What are Lay’s Kettle Cooked Extra Potato Chips?
Two new additions have been released within the Lay’s Kettle Cooked chip line: Extra in Honey Habanero flavor and Extreme Cheddar flavor. Not a lot of information exists other than they are supposed to be EXTRA crunchy and have EXTRA flavor.
How are they?
Kettle chips are already crunchier than your average chip due to their thickness and cooking process, so I was curious about how much more crunchy they could be.
Spoiler alert: a pretty unperceivable amount.
They seemed pretty much the same level of crunch as the non-EXTRA branded chips. They are still fairly crunchy, but I would advise you to set your expectations low as to them being more crunchy than standard kettle chips.
Of the two flavors, the Honey Habanero was the one I was most excited about. I really enjoy the mixture of sweetness (honey in particular) to spicy things. It usually adds such a richness to the spicy peppers. The initial spicy pepper flavor is followed by a very subtle sweetness. That vivid honey flavor I had hoped for just wasn’t there.
Compared to the Flamin’ Hot flavored items, these are fairly tame. They certainly have a kick, but not burn your face off level. A perfectly fine spicy chip on its own, but with the lack of honey flavor standing out, it just wasn’t what I had hoped for.
Even though I had lower expectations for the Extreme Cheddar one (What makes it extreme? Does it skateboard? Is that still considered extreme?!), it ended up being the better of the two. Eating it, I was immediately reminded of another item. I realize this might be extremely niche, but if you’ve ever had the TGI Fridays Potato Skins Snacks, these were EXACTLY how I remember them. A robust cheesy flavor with a sour cream finish, these are a solid chip.
Anything else you need to know?
Kettle chips weren’t created until 1982. Well, chances are they were around, but they became a more mass-produced product in 1982.
Conclusion:
If these had been presented as two new flavors under the regular Lay’s Kettle line, I might’ve given them a higher rating as they are perfectly fine kettle chips. But they fail to deliver as the advertised EXTRA: no real extra crunch or extra flavor.
Purchased Price: $2.98 each
Size: 7 3/4 oz bags
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 5 out of 10 (Honey Habanero), 6 out of 10 (Extreme Cheddar)
Nutrition Facts: (about 15 chips) Honey Habanero – 150 calories, 8 grams of fat, 1 gram of saturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 190 milligrams of sodium, 17 grams of carbohydrates, 1 grams of fiber, 2 grams of sugar, and 2 grams of protein. Extreme Cheddar – 150 calories, 9 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 190 milligrams of sodium, 16 grams of carbohydrates, 1 grams of fiber, 1 grams of sugar, and 2 grams of protein.
Ohmygosh…I used to love the TGI Fridays Potato Skins Snacks! (I say “used to”, because I can’t recall the last time I’ve even seen them, never mind eaten them.)
On that note: Does anyone else here also remember the bagged snack that was very similar? I believe it was just called Tato Skins, and was (at least from my recollection) around sometime in the early- to mid-90s. Equally delicious!
(Apologies if I seem to be derailing from your original review; I just got so excited at the mention of those old favorite chips of mine, that I had to comment. Okay, carry on…)
It’s hardly derailing since they’re the ones who brought it up in the first place.
Good point. Just trying to maintain proper commenting etiquette, as it were. 🙂
I’m so glad someone got the reference! I debated putting it in because it felt so bizarrely niche, but that was honestly my first thought when I tried the chips.
I’m pretty sure you can still find them exclusively at Florida rest stop vending machines. ?
I read an article a couple of years ago about the Tater Skins chips, at the time they were regional but still existed, and the TGI Fridays chips came from the same company.
YES! And check your dollar stores! That’s where I get my fix at!
Keebler Tato Skins. Yup, used to love them in the ’80s and ’90s.
Nice review. It’s funny you said the Honey Habanero ones were less hot than most Flamin’ Hot stuff. The first bag of these I got were definitely hotter than most of the Flamin’ Hot Frito Lay offerings (not counting anything XXTra flamin’ hot Cheetos and Stax.) Don’t get me wrong still not crazy spicy but I thought it was a nice heat. My second bag didn’t seem quite as hot so maybe in general they are not that hot though…guess I have to buy like 4 more bags because I love them.
These extra chips are definitely more crunchy than pretty much most other kettle cooked chips, I was actually surprised, they were slightly crunchier than the grandma utz I have right now, and my kettle classics gourmet medley which is also by utz. I don’t know how you don’t noticw the difference.. Maybe you should try them back to back with a few other chips to do a comparison, that’s what I was doing. Something about the crunch almost reminds me of a baked chip