‘A nostalgic 1980s-style chip’: the best supermarket oven chips, tasted and rated

They’re a supermarket freezer staple, but when the chips are down, whose are spuds you like and whose are potato no-nos?

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I’m not sure I’ve ever bought a bag of oven chips. My mum bought them in the 1980s and 90s, but they were never nice, and sometimes resembled cardboard. I’ve always assumed they were among the most processed foods on the planet, so I was pleasantly surprised by the quality, taste and even health scores of the brands tested here, which I assessed using the Yuka app. Most are low in salt, sugar and saturated fat, and had relatively simple recipe formulas.

While a few brands included concerning ingredients – such as disodium diphosphate and artificial flavourings – most use a blend of sunflower and rapeseed oil, with no hazardous additives. However, nearly all contained a small amount of dextrose, a sugar that feels unnecessary here, not least because potatoes already have a natural sweetness. Just two brands were dextrose-free, earning them an extra point.