There’s more to foodie travel than elaborate meals and unusual ingredients. Take snack food for example. It’s fun, it’s affordable, and — let’s face it — it’s delicious!
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Classic potato chips boast timeless flavors, from the simplicity of salty goodness to the zesty allure of sour cream and onion. Tangy barbecue varieties add a smoky twist, while salt and vinegar deliver a mouth-puckering punch. These traditional flavors continue to tantalize taste buds, making potato chips such a popular snack.
So, potato chips are my favorite travel treat, and in Canada, we take our potato chips seriously. From ketchup to lobster to poutine, these are some of the taste sensations to look out for on your next visit.
12 Weird Chip Flavors in Canada
1. Ketchup Chips
To a casual observer, it may well seem like ketchup chips are Canada’s national food. Canadians can get very fired up about how important it is for visitors to try a bag! There’s fierce debate about which brand makes the best ketchup chips but one thing is guaranteed: your fingertips will be bright red when you’re done. And I think your mouth will be very happy. But be warned: ketchup chips are controversial. I love them but there are many anti-ketchup chip eaters out there.
2. All-Dressed Chips
Technically a mix of ketchup, barbecue, sour cream, and onion, and salt and vinegar flavors, all-dressed chips are a true Canadian original. They were first produced by the Yum Yum potato chip company in Quebec in 1978 and their salty, zesty, biting blend of seasonings is irresistible. Ketchup chips may be more famous but all dressed chips are truly beloved — no controversy here.
3. Storm Chips
Like all-dressed, storm chips use a variety of different flavors. However, the spices aren’t mixed together to create one taste sensation. Rather, different potato chips (including creamy dill, homestyle ketchup, smokin’ barbecue, and salt and vinegar) are all mixed together in one bag. If you’re going to the grocery store to grab some snacks before a snowstorm, whatever you choose will have to satisfy your cravings for days until the blizzard passes. Storm chips will give you a little bit of everything.
Pro Tip: The term “storm chips” can also be used for any flavor of chip you stock up on before a storm or lockdown of any kind.
4. Lobster
Talk about a new take on “fish and chips!” It sounds strange, but lobster chips are actually quite tasty. I was a lobster chip doubter until I had my first bag. At first, you taste a mild, sweet flavor, not unlike paprika. It takes a moment for the lobster to hit you! I think they’re the perfect picnic treat (especially if lobster sandwiches are served). This snack is an innovative creation from New Brunswick’s Covered Bridge potato chip company and is only available in a limited production run each year. And, yes, seasoning does contain real lobster.
5. Donair
Just about every region of Canada has its own version of the humble donair (or shawarma, or gyro). As such, it’s surprising that there aren’t more donair-inspired chips but Covered Bridge has developed a delicious one. The recipe is inspired by the sweet, creamy garlic sauce that traditionally accompanies a donair — and it packs one heck of a garlicky punch.
6. The Miss Vickie’s Brand
There are many brands of potato chips in Canada but perhaps none have such a devoted fan base as Miss Vickie’s. This popular brand of kettle-cooked chips first debuted in 1987 and has sold steadily ever since. Fan faves include malt vinegar and sea salt, balsamic vinegar and sweet onion, the sweet Southern barbecue, and spicy dill pickle (my personal favorite).
7. Hickory Sticks
Hickory sticks might just be the perfect Canadian road trip food. This wildly addictive snack is salty, smoky, and smolderingly delicious — and the tiny pieces mean a bag lasts forever.
Chip nerds will be keen to note that hickory sticks are one of the few products that still carry the “Hostess” brand name on the bag. This chip company was once ubiquitous across Canada until it merged with Lay’s. Alas, the new brand did revive the grape, orange, and cherry-flavored potato chips that Hostess debuted in the 1970s, which was probably for the best.
8. Sour Cream And Bacon
Sour cream and bacon chips aren’t just my favorite chips of all time; they’re also a true patriotic snack. After all, Canadians are obsessed with bacon! Sour cream and bacon chips are the perfect way to pay tribute to that love affair and the Ruffles brand makes wavy, crunchy chips with a thick, velvety layer of seasoning which is nothing short of divine.
9. Roast Chicken
In many ways, roast chicken chips are a bit of a sleeper hit. They’re rarely named as anyone’s favorite chips but just the mention of their name is enough to send Canadians swooning. Ridiculously salty and richly seasoned roast chicken never fails to make us happy. We just can’t get enough of the flavor!
10. Poutine Chips
There’s a tragedy amid the tale of glory which is Canadian potato chip flavors. Poutine-flavored chips are nearly impossible to find. But I haven’t given up hope, as the salty essence of the gravy and the creamy goodness of the cheese curds are too fine a combination to let die. If you see a bag on your trip, grab it — and share it with your new Canadian friends.
11. Hawkins Cheezies
Hawkins uses all of the original equipment to manufacture the Cheezies in their plant in Belleville, a tiny Ontario town. Hawkins Cheezies are cheese puff snack food made from extruded cornmeal and covered in powdered cheddar cheese.
They are sold in distinctive orange cellophane bags stamped with red and white circus tent stripes the unmistakable packaging of Hawkins Cheezes.
12. Honorable Mention: Montreal Smoked Meat
In 2015, Lay’s created Montreal Smoked Meat potato chips flavor for a contest. However, the chips were discontinued later that year and never made a comeback, even after some Canadians started a campaign to bring them back in 2019.
With its distinctive spicing and appealing mustard flavor and not overly assertive peppery bite, it’s like Lays took a smoked meat sandwich and transformed it into a bag of chips.
Other flavors from the same Lays Do Us A Flavor competition include Cowboy BBQ Beans, and Butter Chicken. The Cowboy BBQ Beans flavor was the Western Canada finalist and the Butter Chicken Flavour was the Ontario finalist.
Neither of these flavors went on a longer production run but are now considered rare if not valuable as collector’s items among potato chips aficionados.
FAQs
What Is the Most Popular Chip Flavor in Canada?
All Dressed is a Canadian creation and the most popular potato chip flavor in Canada which combines various savory flavors into a single chip. All Dressed Chip offers a unique blend of ketchup, barbecue, sour cream onion, and salt and vinegar flavors all rolled into one chip.
Which is the Best Selling Brand of Potato Chips in Canada?
With its crispy texture and salty flavor, Lay’s Original Potato Chips has been a favorite in Canada for decades. They are known for their simplicity and timeless appeal, making them a go-to option for snack enthusiasts of all ages.
What Kind of Chip Flavor Can You Only Get in Canada?
Dill Pickle Chips. Their flavor is tangy and very similar to an actual dill pickle. Maltodextrin, a powder derived from starch that has porous qualities and can absorb flavors such as vinegar, gives pickle chips the addictive quality that salt and vinegar chips have.
Why Are Potato Chips So Popular in Canada?
Potato chips are high-demand snacks in Canada because Canada is the world leader when it comes to the potato industry. Chips are also popular in Canada because their unique and distinct flavors have become a part of Canadian snack culture.
Does the Canadian Potato Chip Industry Serve Other Markets?
Yes, but not much. The Canadian potato chip industry serves mostly the domestic market but exports of potato chips still account for the largest portion of snack food exports followed by corn chips, pretzels, and extruded snacks.
