian Tikka Masala
We had such hopes for this one! And while it did have a great crunch, it wasn't as flavorful as we were hoping. I mean, if someone were to give me a bag of these chips, of course I would eat them, but as I was eating, I'd probably be thinking, "If only this was a tad bit spicier." You will definitely appreciate this though if you like Indian food, but can't handle how overpowering some of the flavors can be.
2) Greek Tzatziki
If there was one chip that tasted EXACTLY how you hoped it would, it was this one. The yogurt and cucumber flavors were totally on point, and worked especially well with the wavy texture. It almost made me want to hit up my local Greek restaurant and crumble up these chips all over my gyro. Actually, that's an amazing idea. People of the world! Buy these chips and go do that!
1) Brazilian Picanha
While Greek Tzatziki made a valiant effort, hands down the best flavor is Brazilian Picanha. Before you stop yourself from trying them because they're meat-flavored chips, hear us out! They are DELICIOUS meat-flavored chips! You could taste the smokiness of the steak, which paired perfectly with the garlicky, parsley and oregano flavor from the chimichurri. As someone exclaimed upon trying it for the first time, "Can I just eat these chips forever? Please?"
So do yourself a favor and go pick up all of these chips! Have a taste-test of your own, and let us know how things fared for you. Did you like Szechuan Chicken more than we did? Do you think we're crazy for going with Brazilian Picanha over Greek Tzatziki? Let us know!