The Best Chip and Dip Serving Sets

A chip and dip set is an unglamorous purchase that changes a party more than most expensive serveware does. The reason is traffic. Chips and dip is where people stand, and two separate bowls create two problems: someone has to hold both, and the gap between them collects crumbs and drips on your table. One dish fixes both.

The category divides into four formats, and picking the right format matters far more than picking the right brand. One-piece ceramic trays are the simplest and the best for a straightforward chips-and-salsa job. Divided trays with removable bowls handle multiple dips and prepping ahead. Tiered stands solve a table that has run out of space. Wooden trays with dropped-in bowls are for when the rest of the spread is already a board.

How we judged these sets

We have not lab-tested serveware. These picks come from live listing data and the manufacturers' stated specifications, judged against five criteria that are specific to this job rather than generic serveware criteria.

1. Capacity against your actual headcount

A party-size bag of tortilla chips is a surprisingly large volume. A 12-inch tray with a deep well takes most of one. An 8-inch tray with a shallow well takes about a third, and then you are the host who spends the evening in the kitchen opening bags. Match the tray to the number of people, not to the photograph.

2. Does the dip stay out of the chips?

The best geometry puts the dip either in a raised well or in a bowl that sits above the chip level, so a dropped chip does not land in the salsa and a tipped tray does not flood the chips. Flat trays where the dip well sits at the same depth as the chip section are the ones that end badly.

3. Number of parts

Every removable bowl is a thing that slides, a thing that rattles, and a thing that can go missing between parties. Removable bowls buy you flexibility and the option to prep ahead; they cost you simplicity. For a one-dip household, fewer parts is strictly better.

4. Storage profile

These are rigid, awkward, once-a-month objects. A flat one-piece tray slides into the gap beside your serving platters. A tiered stand that disassembles stores flat. A tiered stand that does not disassemble is a permanent cupboard tenant, and that is worth knowing before you buy it.

5. Does it work for anything else?

The sets that get used are the ones with a second job. A divided tray with five bowls is a relish tray, a nut-and-olive tray, a condiment tray for a taco night, and a dessert tray. A dedicated chip well with a dip bowl does exactly one thing well. Both are legitimate; the multi-use pieces just earn their shelf space more often.

The four formats, compared

The picks

Mora ceramic chips and dip tray: the default

A single fired ceramic piece with a deep chip well and a sunken dip bowl, in a plain white glaze. There is nothing to assemble, nothing to lose, it goes in the dishwasher, and the chip well is deep enough for a whole party bag. Mora's ceramics have a good reputation in bakeware and the same build quality shows here.

The limitations are inherent to the format: one dip, and a heavy rigid object to store. It also costs noticeably more than the visually similar unbranded trays, which is a fair thing to weigh.

FUN ELEMENTS 12-inch tray: the same idea, cheaper

The same single-piece divided-ceramic concept in a free-form outline rather than a round one, at a lower price. Twelve inches is enough for a standard bag. The chip well is shallower than the deeper round trays, the irregular shape stacks badly with anything else, and there is less brand history behind it if something arrives chipped. If you want the format and not the name, this is the buy.

yarlung divided dish with a lid: for making it ahead

Five removable ceramic bowls on a bamboo platter with handles, under a clear fitted lid. The lid is the entire reason to own it. You fill the bowls in the morning, put the whole thing in the fridge, and carry it out when people arrive, which is how hosting is supposed to work.

The bamboo base is hand-wash, so cleanup is two operations. The bowls are condiment-sized rather than crowd-sized, so this is a nuts, olives and three-dips tray rather than a chips-for-twenty tray. The lid is one more rigid thing in the cupboard.

MALACASA 2-tier set: when the table is full

Two ceramic bowls on a metal stand, so the whole arrangement occupies a single plate's worth of table. On a crowded coffee table or a small kitchen island this is the difference between putting the chips out and not. It disassembles, so it stores flatter than a one-piece tray, and the bowls work alone.

It is also top-heavy once loaded, and reaching the lower tier past the upper one is genuinely awkward for guests. Total capacity is the lowest of anything here.

ONEMORE 8.5-inch divided platter: for four people

Eight and a half inches with four removable dishes. This is correctly sized for four people around a coffee table, which is a real occasion that the 12-inch trays look silly at. It is the cheapest pick in the roundup and the removable dishes come out for washing and refills.

It is far too small for a party of more than about six, the four wells hold condiment quantities, and loose dishes can be knocked out of their seats. Buy it understanding it is a small piece deliberately.

Elsjoy 3-section wood tray: for a board spread

A wooden tray with three ceramic bowls dropped into it. The reason to choose this over a white ceramic tray is purely visual: if your spread is already a wooden charcuterie board, a white ceramic tray interrupts it and this does not. The bowls lift out, so the tray doubles as a plain serving tray.

The tray is hand-wash, the wells are shallow enough that chips sit high and spill, and three condiment-sized bowls is the whole capacity. It is a presentation piece first.

How many, and where they sit

Two chip and dip stations beat one, for the same reason two serving trays beat one large one: people stop queueing. If you are buying for a house that hosts twenty people, one 12-inch tray in the kitchen and one smaller divided tray in the living room covers the room better than a single enormous dish on the dining table.

For quantities, our guide to how many appetizers per person gives the per-head numbers, and easy snacks for entertaining covers what to put in the wells. If the spread is going outside, the melamine dinnerware roundup handles the plates that go with it.

Which one to buy

• Best overall: Mora ceramic tray. One piece, deep chip well, dishwasher safe, built for a real crowd.
• Best value: FUN ELEMENTS 12-inch. The same format for less, with a shallower well.
• Best for making ahead: yarlung lidded tray. Fill it in the morning, fridge it, carry it out.
• Best for a crowded table: MALACASA 2-tier. One plate's footprint, two bowls.
• Best for four people: ONEMORE 8.5-inch. Correctly small, correctly cheap.
• Best with a board: Elsjoy wood tray. Matches a charcuterie spread instead of interrupting it.