Hands Down the Best New Lay's Chips to Come Out of the Flavor Contest

People submitted tons of creative ideas for Lay's Do Us a Flavor contest this year, and you can finally get a taste of the finalist flavors! Lay's Crispy Taco, Kettle Cooked Everything Bagel With Cream Cheese, and Wavy Fried Green Tomato are the three finalist flavors hitting store shelves nationwide beginning on July 30, and because we care deeply about your snack satisfaction, we tried and rated each of the three flavors so that you know how they really taste. To decide which one you think is the most worth trying, read on for our investigation of the three unexpected chip flavors and determine which one will win your vote for Lay's grand prize.

Crispy Taco gets points for tasting the most like the real food, but unfortunately, it's a little too taco-like. One of our taste testers put it simply by saying, "I don't want my chips to taste like meat." Flavored with taco seasoning and sour cream, these well-seasoned chips gave some our editors serious Taco Bell vibes. "Instantly transports you to Taco Bell, which is a good thing," one said, while another said, "Tastes 100 percent like Taco Bell. I taste the lettuce." A third Taco Bell enthusiast isn't as much of a fan and said, "Just go to Taco Bell."
★★★☆☆

How on earth could the flavors of a crunchy fried green tomato be translated to a potato chip? True Southerners know that a real fried green tomato is one of the best things you'll ever eat, so Lay's really needed to do the flavor justice. We give Lay's props for including buttermilk as one of the ingredients to lend richness and tanginess to the chips, which are truly tasty but aren't quite like a fried green tomato. "Never had a fried green tomato in real life, but this makes me want to," "I taste confused," and, "Really good flavor for a chip" are just a few of our taste testers' comments.
★★★☆☆

First things first: cream cheese is in the ingredient list for these intriguing chips, and you can actually taste it! Very similar to Lay's Sour Cream & Onion chips, these chips have the saltiness and cheesiness of an everything bagel smeared with cream cheese, and they're coated in poppy seeds to give even more of an everything-bagel texture. "Tastes like Trader Joe's everything-bagel seasoning; I love it!" said one person, and another called out the noticeable cream cheese, saying, "Mmm, cream cheese! Needs more seasoning, though." Overall, this is our favorite flavor and is the one we recommend trying out for yourself ASAP.
★★★★