Pretzel Crisps Flavors, Ranked Worst To Best

If you've ever looked at the shape of a pretzel and thought, "That's just too 3D for my taste," Pretzel Crisps are the snack that solves the problem. These flattened-out crunchers bring twist-style pretzels into the world of chips and crackers by smashing them flat, adding a light crispiness that traditional pretzels just can't capture. Of course, this doesn't make them healthier than regular pretzels, especially once they're coated in delicious dust with flavors like Buffalo Wing and Cinnamon Sugar. But hey — we're talking snack foods here, and Pretzel Crisps are a tasty novelty that class up the bagged snack aisle, though you often find them hanging with hummus and high-end deli selections.

We wanted to know how the flavors in this tempting set compare to one another, so we grabbed every bag in the collection and readied our taste buds for a sampling sesh. Though Pretzel Crisps also produces a line of chocolate-dipped delights, we thought it best to stick to the savory side of the street; the sweeter options are more of a premium purchase that occupies a separate space in the snack sphere, anyway. With so many fresh and fancy variants, Pretzel Crisps has given us enough to chew on without adding candy coating to the situation. We've grabbed a bag of every flavor to put them to the test and we'll explain more about our methodology at the end. For now, here is every flavor of Pretzel Crisps ranked worst to best. 

Salted pretzels smashed flat; that's the easiest way to describe Original Pretzel Crisps. They're the treat that started it all, an even crunchier version of the pretzel template with more surface area for accommodating dips and sauces. Like they've been pressed between the pages of a phone book (remember those?) or an encyclopedia (remember those?). You get more surface area of what we lovingly call the pretzel shell, giving you maximum crunch without the dusty pretzel core complicating your snacking. And there's salt, too, but not too much. The word we kept coming back to when tasting these was "meh."

To clarify: There's nothing wrong with these crisps at all, and there's no reason for them to appear at the bottom of the ranking other than underwhelming ordinariness. With so many other enticing options in the line, it would be wrong to place the bare-bones base product any higher. This doesn't necessarily make it an underachiever, just a modest nibble that knows its place and lets the glitzier versions take the spotlight. They may be less salty than Costco's take on flat pretzels, but that doesn't make them any less tasty ... just not tasty enough to ascend any higher.

No need to show off your flavor fabulosity when something classic like Sea Salt & Cracked Pepper Pretzel Crisps can keep things simple yet sophisticated. When this seasoning match-up is on the menu, you know exactly what you'll be getting. There's no secret formula to decrypt and no other captivating treats to bump it up against for comparison. The name tells you exactly what's on the crisps: There's sea salt and there's cracked pepper — end of story. Who doesn't love a snack that takes the guesswork out of flavor shopping?

If only there were a little something more to get excited about. This bagged crackler includes so little of both sea salt and cracked pepper, they might as well be entirely unseasoned. Sure, they'd be ideal for dips and spreads that need an unadorned base, but eating them on their own, we found ourselves searching for any sort of taste besides pretzels. After about three crisps, we could finally detect a bit of pepper, which was only enough to place them one step up from the bottom of the ranking.

Be honest: Any cheddar cheese-flavored snack is doing its best to live up to Doritos in your eyes, right? It's a natural comparison to make since that timeless flavor sets a standard that's pretty tricky to top. Cheddar Cheese Pretzel Crisps makes a valiant effort to overcome the stigma of always being just another cheese-flavored competitor in the arena. All it takes is a glance at the photo of the powdered knot on the bag to get your mouth watering and your mind wandering to how tangy and delicious a blast of cheese flavor could be on a pretzel-style chip if done properly.

After tasting them, we felt cheated out of so much snacking potential. It didn't stop us from eating them, of course, but we were pretty salty about it. The stinginess of the cheddar cheese sprinkle might make you feel like you're being punished, but the lightness is by design. Cheddar Cheese Pretzel Crisps are a premium snack made for a more discerning palate. The modest inclusion of flavor dust means your taste buds have more work to do to detect the taste, requiring you to eat slowly and carefully. This can be a real buzzkill for snackers who like to shovel down handfuls of whatever they're eating indiscriminately, but it also helps make the sensibly-sized bag last longer. However, they were still better than snacks that skip the cheddar shake-on altogether.

A single sugary selection among so many savory snacks, Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel Crisps is the antidote to the zest seasonings on the other versions. With such a clever approach to give those with a sweet tooth something to long for, the possibility of indulging in a cinnamon crisp or churro-style bite was intoxicating. Would it be something like a pastry or more similar to a breakfast cereal? Our happy little snacking hearts could hardly stand the suspense.

As it turns out, we were overthinking it — by a lot. That's what happens when you hope for cinnamon-sugar toast and get more of a cinnamon-sugar ghost. There's a mere whisper of both sweetness and spice adorning the surface, which makes for less granulated flavoring scattered all over the table, but also results in a less-satisfying experience. With so much anticipation for a fun candy-coated crisp, we could have dropped this flavor lower on the ladder. But we admire the moxie here. We just wish it would have gone a little further.

Italian flavor meets Bavarian baking in Garlic Parmesan Pretzel Crisps, one of the more robust offerings in the line. Our first impression upon hearing that this flavor even existed was bread sticks, the really flavorful homemade kind where the cheese gets a little brown here and there and the garlic pops you in the face with flavor. Knowing some of the other flavors led to heartache, we tempered our hopes by bearing in mind that these are pretzels, not breadsticks. They deserved a chance to impress us on their own merits.

And impress us, they did. This Pretzel Crisp iteration has a minimal dose of both garlic and parmesan, which ends up being a sensible choice for two flavors that could easily overwhelm unsuspecting tongues (not to mention noses). Rather than elbow their way into the party table like a cheaper treat would, Garlic Parmesan glides into the conversation and delights the palate with subtle charm. If you need snack ideas for your next movie night, you could do much worse than adding these crunchy munchies to your shopping list. In a slew of flavor concoctions that haven't quite lived up to the possibilities, this one is a step in the right direction.

Everything bagels kicked off a movement where seasoning maximalism made for a world of enjoyment. Pretzel Crisps caught the trend by the tail and introduced the creatively-named Everything, a version of its pretzel chips that includes all the best flavors from the spice rack. The notion of dousing treats in everything seasoning is clever enough to get our gears turning. We can't think of any other item in the bagged snack aisle that's attempted such a boss move. Surely there's only success in a strategy like this ... right?

Right! These crackly snackers are bold enough to announce their intentions; they're here to make you happy. It's like the company peeled off the surface of the bagel namesake and tossed it in the toaster until it turned crunchy. The mix of textures and flavors is identical to an everything bagel, right down to the prominent rye-garlic-and-onion essence that stands out among the other flavors. Finally, we have a Pretzel Crisp that doesn't need any topping and doesn't feel like there was something left off of the assembly line; every pretzel gets a generous coating of everything to make Everything Pretzel Crisps everything we wanted it to be.

Like a mash-up of treasured salad dressing and chip dip flavors, Honey Mustard & Onion Pretzel Crisps take a swipe at a zesty blend that sounds like a winner of a nibble. These elements should be right at home atop a blank baked canvas as toasty and earthy as a crisped pretzel. Could we be so lucky as to find a more powerful take on flavored Pretzel Crisps, one that holds up its end of the bargain with a flavor that cries out for abundance rather than restraint?

Oh yes ... yes we can. Sweet, spicy, and supremely spunky, Honey Mustard & Onion Pretzel Crisps are the kind of snack you dig into and you don't stop until the bag is empty. The boldness of the seasoning combination means even with the reserved inclusion of powder on each pretzel, there's a blast of flavor coming for you in each bite. Using honey as a sweet counterpoint to spicy mustard and robust onion is an inspired move that works in Pretzel Crisps' favor. We're not ashamed to say we only needed one taste to know how much we loved this flavor. But there was one more entry in the competition that won our hearts even more handily.

Who's snacking life couldn't use a spicy friend like Buffalo Wing Pretzel Crisps, a dependably saucy character that adds fiery fun to every pantry that stocks it? Buffalo wings themselves are such a staple on the dining landscape that any extra interpretation of the core components is bar bite blasphemy. If you're a wise food producer, you don't tinker with something that works; you simply formulate the flavor with all the fierce familiarity shoppers are looking for. And if we're promised a snack that recreates the experience of a buffalo wing, we'll know right away if that promise has been kept.

Well, not only is the promise kept, but it's possibly over-delivered. This crisp contender is fun and peppery in all the exciting ways real buffalo wings are, similar to Snyders Hot Buffalo Wing Pretzel Nuggets but with a more urbane delivery. You won't find your mouth going up in flames from too-fiery cayenne, which means you can taste every flavor note without your tongue turning numb. This is one snack we couldn't stop reaching for, the surest indicator of a list-topping Pretzel Crisp. We also couldn't help but think about how great they'd go with a homemade blue cheese dip, though they're perfectly wonderful all by themselves. For such a satisfying snacking experience, Buffalo Wing flies to the top of the ranking.

We dove right in and tried every flavor, allowing ourselves a single chip at a time to keep from overwhelming our senses. Taking the path of expert-level taste testing, we cleared our palates with water before taking a second taste to confirm our initial assessment, repeating the process as we moved on to the next bag. We also began with the less-impactful flavors like Original and Sea Salt & Cracked Pepper, progressing toward the heartier options like Everything and Honey Mustard & Onion. This felt like a logical order that allowed us to appreciate the basics before the more complex crisps rather than hopping around from bag to bag.

For many seasoned Pretzel Crisps, the flavor on each crisp is so subtle, that we had to allow ourselves several crisps in each tasting to make sure we detected them properly. We were all too happy to keep tasting to get the most informed impression possible of what each bag had to offer. Some flavors like Garlic Parmesan showed more personality upon second tasting, an aspect we took as a reason to keep snacking to heighten the experience rather than giving up after a single try. When it comes to snacks, we're no quitters.