Food blogger Becca Stock, known online as Becca Eats Everything, blind taste tested 10 Ready Salted crisp brands and was left in shock when 69p Walkers emerged victorious over premium brands Tyrrells and Kettle, scoring a perfect 10 out of 10.
Blind taste test setup
Stock, who has 680,000 YouTube subscribers, emptied the contents of 10 different Ready Salted varieties into various-coloured bowls before conducting her taste test on each. While she sampled them, her viewers could see on screen which crisp brand she was tasting – something she remained oblivious to until afterwards.
Starting with her white bowl, Stock examined a crisp and speculated it was "probably a Tesco or Lidl" variety, noting a "slight bitterness to the potato flavour" and giving them 5.5 out of 10. In her blue bowl, she criticised Marks & Spencer's offering as "not good" and "like plastic", awarding them 2 out of 10.
Premium brands falter
Stock accurately identified Kettle Chips in her pale pink bowl, praising the "good crunch" and "good amount of salt" but noting an "odd aftertaste" of oil, giving them 7.5 out of 10. Morrisons' Ready Salted, presented in a yellow bowl, "looked a bit like Walkers" and were "very crunchy" with "good quality potatoes", but were "lacking a bit of salt", scoring 8 out of 10.
Asda's Essential range crisps in her dark blue bowl "look like a 'value' brand" but were "quite nice" for supermarket standard, earning 6 out of 10. Tesco Finest, in her pink bowl, looked "very bougie" but tasted "fishy" and "wasn't nice", receiving 2 out of 10.
Walkers takes the crown
Walkers' crisps in her yellow bowl were "very yellow" but after a taste, Stock enthusiastically declared: "These are nice! What are these? They're so buttery... they might be Walkers." She praised the "strong" potato flavour and "little hints of salt", declaring: "These are the perfect crisp and a 10 out of 10."
Lidl's selection in her green bowl had a "slightly nutty flavour" with "good crunch" that "melts on the tongue", scoring 8.5 out of 10. Stock was "convinced" the purple bowl contained Tyrrell's, but after a single bite she couldn't contain her laughter, exclaiming: "These are just so tasteless! I would never buy these ever again. They're a 3 out of 10." Tesco's Stockwell & co budget range, in her orange bowl, had nowhere near enough salt, and she gave them 3 out of 10.
Shocking final results
With the blind test concluded, Stock reflected on her astonishment that Walkers beat premium brands Tyrrell's and Kettle. She said: "They were the best, genuinely, and I would never normally pick Walkers."
The foodie, from Gloucester, Gloucestershire, added: "I thought crisps is something we are all familiar with and it is a great snack. I wanted to do a variation of value, mid-price, and then some premium brands - it was really interesting. Even some mid-price brands like Lidl came in second place. I had no preconception of what brand was going to win."
"Lidl's had a good crunch, and had a nutty flavour. Walkers was my favourite one. I would never have thought that they'd be the best, you could actually taste the potato. It had a good saltiness to it, it was buttery. You don't pick up on that unless you are directly comparing them to other products. Tyrrells is a brand I would always pick off the shelf and they were one of the worst for me. I was quite shocked, I thought it would be in the top three at least."
