Last Updated on February 10, 2026 by Brian Kachejian
Feature Photo by Brian Kachejian
In this potato chip taste test, I rank The Best Cape Cod Potato Chip Flavors incuding the original, Sea Salt & Vinegar, and Sweet Mesquite BBQ. But first, let’s dive into a bit of the brand’s history.
The whole Cape Cod Potato Chip story actually kicked off on the Fourth of July in 1980. It was the brainchild of Steve Bernard, a guy who had a vision for a crunchier, more “honest” snack than what you could find in a vending machine back then. He sold off his auto parts business, grabbed a used potato slicer, and set up a tiny storefront in Hyannis, Massachusetts. It’s wild to think about now, but the company almost didn’t make it past the first year. They were struggling hard until a literal car crashed through their front window. It sounds like a disaster, but the insurance money and the local media coverage actually saved the business and turned them into a local legend just as the summer tourists started pouring in.
That “Cape Cod” crunch comes from their kettle-cooking process, which was a huge deal back when most chips were being mass-produced on conveyor belts. By frying them in small batches, the oil temperature drops, which gives the chips that signature folded shape and that heavy-duty snap that doesn’t just turn to dust in the bag. Even though the brand started as a tiny family operation, it eventually caught the eye of the big players. It went from Anheuser-Busch to Lance, then Snyder’s-Lance, and today it’s actually owned by the Campbell Soup Company. While the iconic Nauset Light lighthouse is still on every bag, the brand is in a bit of a transition period right now, they recently made the move to shift production away from the original Hyannis plant to larger facilities across the country. It’s why you are saying this brand new across the nation in all major supermarkets.
So with the history behind us, it’s now time to get into the competition. Make sure to watch the video I made below that fuels this article, so you can see my real time reactions to tasting these chips.
The Cape Cod Potato Chip Taste Test Competition
The Original Cape Cod Potato Chip
I felt the best way to start out this contest was to start with the original. Kettle chips have a unique flavor and crunch. They just taste healthier. This is a really good-tasting potato chip. It doesn’t taste like chemicals; it tastes like real potatoes. I can’t wait to put this one up against the other basic potato chip brands in my upcoming plain potato chip competition. This contest starts out on a high note with this great-tasting chip.
Sweet Mesquite BBQ
If you watch the video below, you will see that the strong flavor of this Sweet Mesquite BBQ hit me immediately. I already did a barbecue potato chip competition, and sadly, I didn’t have the Cape Cod in that one. If I did, this would have definitely been right up there at the top. This is a fantastoc-tasting barbecue potato chip. And I liked it a little bit better than the original.
Sea Salt & Vinegar
Even though there are only three flavors in this potato chip competition, Sea Salt & Vinegar definitely stood out as the best. Just like the barbecue chip, the flavor hit me immediately. It was something very organic tasting about this chip. I felt like I was sitting on a dock, the wind blowing through my hair, smelling the salt from the ocean, staring out at that lighthouse on the cover of the bag of these chips, and feeling a little bit of peace while I bathed in this magnificent flavored potato chip. I’m not really that much of a vinegar potato flavor guy, but this one rocked! Hands down, this is the winner!
