Are potato chips good for you?
Nope. They’ve got sodium, fat, and carbs.
Are they tasty?
Yes. Yes, they are.
I’m always on the hunt for good potato chips. Sometimes I’ll get sturdier chips in a can. Other times, I’ll seek out conventional chips in a bag. I may want them seasoned just with salt, or I might want them with sour cream and onion, or maybe even barbecue flavor.
Apparently there are chips that answer “all of the above” to the question of what flavor you want. Popular in Canada, these “all dressed” chips typically include ketchup, barbecue sauce, sour cream and onion, and salt and vinegar. They’ve slowly been making their way south in recent years, and not long ago we profiled the Aldi take on this chip flavor mashup. That’s why, when we saw a similar product land on the shelves of Aldi’s distant cousin, Trader Joe’s, we decided to do some comparisons. Also of note: TJ’s promoted these in their early summer 2023 Fearless Flyer advertisement.
Trader Joe’s Patio Potato Chips can be found on the shelves of Trader Joe’s, typically as a summer seasonal item. At the time of this post, a 6-ounce bag costs $2.69, or around 45 cents an ounce. That’s higher than the 23 cents an ounce we paid for the Aldi version.
Appropriately, the back of the bag indicates that it is a product of Canada.
The bag declares that these are a “mixed bag of sea salt and vinegar, delicious dill, homestyle ketchup, and smokin’ sweet BBW flavored potato chips.” Based on that and the pictures on the bag, you might think this was a grab bag of different potato chips, but on inspection it looks more like these are potato chips that have all of these things on each chip.
There’s a lot going on in the ingredients list, including various seasonings that help create the advertised flavor. Each 1-ounce / 11-chip serving runs 140 calories, 8 grams of fat, 270 milligrams of sodium, and 17 grams of carbs. No cholesterol, though, and the rest of the nutrition is in line with other dressed chips like these.
The chips contain one allergen, milk.
We liked these. They definitely sport the punch of the various flavors, from the distinct ketchup and barbecue flavors to the kick of the vinegar. We weren’t sure how these would come together, but the flavors just work. The chips themselves are lightly ruffled and have a nice crisp crunch to them, too. We think these pair nicely with a sandwich or other lunchtime fare. In addition, while we liked the Aldi chips, we think the Trader Joe’s version is superior.
The chips alongside a Trader Joe’s Turkey Apple Cheddar Sandwich.
The Verdict:
Trader Joe’s is good at bringing foods from outside the local rut, and that’s certainly the case here. These Canadian all-dressed potato chips — or what TJ’s calls Patio Potato Chips — are delightful little chips with saltiness, a bit of sweet, and a tiny bit of vinegar kick to create a truly flavorful experience atop a lightly ruffled crunch. They’re more expensive than some alternatives, but they also taste better. We think these are well worth taking a flyer on if you happen to be a potato chip fan.
Half a million years ago, when I was at Penn State I discovered a regional potato chip brand with excellent taste, Middleswarth. Upon graduating and moving on, I never found another brand that tasted quite as good… until I stumbled upon Grandma Utz’s, and together with it the secret to its great taste. LARD!