According to Frito-Lay in 2015, Ruffles All Dressed was its best-selling potato chip flavour in Canada, particularly popular among young men.
Although challenging to pick out the specific ingredients or describe the taste, All Dressed is known to be a delicious mashup of popular flavours like Ketchup, BBQ, Sour Cream & Onion, and Salt & Vinegar, along with a blend of spices. Items commonly displayed on All Dressed packaging include a vinegar bottle, garlic, a tomato, a red pepper, and an onion.
For many years, All Dressed were only available in Canada. After a brief trial-run in 2015, Frito-Lay announced that Ruffles All Dressed would be made permanently available in the U.S. market.
In our opinion, Ruffles is the gold standard when it comes to All Dressed. However, since we love spending wisely, we wanted to find out how the other brands compared. Could we find an off-brand All Dressed chip that competes with Ruffles for a better price?
Rating System
We’re keeping it simple and choosing 1 overall winner to answer the simple question of which brand you should buy. Each selection will get an overall rating out of 5, which we determined by rating each chip on taste and price, then combining those scores to reach the final number.
Prices
Since we’re based in Newfoundland, we are using Newfoundland pricing. Due to transportation costs, some prices we pay may be a little higher than what you can find in other parts of Canada. We are listing regular prices found at grocery stores but will include notes on special pricing, such as sales.
Old Dutch 
(2.5 / 5)
Purchase at: Various grocery & convenience stores
Regular price: $2.49
Volume: 255g
Cost per 100g: $0.98
Rippled: No
At 255g per bag, Old Dutch’s All Dressed offering has more volume than most. The downside is that they’re terrible, and it actually becomes cumbersome to have to eat so many of them. Even if these were free we’d have a tough time recommending them. They just suck.
No Name 
(3 / 5)
Purchase at: Dominion / Loblaws / No Frills / Shoppers
Regular price: $1.79 ($1.50 with Dominion’s 2 for $3.00 price)
Volume: 200g
Cost per 100g: $0.90 at $1.79 ($0.75 at $1.50)
Rippled: No
You may be saving money with these No Name All Dressed chips, but you’re not fooling anyone. As expected, these have that classic look, feel, and taste of a “cheap” chip. The flavour is unmistakably All Dressed, although a bit smokier than other brands we’ve tried. If you’re looking to simply buy a cheap bag of chips to enjoy a salty snack while drinking, the No Name All Dressed will work just fine, but they don’t stand out for price or taste.
Double Dutch Ridgies (3 / 5)
Purchase at: Various, ours came from Sobeys.
Regular price: $3.49
Volume: 235g
Cost per 100g: $1.49
Rippled: Yes
Just when we thought our research was done, we came across this brand of chips called Ridgies by “Double Dutch”. Needless to say, after finding out that these were actually made by Old Dutch, our hopes were not high. Turns out, we were actually quite surprised. We think these come closest to replicating Ruffles out of every off-brand on our list. They’re not perfect, but the ripple texture is much more like Ruffles, and the taste is pretty good. They’re almost as expensive as Ruffles, though. We’d just rather save money and go for a lower-priced option.
Compliments 
(3.8 / 5)
Purchase at: Sobeys / Lawtons / Foodland
Regular price: $2.29 (Sale: $1.25)
Volume: 200g
Cost per 100g: $1.15 at $2.29 ($0.63 at $1.25)
Rippled: No
Compliments’ offering is a bit pricey for an off-brand, except when on sale, and have an overall nice flavour balance. Joel felt that the biggest downside is overall flavour intensity. While the flavouring itself is alright, it’s fairly weak. This was especially noticeable when directly comparing with some of the higher-ranked options on our list. None of the chips in our bag had that dark-orange color from a heavy dosing of flavouring. Compliments were Nick’s top off-brand choice for flavour, so opinions may vary. These aren’t really worth the regular price of $2.29 per bag, but quite frequently go on sale for $1.25, which is much more reasonable!
President’s Choice 
(4 / 5)
Purchase at: Dominion / Loblaws / No Frills / Shoppers
Regular price: $1.99 ($1.69 sale seen at Dominion)
Volume: 200g
Cost per 100g: $1.00 ($0.85 at $1.69)
Rippled: Yes
President’s Choice “Loads of All Dressed” aren’t kidding with the name. These are packed with a delicious all-dressed flavour that doesn’t perfectly replicate Ruffles, but it doesn’t matter. The PC was Joel’s pick for best off-brand flavour. However, since the next entry from Great Value comes in at such a lower price point (a price you can get every day without waiting for a sale), it’s hard to find a reason to recommend the PC. If you’re shopping at a store that sells these, choosing PC over No Name is a no-brainer and a better deal than Ruffles. If you find them on sale, it’s a pretty damn good choice.
Great Value 
(4.5 / 5)
Purchase at: Walmart
Regular price: $0.97
Volume: 200g
Cost per 100g: $0.49
Rippled: Yes
At just $0.97 per bag regular price, Great Value’s All Dressed offering comes in at the lowest regular price on our list. They’re also rippled, just like Ruffles, although the ripples are much wider than Ruffles.
Great Value didn’t let us down. Although the flavour balance seemed a little off (Joel thought they were a bit heavy on BBQ, with a taste resembling Hickory Sticks) these chips were rich, salty, and super tasty. They also didn’t give quite the “cheap” chip impression that we got from No Name. While not in the same league as Ruffles, at $0.97 per bag, we both agree that this combination of price and taste makes Great Value a real winner!
Ruffles 
(3.5 / 5)
Purchase at: Anywhere
Regular price: $3.49-$3.99+
Volume: 220g
Cost per 100g: $1.81 at $3.99
Rippled: Yes
As we said, Ruffles are the gold standard of All Dressed. However, regularly priced at $3.99 per 220g bag, they come at a premium! This is what inspired us to write this post in the first place. A bag of All Dressed are great when you’re drinking, but $4 a bag is steep! They’re even pricier if you don’t plan ahead and end up suckered into buying them at a convenience store.
While the high cost deflated Ruffles rating, there is a potential saving grace. If you’re a Costco member, you can get a sweet deal on a giant 585 bag for $4.99, or a cost of $0.85 per 100g, which is pretty close to on par with any of the off-brands. You can also find party size Ruffles at some grocery stores, which gets you 380g for $4.49, or $1.18 per 100g.
WINNER
Hands down, we both agree on the winner and answer to the question “which All Dressed chips should I buy?” Walmart’s Great Value have it all. They taste delicious, and as an added bonus, are the cheapest off-brand option on our list. Not only that, but they are cheap EVERY DAY, there’s no sale. These chips are $0.97 a bag all the time. There’s no beating such a deal.
Runner-Up
If you have a Costco membership, the giant bag of Ruffles is a good choice. It’s slightly more expensive than the Great Value, but you get the authentic Ruffles and only have to spend a little more. For those of us without access to Costco, and not near a Walmart, the PC or Compliments offerings on sale are a great choice. Compliments were Nick’s favorite tasting off-brand chip, and Joel went for PC, but we both agree that the best choice is Great Value.
The most important thing when choosing your dressed all over chips is to plan ahead. Joel loves to get drunk and run to the shitmart and buy overpriced chips, but it’s a big rip off. Seek out your chips ahead of time and get the best price.
Do you agree with our conclusions? What’s your favorite All Dressed chip? Have you found a better deal? Comment below!
[BONUS] Compliments Extraaa! Flavour
Purchase at: Seen at Sobeys in Ontario, have not found in NL.
Regular price: $2.29 (Sale: $1.25)
Volume: 200g
Cost per 100g: $1.15 at $2.29 ($0.63 at $1.25)
Rippled: Yes
Joel made a discovery during a trip to Ontario: A second kind of Compliments All Dressed chips. Marketed as “Extraaa! Flavour”, these were carried at an Ontario Sobeys alongside their normal All Dressed offering, and severely upped the Compliments brand offering. Not only did they solve the weak flavour problem, but were also rippled. To make the best of it, these were priced the same as the normal Compliments All Dressed. At the time of writing, we’ve never seen them in Newfoundland. Oddly, though, we have seen other flavours of Extraaa! but not the All Dressed.
If you ever see these in Newfoundland, and on sale, they’re a fine choice but still don’t beat Great Value’s overall value.