A crisps enthusiast has sampled an impressive 40 different varieties of salt and vinegar snacks, and insists people are stunned by her ultimate winner. Liv Newman embarked on her unusual food challenge following a 12-month backpacking adventure across South East Asia. By the conclusion of her crisps marathon, iconic names such as Walkers and Golden Wonder found themselves overtaken by a popular supermarket's own brand.
During her travels abroad, Liv maintains salt and vinegar crisps "didn't exist", leaving her with an overwhelming craving for the sharp snack upon returning to Britain. The 28-year-old launched her investigation in August 2025, spending the following months working through three fresh packets of crisps weekly. She spent £80 altogether.
Following each new brand, she would record and score them on her phone, judging the snack on the strength and sharpness of its flavour. She narrowed it down to the top seven before hosting a crisp party with mates, where they blind taste-tested the products and ranked their preferences.
The Winner and Runners-Up
Liv awarded top honours to M&S Salt & Double Vinegar Extreme Ridge Cut Crisps for their "intense vinegar flavour," though she acknowledged the powerful taste could prove "unbearable" at times. Claiming the runner-up spot were the Golden Wonder Fully Flavoured Salt and Vinegar Crisps, which Liv described as a "fan favourite" and a "clear leader". Rounding out the top three were the Exceptional By Asda Hand Cooked Sea Salt and Chardonnay Wine Vinegar Crisps, which she commended for their "good tingle."
Liv revealed that when she shared the top three online, it caused considerable debate, with many viewers shocked that Co-op's Irresistible Hand Cooked Sea Salt and Chardonnay Wine Vinegar crisps failed to make the podium, landing in fifth place instead. Numerous disappointed social media users championed Co-Op's crisps as the "elite" option.
Liv's Methodology
Liv, from Leeds, West Yorkshire, said: "I was travelling South East Asia for a year and salt and vinegar crisps are just not a flavour over there. It was a running joke that I couldn't wait to get home and have the best salt and vinegar crisps. I wasn't necessarily rating them on the best flavour, but the most salt and vinegar-ist. The ones that made your mouth tingle and hurt your tongue. Some of them were really nice to taste but they were quite weak in flavour. We were going for a pure tingle factor."
She added: "The more salt and vinegar they tasted, the higher the score. The M&S Salt & Double Vinegar Extreme Ridge Cut Crisps were the top ones. They weren't actually rated that highly by myself at first but it's one of those crisps that build and build and have a really intense vinegar flavour. I wouldn't say they were the nicest tasting as they could be too vinegary. We all agreed that when you got one of the really flavoured ones it was almost unbearable."
Online Reaction and Future Plans
Discussing the Co-Op salt and vinegar crisps that proved so contentious, Liv went on: "Everyone was saying these should have been ranked higher as they were everyone's all-time favourite." The crisp enthusiast believes she's done her research justice and feels no urge to sample any further salt and vinegar snacks, quipping that her "tongue is burnt." She's now set to embark on a fresh taste test, this time with her sights set on crowning the UK's finest prawn cocktail crisps.
Liv's Complete Top 40
- M&S Salt & Double Vinegar Extreme Ridge Cut Crisps - 7.6/10
- Golden Wonder Fully Flavoured Salt and Vinegar Crisps - 7.6/10
- Exceptional By Asda Hand Cooked Sea Salt and Chardonnay Wine Vinegar Crisps - 7.4/10
- Discos Salt & Vinegar crisps - 7.2/10
- Co-op Irresistible Hand Cooked Sea Salt & Chardonnay Wine Vinegar Crisps - 7.2/10
- Simply Roasted - Sea Salt & Vinegar Crisps - 7.2/10
- M&S Sea Salt and Vinegar Popped Chips - 7/10
- Tayto Fright Bites Salt 'N Vinegar Flavour Corn Snacks - 7.1/10
- Golden Wonder Chippies Salt & Vinegar Potato Sticks - 6.9/10
- Tayto Hunky Dory Salt & Vinegar Crisps - 6.9/10
- Popchips Sea Salt & Vinegar Crisps - 6.8/10
- Morrisons The Best Sea Salt & Vinegar Crisps - 6.8/10
- Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Sea Salt & Cider Vinegar Crisps - 6.8/10
- Greggs Sea Salt & Cider Vinegar Hand-Cooked Crisps - 6.7/10
- Tayto Golden Wonder Rough Cut Salt and Vinegar Crisps - 6.7/10
- Kettle Potato Chips Sea Salt & Balsamic Vinegar - 6.6/10
- Doritos Minecraft Movie THE CREEPER VINEGAR Limited Edition - 6.5/10
- Smiths Chipsticks Salt & Vinegar Crisps - 6.7/10
- M&S Hand Cooked Sea Salt & Balsamic Vinegar Crisps - 6.5/10
- Walkers Max Zingy Salt & Malt Vinegar Crisps - 6.5/10
- Real Sea Salt and Cider Vinegar Crisps - 6.4/10
- Aldi Salt & Vinegar Flavour Potato Hoops - 6.4/10
- Tayto Salt & Vinegar Flavour Potato Crisps - 6.3/10
- Asda Extra Special Sea Salt and Chardonnay Wine Vinegar Hand Cooked Crisps - 6.2/10
- Bobby's Salt and Vinegar Flavour Spirals - 6/10
- Tyrells Sea Salt & Cider Vinegar - 5.8/10
- Yorkshire Crisps Chardonnay Wine & Vinegar - 5.7/10
- M&S Basic Salt and Vinegar Crisps - 5.7/10
- Salt and Vinegar Pringles - 5.6/10
- Aldi Specially Selected Sea Salt & Chardonnay Vinegar Hand Cooked Crisps - 5.5/10
- McCoy's Salt and Vinegar Crisps - 5.5/10
- M&S Salt and Vinegar Star Crisps - 5.4/10
- Hula Hoops Big Hoops Salt & Vinegar Crisps - 5/10
- Aldi Salt and Vinegar Pringles - 4.4/10
- Pomsticks Salt and Vinegar - 4/10
- Salt and Vinegar Squares Crisps - 3.5/10
- Burton's 5 Fish'n Chips Lashings of Salt & Vinegar Flavour Baked Snacks - 3/10
- M&S Salt & Vinegar Combo Mix - 2/10
- Seabrook Trebles Salt & Cider Vinegar Crisps - 1/10
- Jack's Salt & Vinegar Twirls - 1/10
