This peanut butter and jelly sandwich with potato chips is less of a recipe and more of us giving you permission to make something that’s already indulgent and satisfying even more so.
We know. We know. This peanut butter and jelly sandwich with potato chips probably isn’t the sorta recipe—if you can even consider such a simple thing as this to be a recipe—you’ve come to expect from us. Then again, perhaps it is. We have a thing for recipes that are reliable, you know that. But we also like for them to be revelatory. If this recklessly indulgent riff on a childhood classic deeply offends your sensibilities, so be it. But let’s just be honest, shall we? Don’t try to pretend you don’t sometimes indulge in a PB&J. And don’t pretend that the notion of slipping some potato chips into your PB&J didn’t just make your heart skip a beat. We all know that sorta exhilaration. Life is short. Indulge in that more often.-David Leite
What else can I use in my peanut butter sanwich?
PB&J fiends of all ages, you gotta lotta leeway with this little godsend of a sandwich. Consider it a basic blueprint, because thankfully, it accommodates whatever you crave or happen to have on hand, be it whole grain or white bread, crunchy or creamy, jelly or jam, fancy hand-made kettle-cooked chips or cheap store brand crumbs languishing at the bottom of the bag. Whatever you fancy will not only suffice in this recipe, but will be quite swell.
☞ Contents
Peanut Butter, Jelly, and Potato Chip Sandwich
Ingredients
- 2 slices bread (any type)
- Enough peanut butter to slather each slice of bread (we used 1 to 2 tablespoons any type)
- Enough jelly (any type) to cover each slice of bread (we used a little less jelly than peanut butter)
- A few handfuls plain salted potato chips
Directions
- Take your bread slices and put them in the toaster.
☞TESTER TIP: It’s best to adjust your toaster setting low for a perfect warm-to-soft-to-crisp bread ratio. It’s important to have your bread not too toasted because it will detract from the potato chips but you’ll still want your bread warm and firm.
- From there, allocate your preferred portion of peanut butter onto each slice of barely toasted bread. Then heap on the jelly. You want to make certain you slather on sufficient sweet jelly to contrast with the salty chips and peanut butter.
- Next, dump a handful of potato chips atop 1 slice of jelly-slathered toast and sandwich it with the other jelly-slathered slice. Gently smoosh the sandwich together. Then have at it. And try to not inhale the entire sandwich in 5 seconds flat. Originally published February 26, 2015.
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Recipe Testers’ Reviews
This was a tasty sandwich! Peanut butter and jelly is a classic sandwich and was improved by adding the potato chips. I usually have chips on the side with all sandwiches but this turned out to be a good all-in-one sandwich.
I really liked the bread ever so lightly toasted. I used Sara Lee Butter Bread, 2 tablespoons Jif Creamy peanut butter (1 on each slice of bread), 2 teaspoons grape jelly (only on 1 slice of bread) and a handful of Golden Flake thin and crispy potato chips. It held together well too. It seems a little silly to write a review of this recipe but it came in handy.
Creamy and crunchy. Sweet and salty. What a great combination!
I made my sandwich with creamy peanut butter, whole-wheat bread, grape jelly and Kettle brand sea salt potato chips. I used a generous tablespoon peanut butter and a little less jelly. Partway into the sandwich, I actually added more potato chips for added crunch. I love the mixture of taste, texture, and sound.
I can’t tell you how much fun I’ve had with this simple sandwich. Now my family and I have started using different chips (jalapeno and peperoncini are favorites). I tend to do some strange combos with peanut butter. Another favorite is peanut butter, iceberg lettuce, and mayo.
For my first foray into this born-out-of-the-munchies dish, I decided to keep it classic: Jif smooth peanut butter, Concord grape jelly, and plain Ruffles potato chips. I toasted some whole-wheat bread (perhaps over-toasted it a little), slathered on about 1 tablespoon of jelly and roughly 2 tablespoons of peanut butter, and sprinkled on the contents of a small bag of chips (a 1-ounce bag, to be specific). Then I smushed everything together in order to crush the chips into a manageable layer and I went for it.
Initially I was met with tons of crunch, a lot of peanut butter, and a little sweetness. I think perhaps my proportions were off. The potato chips and the peanut butter were both very salty and there was not enough jelly to balance it out. I would suggest equal parts peanut butter to jelly.
The beauty of this is the possibility of experimentation, and should you find yourself starving at 2:30 am with peanut butter, jelly, bread, and perhaps BBQ chips, I say go for it. There’s no judgements when it comes to potato chip sandwiches, my friends. In 5 minutes start-to-finish, you. too, can enjoy this dorm-room delicacy.
When I was a child, I liked to put potato chips on tuna fish sandwiches, but I gave up that practice long ago. I don’t believe I’d ever tried adding chips to any other kind of sandwich until now. The technique works pretty well with a PB&J, though I don’t know that it’s as enjoyable as with tuna. Perhaps that’s nostalgia talking.
At one serving size of each component, this wasn’t as recklessly indulgent a meal as it might seem, with about 1 tablespoon peanut butter on each of 2 slices of toast, a generous teaspoonful of jelly (times 2) smeared on top of that; and 2 moderate handfuls (about 20) potato chips for the crunch. Why not? Instead of having potato chips on the side, go wild & pc your PB&J once in a while. The bread was pumpernickel. The peanut butter was Whole Foods 365 brand chunky. The jelly was St. Dalfour red raspberry fruit spread. The potato chips were Utz rippled, a fairly thin chip. I made this as a late breakfast or early lunch.
Here’s a little treat for grade schoolers and adults alike, though only as adults will we realize the decadence of adding a bountiful number of fat calories to an otherwise healthful sandwich!
I made my sandwich with a nice multi-grain bread, approximately 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter, grape jelly, plus the entire contents of a 1.5-ounce bag of Zapp’s kettle-cooked potato chips. I didn’t start in with the intent of using the entire bag. In fact, I started by just popping in a few chips underneath the corner of the sandwich, and then a few more, and so on till the whole bag of chips was gone. The chips were not only nice and greasy-crunchy-salty, but they also added balance to the creaminess of the peanut butter and the sweetness of the jelly.
All in all, this is a quick 5-minute sandwich-making process that led to about another 5 minutes of happy sandwich chomping!
I have to be in the mood for a PB&J. It has to be a good jam or jelly, too, and I am a choosy mother because only Jif will do! I loved the idea of the crunchy chips in the mixture. It was a total of 10 minutes to put together this little gem.
I did this experiment twice. Once with toasted bread and once without. I preferred the untoasted bread. I chose a thick-sliced brioche. I used a smooth peanut butter and an orange marmalade. The chips were kettle fried.
HUNGRY FOR MORE?
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #LeitesCulinaria. We'd love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
The sandwich to expand the Atlantic – good, diplomatic relations.
Laughs. Thanks, Mikey.
Ha! You actually think you get to copyright a “recipe” of pb&j with potato chips on it! ????? I’ve been eating this combo since I was old enough to make my own sandwiches, perhaps I should accuse you of stealing it, though I am sure people have been doing it for ages.
Your Special, of course not! We don’t claim a copyright to a dish. We’re following the federal requirements of copyright law regarding the written expression of the recipe, specifically the directions–how they are written, the order of words, and such. (Remember plagiarism from your 9th grade English class? That’s what we’re talking about.) And, yup, this has been around longer than me–and that’s 57 years.
Well. If the sloppy “gotta whole lotta” Americanese doesn’t turn you off, the grape jelly, peanut butter and greasy potato chip sandwich in artificial bread certainly will. I was born in the USA, but I live in Europe. Except for the unfortunate incursions of McDonalds, KFC etc, the food is still genuine here. And largely very wholesome. If you get hooked on junk food, you probably crave it. I’m not and I don’t, and this does NOT qualify as a ‘recipe’ by anyone’s standards – unless you think “cooking” means opening processed meals and microwaving them or making “Smores” after your Brownie troupe goes camping. Please, please. Grow up. Find out what real food is. Yes, sweet, salty, crunchy together works. Ask any Thai; they’ve known for millennia. America – you can do so much better. Please try.
Jude, thanks for your comment. And if you take a deeper dive, you’ll discover we have all kinds of from-scratch, even-France-would-love-them recipes. To pick one of of thousands isn’t representative, in my humble opinion.
This has been one of my very favorite sandwiches since I was a kid. Dare I say you should also try it with Cool Ranch Doritos in place of plain potato chips? Yup. Mind-blowing. My only requirement for eating this childhood favorite is an ice cold glass of chocolate milk on the side—no milk, no sandwich!
Hah, Tara, way to gild the lily! I can already feel the Cool Ranch stuff coating my fingertips…!
It makes me happy to be associated with a website that features this recipe alongside the likes of seared scallops, ancho coffee lamb shanks, and fois gras. Kudos to everyone involved. PB and J stands the test of time…especially when made with homemade plum jelly of Southern origin.
Matt, a bow of gratitude to you for those exceptionally kind words. We just planted a Santa Rosa plum tree in our yard, so next year when we have fruit I’ll be pestering you for a jelly recipe of Southern origin…