Take a minute to really picture a bag of classic salted potato chips. Feel the crisp corrugation of the sealed edge, hear the crinkle, and see the colors in your mind’s eye.
It’s yellow, isn’t it? That’s because Lay’s has been around for almost 90 years, and it’s still America’s top-selling brand.
Part of its evergreen appeal is the unending array of flavors, from BBQ to Dill Pickle to my personal fave, Fried Green Tomato.
The season of goodwill may be just around the corner, but it could be pushing its good vibes luck with this year’s limited edition varieties designed to pay homage to some of everyone’s favorite holiday dishes: Cheddar Scalloped-Style Potatoes and Roasted Holiday Turkey. I’ve tried enough Thanksgiving-flavored novelty foods to know betrayal can’t be far behind.
I’ve snagged a couple of bags for sampling, and although I love the usual smiley yellow of the Classic flavor’s package, these look great, too, with an autumnal color palette and a little metallic glitz. Show up with a bag of these at a party, and it will certainly be memorable.
I can’t promise you’ll be invited back, though.
Let’s try them! You know you want to. Or at least, you want me to!
First up, the Roasted Holiday Turkey. Upon opening the bag, I get a strong whiff of thyme, but under that is definitely roasty-toasty turkey. I’m surprised by their color, which looks a little heavy on the paprika, but it’s for color and not flavor, thankfully.
A lot of savory doppelgängers like this one either phone in the meat flavor by adding some nutritional yeast, or absolutely clobber you with a hickory extract so strong that it edges into burning tire territory. Lay’s has apparently gone with the bold strategy of using the real thing — there’s turkey broth listed on the label.
It paid off, too. These taste like actual turkey gravy made from real pan drippings. They’re a bit onion-forward, but the thyme is balanced, and there is just enough genuine turkey flavor there to make it interesting. In short, it’s not fake, and it doesn’t whomp you upside the head with a smoked turkey leg. I like them, and I think they would be amazing dipped in some of Mama Stamberg’s Cranberry Relish. I might make a batch just to finish the bag.
Next, the Cheddar Scalloped-Style Potatoes flavor. At first sniff, it’s very familiar, but closer to the Kraft mac cheese packet than its namesake casserole. Upon tasting, I’m less impressed than I was with the turkey ones, but they’re still a solid effort. In addition to the prominent cheddar and Parm, I can find rosemary and nutmeg, and there’s a browned background note, just a hint of those wonderful crispy edges you get on a big dish of oven-baked scalloped potatoes. Still, the rest of the flavor is too close to regular cheddar potato chips to feel really special.
It’s tempting to say both flavors truly belong on top of a Tuna Noodle Casserole, and they do, but with a dish that’s already baked, their little bit of magic will be obscured. Their best use, other than just cramming them into your face standing over the sink at midnight, might be in recipes that aren’t browned, or that need a flavor boost. They’d make a great crouton sub in a Caesar or crunch enhancer in chicken salad. The cheddar ones would add instant interest to baked fish, too.
It’s tempting to try them in Trisha Yearwood’s Potato Chip and Bacon Brownies, but I think either the turkey or the cheddar would be a bridge too far.
Whether you plan on them as a snack or an ingredient, you don’t have long to wait for your first taste of the holi-Lay’s; these flavors will hit stores on Oct. 25.
Next up is a Maple Bacon flavor, available Nov. 8; and on Dec. 1, Lay’s is really going out on a limb with chocolate covered Wavy chips in Milk Chocolate and Dubai-Style Dark Chocolate.
Maybe I’ll have a use for that brownie recipe after all.
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
