Add More Flavor And Texture To Classic Potato Salad With This Crunchy Addition

Whether it's mayo-based, mustard-based, or elevated with BBQ sauce, potato salad is a delicious and, dare we say it, mandatory part of any picnic or cookout. We're always looking for awesome new ways to jazz up our spuds, and we think we may have hit upon the ultimate underrated ingredient to add to potato salad: potato chips. Their crunch is a delightful textural element, and their salty, intense flavors punch up potato salad in the best way. It's super-simple to build a recipe around the addition of potato chips and still maintain all your favorite traditional potato salad ingredients.

Will you mix your chips into the salad, crumble them on top, or do both? The culinary world is your oyster ... or bag of Lay's, in this case! Sour cream and onion seems to be an outstanding favorite amongst those who venture to mix potato chips into their potato salad, but it's far from the only option. And why stop with just one flavor? Divide your base potato salad into a few bowls and experiment with different chips. 

A Reddit review had nothing but effusive praise after riffing on potato chip potato salad: "It was freakin' awesome. We used barbecue chips and sour-cream-and-onion (our favorite). We also added bacon on the top. It was absolutely the best potato salad I've ever had."

The marriage of fresh, cooked potatoes and crispy chips is the synergistic delight that keeps us wanting to experiment. We're going to recommend using freshly opened potato chips, because maximum crunch is of the essence. Since crunch is what you're aiming for, perhaps mix your potato chips into your salad right before serving, and do so in small amounts so that any leftovers don't get soggy. Thicker chips like kettle-cooked or ridged choices might really shine in your potato salad! 

Beyond that, we go wild for different flavor combinations inspired by our favorite bags of chips. A BBQ chip with a smoky ranch in the salad dressing will put one in mind of big steakhouse flavors, while sour cream and onion chips with green onions and a French onion dressing will cater to all the allium fiends at the cookout. We go gaga for cheddar potato chips with shredded sharp cheddar and crumbled bacon, and can't help but kvell over the possibilities of dill pickle potato chips with diced pickles in the salad! For that matter, how about a deviled egg potato salad with salt and vinegar chips? This is the moment to get playful in the kitchen, because the results are likely to be show-stopping!