Review: Lay’s Sriracha Potato Chips 

When I first heard about the new Lay’s Sriracha potato chips, I got pretty excited. In fact, I remember saying to myself, “Well, it’s about damn time somebody made these!”

Because they were released as part of the (potentially limited-time) Lay’s “Do Us A Flavor” promotion, it was a little difficult to find a bag to try. After multiple emails to the Lay’s PR team went unanswered and several unsuccessful trips to local markets, Mr. Brad Burgess (@jharm73) was kind enough to heed my cries on Twitter, sending me a few bags (along with some awesome Tröegs beer! w00t.) in exchange for a signed copy of The Sriracha Cookbook. Thank you, Brad!

So. The chips. In a word? Meh. Yeah, they were a little tasty, but the flavor was—sadly—NOTHING like Sriracha. A bit of nice heat, yes, but the sweetness and the fermented garlic you and I know and love is completely absent, and the flavor of the chiles is very nondescript. More like dried cayenne pepper than fresh red jalapeño in my opinion.

Know why? Because there is no Sriracha in these chips. They’re “Sriracha-flavored” which is techno-speak for “chock full of powders.” And one look at the label corroborates this hunch, and draws even more questions. Like why all the cheese? These chips for some unknown reason contain sour cream, whey, cream cheese, Cheddar cheese, and Swiss cheese… five ingredients that have as much to do with Sriracha as Vin Diesel has to do with the Oscars.

Tyler Raineri—homeboy who originally suggested the flavor as part of Lay’s contest—may get the $1,000,000 prize if Sriracha gets more votes than the other two chip varieties he’s up against: Cheesy Garlic Bread and Chicken & Waffles. Can’t be mad at him for that… but if I was him, I’d be a little mad at Lay’s for being so far from the mark with their formulation.

Who knows… maybe another company can step in and do it right? “Rooster Sauce Ruffles” certainly has a nice ring to it…