Rating: ©©©©-1/2 chips (lip-smacking)
WOW! These are really, really deliciously funky and quite spicy!!
We have not tasted very many Korean BBQ flavored chips. But, just one bite and we can tell you that these are LEAGUES above both Lay’s versions of Korean BBQ chips that we have tasted, and we weren’t even as unimpressed with Lay’s most recent attempt the way that Junk Food Guy was. We can’t wait to hear his thoughts regarding Kettle Brand’s rendition.
Seriously, we are very impressed with these chips. These are easily some of the best Kettle Brand Potato Chips that we have tasted in quite a while! We also can’t wait to find Kettle Brand’s other new flavor that they just released. Two intriguing new flavors…thank you Kettle Brand!
We are not going to pretend like we know very much about what real Korean BBQ food actually tastes like, or even what all it entails. Our only insight into Korean food is the likes of kimchi, good old twice fried chicken, and of course the fantastic Chicago restaurant that is Parachute! In fact, we’re fairly certain that we’ve never actually had Korean BBQ.
Apparently, the main flavors/ingredients associated with Korean BBQ are – soy, sugar, garlic, onion, sesame, ginger – according to what we found on the internet.
As for Kettle Brand’s Korean Barbeque seasoning, the first taste is of classic BBQ chip flavors – sweet, tomato, garlic, onion, with maybe a splash of smoke? The next wave of flavor includes some more of those funky, or uncommon notes like ginger, soy, sesame, and the realization that there is a LOT of sweet onion flavor. On the finish an impressive level of heat appears, and decides that it is staying for the entire party. The flavor tastes a lot like Kettle Brand combined their Spicy Thai, Organic Chipotle Chili Barbeque and Roasted Garlic Potato Chips, and then added a splash of soy. All in all, the whole Korean Barbeque shebang just works. To top it all off, it works extremely well with Kettle Brand’s deliciously crunchy kettle cooked potato chips.
And may we just point out how much we love the appearance of this bag. First of all, bright blue is not a color we see very often while walking down our favorite aisle of the grocery store. Secondly, we very much appreciate how Kettle Brand has yet to succumb to what seems like a recent chip industry standard of displaying the actual potato chip product on the front packaging. We much more prefer the simple representative image that describes the flavor inside. In this case, that image is a Korean tabletop grill with chopsticks. Very simple, yet descriptive.
As always, these are our thoughts, we would love to hear what you think. Agree or disagree, let us know.
Chips discovered at World Market; Oak Brook, Illinois
Chip Ratings Scale:
(1/4 increments)
© – return to sender
©© – tolerable
©©© – notable
©©©© – lip-smacking
©©©©© – “A” list
Chip Review 
I just got these and outside of the purple bag (my favorite color), I wasn’t as enthralled as you were. Don’t get me wrong, they are very good, but they lack the meaty flavor that the Lays had. It was that part that made the Lays awesome. I have plans to try the Moscow Mule at a ‘guess the flavor’ event this weekend. We’ll see if ANYONE correctly guesses it.
@ ibagoalie – thanks for the comment. We agree, the meaty aspect was not strong with these chips, but we just thought that their complexity was fantastic.
The chips just tasted like regular bbq chips. I was very disappointed.