The Healthiest Potato Chips You Can Buy When Those Salty, Crunchy Cravings Strike

Unsplash/Jessic To'oto'o

Let’s be honest — when we aren’t craving all things sweet, sugary and chocolate-laden, we’re dreaming of the perfect balance of saltiness and crunchiness. And, obviously, the best snack suited for these hankerings is the potato chip. The classic American snack comes in all sorts of flavors and styles these days, but the bulk of them are far from healthy. So we dug through nutrition label after nutrition label to determine which chips are the best options for those trying to stay nutritionally balanced.

We ranked the 14 healthiest potato chips below based on certain nutrition label criteria. First, we had to be able to recognize every ingredient — no exceptions. Next, we wanted a healthy balance of calories, fat and sodium so they served as legitimate snacks rather than just upping our cravings for more food. Each chip on this list has less than 200 calories, 9 grams of total fat, 2 grams of saturated fat and 200 milligrams of sodium per serving. Also, if a brand offered a reduced fat version of their chips, we tried to give you two options from them — one classic and one reduced fat — to spice up the flavor variety a bit. Get ready to snack happy, friends!

1. Deep River Snacks — 50% Reduced Fat Kettle Cooked Potato Chips

Calories: 130
Total Fat: 5 grams
Saturated Fat: 0 grams
Sodium: 95 milligrams

The top spot goes to these super crunchy chips from Deep River Snacks. The fat content is on point and the sodium is surprisingly low for such a tasty potato chip.

Unsplash/Emiliano Vittoriosi

2. Cape Cod — 40% Less Fat Original Potato Chips

Calories: 140
Total Fat: 6 grams
Saturated Fat: 0.5 grams
Sodium: 85 milligrams

Cape Cod easily snags second place with its reduced fat classic chip. It has more fat than our winner, but it also has less sodium. So we suggest grabbing a bag depending on which nutrient balance is more important for your personal health goals.

3. Good Health — Olive Oil Rosemary Kettle Potato Chips

Calories: 140
Total Fat: 7 grams
Saturated Fat: 1 gram
Sodium: 45 milligrams

These sneaky chips have the lowest sodium count on this list, and it doesn’t negatively impact the flavor. All of that olive oil and rosemary makes for a dang good snack if you ask us — and they’re worth that extra gram of fat.

4. Terra Chips — Sweets Medley With Avocado Oil

Calories: 140
Total Fat: 6 grams
Saturated Fat: 0.5 grams
Sodium: 105 milligrams

Most Terra chips go the alternative route, playing with all sorts of root veggies to up their health content. But since we stuck to bonafide potato chips for this list, it was the Sweets Medley (AKA sweet potato chips) made with avocado oil than won out for the brand. Check out that low sodium, too!

Pixabay

5. Popchips — Sea Salt Potato Chips

Calories: 120
Total Fat: 4 grams
Saturated Fat: 0 grams
Sodium: 190 milligrams

You might expect Popchips to rank higher on the list because they’re baked, but their sodium is the highest on this list. Conversely, they do have the lowest calorie count and fat content. So, in the end, it’s all a matter of balance and which nutrient is more important to you.

6. Wise Kettle Cooked — Original 40% Reduced Fat Potato Chips

Calories: 130
Total Fat: 6 grams
Saturated Fat: 1 gram
Sodium: 110 milligrams

We consider Wise to be the dark horse brand on this list, easily snagging a spot in the top 50 percent with its on-point fat content and low sodium. Plus, they’re a kettle-cooked option, so anyone who loves extra crunch will be totally into these guys.

7. Lay’s Kettle Cooked — 40% Less Fat Jalepeño Cheddar Potato Chips

Calories: 130
Total Fat: 5 grams
Saturated Fat: 1 gram
Sodium: 120 milligrams

The Frito Lay chip giant makes its debut in the seventh spot on our list with these super flavorful chips. We love that a chip veering from your standard sea salt variety hit our list this high, keeping both fat and sodium within very reasonable limits.

Wikimedia Commons

8. Kettle Brand — Tropical Salsa Avocado Oil Potato Chips

Calories: 130
Total Fat: 6 grams
Saturated Fat: 1 gram
Sodium: 120 milligrams

Kettle Brand has plenty of loyal fans — and with good reason. These uniquely flavored chips are just one of many on their roster, and you won’t feel worse for the wear after snacking on a small bowl of them. Bring on the island vibes!

9. Popchips Ridges — Cheddar & Sour Cream Potato Chips

Calories: 120
Total Fat: 5 grams
Saturated Fat: 1 gram
Sodium: 190 milligrams

Our flavor-packed pick from Popchips sits a little lower on our list due to that higher sodium content again. Otherwise, we have very few health concerns about these baked chips that pack all the seasoning possible into every single ridge.

10. Kettle Brand — Sea Salt 40% Less Fat Potato Chips

Calories: 130
Total Fat: 6 grams
Saturated Fat: 0.5 grams
Sodium: 160 milligrams

Interestingly, Kettle Brand’s reduced fat version ranks lower than our pick of its classic chip with a flavor twist, but that’s mainly due to the boost of sodium that comes along with them. So again, pick and choose your battles. Do you care more about fat or do you care more about salt? If a little sodium doesn’t scare you, then you’re good here.

Wikimedia Commons

11. Simply Ruffles — Sea Salted Reduced Fat Potato Chips

Calories: 140
Total Fat: 7 grams
Saturated Fat: 0.5 grams
Sodium: 160 milligrams

Who doesn’t love a crispy bowl of Ruffles full of all those beautiful golden ridges? Well, the reduced fat version from Frito Lay makes our healthy options list fairly easily, remaining within our fat ranges and keeping that sodium below 200 milligrams. We suggest dunking these in your favorite dip rather than their classic counterpart.

12. Lay’s Kettle Cooked — Maui Onion Potato Chips

Calories: 150
Total Fat: 8 grams
Saturated Fat: 1 gram
Sodium: 115 milligrams

Lay’s gets a second spot on our list with its kettled cooked Maui onion flavor. While it has the highest fat content on our list, it has one of the lower sodium counts, which we found super surprising for a flavor like Maui onion.

13. Cape Cod Infused Fresh Mediterranean Potato Chips

Calories: 150
Total Fat: 8 grams
Saturated Fat: 0.5 grams
Sodium: 130 milligrams

This artisanal line from Cape Cod sneaks into our list with its pure ingredients, reasonable sodium count and fat content that hits just under our benchmark. Full of fresh, herbal flavors, we’re pretty pleased that we can consider these guys a healthier pick.

PxHere

14. Deep River Snacks — Sour Cream & Onion Krinkle Cut Potato Chips

Calories: 140
Total Fat: 8 grams
Saturated Fat: 1 gram
Sodium: 130 milligrams

Last but not least, our friends at Deep River Snacks deliver a crinkle-cut, boldly-flavored chip that meets our nutritional criteria, which is nothing short of a miracle. The fat content is the highest on our list, but the sodium is well below our goal and they just soothe our cravings in every way. Mmm.

RELATED

6 Frozen Pizzas That Taste Amazing And Aren’t Horrible For You

These Are The Healthiest Snack Bars Ranked From Best To Worst

11 Healthy Cereals That Don’t Suck