A chip butty is a sandwich filled with what?

A chip butty is a sandwich filled with chips.

In British English, chips means fried potato pieces—the food commonly called French fries in North America. A basic chip butty uses soft white bread, butter, hot chips, and often salt and vinegar. Some versions add ketchup, curry sauce, gravy, or malt vinegar.

The sandwich is associated with Britain’s fish-and-chip-shop tradition and working-class food culture. Its exact origin is uncertain, although one widely repeated account links it to Mr Lees in Oldham, Lancashire, in 1863. The name butty is regional British slang for a buttered sandwich, while other names include chip barm, chip bap, and chip sarnie.

The main confusion is with a crisp sandwich. Crisps are thin, packaged potato slices, whereas a chip butty contains freshly fried chips. The dish has also inspired related foods abroad, including Belgium’s mitraillette and Turkey’s patso, but those are distinct sandwiches with their own ingredients and histories.