The 10 Worst Doritos Flavors & The 10 Best

They’re On Another Level

Not all Doritos are created equal. With hundreds of varieties on the market since the iconic tortilla chip launched in 1966, some flavors—like nacho cheese or cool ranch—are cultural mainstays, while others miss the mark. Let’s start by getting into 10 bags of Doritos that should have never been opened.

1. Simply Organic White Cheddar

Not even the humble Dorito is immune to the age-old marketing ploy of trying to make snack food healthy. Simply Organic chips aren’t any better for you when it comes down to the numbers, leaving you a chip with less flavor and crunch than the normal variety.

2. Spicy Pineapple Jalapeño

These chips were created as part of a collaboration to combat food insecurity, which we love, but the flavor leaves much to be desired. The pineapple is astringent, overpowering the jalapeño with a sickly-sweet aftertaste. Business Insider described the taste as “obscure jelly beans you get from a novelty shop.”

3. Blazin’ Buffalo & Ranch

Some fans have dubbed this flavor one of Doritos’ best, which has us seriously doubting their taste buds. There’s nothing particularly wrong with Blazin’ Buffalo & Ranch; the “blaze” overpowers the other two flavors, but they’re still edible. However, these chips pale in comparison to the late, great Jacked Ranch Dipped Hot Wings and leave us missing those rather than craving these.

4. Spicy Nacho

We’ll be praising the original Nacho Cheese Doritos later on, which just makes this spicy variety all the more underwhelming. With not enough spice to compete with Flamin’ Hot Nacho Cheese and not enough cheese to evoke the iconic Nacho Cheese, these chips taste like an unhappy compromise. Why would you try to improve upon perfection? 

5. Flamin’ Hot Cool Ranch

As Katy Perry once said, “You’re hot, then you’re cold/you’re yes, then you’re no,” and while these chips were not available at the time of that song’s release, we think Katy may have been able to see the future. Flamin’ Hot Cool Ranch tastes like how we imagine Icy Hot pain cream would: confusing, contradictory, and concerning.

6. Flamin’ Hot Limón

Another chip that promises to cut through the heat, Flamin’ Hot Limón is another disappointing crossover. If you’re worried that the lime flavor will be overpowered by the spice, don’t be. The only way you could get more lime flavor is if you bit into one like an apple. Astoundingly artificial and stale even in the freshest of bags.

7. Baja Fiery Mango

Created in tandem for the 20th anniversary of Taco Bell’s iconic Baja Blast, these chips lean into the mango-habanero a little too hard. Doritos took advantage of chamoy-mango’s chamo-ment in the spotlight to create a chip that is simultaneously too spicy and too sweet, with that sort of artificial fruit flavoring you get from soda. We’ll celebrate the Bajaversary in other ways.

8. Salsa Verde

Salsa verde is a classic both in Doritos flavors and Tex-Mex cuisine, so how could anyone possibly mess it up? The answer is simple: by making it boring. Part of the appeal of any salsa lies in the texture—the coldness, the lumps, the bits that slip off your chip onto your crisp white shirt—but in trying to cut out the middleman in this equation, Doritos falls short of greatness.

9. Incógnita

We’re not so sure why this flavor has such an air of mystery about it when the taste is nothing to write home about. General consensus is that this flavor has a Worcestershire sauce base with hints of chili lime. This flavor is popular in Mexico, but taste buds north of the border tend to find it a little lacking.

10. Hot Honey Mustard

First things first: these are not the beautiful triangular chips we all know and love, but matchstick-shaped imposters. That reason alone is enough to land Hot Honey Mustard on our naughty list. But, just in case you need more convincing, the horseradish aftertaste is so strong it leaves munchers feeling nauseated, even being compared to cigarettes. Pass!

Now that we’ve laid out some of the worst flavors Doritos has to offer, let’s get into the best of the best with flavors we’ll keep coming back to.

1. Taco

Taco Doritos are sort of like George Washington to us: they were our first, they changed America forever, and if we had a Mt. Rushmore of chips, they would definitely be on it. Seasoned to taste exactly like sour cream on a hard shell without coating your fingers in radioactive dust, this flavor is classic & comforting. Bonus points for the cute throwback packaging.

2. Nacho Cheese

Speaking of radioactive cheese dust, we simply must give Nacho Cheese Doritos their flowers. It’s not uncommon for a chip to stain your fingers, but for that chip to be turned into a taco shell that also stains your fingers speaks to the longevity and versatility of nacho cheese.

3. Cool Ranch

Cool Ranch may not be the oldest Doritos flavor, but it is by far the most iconic. A late-night snacking favorite for almost 40 years, these chips are tangy, herbaceous, and addictive. It’s also been scientifically proven that they have the most spice coverage per chip.

4. Spicy Sweet Chili

Many Doritos flavors set themselves up for failure by trying too hard to combine contradictory flavor profiles. They can’t all be cool ranch, and we’ve found that some of the best chips are the ones that lean into complementary flavors. These savory, Asian-inspired treats are a gas station mainstay because the sweetness and spice work so well together.

5. Golden Sriracha

We all know and love red sriracha, but Doritos kicks things up a notch by continuing down the traffic light with yellow and green sriracha. This is one complex chip, more nuanced umami than your classic hot chip with a peppery, smoky aftertaste to really wake you up. Like Panda Express’s orange chicken in chip form.

6. Tapatío

Not every Doritos collab is a recipe for success—as evidenced by this list—but their partnership with Tapatío definitely is. Tapatío is sort of like the full-bodied red wine of Doritos with a vinegary, garlicky red pepper base. Not only are they a more sophisticated version of your Flamin’ Hots, but they also taste exactly like Tapatío hot sauce.

7. Sweet & Tangy BBQ

Doritos isn’t known for their BBQ chips, but maybe they should be. The mesquite-style smoky-sweet heat is a welcome departure from the face-melting flavors Doritos is better known for. However, the key to this chip isn’t in its seasoning but in its structure: hefty enough to support all that delicious barbecue flavor where a lighter potato chip would crumble.

8. Late Night Loaded Taco

At first bite, these chips don’t have much to set them apart from the regular taco variety. However, the second bite unlocks a more robust flavor with cumin, coriander, guacamole, and even iceberg lettuce somehow. All of the taste of Taco Bell without any of the mess.

9. Sour Cream & Onion

First introduced in the 1970s, Sour Cream & Onion Doritos are caught in an unfortunate cycle of being brought back only to flop once more. Despite the challenging combination of sour cream on a corn chip, these Doritos have amassed a cult following. Maybe the world will be ready for them soon.

10. Jacked Ranch Dipped Hot Wings

Our comparison to these iconic chips with Blazin’ Buffalo wasn’t for nothing; Jacked Ranch Dipped Hot Wings (JRDHW) is one of the greatest chips ever made. Nowadays it isn’t uncommon for brands to be met with petitions and protests when beloved products are pulled from the shelves, but the customer response to JRDHW is something else entirely. The people yearn for Doritos’ biggest and boldest chip to date.