REVIEW: Lay’s Wavy Do Us a Flavor Korean-Style Fried Chicken Potato Chips

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After far too long an absence from the innovative and fun snacking world, Lay’s Do Us A Flavor is back, baby! The contest that originated in 2012 and birthed interesting standout flavors like Southern Style Biscuits & Gravy has revealed three new finalists for fans to vote on. The most compelling, new, and promising of the three (subjectively, of course) is Wavy Korean-Style Fried Chicken.

The aroma of the chips carries a distinct funk that I immediately pick up as kimchi-adjacent. I get more of a smell that I associate with the often pickled banchan side dishes served at Korean restaurants than the chicken itself, which is usually sticky sweet and full of layers of deep and spicy intrigue.

A strong fermented flavor reveals itself when crunching into the wavy chips, and while I am impressed, I don’t particularly love it. Following the funky pickled cabbage note is the distinct taste of chicken, a dash of garlic-y spice, and merely a whisper of sweetness. Unlike most meaty chips with a smoke flavor to bring a meat-like presence, these actually use chicken broth, chicken powder, and chicken fat in the ingredients to bring that depth of flavor, which works. Whether or not you find it enjoyable is a different story (I don’t love it).

While these chips are impressive in their dedication to the more nuanced and divisive flavors of Korean cooking, I don’t find them particularly enjoyable, and I generally really like Korean fried chicken. The balance feels off, lacking the sweet and spicy punch I want in the front in favor of a heavy-handed amount of pickled banchan that should serve as the complimentary note, not the leading profile. The wavy form-factor does well to pay homage to crispy fried chicken skin, but these are missing out on the elements that make this style of chicken so special and delicious.

Purchased Price: $4.99
Size: 7 1/2 oz bag
Purchased at: Nob Hill
Rating: 5 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (13 chips, 28g) 150 calories, 10 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 140 milligrams of sodium, 15 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 1 gram of total sugars, 2 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Limited Edition Miller Lite Beer Pringles (Grilled Beer Brat, Beer-Braised Steak, and Beer Can Chicken)

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It’s almost Memorial Day, aka the unofficial start of Summer, aka prime grilling season (you know, if you’re the type to relegate your outdoor meat cooking to only one particular time of year).

In the spirit of the season, Pringles is teaming up with Miller Lite beer to bring a few different types of beer-inspired grilled meat potato crisps to store shelves: Grilled Beer Brat, Beer-Braised Steak, and Beer Can Chicken. (If you’ve never had beer can chicken, it’s where you stick an opened can of beer up a chicken’s butt before grilling it, ostensibly to… infuse the chicken meat with the essence of beer? It doesn’t actually make it taste like beer in my experience. Maybe it keeps the chicken moist, I’m no food scientist.) Anyway, although I don’t drink beer nowadays, I DO eat Pringles — and chicken, brats, and steak — so I tried all three.

Beer Can Chicken: The worst of the bunch. Not bad, but not good. Very neutral, in other words. These tasted like regular Pringles, honestly, that were maybe just a little… off. I heard someone online suggest that they tasted like chicken ramen packets, and someone else excitedly agreed, but I didn’t get that sense AT ALL. A Pringle flavored with chicken ramen seasoning would have been much better (though probably not accurate for Beer Can Chicken and chicken ramen seasoning Pringles have already been done). I found myself tired of these after two crisps.

Beer-Braised Steak: Interesting, and better than the BCC, but I wasn’t in love with these, either. There was definitely more of a meaty essence with these — even, dare I say, steak-meat — and a decent charcoal hint at the beginning, but it felt like it was all right up front on the chip, with no nuance or longer-lasting flavor.

Grilled Beer Brat: The best of the bunch, if only because it felt the truest to its intention. Though I still didn’t get any “beer” flavoring, this one nicely mimicked an actual grilled brat. My only complaint was the same as with the Beer-Braised Steak version — the flavoring could’ve used a little more oomph. All of the seasoning seemed to be at the beginning of the tasting, and I didn’t really feel like it warranted eating a bunch to get that good initial taste.

Because I wanted to know if I could trust my taste buds — and the Pringles food scientists to get it right — I blind taste tested each to see if I could pick out which one was which. The Chicken’s blandness was unmistakable — I guessed it on my first go-round. The other two took a bit more work. I initially mixed up which was which, but after having about three of each, I got them correct. Additionally, I tested them on my daughter, who went in with zero knowledge of the intended flavors. She thought the Chicken was “regular Pringles,” Steak was “garlic,” and Brat was “mint.” She also declared that she didn’t like any of them, and was scandalized that I tried to give her beer. Kids, am I right?

Purchased Price: $2.00 (each)
Size: 5.5 oz cans
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 5 out of 10 (Chicken), 6 out of 10 (Steak), 7 out of 10 (Brat)
Nutrition Facts: (14 Crisps) 150 calories, 9 grams of fat, 2.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 170 milligrams of sodium Brat/Steak 180 milligrams of sodium Chicken, 17 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 0 grams of total sugars, and 1 gram of protein.

REVIEW: Utz Limited Edition Lemonade Potato Chips

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Who called them “Lemonade Potato Chips” and not “PotADEo Chips?”

Utz. It was Utz. What kinda question was that? You see the picture. I assume your follow-up question is, “Wait, WHY did Utz make a lemonade flavored potato chip?”

Well, Nosy, I’ll tell ya, Utz partnered with Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation to support childhood cancer research. It’s for a great cause, larger than all of us. Maybe stop asking so many questions, eh?

Ok, it’s getting a little awkward here between my imaginary friend and me, so I’ll just move on.

Lemonade-flavored chips. On the surface, that does seem strange, but I guess it hinges on your opinion of “sweet” chips. I kinda liked those Lay’s Tootie Frootie Oh Rootie or whatever chips. I love lime tortilla chips. I even kinda dug the Chicken and Waffles Lay’s, so a sweet element in a chip has worked for me. Do these?

Yeah, I think they do. Utz made a serviceable lemonade-flavored potato chip. It all starts with the fact that Utz has a classic potato chip to start with.

These look and smell exactly like regular salted potato chips, with maybe a hint of citrus at the end if your schnoz is up to the task of sniffing it out. Lemon didn’t pop my nostrils like I expected, which was encouraging, because I feared these would be overly artificial.

While I like these overall, it’s a bit of a mixed bag… pun intended, I guess. Some chips have a soft sweetness that really pairs well with the salty base chip. Others skip the sweetness entirely and go right to a borderline unpleasant sour blast that lingers a little too long. It’s like one out of every ten chips got dusted with a little too much of that malic acid taste.

The chips themselves are very good, but as I said, I like Utz potato chips. These would be a huge win if each chip had an even coating of salt, sweet lemon, and just a pinch of citric sourness. As they are, I think they’re pretty good. Eat as many chips in one bite as possible to balance the flavors.

I’m not a “finish a bag of chips in one sitting” guy because the grease gets to me, but I polished half the bag of these, only pausing a few times to grimace at the rogue sour chip.

I like ‘em. It’s definitely a good summer chip. I imagine these will have their haters, but I encourage you to pick a bag up, especially with the good cause attached to them.

Lemonade could be the new “hot” trend of the season. It’s a ubiquitous flavor on its own, but we’ve already seen some weird collabs in the chip world, and I shockingly didn’t detest Popeyes’ Pickle Lemonade. If these take off, you can probably expect more brands to milk lemonade for all its worth, and who knows, maybe fudge will be the next seasonal limited edition around the corner.

…I’m sorry. Buy these. Not bad! Good cause!

Purchased Price: $2.94
Size: 7.75 oz. (Family Size)
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (about 20 chips) 150 calories, 9 grams of fat, 2.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 170 milligrams of sodium, 16 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 2 grams of sugar, and 2 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Lay’s Do Us a Flavor Bacon Grilled Cheese Potato Chips

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It’s been far too long since we’ve experienced a Lay’s Do Us a Flavor contest. It’s been so long that I don’t even remember when the last one was or what the flavors were without having to Google it.

This year’s crop of flavors includes Valentina & Lime, Korean-Style Fried Chicken, and Bacon Grilled Cheese. Unfortunately, unlike previous years, there’s no definite oddball loser among them that allows the food scientists at PepsiCo to flex their flavor alchemy at the cost of poor sales. So, no Cappuccino potato chips to freak out our taste buds.

Instead, all three of 2025’s Do Us a Flavor finalists have a legitimate chance of winning. However, all the past contests have shown us that the safest flavor wins. So here’s a review of the winner because I believe it’s the safest — Bacon Grilled Cheese.

(NOTE: I haven’t tried any other finalists because, for some reason, when I picked this up at Target, none of them were in stock.)

They’re not the most aromatic chips I’ve had. I notice the smokiness and the cheese, but they’re surprisingly light, even when I shove my face into the bag. Although, I could blame vog allergies for that.

Fortunately, the flavor is noticeably stronger than its scent. Between the cheddar cheese and the bacon, it tastes like there’s a bit more smokiness. If you’ve had the bacon or BLT-flavored Lay’s that come back occasionally, you’ll recognize that these chips have a similar smokiness. The cheese mostly reminds me of cheddar, but the ingredients also list blue cheese, sour cream, and buttermilk, which explains the chip’s pleasant tanginess. With its combination of tastes, I imagine Lay’s could repackage and rename this product without any changes as “Smoked Cheddar” in the future.

Lay’s Do Us a Flavor Bacon Grilled Cheese is a fine finalist, which is surprising because I believe Lay’s Bacon Potato Chips are mediocre. The addition of cheese to the smokiness makes a tremendous difference. However, while these chips are good, they don’t excite my taste buds as much as cheddar & sour cream or sour cream & onion. I wouldn’t be sad if I never got to try these again.

With that said, this chip is good enough and safe enough that it’ll probably win. However, if you love it and it doesn’t win, don’t fret. Like many previous Do Us a Flavor losers that aren’t Cappuccino, Lay’s has brought them back for a limited time.

Purchased Price: $4.00 (on sale)
Size: 7 3/4 oz bag
Purchased at: Target
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (about 16 chips – 28 grams) 160 calories, 10 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 140 milligrams of sodium, 15 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 1 gram of sugar, and 2 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Signature Select Limited Edition Lemon Potato Chips

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While Lay’s isn’t giving us any weird sweet flavors with this year’s Do Us a Flavor contest, there is an oddball seasonal flavor on shelves right now if you happen to live near any Safeway/Albertsons stores or any of their sister grocery chains that are too numerous to list. Signature Select Limited Edition Lemon Potato Chips is part of a massive rollout of lemon-flavored products that are too numerous to list and have been around since spring began.

The idea of lemon-flavored potato chips seems odd to me, but also not so strange at the same time. During my dinner recipe searches, I’ve encountered lemon-flavored dishes that include potatoes, so combining the two isn’t so foreign. But this is the first time I’ve actually tasted lemon and potato anything because I’m too lazy to cook those dishes I found. Also, these chips don’t seem so odd because citrus-flavored tortilla chips are common.

When I first tried them, the lemon was so mild that I was disappointed. With more chips, the sweet and sour citrus flavor somewhat built up, but it sadly never reached a point where I wanted to pucker. The masochist in me had hoped the lemon would be bold enough to force some kind of facial expression that shows uneasiness. Instead, it had a mild citrus flavor that teetered between weird and okay. However, my wife ate two chips, grimaced, handed the bag back to me, and told me they had an odd aftertaste. Apparently, I liked them more than her.

While I didn’t find the flavor offensive, I disliked the cheap quality of the potato chips which seemed thinner than what Lay’s offers and not as crispy. But I guess that’s what you get with store brands sometimes.

Did Signature Select’s Limited Edition Lemon Potato Chips convince me that Big Chip should do a lemon flavor? I’m not sure. But if it happens, I’m always down to try two things that usually don’t go together again. If you have the same spirit and a Safeway/Albertsons or sister store nearby, perhaps allow your taste buds to experience a little adventure.

Purchased Price: $3.49 (on sale)
Size: 8 oz bag
Purchased at: Safeway
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 cup – 30 grams) 180 calories, 12 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 115 milligrams of sodium, 16 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of fiber, 0 grams of sugar, and 3 grams of protein.

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