As I think I’ve mentioned before, I eat potato chips just about every day at work, for the simple fact they’re easy to pack and go great with sandwiches. Needless to say, the same ol’ chips over and over again get really old, so I tend to seek out the unique stuff. When I saw onion ring flavored chips at Big Lots, they had me hook, line, and sinker. Of course, there are other chips with similar flavors (a certain kind whose name is a combination of “fun” and “onion” immediately springs to mind), but I’ve never seen them available in a rippled chip format, so I was anxious to give these a try.
First taste reaction: These are actually pretty good, and definitely hit the “different” spot of the ol’ taste buds. But they also taste nothing like onion rings. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a very strong, unmistakable taste of onion (if you’re eating these in public, be sure to have plenty of gum on hand), but it reminds me more of a French onion dip than an actual onion ring. There is a generous amount of seasoning on every chip, though, so that’s definitely a good thing–I can’t stand it when there’s uneven flavor distribution throughout a bag.
At the full retail point of $3.79, these are not worth it. But then again, I wouldn’t pay that much for name brand chips; I guess what I’m saying is, no bag of chips is worth paying close to four dollars for, especially considering most chip bags are more air than anything else. Thankfully, I found these at Big Lots for just $2, which is certainly more in line with what I’m willing to pay. I wouldn’t say they’re as good as the name brand onion ring chip, but they are good, and it’s a welcome change of pace from the usual.
A side note: This is but one style in a line of appetizer-inspired chips that, according to the Ripples company website, were “designed by a panel of culinary experts”, something I find to be WAY farfetched (would a culinary “expert” really be satisfied with an onion ring chip that tastes like French onion dip, and work with an unheard-of potato chip company?). Needless to say, the remaining chips in the line range from Buffalo Wing and Blue Cheese, to a Chicken Artichoke Flatbread. Hey, variety is the spice of life!
Overall: 7/10. They taste absolutely nothing like the titular appetizer upon which they are based, instead resembling more of a French onion, but these hit the spot when I was looking for something a little different. At their normal retail price of $3.79, they, like all other chips, are a massive gyp. But at $2 a bag, which they are at Big Lots stores, there’s a bit more value there. These chips are more circus curiosity piece than anything I could eat all the time, but they tasted good and were cheap, and sometimes that’s good enough for me.
