A freezer staple and quick dinner winner loved by young and old, frozen chips are a common addition to our grocery baskets. Adding crispness, crunch and a side of deliciousness to burgers, sausages, steaks or fish fillets, they're a relatively cheap and convenient option to bulk out meals.
In our latest act of national service (you're welcome), the CHOICE team fired up the air fryers and taste-tested 34 different brands of frozen chips to find out which are the best, based on flavour, texture, aroma, appearance and nutrition.
The winner in the straight-cut category was Birds Eye Golden Crunch Thin and Crispy Chips
with a score of 88% ($5.80 for 900g; $0.64 per 100g), but they were at the pricier end of the products we reviewed.
We also tested cheaper own-brand offerings from Aldi, Coles, Woolies and IGA which may appeal if you're cutting your chip budget. So how did they perform?
Home-brand frozen chips, ranked
While we often find in CHOICE testing that cheaper home-brand products outperform their pricier branded counterparts, sadly this isn't really the case on the frozen chip front – none of these own-brand straight-cut chips scored higher than 67%, so even if the price is right you may want to think twice before chucking them in your trolley.
But if you're dedicated to cutting costs by shopping own-brand, these are how the straight-cut options we looked at from each major supermarket stacked up.
1. Aldi Seasons Pride Super Crunch Chips (CHOICE score: 67%)
Of all the basic straight-cut supermarket own-brand chips we tested, this budget buy from Aldi scored the highest at 67%, and it's also one of the cheapest products at 40 cents per 100g (that's a tick for your grocery budget!)
But, although these chips scored higher on taste than other supermarket buys, they were scored slightly down on nutrition. A quick look at the back of the packet shows there are lots of ingredients besides potato that have been added, including salt, sugars and thickener, so keep this in mind if you like to avoid additives.
Read the full review of Aldi Seasons Pride Super Crunch Chips.
2. Woolworths Essentials French Fries (CHOICE score: 66%)
While technically a skinny chip, these Woolies French Fries are a notable inclusion here as Woolworths doesn't have am own-brand standard straight-cut chip (their Woolworths Australian Beer Batter Steakhouse Chips were ranked the best in our beer-battered chip category however).
These fries score 66% and cost the same as the Aldi chips at 40 cents per 100g. Consisting of just two ingredients – 96% potato and 4% sunflower oil (without any of the additives we found in many products, including our Birds Eye winner) – this product received a nutrition score of 90% and a taste test score of 64%.
Comments from our taste testers included: "Nice structure, tastes of potato, good crispness". While another said :"Somewhat crispy on the outside and soft in the middle".
Read the full review of Woolworths Essentials French Fries.
3. Coles Classic Straight-Cut Chips (CHOICE score: 60%)
Next-best chip off the block is from Coles, costing the same as the Woolies fries and with the same two ingredients (just 97% potato and 3% sunflower oil), but with a score of 60%.
These chips also received the same nutrition score as the Woolies fries (90%) and have lower than average sodium with 80mg per 100g serve (the average sodium content of the chips we tested was 118mg per 100 grams).
But Coles' offering was outclassed by the Woolworths option due to taste. Our taste testers weren't huge fans, describing the flavour of these chips as "mediocre" with "not much of an aroma".
Read the full review of Coles Classic Straight-Cut Chips.
4. Black & Gold Straight Cut Potato Chips (CHOICE score: 59%)
Neck and neck with the Coles chips above, these IGA own-brand chips are ever so slightly more expensive than the Coles and Woolies options (40.5 cents per 100g), and scored 59% overall.
Although they have less sodium than the Coles and Woolies chips at 29mg per 100g, a quick perusal of the ingredients list shows they have added dextrose which is a type of sugar added to frozen chip products to help make them crunchy and stay crisp for longer.
Unfortunately, the dextrose doesn't even seem to be doing a good job – one of our taste testers noted that they didn't crisp up when cooked and had "limited flavour".
Read the full review of Black & Gold Straight Cut Potato Chips.
Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
