Barbecue is a flavour found on snacks of any shape. Barbecue seasoning usually blends sugar, salt, tomato, paprika, onion, garlic and smoke flavouring, giving a sweet, smoky and slightly tangy taste that recalls grilled meat and its sauces. Most BBQ seasonings contain no meat, but some include milk or other animal-derived ingredients, so the label is the only reliable guide.
Many of the barbecue snacks reviewed are American potato chips: Utz Bar-B-Q Ripple Cut Potato Chips, Utz Wavy Honey BBQ, Chip Thunder Boomin’ Barbecue Rumble chips from Snyder’s-Lance, and Lay’s Baked KC Masterpiece Barbecue Flavor Potato Crisps from Frito-Lay, named after the KC Masterpiece barbecue sauce brand.
Most of them use ridged or wavy cuts, which are thicker than flat chips and carry a heavy seasoning well. In Thailand, Lay’s sells the flavour on its ridged chips too: Lay’s Rock Extra Barbecue, and a Mala Barbecue version that adds the numbing heat of Sichuan pepper.
