By Claire Peretta

Which combos really take off?

One trend I have noticed in the food world this past year has been food flights: a variety of food items served together on top of one main dish, such as deviled eggs or pasta, as a way to try multiple versions of a single food. For example, a sushi deviled egg flight consisting of cream cheese, a crab stick, cucumber, Panko bread crumbs, and soy sauce on top of a deviled egg. In light of  St. Patty’s Day season I figured, what better way to test food flight combinations than on potatoes?

Keep reading to find out the top 5 potato flights you should try any other time you find yourself in need of a fun and unique potato dish!

A Brief History:

Food flights became a delicious trend spreading across the social media platform TikTok, beginning with food content creator Alice Choi, otherwise known as Hip Foodie Mom. n 2022 Choi started making “egg flight” videos but went viral for her  charcuterie-like dishes in June 2024. Choi’s  videos showcased hard-boiled eggs sliced in half with various assortments of toppings on each one. Once they got popularized, other content creators broadened the range of foods these flights “took off” on, getting even more creative with the type of main dish (ramen, meatball, caviar, hash brown, etc.) and the combinations of ingredients they decorated them with. 

Today, I will be trying 10 different potato flights and ranking which 5 I think you should try!

Flight 1: Buffalo Chicken

This flight is made up of Buffalo chicken and blue cheese. The Buffalo sauce gives the dish a nice, spicy kick, while the creamy, tangy blue cheese provides both extra flavor and a cooling effect—perfectly balancing the radiating heat. The blandness of the baked potato doesn’t alter the taste of the Buffalo chicken or blue cheese in any way, allowing the kick and tang of both added ingredients to be emphasized. Because the inside of the potato is fluffy and smooth, paired together with the creaminess of the blue cheese and the tenderness of the chicken, they work to create an easy, delicious bite that tastes just like a Buffalo chicken slider, only without the bread!

Rating: 9/10 

Flight 2: Margarita [Pizza]

Mozzarella cheese, tomato slices, and basil work together to bring a cool freshness and, from the tomatoes, a touch of sweetness to the potato. I do feel, however, as though the potato wound up overpowering these flavors, masking them within its blandness, leading this flight to ultimately taste pretty dull, but not bad. This could be due to the fact that none of the flavors in this dish are particularly strong, and I didn’t butter any of the potatoes, which would have added at least a little bit of a salty flavor. In all fairness, I didn’t melt the mozzarella cheese either, which could have affected the flavor of this plate. In general, I felt that there was nothing terribly exciting about it.

Rating: 3/10

Flight 3: Chili Dog

Made up of a hot dog, chili, and shredded cheese, this potato flight was layered in saltiness, but not in a way that dried out the mouth or made it hard to eat. I grilled my hotdog, so it wound up bringing a nice savory and smoky taste to the dish, its slightly charred exterior adding a crisp that perfectly contrasted the fluffy interior of the potato. The cheese brought a nice creaminess with an additional (slight) saltiness, really enhancing the relatively tasteless potato base. The only downfall for me was the chili, because as delicious as it was by itself, the recipe I used did not have a very thick sauce, which brought a chunky texture that, in my opinion, did not compliment the potato in any way. I think if I had used a different chili recipe, it might have worked out better, but overall it wasn’t bad.

Rating: 7/10

Flight 4: Bagel

This bagel flight consists of two ingredients: cream cheese and cold-smoked salmon. While it is no surprise that any kind of cheese pairs well with a potato, the cold-smoked salmon added an extra smoky, slightly sweet, and salty flavor that really elevated this dish without leaving a fishy aftertaste. The salmon, being thinly sliced and tender, had a very silky texture, which, when paired with the smooth cream cheese, meshed incredibly well with the soft potato interior.

Rating: 8/10

Flight 5: Tuna Salad

Zing! Crunch! Smush! In this potato flight, tuna, mayo, onion, and celery worked together to bring a refreshing, well-balanced flavor to the taste buds. The mayo is creamy and salty, the onion gives it a sweet tang, the tuna has a mild, savory flavor, and the celery brings a fresh, mellow taste, crunching with the onion. This flight ranks second in having the most flavor—brought out especially by the onion and tuna—and, unlike the margarita flight, each topping had its own unique strength and taste that the blandness of the potato helped to emphasize rather than mask. The consistency of the potato and the tuna salad was similar (in softness, that is), so they mashed together really well, and I very much enjoyed the added crunch of the onion and celery, which contrasted that soft texture in a way that was effortlessly weaved throughout.

Rating: 9/10

Flight 6: Spicy California Roll

You probably looked at the title of this flight and, like I had myself, felt wary of how this was going to turn out. But, shockingly, this was personally my favorite one, and, frankly, I think it beats tuna salad for having the most flavor. Made up of imitation crab, avocado, cucumber, dried seaweed, soy sauce, and spicy mayo, every ingredient blended together to create a dish rich in flavor and textures. The dried seaweed and soy sauce brought a salty taste, the cucumber had that fresh crunch, and the blend of the sweet, smooth avocado, creamy, spicy mayo, and soft, tender imitation crab mashed really well with the potato’s fluffy interior consistency. The salt and spice gave it a nice kick, which was perfectly balanced out by the slight sweetness and density of everything else. Because the potato was bland in flavor, the flight tasted exactly like eating a California roll, just not on rice!

Rating: 10/10

Flight 7: Strawberry Balsamic Salad

We’ve talked about tuna salad, but what if we tried an actual salad and, perhaps, one with a fruity sweetness? Salad mix, strawberry slices, balsamic vinegar, and walnuts blended together to create a salty, sweet, tangy concoction on top of the potato. As flavorful as this sounds, the strawberry was the wrong kind of sweetness and did not mix well with the potato. The salad mix being bland in flavor, similar to the potato, didn’t elevate the dish much in either a good or bad way, but when it was covered in the juice of the strawberry and the tangy balsamic glaze, which is personally not my favorite dressing, it just didn’t work for me. On the bright side, the walnuts added a nice saltiness and crunch mixed throughout. Overall, I think it was the wrong blend of flavors, and the texture of the fluffy potato combined with the crispy, less tender salad mix and juicy strawberry didn’t seem to compliment each other. However, I will give it the benefit of the doubt and acknowledge that I don’t like balsamic glaze, which likely affected how I, personally, felt about the dish.

Rating: 5/10

Flight 8: Charcuterie

This flight is made up of melted Brie cheese and raspberry jam. As we understand cheese to do, the Brie went really nicely with the potato. Its melted creaminess added to and elevated the flavor of the fluffy potato interior, and because the cheese was buttery in texture and salty, the raspberry jam added a cooling sweetness and tang. While all of this was good, I feel as though the raspberry jam was a bit too sweet, which, when paired with the potato and cheese that tend to blend together seamlessly, unfortunately wound up overpowering them and just didn’t mix well for me. Perhaps it would’ve worked better with a less tart jam, or maybe even something more tart, like cranberry, which we commonly pair with potatoes at Thanksgiving, or maybe it just needs to be tried again with a different combination of cheese and topping. The flavors in this flight weren’t bad, and all of the creamy, smooth textures worked well together; however, there was just something about it that didn’t quite pique my interest.

Rating: 4/10

Flight 9: Classic 

You can never go wrong with the classic sour cream and cheese-loaded potato, especially when you want something simple and easy to serve amidst all of the other flavorful flights—it’s like the potato control group! The melted cheese brings a salty pop while the smooth sour cream cools it down and adds a slight tang to it all. The fluffy interior of the potato mashes elegantly with the creaminess of the melted cheese and sour cream, resulting in an easy, simple, go-to bite! Basic, but always tasty.

Rating: 9/10

Flight 10: Candied Apple

Last, but certainly not least, is the candied apple flight consisting of crumbled bacon, brown sugar, maple syrup, and apple slices. Like the spicy California roll, I was a bit scared for this one because I’d never heard of maple syrup or apples on potatoes, but the sweetness actually added a really nice touch to the savory bacon, all of which blended well with the blandness of the potato. The apples added a refreshing, tender crunch and natural sweetness, heightened by the brown sugar and maple syrup. The bacon also added a chewiness and hint of salt to the dish’s flavor; however, I didn’t feel it was as necessary for me personally, as it took me out of the delicious candied taste of everything else (which in this flight, I preferred). If I were to do it again, I might take the bacon out because I loved the sugary flavor so much, but other than that, it was surprisingly very yummy!

Rating: 8/10

All in all, after testing out 10 different potato flights ranging from salty to sweet to in between, the top 5 that I would recommend trying for the upcoming holiday and any other occasion when you may need or want a fun and unique potato dish are:

1) Spicy California Roll

2) Tuna Salad

3) Buffalo Chicken

4) Bagel

5) Candied Apple