This is how many hot chips are in a recommended serving - Health

Jun 23, 2025

Would you like fries with that?

Whether you’re ordering a burger at a pub or fish & chips at the local corner chippy, you always know that the serving of chips is going to be large enough to feed a small island nation. It’s one of the things that makes Australia such a perilous place to live. You know, along with all those venomous snakes and drop bears and man-eating crocs. Not to mention all the men who wear Crocs. You gotta watch out for them.

Because of course, no matter how many golden, crispy slivers of deep-fried potato they hoist your way, you just know that you’re going to eat every last one of them. They say you have a second stomach for dessert. Well, there’s definitely a third stomach lurking around in there somewhere that’s been designated purely for hot chips. You can just keep going and going, like a chip-inhaling Energizer Bunny that’s been on the keto diet for one too many months.

But hey, they’re cheap, they’re delicious, and they’re made of potato, which is a vegetable. So it can’t be that bad to eat your bodyweight in hot chips whenever a plate of them happens to appear within arms reach, right?

Brace yourselves, my chip-loving friends.

The big six

Back in 2018, Harvard professor Dr Eric Rimm featured in a New York Times article, in which he called hot chips “starch bombs”, saying “I think it would be nice if your meal came with a side salad and six French fries.”

The interwebs exploded, and news sites everywhere immediately reported that a Harvard professor had claimed that the recommended serving size for fries was six. (He later got the chance to explain that it had all been taken out of context and wasn’t a “hard-and-fast rule”, but these things tend to stick, like the congealed tomato sauce on those last soggy chips at the bottom of the bowl.)

Whatever the basis of the six-chip rule, we’ve been doing our level best to ignore this information for as long as possible. But recently we were alerted to a new, almost as horrifying revelation from British TikTok user @chellep78, who shared the fact that the recommended serving size of hot chips is 10 chips. As she so rightly points out, this is about how many chips you eat while you decide whether or not you feel like eating chips. Usually they’re from your mate’s plate of chips at the pub, so of course you have to buy another round of chips to make up for this, which tempts your other mate, and so the vicious circle starts all over again.

@chellep78

The correct serving size for chips is 10 chips 😱#correctsize #portionsize #chips

♬ original sound – Michelle -life and fun 🌹🥰 💎

A bit of careful googling shows that our own health departments have been onto this depressing piece of info for some time. NSW Health recommends 8-10 chips. Queensland Health says 12. The Federal Government also says 12.

Where are the nationwide health campaigns? Where are the moving television commercials in which someone in a wheelchair shares their tragic story of the day that they took things one chip too far? We smell a national scandal. And also deep-fried carbs.

Now that this information is out there, we can no longer bury our heads in the dirt like a very well-planted potato. Will we adhere to this advice? Highly unlikely. However, we have done our solemn duty and passed this knowledge on to you. Please don’t hate us for it.

Credit: Getty Images / Jag_cz

How many calories are in a serving of hot chips?

This is like asking how many stars there are in the sky, or how many more albums Taylor Swift is going to release this week. There are just so many variables. A small serve (71g) of Macca’s fries contains 229 calories. According to calorieking.com/au, a 150g bucket of hot chips contains 369 calories. The Australian Government’s eatforhealth.gov.au site says that 12 hot chips (60g; its recommended serving of ‘discretionary’ foods), contains around 600 kilojoules, or 143 calories. Go figure. Literally. Like pack a set of scales and a calculator and hope for the best. Or ask an expert.

“When it comes to hot chips, serving sizes can be really misleading,” says clinical nutritionist Brooke Kelly. “Some sources say 10 chips, others suggest a cup – and recommendations vary wildly between states and countries. On top of that, chips themselves come in so many shapes and sizes, so a number alone doesn’t tell the full story.

“That’s why I prefer using visual cues to guide portions. I often recommend sticking to around one cupped handful, or roughly a small takeaway container. But more importantly, I encourage clients to think about how chips fit into the bigger picture of their meal.

“A balanced plate can make all the difference. I teach a simple structure: aim for half your plate to be non-starchy vegetables, one-quarter protein, and one-quarter carbohydrates – and that’s where a small serving of hot chips (about one cup) can work. When chips are part of a more balanced, filling meal, you’re much less likely to overdo it.

“And if you’re having them as a true treat? Don’t overthink the exact number. Enjoy them mindfully and move on – life’s too short to stress about how many fries made it onto your plate.” Amen to that.