In my house, I have to hide the potato chips. They're my husband's biggest vice, and in moments of weakness, he'll have no problem eating the whole bag. But what if his favorite snack wasn't that bad for him? According to grocery expertBobby Parrish, there are six brands of potato chips on food store shelves that are actually considered healthy (though it's probably still advisable to avoid consuming a bag in one sitting!). Ahead, learn why these chips landed on his list.
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1. Siete Chips (all flavors)
Siete
"What I like about Siete is the callout: It's always made with avocado oil," says Parrish of this Pepsi Co.-owned brand in a new TikTok video.
Most potato chips, like Lay's, are made with vegetable oils including soybean, corn, canola, and/or sunflower oil. As Best Lifepreviously explained, these are all high in unhealthy saturated fats and low in healthy monounsaturated fats like omega-3s.
Avocado oil, on the other hand, is high in monosaturated fats, "which has been shown to help support lower cholesterol levels and protect blood vessel health," Michelle Routhenstein, MS, RD, a preventive cardiology dietitian at Entirely Nourished, told us.
But another reason Parrish likes Siete brand chips is that they're made with high-quality ingredients. For example, he shows how the new Spicy Dill Pickle Potato Chips contain vinegar, dates, serrano peppers, guajillo peppers, and dill. "And the chips are coated in spices," he says. "You can see the specks of dill everywhere."
2. Boulder Canyon Avocado Oil Potato Chips
Boulder Canyon
There are only three ingredients in these potato chips from Boulder Canyon: potatoes, avocado oil, and sea salt.
"I love the ridges; it reminds me of Ruffles when I was a kid," Parrish shares, adding that you can even find the jumbo bag of these chips at Costco.
Boulder Canyon also makes olive oil-based chips, which Parrish says are good, but only if they're non-flavored.
"Even the sea salt and cracked pepper [flavor] has cane sugar, safflower oil, and yeast extract," he explains.
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3. Vandy Classic Potato Chips
Vandy
As Parrish is quick to point out, these potato chips come in a fancy-looking bag—which also displays the fact that they contain no seed oils.
As you may have seen in the news, recent research has linked seed oils with an increased cancer risk, particularly colon cancer, because they have inflammatory properties that may drive tumor growth.
As an alternative, Vandy uses 100-percent grass-fed beef tallow to fry their potato chips, perhaps the only brand that does so.
Beef tallow has also been making headlines after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. touted it as a healthier alternative to seed oils. Nutrition experts, however, are split on the purported benefits of beef tallow, noting that, although it is "natural" and non-processed, it's very high in saturated fat.
Though the jury may still be out on this particular ingredient, the only other ingredients in these chips are potatoes and Redmond real sea salt.
4. Jackson's Avocado Oil Sweet Potato Chips
Jackson's
People often assume veggie chips are healthier than potato chips. But the truth is that most brands of veggie chips aren't even made with real vegetables and contain just as much sodium and calories as regular potato chips.
However, Parrish says these Avocado Oil Sweet Potato Chips from Jackson's are an exception since they only contain three ingredients: sweet potatoes, avocado oil, and sea salt. He's also a fan of their wavy, crunchy texture.
Jackson's recently introduced potato chips cooked in avocado oil, but Parrish says to avoid the flavored varieties. "They all have 'natural flavors' and yeast extract," he notes.
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5. Trader Joe's Kettle Cooked Olive Oil Potato Chips
Trader Joe's
Once again, these kettle-cooked chips from Trader Joe's only contain three ingredients: potatoes, olive oil, and sea salt.
"These are the only potato chips at Trader Joe's that are Bobby-approved," Parrish shares.
6. Thrive Market Kettle Cooked Potato Chips Cooked in Coconut Oil
Thrive Market
"If you're looking for something completely different, these chips by Thrive Market are fried in coconut oil, and kudos to them for using unrefined Himalayan pink salt," shares Parrish of his final pick.
However, if your blood pressure is of concern, these potato chips might not actually be the healthiest choice, as Best Lifepreviously explained.
According to Harvard Health Publishing, coconut oil consists of about 90 percent saturated fat, "which is a higher percentage than butter (about 64 percent saturated fat), beef fat (40 percent), or even lard (also 40 percent)."
Indeed, one serving (or about 15 Kettle Cooked Potato Chips Cooked in Coconut Oil) contains 8 grams of saturated fat, 40 percent of the daily recommended value.
By comparison, Thrive Market's chips fried in avocado oil have only 1 gram of saturated fat per serving.
