Only in Thailand: KFC Potato Chips and Potato Chip KFC

Kentucky Fried Chicken is way more popular in Asia than it even is in the United States. Did you know that there are over 1,000 MORE KFC restaurants in China than in the USA?

KFC is also different in Asia. It uses higher quality ingredients and is much tastier! They are also very creative in their unique food marketing, which leads KFC to show up on my "Only in..." posts quite often.

For example:

chocolate chicken ice cream and chicken in an ice cream cone

Potato chips are also popular in Thailand (especially Lay's brand - so much so that I've met lots of Thai people who thought it was a Thai brand). Chips show up pretty often as well, because the chip flavors in Thailand tend to be quite unique, such as the Cooling Sensation chips I reviewed a while back.

But what happens when you combine Thailand's love of fried chicken with its love for potato chips?? The most exciting crossover in history: a tasty partnership between KFC and Lay's!

Lay's KFC Original Recipe Chicken Potato Chips

These exclusive fried chicken-flavored chips can only be found at Thai 7-11 convenience stores. Of course I had to spend the 20 baht to buy a small bag! Funny enough, though, chicken-flavored chips aren't at all uncommon in Thailand. I guess this partnership really was a no-brainer for the marketing departments of the two big companies.

The chips did taste like fried chicken (a bit more "fried" than "chicken", however) with a very nice, salty, MSG sort of flavor. No complaints here! I'm not the hugest fan of chips in general (I like them, but prefer other snacks), but these chips were not bad at all? Would I buy them again? Maybe! The flavor wasn't weird, and the taste of chicken and potato goes together really nicely.

KFC chips

wing zaab - spicy chicken wing flavor

Which leads into the other side of this partnership...

Lay's Chicky Chips at KFC

So Lay's gets to have its chicken-flavored chips. As part of this partnership, KFC also got to roll out a new dish: Lay's potato chip coated fried chicken! I stopped in at KFC yesterday and ordered a small serving.

only at KFC Thailand

I've discovered that chips and chicken really do go well together! Using crushed potato chips as a breading on the fried chicken tastes very, very good! It's not super potato-y, but has a nice flavor. It is crispier than a traditional breading batter, and carries a subtle chip flavor. If I made this dish at home, I might like to try making it with different flavors of potato chips to see how well the breading carries the chip flavor into the chicken.

Excellent! I would (and likely will) order this dish again in the future.

potato chip fried chicken

If you like hearing about the good (and sometimes odd) food that I encounter in my travels, visit my other blog theworldofstreetfood.com, which I update whenever I eat some delicious food in Thailand and abroad.