Clancy’s Baked Potato Crisps

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Baked potato chips are one of my favorite types of chips after Sun Chips and Doritos. I like the crisp and crunchy texture of baked chips, and the fact that they’re less greasy than traditional potato chips is a bonus. Any time my family attends an event hosted by our school district that involves food (a fall festival, for instance), we’re accustomed to seeing individual bags of Lay’s baked chips get passed out along with hot dogs and apples.

Aldi sells its own brand of baked potato chips under its Clancy’s private label. They come in two flavors: original and barbecue. My family is well acquainted with Aldi baked chips.

I often pack snacks and fixings for picnic lunches at rest stops when my family goes on road trips. If we’re staying in a hotel, we often eat a few packed meals in our room. I stock a cooler with lunch meat, mayo, mustard, and sliced cheese, and I bring a picnic basket with a loaf of bread along with chips, peanuts, a few sweets, other sides, and paper plates, silverware, and napkins.

One thing that often comes along on these trips is Clancy’s Baked Potato Crisps from Aldi. Not only do these picnic and in-room meals save us money and help us eat more healthy (depending on what we’ve packed), but the entire family enjoys relaxing, watching television, and eating in the hotel room at the end of a long, busy, and often exhausting day of vacationing. You’d think the kids would want the novelty of dining out, but they actually love unwinding while eating in after a day of fun. We are admittedly a bunch of introverts.

Clancy’s Baked Potato Crisps are a Regular Buy, so you should be able to find them at Aldi any time of year. They’re stocked among all the regular potato chips, tortilla chips, and other snacks.

Clancy’s Baked Potato Crisps cost $2.99 for a 6.25-ounce bag at the time of writing. That’s about 48 cents per ounce.

For comparison, I found Lay’s Baked Chips on sale at Walmart for $3.50 for a 6.25-ounce bag at the time of writing. That’s about 56 cents per ounce. So the Aldi chips are the better deal by a bit.

If you’re looking out for allergens, both of the Aldi chip flavors contain soy. These are kosher certified.

The Clancy’s chips claim to have 80% less fat than regular potato chips. That’s also less fat than name-brand Lay’s Baked Chips, which claim to have only 65% less fat that regular potato chips. Breaking it down specifically, a 28-gram serving of the Clancy’s baked chips has 2 grams of total fat and no saturated fat, while a 28-gram serving of the Lay’s baked chips has 3.5 grams of total fat and 0.5 grams of saturated fat. It doesn’t seem like a huge difference, but it’s there.

Otherwise, the Aldi Clancy’s chips and name-brand Lay’s chips are close to identical in terms of calories, sodium, carbs, and added sugars. Their ingredients lists are fairly similar as well, although the Lay’s baked barbecue chips list milk as an allergen, while the Clancy’s chips contain no milk.

Nutrition information and ingredients for the Clancy’s original flavor. (Click to enlarge.)

One 1-ounce serving (about 13 chips) of the original chips has 120 calories, while one 1-ounce serving of the barbecue chips has 110 calories. One serving of either flavor will also net you 2 grams of total fat (3% DV), no saturated fat, 140 mg of sodium (6% DV), 22 grams of total carbohydrates (8% DV), 1 gram of dietary fiber (4% DV), and 2 grams of total sugars. The original chips have 1 gram of added sugar (2% DV), while the barbecue chips have 2 grams of added sugar (4% DV).

Nutrition information and ingredients for the Clancy’s barbecue flavor. (Click to enlarge.)

We did a side-by-side taste comparison of Clancy’s baked chips and Lay’s baked chips. The Lay’s chips have a lighter, more airy texture, while the Aldi chips are thicker. That’s not a negative; just a difference.

The original chips taste just about the same between the Clancy’s and Lay’s brands. We did notice a big difference in the two brands’ barbecue flavors, though. The Lay’s chips have a mild barbecue flavor with light smoky notes. The Clancy’s barbecue chips have a stronger barbecue flavor and are more zesty and well seasoned. We actually think the Clancy’s barbecue chips taste better than the name brand.

Clancy’s original on the left, Clancy’s barbecue on the right.

Overall, the Clancy’s baked chips hold their own against Lay’s, and I’ll happily continue to buy the Clancy’s versions. Sometimes I’ve seen Aldi sell Clancy’s cheddar and sour cream baked potato chips as a limited-time Aldi Find. I wish Aldi sold that flavor all the time. Otherwise, I have no complaints about these chips.

The Verdict:

Clancy’s Baked Potato Crisps are similar to Lay’s Baked Chips. They have a thicker texture, but they’re good. The Clancy’s chips also have slightly less fat than their name-brand counterparts. Flavor-wise, it’s hard to tell the difference between Clancy’s original and Lay’s original chips. The Clancy’s barbecue chips are superior to Lay’s barbecue chips, in our opinion, with the Clancy’s brand having a lot more flavor. If you like baked potato chips, definitely give these Aldi chips a try.