After hearing the news that Chicken Nugget and Apple Pie-flavoured chips had popped up in Coles earlier this week, curiosity absolutely got the better of me and I needed to try these chippies. Surely the nuggie ones were going to be a winning flavour combo, but apple pie potato? I’m so conflicted – will they stack up, or will they just crumble under the pressure of their namesakes?
Because they’re pretty much a meal of potato chip proportions, I had to go the savoury option first – because even in this kind of chaos, I still like a bit of order. Dinner first, then dessert. So first up was the chicken nugget chips.
On the nose, the nuggie chips smelled just like bog-standard potato chippies. I basically shoved my head into the bag to huff the apparent ‘chicken nugget flavouring’ that these chippies are covered in, but didn’t get much of that scent. They smelled more like plain flavour Kettle chips; a little oily, very potato-y, ultimately yum but not what I expected.
Once I popped one in my mouth, that’s where the nugget flav came in. It’s not an overwhelming, punch-in-the-teeth flavour hit, either. I think I’d best describe them as the less aggressive cousin of chicken chips – chickeny, chippish, but not overpowering. They are very fucking moreish though, and I managed to hoof down half the bag. No regrets.
Ok with the savoury snack done and dusted, it was time to tuck into sweets. The apple pie chips, which I was genuinely curious and cautious about. Would they be too sweet to try and overcompensate for the savoury vibe of the potato? Or a perfect balance of sweet and salty, a flavour that I absolutely love (thanks to sweet & salty popcorn, you know the one).
The first whiff of the apple pie chips is big and bold, and very much potato mixed with cinnamon? I’m gonna say cinnamon. It doesn’t smell very sweet but my God does it smell like something else.
Nervously I crunched into one and my mouth was immediately confused. My brain’s first response was the same as it is when I have salt & vinegar chips – something in here has a very sharp, slightly sour flavour. But it’s also like if an apple pie had a crust made from chippies. What the fuck is going on here and why can’t I keep my hand out of the bag?
Apple pie chips legitimately give a weird-ass taste sensation that my brain nor my tastebuds can seem to fully wrap around. They’re definitely salty, but also a little sweet, and a teeny bit zingy. There’s cinnamon in the mix and the faint taste of apple, the bag has some distant memory of an apple, but can’t quite pin it down. And I can’t stop shovelling them into my face.
Would I buy these chippies again? Look, probably not, but I’m also not a huge chippie person apart from the odd house party or picnic. But if someone whipped these out at the next park and wine sesh, I’d gladly hoof into them like they’re going out of fashion.
