REVIEW: Lay’s Classic BLT Potato Chips

Lay's Classic BLT Potato Chips

I want you to close your eyes for a moment and imagine a Classic BLT sandwich.

Picture yourself  on the patio of  a quaint small town cafe in the heat of July, your lips warmed by a cool Coke Zero and your taste buds salivating as the aroma of apple-wood smoked bacon glides into your periphery. A mural of green romaine and juicy ripe tomatoes is hardly contained  between the  toasted white bread, while plump  bacon invites your  carnivorous spirit in this delight  of its fatty yet crisp, salty but sweet, taste of hog heaven.

There’s crunch. There’s smoke. There’s a hint of creaminess and acidity, and there’s relief and sweetness.  It’s enough to make you pause to contemplate whether this is the best sandwich you’ve ever eaten or if you’ve just died and gone to Heaven, all before fulfilling a sudden emotional urge to quote the movie Babe.

That’ll do pig. That’ll do.

Got that image in your head? Good, because that’s the kind of imagination you’ll have to have to taste the Classic BLT flavors and textures  when your sitting on your couch watching reruns of old NCAA football games on ESPN Classic in the wee hours of the morning.

Don’t get me wrong, Lay’s new Classic BLT isn’t bad if you’re looking for a lighter take on sour cream and onion flavors, but when it comes to two of the three letters in the BLT acronym, the new chips miss the mark completely. Ironically, the only letter decently represented is “L,” although I don’t think it makes enough of a difference to qualify as a serving of fruit and vegetables.

Lay's Classic BLT Potato Chips Closeup

I knew my expectations were too high right off the bat when I opened the bag. The chips looked and smelled like sour cream and onion chips, and while the buttermilk tang and heavy onion flavor  weren’t  distractingly overwhelming  in the seasoning, you’d have a hard time picking out bacon and tomato if you hadn’t looked at the bag you were stuffing your face from.

There’s a slight dextrose sweetness and weak tomato powder flavor that lets you know there are hints of tomato, but when it comes to projecting meaty and smokey bacon, this comes off more in the vegan imitation variety than the  smokey-meaty-fatty  All-American hog.

Clearly a potato chip that intends to imitate a food which derives much of its flavor from from its texture is bound for failure, but I was at least expecting something to facilitate my daily helping of fake smoke flavor and salty, finger licking greasiness. Now all I have is breath that smells of sour cream and onion, and a bag of BLT chips that might — keyword, might — taste like a BLT sandwich should I find a worthy BLT sandwich to stick them in.

(Nutrition Facts – 1  ounce (About 15 chips)  –  160 calories,  90 calories from fat,  10 grams of total fat,  1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol,  150 milligrams of sodium,  320 milligrams of potassium,  15 grams of total carbohydrates,  1 grams of dietary fiber,  1 gram of sugars,  2 grams of protein, 10% vitamin C, 2% iron, 4% niacin, and 4% thiamin)

Item: Lay’s Classic BLT Potato Chips
Price:  $4.29
Size:  10 ounces
Purchased at: Weis Markets
Rating:  5 out of 10
Pros: All natural ingredients. No bacon cooking required.  Classic BLT “crunch.” An excuse to watch Babe. Resistant Starch, son.
Cons: Doesn’t taste like a BLT. Weak tomato and almost no bacon flavor. Lacks lip-smacking fattitude of freshly cooked bacon. Doesn’t count as a serving of fruit and vegetables. Sour Cream and Onion breath.

23 thoughts to “REVIEW: Lay’s Classic BLT Potato Chips”

  1. I had a taste test with 3 of my friends and my dad and just about every comment was positive, and i plan on getting these again!

  2. This review is spot-on! I wasn’t completely disgusted, just disappointed. I also had a bit of a chemical taste in there, not sure what that was from, but it was off-putting. Perhaps it was simply the tanginess as I usually don’t eat sour cream and onion chips.

  3. I found these to be delicious and staggeringly accurate — save for the tomato. It’s the one real live flavor by the looks of it, because of the powder, but I didn’t get much except maybe a light tang. But the bacon? It almost even -tastes- crispy, which is hard to explain, and the dominating flavors are the toasted bread and especially the condiments.

    Freakin’ delicious. Uncannily expressive. Some taste engineer needs a promotion.

  4. I too thought these would be amazing. The idea is anyway.

    However, I’ve been disgusted by them ever since I opened the bag. They smell horrible and they taste like sour cream and onion with powdered burnt meat sprinkled on top.

    And that aftertaste lasts for days, past tooth brushing. These things make me want to vomit every time I burp up that atrocious burnt meat flavor.

    To put these chips into one word: UGH!

  5. if you’ve always wanted a mixture of bbq and salt and vinegar chips your in luck! I won’t get them again but they weren’t bad just not what I expected

    1. I agree with Sasha as for the bbq seasoning minus the bbq flavor, could taste salt, vinegar and a touch of dill. Yep I’ll get them again I did like them, but they are not BLT chips, except maybe on a sandwich 🙂

  6. Hey to who read this my name is robin bailey l just love al the lays chips when l go home to new olreans l only get dill pickel pototes chips please put them in dallas texas l live there now everybody in my family eat them when l bring them back home l need dill pickel chips there please l just brag about theys chips thank you so much

  7. So, here it is the first week of June, and Lay’s Classic BLT chips are on clearance in Big Lots. Guess that’s testament to the public’s failing to have this one foisted over them, eh?

    My first time trying them, and my last. Left me feeling, frankly, a little ripped off & deceived & misled. Shame on you, Frito Lay (or I should say Pepsico). On the other hand, Uncle Ray’s Potato Chips still has my vote for being all a seasoned potato chip should be.

  8. Just polished off my first (and last) bag and I think the reviewer was 100% correct. Had I not been holding the bag in my hand, I wouldn’t have had a clue as to what flavor they were supposed to be. I really wanted to like them, but the best I can give them is a mayo sandwich with a weird smokiness. Classic BLT = Epic Fail!

  9. Alright, we must admit: upon further review, and a few more bags of the Classic BLT, Chip Review has tweaked our review a bit (these aren’t quite as tasty as we first thought they were). However, we do stand behind our statement that despite Lay’s “failed” attempt at recreating the BLT, these are still some of the tastier chips they have produced.

  10. Just tried a few of them. It does have a strange after flavor, though I don’t really find it unpleasant. I think the issue here is our expectation of BLT.

    Are you are used to thick cut, seasoned, quality bacon?

    Do you only eat organic, fresh from the garden, heirloom tomato and lettuce?

    Would you never think about putting store bought mayonnaise on your fresh baked, oven toasted bread?

    Because if any of the above is the case, these chips (Why are you even eating chips you didn’t fry yourself?) aren’t for you.

    Now, if you like to sometimes come home with some markdown ‘maters n’ lettuce, a jar of ole bargain bin mayo or salad dressing, a loaf of plain jane white bread, and combine it all with very thin, very cheap, and very crispy bacon?

    These actually tastes a lot like that. It surprised me to be honest, as most flavored chips that promise to taste like a food stuff, generally miss the mark entirely or only vaguely remind you of it.

    I’m tempted to pair these chips up with an actual low quality BLT, and chow down. Yum!

    1. Don’t get me wrong I like all lays chips I rat dill the most I buy all them I got all them I just love dill chips well I will bye it from a another company you don’t have the worry other company’s helping me out ps I’m from new olreans l move to texas in 2005 way owl world came down so don’t hate or be dum about this so bye the way you are talking to a 52y woman and stop play with me

  11. Just salty. That’s all. I’m currently eating a bag of ‘Baby Back Ribs’ potato chips from Brother Kane. Same conclusion….just salty.

  12. I entered this contest with 6 diff flavored chips. I truly love LAYS chips! As soon as I read this site thinking ‘OMG’! My BLT chip mite win, I started crying, esp…do to everythg going on in my daughters & my life right now. Then I read the bad reviews. What I don’t understand is…when I txed my flavors, does the Lay company decide who & how the chip should be made & taste like?If we can fly to the moon, then some1 could make my dreams come true & not in any selfish reason.Come on chefs…some1 can make a Lays chip to taste EXACTLY like a BLT! Not onion flavored, or cheese flavored,& not fake bacon flavored. PLEASE some1 help make this a reality for my daughter & I…Sincerely, D’Ann M. Brooks in Springfield, Illinois

  13. Totally agree… these are AWFUL. I am totally addicted to the Sour Cream and Cheddar flavor of Lay’s (just ask my ever expanding waist size!) so I thought I would give these a try, since Albertson’s has the big bags of chips on sale this week for just $2/bag.

    I should have just gotten 2 of the SC/Cheddar bags, instead of trying these. Yuck!

  14. Someone had to have a vivid imagination to call these BLT flavored. We just didn’t get it. Pretty greasy with some spices, but no BLT flavor at all.

  15. I think these were the best potato chips I ever had. I am really upset that I can’t find them, anymore. Seems like they
    were only on the shelves for a couple of weeks. I think Lay’s Dill chips are horrible and inedible–I can’t believe people are giving them good reviews. Just goes to show how different we all are…

  16. These chips are nasty doesn’t have any kind of BLT taste, I never write reviews but for this is a must.very disappointed this flavor has a very bad after taste and the bag smells crazy.sounds good but lays fell wayyyyyyyyyy off with this.I want my $ back Yesssss that serious.

  17. I loved them. SO many reviews on here talk about disgusting… I couldn’t disagree more. They’re not overbearing with salt. I don’t eat many chips do to that fact. I found them ONE time and haven’t been able to find them since. I’m quite disappointed.

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