REVIEW: Lay’s Wavy Fried Green Tomato Potato Chips

Lay s Wavy Fried Green Tomato Potato Chips

First off, thank you Lay’s for retiring this nonsense about having at least one disgusting Do Us a Flavor finalists. It’s lovely to not have to take the proverbial summer bullet for the greater junk food community, and I couldn’t be happier with this year’s relatively normal finalists.

Everything Bagel? Okay, a bit out of left field, but they do make bagel chips, and they also make bagels out of potatoes. Besides, it sounds better than several of this year’s entries, among them kale salad, unicorn beef, and “hickory smoked horse buttholes.”

What a time to be alive!

I’m surprised it’s taken this long for fried green tomato to get the junk food treatment. It’s every bit as southern as biscuits and gravy or chicken and waffles. It also has that natural fried flavor affinity conducive to munchable snacks. That said, there’s a lot going on with fried green tomatoes, and I’m not talking about the subtexts in the 1991 movie.

Wavy is a solid template for the flavor; not flimsy like regular chips, but not as potato-ey as kettle chips often taste. Instead, Lay’s Wavy chips have a rounded, solid crunch, like you would expect from a fried green tomato.

The flavor starts with a buttermilk tang and slight bitterness, followed by notes of salt, garlic, and onion. This is, I suppose, where this review gets controversial.

Lay s Wavy Fried Green Tomato Potato Chips 2

Contrary to its ubiquitous southern connotation, buttermilk is not essential for fried green tomatoes. While I don’t think it detracts from the chip, the powdered buttermilk is heavy, pushing these chips into the Sour Cream and ________ category of snacks.

Good? You bet. Innovative? Not in the least.

Fortunately, there are some nuances. A slight backheat — let’s call it tickling because everyone likes tickling — emerges with each bite, as does a bit of sweetness. The flavors are just enough to let you know you’re not dealing with your father’s sour cream and onion chip. They create a snackable quality that can stand on its own or serve as a perfect instrument for dipping.

The only thing I wished Lay’s could have worked in was an authentic cornmeal taste. Where buttermilk is optional, cornmeal is essential. Without it, you’re losing something intrinsically fried green tomato in your fried green tomato. Because the Lay’s chips hardly have any of it, they’re only good, not great.

I’ll probably vote for Lay’s Wavy Fried Green Tomato for two reasons. One, the chip’s submitter, Gregory Pope, grew up in Georgia, so he might be salty about the Super Bowl. So I want to help him out. Reason two? The flavor is solid and better than half of all the previous Do Us A Flavor finalists.

(Nutrition Facts – about 15 chips – 150 calories, 90 calories from fat, 10 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 170 milligrams of sodium, 15 grams of carbohydrates, 0 gram of dietary fiber, 1 grams of sugar, and 2 grams of protein.)

Purchased Price: $2.48
Size: 7 3/4 oz. bag
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 7 out of 10
Pros: Wavy template fits the flavor perfectly. Nuanced flavors and spices mirror fried green tomato breading. Familiar enough taste to not be caught off guard. Lay’s marketing people taking the job back from their 5-year-olds.
Cons: Slightly heavy buttermilk flavor makes the chips taste like sour cream and onion. Very little, if any, cornmeal flavor. Knowing there’s someone alive who wants to eat potato chips that taste like “hickory smoked buttholes.”

32 thoughts to “REVIEW: Lay’s Wavy Fried Green Tomato Potato Chips”

  1. Let us hear (or read) the back story to the “hickory-smoked buttholes.”

    I’m guessing that like most food reviewers, you have a closeted or perhaps overt gay male personality (rare). Take off the shackles my friend and embrace your kinkiness for all to see.

  2. Had these today. Very boring. Lacking in tomato flavor. Way too much buttermilk powder. Spice blend is otherwise generic and doesn’t fit the name.

    1. I tried the green tomato chips today. I do not taste the green tomato taste that should be the main focus of this chip. the chips were slightly over cooked and had a seasoning that did not resemble the seasoning I have ever experienced on a green tomato. The concept was exciting and I was really looking forward to tasting this chip. I bought two bags as they were buy two for $5 at my local super market. I feel bad for the young man who suggested this flavor. Lays has failed him.

  3. not sure y plp would accept any flavir jsut becauase most taste like old mans mountain dirt.. make the favor right if ur gonna make sumthing.. jeesh the reviwwr is priob right but sour cream and onion is so boring but i hate hips that break like oil on water.. they should change the default chips to kettle.. they r just better and dont break… pico de gallo and garden tomate was the best.. bagelss? dont evne go there

  4. love the fried green tomato potato chips was wondering if there is some way i could buy that season?

  5. Where Is the fried green tomato potato chip sold in Ga.? I would like to try a bag.

    Thanks

  6. Love the fried green tomato chips.even my dog loves them bag didn’t even last 30 mins. Sooo good.

    1. I ordered mine from Amazon. Got all the competing flavors, plus a regular bag of plain chips, for $12.99 & free shipping. A dumb purchase, I admit, but the fried green tomato bag was really good.

  7. The spice mix in the Green Fried Tomato chips isn’t bad; it’s not spot on for most green fried tomato recipes I’ve tasted over the years. That being said, it’s not just another boring sour cream flavored potato chip.

    What the chip lacks is real green tomato taste. That might be hard to capture without actually sun-drying and grinding up actual green tomatoes and adding that to the spice mix.

  8. These were fantastic. Best flavor this time around. Reminded me exactly of a fried green tomato except didn’t game and of that tartness.

  9. I was excited to see this flavor on the shelf of my local Publix. Sadly I didn’t like them. As some have said and I agree I did not taste the tomato flavor and found the taste a bit muddy. My chips were so heavily coated they had a dirty and unpleasant feel. I won’t be buying them again.

  10. I am 69 years old and have been enjoying Lay’s Potato Chips all of these years. This chip is delishous. Pure heaven. Brings to my palette the taste of a home grown tomato placed on fresh white bread with mayo. I got a taste from Sub Way but now looking for the largest bag I can find.

  11. Gross. A lot of recent new flavors were bad submitted one they would not try. Never enough flavor and never taste like they advertise

  12. Was looking forward to trying the Lays Fried Green Tomato Chips. And today we found them in our local store and hurried home to try them. I make fried green tomatoes all the time in the summer and was so dissapointed with the flavor of the Lays fried green Chips.

  13. I tried these in August or September, 2017 and loved them , can’t find them anywhere now, even Amazon doesn’t sell them (lists the product but when I tried to order them, they were unavailable). I originally bought them twice at an Acme grocery store. I am very disappointed with Lay’s that they produced and sold a product
    that alot of people loved and now it is no longer available. Please bring them back, it was my most favorite snack ever and I always loved fried green tomatoes. Shame on you!

  14. These chips are amazing, and gave some to coworkers, and they cant find them. They asked me to pick a couple bags up for them.

  15. We have went to all the stores here in Kalamazoo, Mi. Hardings, Meijer, D&W, Target, sam’s Club, Costco and even World mart. Why aren’t they still making these they sold out very fast and the managers have no Idea why or when and if they will get more. Such a shame if they discontinued them. Would love to see them back in bigger bags even.

  16. I agree with the above comments.
    Keep looking and not finding… stupid Lay’s…
    Oh well, now I don’t have to buy any chips at all! Yea!

  17. All I have to say is that y’all have no idea what fried green maters taste like!! Y’all need to come down south and have them cooked like they are supposed to be and get some ideas!!!!

  18. I was a potato chip salesman for 17 years….tried every competitors chips on the market. These fried green tomato flavored chips are, by far, the best! And I KNOW fried green tomatoes….live in Iowa where they are a staple on the dinner plate just as soon as the tomato season begins.

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