If you are a person with a love of sandwiches, a craving for carbohydrates, and very little food in the house, you may find your salvation in one very simple British snack: the crisp butty. Or, translated into American English, the potato chip sandwich. A longtime U.K. fave, the sandwich gained global popularity in 2022 when an Instagram post about it from Nigella Lawson went viral, with nearly 2 million views to date. In the video, the famed cookbook author and TV personality rapturously describes the crisp butty (“heaven,” she says), while showing viewers how to make one.
Not that you really need a recipe. The typical crisp sandwich comprises only three ingredients (bread, butter, potato chips), and its staunchest partisans insist that’s all you need. The sandwich is related to another British carb bomb, the chip butty — “chips” in this instance, of course, denoting what Americans would call french fries. Just a pile of fries squeezed between two pieces of bread and sometimes doused in malt vinegar, it’s a popular item at British fish-and-chips shops. Given the logistical hassle of frying up potatoes, the chip butty might be a tall order to make at home — but the crisp sandwich is objectively a breeze. All you do is take a couple pieces of white bread, slather on some salted butter (Nigella is famously a fan of generously buttered bread), and pile on the chips. But it’s important, in that case, to make every ingredient count.
A crisp sandwich is only as good as its (extremely basic) ingredients
Hearing British people talk about the crisp butty is a bit like hearing American Southerners describe the beloved tomato sandwich, whose most basic iteration involves only sliced tomato, white bread, and mayo — the whole point is that it’s not fancy. Breadwise, Brits will tell you to skip anything whole wheat, anything labeled “sourdough,” anything with seeds: What you want here is good old-fashioned white sandwich bread. No baguettes. No crunchy crusts. And — this is important — no toasting. The bread should be fluffy, to contrast with the crunchy chips (crisps, for the Brits among us) within.
What you spread onto it is also straightforward: soft butter. No mayo, no margarine. Given the intensity of their opinions otherwise, it’s a bit surprising that various British commenters are relatively lax on the matter of chips. “Is it in the crisp aisle in the supermarket?” writes one sandwich critic. “Then it is a crisp.” And it is, therefore, fair game for your sandwich. Still, the consensus here tends toward the standard grocery-store potato chip, with the thin, mass-market kind being preferable to the thicker, fancier kettle-cooked variety.
In other words, your basic Lay’s chip would perform admirably. But for a truer experience, seek our your local British specialty goods store and pick up some authentically English chips, like Walkers Sizzling Smoky Bacon or Saucy Tomato Ketchup. If you made a sandwich with both? You’d be halfway to a really weird BLT, though it’d probably be pretty delicious.
Crispy potatoes belong in more sandwiches
With apologies to Nigella, a self-described “purist” (who wants a sandwich made only from bread, butter, and crisps), potato chips make a great addition to many sandwiches. As do french fries, as any connoisseur of Pittsburgh’s most legendary sandwich can attest. Invented at the Primanti Bros. restaurant, this creation doesn’t have a specific name, though it does have a huge fan base. It’s basically Italian bread stuffed with deli meats, provolone, slaw, and — here’s the genius part — a bunch of french fries. According to legend, it emerged as a favorite of truck drivers who liked to eat it on their routes.
But for the home sandwich artist, potato chips are an easier matter than french fries, and add a satisfying crunch whenever you’ve got the craving. Grilled cheese? Pop some barbecue chips into that bad boy. Italian hoagie? Jalapeño chips lend a nice hit of spice. Tuna melt? Punch up the flavor with dill pickle chips or salt and vinegar. Incidentally, this is another area in which the Brits are out front: For a promotion in 2021, Subway UK gave customers the option to add potato chips — Walkers crisps, naturally — as a sandwich topping.
