They are essentially nachos that don’t require cooking, but is this trend worth your time? There was only one way to find out ...
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eady salted, prawn cocktail, pickled onion and smoky bacon – crisps are undoubtedly the nation’s favourite snack food, subject to a variety of staple and sometimes suspicious flavour varieties. According to one recent report, they were the UK’s snack of choice on 94% of “all consumption occasions”, often enjoyed with a complementary dip, or served in a packet ripped open on a pub table. But now, the humble bag of crisps is having a revamp.
Enter: the loaded crisp bag. It’s a lot like loaded fries or nachos, in that it can be a vehicle for a whole gamut of flavours – as served, for example, at Pablos, a fast food outlet in Nottingham where anything from ground beef to molten cheese is dolloped into an opened bag of crisps.
Commonly known as basque nachos because they mimic the region’s culinary tradition of bite-size snacks (pintxos), and apparently inspired by a dish served at the Basque-inspired restaurant Ernesto’s in New York City, the trend took off on TikTok with videos showcasing people’s homemade crisp creations. Also sometimes called “soggy crisps” and “crisp charcuterie”, loaded crisps are perfect picnic grub or a party pleaser.
