Food and Drink

Every Flavor of Doritos, Ranked

We settled Cool Ranch vs. Nacho Cheese once and for all.

Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist

Fact: Doritos are the greatest mass-produced snacks in the world. They make everything better, from Christmas to Taco Bell. They are, and will always be, the perfect snack chip: crunchy, salty, flavor-packed, and, as all great things should be, slightly dangerous due to their combination of jaggedness and binge-ability.

As a lifelong devotee, taking on the extremely biased task of ranking every flavor of Doritos was particularly daunting. But it was with science and humanitarianism on my mind that I grabbed every available flavor and, in one mighty session, tasted them all. Here’s how each flavor stacked up.

Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist

16. Simply Organic White Cheddar

These things are nearly flavorless, which is fine and all, but if somebody offers me white cheddar, I expect to taste it. With each bite, I wonder whether I bought a faulty bag of Doritos that were sprayed by a cheese machine that had run out of powder the night before. And look, I’m all for healthier organic stuff, but if we’re being honest, I would still eat cheesy Doritos even if somebody told me they were fried in arsenic and powdered with ground puppy bones, so given there are so many explosive flavors in the roster, these are a hard pass.  

Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist

15. Taco

Sorry. I just don’t get it. I also don’t get why I can’t stop eating them, but I’m not sure I’ve ever eaten a taco that tastes like this. The retro bag is cool… even though the window is actually fake. It’s like the Doritos version of The Truman Show.

Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist

14. Supreme Cheddar

I found these ones at Costco, and got weirdly excited to buy the 40-pound bag. Maybe the anticipation of this discovery got the better of me, but I gotta say, I was a little disappointed. They’re satisfying. I would get down with them any day if they were offered. But there’s no real bite to them. The cheese flavor lands somewhere between a Cheeto and a Goldfish. I wouldn’t choose them. But I wouldn’t deny them. And I didn’t.

Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist

13. Blaze

Not long ago, Doritos dropped a limited-edition bag called Doritos Roulette. It was a normal bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos, but every now and again you’d get a chip that was alarmingly spicy. It was the Doritos equivalent of that scene in Dumb & Dumber when Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels accidentally kill some dude by planting a hot pepper in his food, but then it’s totally cool because it turns out he was a bad guy. Anyway, this is a whole bag of those hot chips. Your enjoyment will depend on whether you like spicy stuff. Me, I’m not a fan. Go ahead and call me an amateur. I won’t be listening, most likely because I’ll be watching Dumb & Dumber while eating pretty much any other flavor of Doritos.

12. Simply Organic Spicy White Cheddar

Unlike the White Cheddar Organic Doritos that occupy the last spot on this list, the cheese here is front and center, and the (not very spicy) spice blend kicks it into high gear. It also makes a strong case for a quesadilla-flavored Dorito variant. Sometimes, it appears, two wrongs do make a right.

Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist

11. Cool Ranch

You’re probably taking this more personally than psychologically reasonable. Well, Angry Internet Friend, there’s a simple answer to the low ranking: I don’t like ranch. And it’s my ranking, damnit. In this world, you’re either a Cool Ranch person or a Nacho Cheese person. I am on the side of right.

Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist

10. Flamas

These suckers really are pretty spicy, but taste way better than Blaze. There’s a hint of lime, though, which cuts through it and mellows everything out. Me gusta! Although, I’m not sure I could house a bag of these after a night of drinking. (Note from future self: You can, you will, and it’s gonna be great.)

Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist

9. Poppin’ Jalapeño

The little flames on the bag are some bullshit. Which is actually a relief because the extremely light spice on these things means this is a “spicy” chip that my weak ass can really get behind. There is virtually no heat whatsoever here, but the pepper flavor remains, along with a slight hint of cheese that the bag tells me is cheddar and Romano. The best part, though, is that you can open these in front of a bunch of other spice-averse people and guarantee the whole bag to yourself. You’ll look like a big tough guy when you’re just being a selfish child. That, friends, is the dream.

Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist

8. Jacked Ranch-Dipped Hot Wings

I’ll take my chicken wing-flavored snacks in the form of Chicken in a Biskit crackers dipped in Frank’s, thank you very much! Actually, that sounds pretty good. So are these. But there’s no chicken flavor. That’s probably a good thing.

Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist

7. Spicy Sweet Chili

The spice on these suckers is pretty minimal, and the sweetness here is where it’s at. It’s almost like Thai chili sauce, except a lot more mellow. More alarmingly, though, this is a rare instance where the lack of cheese is welcome.

Cole Saladino/thrillist
Cole Saladino/thrillist
Cole Saladino/thrillist

6. Dinamita Chile Limon

They’re a lot like the Flamas, except rolled into little taquitos. They’re wonderful. The only negative is that they’re the most colorfully seasoned Doritos, painting your fingers like Easter egg dye and making it impossible for you to lie to your wife about quitting Doritos and eating healthy.

Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist

5. Tapatío

The man in the sombrero finally mated with the corn chip. And the result is the closest bagged approximation to my favorite hot sauce that I know.

4. Flamin’ Hot Nacho Cheese

For a chip awarded the flamin’ hot designation, these are really not that spicy. These are basically an amped-up version of the classic Spicy Nacho, with a heat level closer to Flamas but with the undeniably perfect Nacho Cheese flavor front and center and that unmistakable neon-orange hue that makes Flamin’ Hot Cheetos so recognizable. They’re hot, but not debilitatingly so. Most importantly they maintain the classic Doritos flavor.

Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist

3. Salsa Verde

Is it weird that I kind of would rather crush some of these up and sprinkle them on a taco than eat regular salsa verde? That’s weird, right? Yet, I kind of wish my favorite burrito joint would figure out a way to liquefy these. Or at least I wish that Taco Bell would make this the next Doritos Locos Taco.

Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist

2. Spicy Nacho

They’re exactly like Nacho Cheese. Except very slightly spicier. They represent a rare instance where a person who is spice-averse can actually eat something labeled “spicy.” Mostly because they’re not very spicy at all. But that’s a confidence builder, Doritos! That alone would make them the best of the bunch, except…

Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist

1. Nacho Cheese

Oh, come on. You knew it was coming. You know the iconic flavor like you know the scent of your own home. You’ve likely caught a shard between the teeth, and still crunched through the blood. My love for Nacho Cheese Doritos began as a child, and each time I eat one, it’s like experiencing them all over again. I’m not going to belabor the point too much here, but know this: most people look forward to their child’s first day of school, or their first word. Me? I counted the days until my daughter had enough teeth to taste her first Dorito. And when she did, her pupils dilated, she smiled, and signaled for more. But she didn’t get any. Because, um, they’re not healthy snacks. And also, those were mine.Sign up here for our daily Thrillist email and subscribe here for our YouTube channel to get your fix of the best in food/drink/fun.

 Andy Kryza is a senior editor at Thrillist, a lifelong disciple of Frito-Lay, and, apparently, a snack chip purist. Follow him to Doritos-spiked baby formula: @apkryza.

Food and Drink

Red Rooster Is Serving Free Chicken and Piping Hot Cash This Christmas in July

Get your early dose of festive cheer.

Red Rooster Christmas in July
Instagram / @redrooster_au

The cold weather in most parts of Australia coinciding with EOFY celebrations is the closest thing that we’ll get to snowy Christmas vibes. And if you’re in dire need of some festive cheer after the first six months of 2023, grab your ugly sweater and head to your nearest Red Rooster for Xmas in July deals.

From June 29 – July 31, 2023, Red Rooster is serving up free food items, a chance to win $10,000 or one of 10 merch packs valued at $400 and other fun prizes. All you have to do is sign up as a Red Royalty member and spend $5 on at a location near you or online.

Each week there’ll be new delicious deals and prizes to win. The week one deals have already dropped and they’re looking pretty tasty. You can get access to them via your Red Royalty account. The more you purchase, the more chances you have to win.

Spoiler alert: you can get 10 chicken nuggets for free, right now. Brb running to Red Rooster.

Terms and conditions apply. Visit Red Rooster’s Christmas in July to see all the deals.

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