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The humble potato. It’s good for so many things. One great use, loved the world over, is to make chips (or fries!). We love a good portion of chips in our home, and in this post I’m going to share some of our favourite toppings for chips.
Whether you’re making air fryer chips from scratch, making homemade fries or just using frozen french fries in your air fryer you’ll love the crisp outer of the fry and the fluffy inside.
There are so many great dips, seasonings and side dishes that go great as toppings for chips and really help make them into either a complete meal or a wonderful snack. Perfect after a night out or when you just want a hit of junk food without splashing out on a takeaway.
Crispy french fries always hit the spot and they’re great dressed up with a lovely topping too. I love to make air fryer sweet potato fries when I want something a little different.
Tomato ketchup
This has to be the original and best dip to serve with chips. It is a real staple and one of my favourite sides for fish and chips too.
This is a table condiment that is usually made from sugar, tomatoes, vinegar and a few seasonings and the occasional spice too. It is a traditional sauce here in the UK and goes great with battered foods too.
Mayonnaise
Creamy mayonnaise works so well with chips. It is a great dip, best served super cold, and works so well if you’re eating fries by themselves. Garlic aioli is becoming more popular with restaurants too.
BBQ sauce
I love a brown sugar BBQ sauce but being honest I usually just use a nice shop bought one! There are 100s of varieties available now and you can even get different spices.
Salt and vinegar
Hot chips work so well with salt and malt vinegar. I love to have lashings of malt vinegar, absolutely tons, until it’s almost swimming in it, and then just a tiny sprinkle of salt at the end.
Curry sauce
Curry sauce is basically a very thick gravy that has been flavoured with a blend of herbs and spices, including curry. It is a thick, tasty and hearty sauce that is great to dip your chips into or just to pour all over the top like you would with gravy. For me curry sauce has to be super thick – the thicker the better.
Personally I love the Mayflower curry sauce mix. It’s super simple as you just need to add water and then cook it for a couple of minutes. It’s very straight forward to use and lasts for months in the cupboard too.
Onion gravy
My onion gravy is very simple to prepare. It takes just minutes to do the prep work and it is packed full of flavour.
If you’re wanting to go a little lower on the effort then just use some gravy granules and make a nice thick gravy up in 1-2 minutes with no prep time.
Pizza sauce
I love to cook up a batch of air fryer roasted tomatoes, which I turn into roasted tomato pizza sauce, but you can use shop bought too. I love Mutti pizza sauce for the nights when I don’t want to put a lot of effort in.
Cheese
Keep it simple. Grate some cheddar cheese or sprinkle over a little parmesan. You don’t need to go fancy here but if you want to then a three cheese blend of mozzarella, cheddar cheese and Monterey Jack works VERY well!
You can actually buy four cheese blends from Sainsbury’s and other UK supermarkets too if you want to save time or effort.
Baked beans
No need to make your own beans, just open a can of baked beans. Beans in a tomato sauce, which can be jazzed up with a splash of tomato ketchup too.
Baked beans are a real British staple and to be honest they work with so many meals that we enjoy here in the UK.
Garlic butter
Making your own garlic butter is super simple, and takes just minutes. Dab it over hot chips or french fries and let it melt down. Shake well to ensure even coverage too.
Seasoning blends
Fajita seasoning, peri peri seasoning, cajun seasoning or Mexican seasoning all work very well. What I do is make air fryer chips, or air fryer bagel chips, cook them halfway, and then I spray them with a little oil, add the seasoning, and finish cooking them. This works really well and gives an even coverage.
Slow cooker pulled pork
I love to make up a big batch of slow cooker pulled pork. This is packed full of flavour, simple to prepare and using a little over the top of a batch of fries helps to make another meal. This is great when meal planning and helping me to save money on groceries too.
Slow cooker beef chilli
Another great slow cooker meal where I use the leftovers for topping chips is slow cooker beef chilli. Slow cooker beef chilli is simple to prepare, has lots of flavour and is quite a frugal meal too. You can bulk it out with various tins from home and it freezes great too.
Nacho toppings
Why not take a batch of fries and use them to make a simpler version of nachos? I love to make my own tortillas and then turn them into air fryer tortilla chips, but if you don’t want to do that you could use your favourite nacho toppings on chips.
Tomato and chilli salsa, guacamole, sour cream, nacho cheese sauce, red onion, and chili cheese all work very well.
While you’re here be sure to look at some of my other potato recipes:
What toppings for chips? What should I put on top of fries?
- Tomato ketchup
- Mayonnaise
- BBQ sauce
- Salt and vinegar
- Curry sauce
- Onion gravy
- Pizza sauce
- Cheese
- Baked beans
- Garlic butter
- Seasoning blends
- Slow cooker pulled pork
- Slow cooker beef chilli
- Nacho toppings (salsa, sour cream, guacamole, nacho cheese sauce, cheddar)
Dressing chips up is always a tasty way to make them a little more interesting. You don’t need to spend lots of money if you use condiments like ketchup or salt and vinegar. These are staples in most homes so you’ll probably already have them in.
Curry sauce and onion gravy are slightly more adventurous options, and ones that we love in my home too.
If you’re looking to make more of a meal of it then using up some leftovers, such as Ninja Foodi pulled pork or Ninja Foodi beef chilli, is always a great option. Not only are you making the most of what you have but you’ll get a complete meal that’s packed full of flavour, and vegetables too.
Whether you want to enjoy your chips smothered in sauce, dipped in gravy or dressed up like nachos there are a ton of delicious options in this post.
I love loaded fries, cheese chips or just plain fries on their own.
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