The chips were commonly prepared in someone’s kitchen and then delivered to stores and restaurants. The shelf life of these chips was, however, nil. However, in 1925, the invention of the potato-peeling machine led to the mass production of these chips. A year later, another company put ironed sheets of waxed paper into bags. The chips were hand-packed into bags, which were then ironed shut.
Potato chips received a further boost when the U.S. government declared them an essential food in 1942, allowing factories to remain open during World War II. In many places, they were the only ready-to-eat vegetables available during the war. After the war, serving dips with potato chips became a must. The television also spread the popularity of the potato chips, as many Americans settled in front of their TV sets with packets of these flavored chips.
Today, potato chips have become one of the common and most widespread snacks across the world. Their crispiness, flavor, and taste have made them a massive hit among all age groups.
Table of Contents
Top 5 Chips brands in India
The nostalgic flavor – Uncle Chips
Delicious potato masala – Lay’s
The stackable Chips – Pringle’s
Nacho cheese flavoured chips –Doritos
Summary of Top Chips Brands in India
Brands | Amazon Rating | Buy Now |
Lays | 4.4 | Add to Cart |
Pringles | 4.3 | Add to Cart |
Kettle | 4 | Add to Cart |
Uncle Chipps | 5 | Add to Cart |
Haldiram’s | – | Add to Cart |
Parle’s | 2.9 | Add to Cart |
Doritos | 4 | Add to Cart |
Bingo | 4.3 | – |
Balaji | – | – |
Visalakshi’s | – | Add to Cart |
Potato chips brands in India
Presented below are some of the best and most popular potato chips brands in India. These flavor-packed and anytime consumable snacks are sure to leave your taste buds wanting more.
The chips brands are:
1. Lays Chips
The brand rightfully states, “No one can have just one.” You will be left asking for more once you have tasted the chips from this brand. The Lays chips company is one of the famous and best-selling potato chips brands in India. Although many mistake it to be an American brand, it is originally a Canadian brand. It offers many exciting flavors in chips such as Spanish Tomato Tango, American Style Cream and Onion, India’s Magic masala, and more. They are also popularly known and commonly called by the color of their packets such as Yellow Lays, Blue Lay’s, Green Lays, etc.
A quick internet search or visit to your nearest grocery store can give you the Lay’s chips price list. They come in packs of Rs.5, Rs.10, and Rs.20.
The brand has also come up with Lays Wafer Style potato chips which again comes in a variety of mouth-watering flavors.
Product Features
- Made with best quality potatoes.
- 100% Vegetarian.
- Trans fat Free.
2. Pringles Chips
Pringles potato chips are owned by the famous company Kellog’s, which is widely popular worldwide for their cereal products.
Although priced a little on the expensive side, they come in several flavors with exquisite taste and aromas. Some of the flavors offered by this brand are rice cheddar cheese, BBQ flavor, Ranch flavor, Dill pickle, Pizza flavor, and many more. Their quality makes them one of the best potato chips brands in India.
You can check Pringles chips price in India on Amazon.
Product Features
- Sour Cream and Onion.
- Stackable Potato chips.
- Non-spicy.
3. Kettle Chips
Kettle chips India are tossed with exotic spices and herbs. They are fried in high mono-saturated canola and sunflower oil. Some other chips produced by them are golden-hued tortilla chips and Spanish chips from corn tortilla. Red chili, salsa with mesquite, cheddar cheese, and Jalapeno Jack are some other popular chips offered by this brand. Their wide-range of flavors and styles have made them one of the well-known potato chips brands in India.
Product Features
- Kettle cooked Potato Chips.
- Great Crunch.
- Thick cut slices of potato.
- Gluten Free. Free from artificial coloring.
4. Uncle Chips
Uncle Chips India holds a special place in the heart of any 90’s kid. These are some of the oldest Indian chips that acquired widespread popularity. Some of the popular Uncle chips flavors are Spicy treat, Classic salted, Bombay chili masala, Sendha namak, and Jakkas tomato twist. They are an ideal combination of different flavors and tastes.
Product Features
- 20% extra
- Spicy treat
- Vegetarian product.
5. Haldirams chips
Haldiram’s needs no special introduction as it is already one of the most reputed brands of Indian sweets and snacks. Haldiram chips are loved by one and all. Some of their popular chips varieties are Halke Fulke, Kettle chips, tangy tomato, pink pepper potato chips, Achari masti, Chili Shamaka, Tomato madness, and more. Haldiram wafers are as famous as their chips.
Product Features
- Transfat free chips.
- 100% vegetarian product.
- Made with best quality potatoes.
6. Parle wafers
Parle is one of the most famous Indian chips brands that offer snacks and biscuits. Some of their most tempting wafer chips are Aloo chaat, Tangy tomato, Classic salted, and Piri Piri- choose anyone of your choice from these popular potato chips brands in India for your next binge-watching session.
Product Features
- Vegetarian.
- Spicy and flavourful.
- Crunchy.
7. Doritos chips
Introduced by PepsiCo India, this is another popular and most-sold potato chips brand in India. They are well known for their signature flavor, called the Doritos Nacho Cheese Tortilla chips. It is famous for being one of the crunchiest cheese-flavored chips in India.
Product Features
- Signature flavour – Nacho Cheese.
- Select golden corn.
- Extreme crunch.
8. Bingo chips
Although a relatively new brand, it has quickly become one of the well-known potato chips brands in India. It is a well-known name in every Indian household for its quirky and witty promotional campaigns of Bingo mad angles and Bingo tedhe medhe. They are made with a combination of spices to give you the ultimate twist in your mouth. It is one of the chips brands in India that are well known for their quirky shapes and patterns of chips. Some of the popular flavors are Achari masti, Chili Shamaka, Tomato madness, etc. they are undoubtedly one of the best potato chips.
Product Features
- Crispy masala sprinkled.
- Made from golden quality potatoes.
- Thinly sliced.
9. Balaji wafers
It is another potato chips brands in India that are quickly and steadily gaining a permanent place in the market. Balaji is already known in every Indian household for their snacks items.
Product Features
- Stackable.
- Crispy.
10. Visalakshi’s Snacky
Visalakshi’s snacky is a household snack in India. This brand sells the best potato chips along with many packaged items such as roasted dry fruits, chana fry, and assorted namkeens. This is one of the potato chips brands that can also customize potato chips according to your needs. It is undoubtedly a popular potato chips brands in India.
Product Features
- Vegetarian.
- Made in refined vegetable oil.
Raw materials for potato chips
In today’s times, potato chips are made from farm-fresh potato chips delivered daily to the manufacturing plants. Stored potatoes are kept at a specific temperature before they can be used.
The potatoes are then fried in either corn oil, cottonseed oil, or a blend of vegetable oils. Rancidity of the potatoes is prevented by adding an oxidizing agent to the potatoes. The oil which is used for frying the potato chips is passed through a filtration system to ensure purification.
Salt and other flavoring agents such as powdered sour cream and onion and barbeque flavor are purchased from outside sources. Flake salt is used rather than crystal salt.
Some manufacturers treat the potatoes with chemicals such as phosphoric acid, citric acid, hydrochloric acid, or calcium chloride to reduce the sugar level and improve the color of the chips.
The bags are designed by individual potato chip manufacturers. They are stored in rolls and brought to the assembly line as necessary.
The manufacturing process of potato chip companies
The manufacturing process of the potato chips is the same, followed by most of the brands. Read below the actual process.
Process 1: Test and Quality Check
The potatoes, after arriving at the plant, are tested and examined for quality. Half a dozen buckets are filled with these potatoes. Some of the potatoes are punched with holes so that they can be tracked during the cooking process. The potatoes are examined for green edges and blemishes. The pile of defective potatoes is weighed, and if the weight exceeds a company’s preset allowance, the entire truckload is rejected.
Process 2: Potatoes sent on Conveyor Belt for Peeling
The potatoes move along a conveyor belt to the various stages of manufacturing. TGentle vibrations powder the conveyor belts to keep breakage to a minimum.
The potatoes are loaded into a vertical helical screw conveyor, which allows stones to fall to the bottom and pushes the potatoes up to a conveyer belt to the automatic peeling machine. After the peeling is complete, the potatoes are washed with cold water.
Process 3: Slicing the Potatoes
The potatoes pass through a revolving presser that cuts them into paper-thin slices. Straight blades produce regular chips while rippled blades produce ridged potato chips.
The potato slices then fall into a second cold-washer wash that removes the starch released when the potatoes are cut. Some natural potato wafers manufacturers in India do not wash the starch off the potatoes.
Process 4: Chemically Treated
The potatoes are chemically treated at this stage to enhance their color. They are immersed in a solution that has been adjusted for pH, hardness, and mineral content.
Process 5: Slices sent for Frying
The potato slices pass under air jets that remove excess water as they flow into the troughs filled with oil for frying. The oil temperature is kept at 350-375 degrees Celsius. The potato slices are pushed with the help of paddles. As the slices tumble, salt is sprinkled from receptacles positioned above the trough.
Process 6: Seasoned
In the next stage, they are flavored in a drum filled with the desired powdered seasonings.
At the end of the trough, a wire mesh pulls out the hot potato chips. The excess oil drains away as the potato chips move along the conveyor belt. They then move along an optical sorter that picks out burnt slices and removes them with puffs of air.
Process 7: Packaging
The chips are conveyed to a packaging machine with a scale. The bags flow down from a roll. A CPU code on the bag tells the machine how many chips should be released into the bag. The sealed bags are conveyed to a collator and hand-packed into cartons.
The best chips in India are packed into various sizes of packs.
Related Reading:
Ever tried homemade chips and failed miserably? Here are some of the tried and tested tips to make homemade chips.
Waste from potato chip companies
Rejected potatoes and peelings are sent to farms to be used as animal feed. The starch that is removed in the rinsing process is sold to a starch processor.
Now that we know the manufacturing process of potato chips, let us talk about the potato chip brands in India.
Frequently Asked Questions
Potato chips are one of the widely popular, loved snacking options. Here are some of the FAQs on the potato chips brands available in the Indian market.
1. What is the best potato chip brand?
Lay’s is one of the leading brands when it comes to potato chips. With the wide range of flavors available, the top 4 flavors which one can find everywhere and are most loved are American classic cream, India’s magic masala, hot and sweet chili and Spanish tomato and classic salted.
Besides Lays, other popular potato chips brands in India are Balaji Wafers, Uncle Chipps, Bingo, and Pringles chips.
2. What is the most popular Flavour of chips?
The most popular flavor in potato chips is Lay’s Magic masala. Other than that, Lay’s tomato tango and Lay’s Cream & Onion are widely liked flavors in the Indian market.
Uncle chips are gaining popularity and beat Lays in terms of flavors. Uncle chips have varieties of Indian flavors of potato chips such as Spicy treat, bombaat chilli masala, and jhakaas tomato twist.
3. Are potato chips good for you?
No, potato chips are not good for your health. They are high in fat and calories. They contain a chemical, “Acrylamide” which increases the risk of getting cancer. Having it daily or in high quantities can increase inflammation levels in the body.
Potato chips have less to no nutritional value and are high in calories, which may lead to weight gain. It is high in sodium as it has too much salt, which increases craving and ends up eating more fatty food. It may increase the risk of getting a heart attack.
4. What are the calories of potato chips?
There is 536 Kcal in 100g of potato chips. They are high in fat, refined carbs, and salt.
5. Why do people love potato chips?
Potato chips are highly addictive. Potato chips have fat, refined carbohydrates, and salt. Eating salt triggers the release of dopamine hormones, which is the “feel-good” hormone. Once they are satisfying, we crave the chips more.
Another factor why people love it is the crunch. Studies show that the sound of crunch is inevitable and a sign of food’s freshness.
6. What are the benefits of potato chips?
Potatoes are healthy and filling. But the potato chips and French fries are not healthy. They are high in salt and fat, which can increase the chances of a heart attack.
Final Words
Potato chips manufacturing companies in India have been a major savior for people who love to munch these tasty chips even when slightly hungry. Not everyone likes to have a full meal when hungry, and chips are exactly where they come in handy. Since there are many variants in potato chips, they are most preferred by children and even elders. Potato chips have been in existence since the 18th century. They are a popular snack item in almost every part of the world.
It is hard to narrow down a category like chips manufacturers in India, especially when there are so many great choices available in the market. This article provides you with a list of the best potato chips brands in India. This article will also let you know the process of how these tasty chips are made all across the world.