Overview

Potato chips are thin slices of potato that are deep-fried or baked until crisp. They are commonly salted and served as a snack, side dish, or appetizer. The basic chip is cooked and salted; additional varieties are manufactured with seasonings, flavorings, and coatings.

Origin and history

The potato chip is widely credited to George Crum, a chef at Moon’s Lake House in Saratoga Springs, New York, who in 1853 reportedly sliced potatoes paper-thin and fried them to a crisp in response to a customer complaint about thick, soggy fries [1]. This origin story is contested by some food historians who note that thin fried potato slices appear in English cookbooks as early as the 1820s. Mass production of potato chips began in the early 20th century, and by the 1920s mechanical potato peelers and continuous fryers enabled national distribution in the United States. The snack became a global product in the post-World War II era, with local manufacturers adapting the format to regional tastes.

Varieties and aliases

  • Potato chips (American, Australian, New Zealand, Canadian, South African, Jamaican English)
  • Crisps (British and Hiberno English)
  • Chips or wafers (Indian English)
  • Kettle chips (thick-cut, batch-fried style)
  • Baked chips (reduced-fat variant)
  • Flavored chips (sour cream and onion, barbecue, salt and vinegar, cheese, chili, and many others)

Culinary uses

Potato chips are most commonly eaten directly from the package as a snack. They are also used as a topping or ingredient: crushed chips coat fried foods, appear in casseroles, and provide crunch in sandwiches. In some contexts, chips are served alongside sandwiches or burgers as a side. Thick-cut chips are sometimes used as a base for canapés or dips. Chocolate-coated potato chips, such as those produced by Royce’ Confect in Hokkaido, Japan, combine salty and sweet profiles [3].

Cross-cuisine context

In Filipino snack culture, potato chips fall under the category of chichirya, the term for modern industrial junk-food snacks including chips, candy bars, cookies, and deep-fried extruded snacks [2]. Chichirya occupies a distinct category from traditional Filipino snacks like kakanin (rice-based sweets) and is associated with convenience stores, sari-sari stores, and movie snacks.

In Persian cuisine, a functional analogue exists in sib-zamini tahdig, a variant of the crispy rice crust tahdig made by lining the pot bottom with thin slices of yellow potato. While not a chip in the industrial sense, the thin, fried potato layer achieves a similar crisp texture and is a common default in Los Angeles Persian restaurants.

In Japanese confectionery, Royce’ chocolate potato chips represent a direct fusion: thick-cut salty chips half-dipped in chocolate, produced in Hokkaido since the 1980s [3]. This product bridges the savory snack and dessert categories.

No widely recognized analogue exists in Mexican cuisine, where fried potato snacks are typically imported or locally produced versions of the global chip format rather than a traditional preparation.

Notes for cooks

  • Stale chips can be recrisped in a 350°F oven for 3 to 5 minutes.
  • For substitution in recipes calling for crushed chips, panko breadcrumbs or crushed tortilla chips can work depending on the flavor profile.
  • Signal characteristics of fresh chips: a clean snap when broken, no rancid oil smell, and uniform color without dark spots from scorched oil.