15 Popular Tortilla Chip Brands, Ranked Worst To Best
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Nothing quite hits the spot like tortilla chips and salsa on a hot day. Although we would all love to lounge by a Mexican restaurant with a margarita in hand all night long, the reality is that sometimes we have to bring the chips and dips to our homes instead. You can purchase many different brands of tortilla chips at the grocery store, with prices ranging from anywhere from $2 to upwards of $6. But what is the difference between a cheap and expensive chip, and is there a brand that reigns supreme above all others? We're here to investigate.
We've reviewed these tortilla chip brands based on a few critical factors. The first is the texture — meaning how the chip feels in your mouth. Next is sturdiness, which defines if the chip can withstand the weight of a heavy guacamole or wet salsa. The last characteristic is taste, which includes the flavors we sampled and the variety within a company's product line.
All prices are current at the time of publication.
15. From the Ground Up
From the Ground Up makes several cauliflower-based food products, including chips, straws, and pretzels. Its tortilla chips come in four flavors: sea salt cauliflower, butternut squash, nacho cauliflower, and lime cauliflower. Each product is dairy-free, gluten-free, and certified vegan.
The From the Ground Up chips were priced the same as the Dean Street Taco Chips we sampled; $3.79 for a 4.5-ounce bag ($0.84 an ounce). This product is not practical for folks serving tortilla chips at a dinner party because it's just too expensive. Plus, the taste of these chips was very off-putting. It was almost like the texture was more like a cracker than a chip — which we attribute to the inclusion of the cauliflower. The aftertaste on these chips was also very apparent and almost rancid in taste. We also didn't find much salt on these chips either, which was disappointing. Maybe the other flavors of these chips would be better, but the plain sea salt ones just aren't it.
14. Siete Grain-Free
Siete is a popular gluten-free brand that makes many grain-free products — including tortilla chips. The grain-free tortilla chips are made with cassava, a root vegetable found in South America, Africa, and Asia. The brand also uses coconut flour and chia seeds in its tortilla chips for texture and bulk. Its tortilla chips come in several flavors, including sea salt (which we sampled), nacho, ranch, fuego (spicy), and jalapeño-lime.
These chips were priced at $3.79 for five ounces, bringing the per-ounce cost to around $0.76. These chips placed low on our rankings for more than just the price. It tasted more like a hybrid version of a potato chip and a tortilla chip. The chip itself turned to mush in our mouth when we started chewing, which was super unappetizing. If you are eating a paleo or grain-free diet and want a chip to accommodate it, we can see you purchasing this brand. But otherwise, just eat regular ol' tortilla chips.
13. Dean Street Taco Chips
The Dean Street tortilla chips use stone-ground masa flour for a more coarse and less oily flavor on its chip. In addition, these chips are seasoned with spices and dehydrated veggies for a more robust flavor. You can find these chips at specialty stores in flavors like sea salt, multigrain, and chili lime tortilla chips.
Each bag of chips costs $3.79, or about $0.63 per ounce. Overall, we could have been more enthused with the flavor of these chips. When we read that the chips were baked with spices and seasonings, we expected a unique flavored chip that tasted like a taco. Unfortunately, what we got was far from it. The only taco-like flavor we got from these chips was a hint of meatiness. The flavor of these chips is muddled, with minimal indication of what they're supposed to taste like. We give the brand props for sturdiness, though, meaning this chip can be easily dipped without fear of breakage.
12. Garden of Eatin'
We were not impressed with the Garden of Eatin' tortilla chips either. At around $0.54 per ounce, these chips were one of the more expensive varieties we sampled from the list. When we first opened the bag, we were overwhelmed with a corn smell bordering on the edge of rancid. The chips were sturdy and had a good crunch, but we couldn't overcome the strange flavor and funky aroma.
Garden of Eatin' tortilla chips are made with organic corn and use no hydrogenated oils, artificial flavors, or preservatives. You can find variations on the chip made with blue, yellow, or white corn. Grain-free cassava chips and flavored chips like lime, Red Hot Blues, and "Wicked Hot" are also available in the line-up. But we're unsure if the flavor or the type of corn the chip is made with will do anything to help with the odd smell and taste of these chips.
11. On the Border
On the Border tortilla chips come in several styles, including rounds, cafe style, and cantina thins. Otherwise, there needs to be more flavor selection for this brand, which bumps this brand down on our rankings. However, On the Border was one of the more affordable brands we sampled, at $4.19 for a 10.5-ounce bag, which comes to around $0.40 per ounce.
We thought these chips tasted average, with the slight oily aftertaste we expect from a cheap tortilla chip. However, the rounds were sturdy and easy to pick up the guacamole with. Plus, there was a minimal salty flavor to overpower the dip. If you look at these chips alone, you'll find them very salty and leaving a slightly greasy residue on your fingers. So, we recommend pairing them with a dip for the ultimate snacking experience. Overall, these chips are alright but could be better with a little less oil and a little less salt.
10. Tostitos
Tostitos are the chip brand that parents get for birthday parties and tailgates. We were surprised at the price of these chips compared to their quality; one-ounce costs around $0.50. Although we went with sampling the crispy rounds, Tostitos also offers several other flavors, including the ever-popular scoops, cantina-style, restaurant-style, and flavors like a hint of lime, a hint of guacamole, and a hint of spicy queso. The brand has also tried to capture health-conscious consumers with baked chips (rather than fried) and Simply Organic varieties.
We were disappointed with the flavor and cheapness of these tortilla chips. The chip had no taste — just a salty residue stuck to our fingers. These chips are also fragile and easily break when dipped into a thick salsa or guacamole. One of the only redeeming qualities of this brand is its varied product line and flavors — which may help mask some of the imperfections we noticed with the original salted flavor.
9. Santitas
Santitas may be more easily recognized for its "Only $2" sticker on the bag — which we should note has now been increased to $2.69 (or about $0.24 per ounce). These chips are super affordable for customers and come in a small variety of flavors, including white corn, cilantro lime white corn, yellow corn, and lightly seasoned yellow corn.
Like other brands we sampled, these chips taste substandard and flimsy. They're not as weak as the Tostitos rounds we tested, but we do express some concern over the ergonomics of the chip when it comes to eating. Santitas chips also have minimal flavor (besides an overpowering saltiness), which could be helpful as a base for making nachos or a cheap date night with dips. If you have leftover tortilla chips, you can also make the perfect Mexican breakfast dish: chorizo chilaquiles. But, the lacking taste and texture of the chips wouldn't make us pull the Santitas brand off the shelf compared to its competitors — especially if we're eating it without a dip.
8. Late July
Late July chips win some brownie points for being USDA-certified Organic and not containing genetically modified ingredients. The brand's offerings include various chip flavors and varieties, including nacho cheese, sea salt & lime, Mexican street corn, and blue corn. We chose to sample the plain sea salt flavor. These chips are remarkably thin but do not disintegrate when dunked into a wet salsa or chunky guacamole. The taste of Late July's product was mild and not at all intrusive, but some folks may liken it to being boring and too plain.
The price of these chips was somewhat high compared to other brands; one 10-ounce bag was priced at $5.79 (or about $0.58 per ounce). If buying organic is super important to you, these are good chips to choose from. However, purchasing these chips is not reasonable when you can get the same flavor profile from a chip for half its price.
7. Stop & Shop
If you're buying generic brand food, you may just be buying the same product as brand-name — just without the company logo, status, and resulting cost. For example, if you tried these Stop & Shop restaurant-style tortilla chips, you wouldn't notice much difference from a more expensive brand like Frito Lay or Utz. These chips are a bargain at $2.89 for a 13-ounce bag.
This tortilla chip brand is about as thin and flavorful as we expected. The saltiness is average for a cheap chip. It resembles the texture and taste of a restaurant tortilla — just about twice as large as the other chips we sampled. Since the chips are so large, the ergonomics of getting them into our mouths was complicated. If you eat these chips with guacamole or salsa, it's unrealistic to assume that people will do the dreaded double-dip to accommodate the chip's size. Tasty? Yes. Practical? Not so much.
6. Great Value
In case you're unfamiliar, Great Value is Walmart's in-store product brand. The white corn restaurant-style tortilla chips were the least expensive chips that we sampled at $1.98 for a 13-ounce bag — which comes to around $0.15 an ounce. Great Value also offers several other tortilla chips in its lineup, including cantina style (thin and crispy), bite-sized rounds, a hint of lime, chili garlic, salsa verde, and blue corn.
These tortillas were definitely sturdy and could carry the weight of our guacamole test. However, we found them to be slightly under-salted compared to other brands. These chips also left behind a slightly oily aftertaste that wasn't observed in the other chip varieties we sampled and which was slightly off-putting. It's easy to imagine that the best use for these Great Value tortilla chips would be for nachos. The cheese and meat topping would easily disguise the aftertaste from these chips, while their sturdiness would be an asset to the overall nacho experience. Overall, these aren't bad chips for scooping.
5. Xochitl
Xochitl brand tortilla chips come with beautiful packaging that is easy to fold down — but it's what's on the inside that matters, right? These chips are made with white corn, palm olein oil, water, lime, and sea salt. You can purchase varieties made with blue or white corn and seasonal colors for Halloween, the Fourth of July, and Christmas. We bought the salted white corn variety, which cost $5.19 for 12 ounces ($0.43 per ounce).
These chips were light, crispy, and not overly salty. The one thing we noticed about these chips was that they were slightly smaller than the other brands we sampled. While some folks may think this is a negative attribute, the size of this tortilla led to a better chip-to-dip ratio. That being said, we wouldn't purchase this brand again because there are so many more affordable competitors that offer a similarly-tasting product at a more reasonable price.
4. Nature's Promise
Nature's Promise is the in-house organic and natural foods brand for Stop & Shop. The brand's products are free from genetically modified ingredients, synthetic colors, artificial flavors, and preservatives — and its tortilla chips are made with organic corn. We chose to sample the yellow corn variety from this brand, but there are also other options, including blue corn and white corn chips. One bag of these chips costs around $0.30 per ounce, making it one of the cheaper brands we sampled that were made with organic ingredients.
These chips had, by far, the best crunch out of all the tortilla chips we tried. It almost hurt to sink our teeth into these chips! The salt flavor was mild, accompanied by a slightly toasty and almost burnt aftertaste. These chips also had a very intense corn flavor and unique taste compared to the other, more mild-tasting brands we sampled. Overall, the scoopability of these chips was excellent, and it was clear this snack was step-above restaurant-style tortilla chips.
3. Tortiyahs!
Tortiyahs! are mildly-seasoned tortilla chips that are as sturdy as can be. The cantina-style chips are seasoned with dehydrated tomato, bell pepper, onion, and some salt and sugar. We would define the taste of these chips as slightly smokey with an organic vegetative undercurrent. The major downside to this flavor is that it is hard to pinpoint what it is or what the chip's creators meant for it to taste like. However, our favorite thing about the chip is that the seasoning was in the background of flavors when we dipped it into guacamole. Therefore, this chip is versatile because you can eat it with or without a dip.
The brand also offers several other varieties: sea salt restaurant-style, guacamole-flavored, Brazilian lime, white rounds, blue corn, and blue-and-yellow-corn mixed chips. These chips were reasonably priced at $4.99 for an 11-ounce bag ($0.45 per ounce). We would purchase this brand again but would opt to try one of its other flavors instead.
2. Doritos
Doritos are one of the most popular snacking chips out there. The brand's flavor lineup is much more impressive than the other tortilla brands we sampled; it includes the classic ranch, nacho cheese, spicy sweet chili, throwbacks like 3D Doritos, and Flamin' Hot varieties. Each 9.25-ounce bag of chips was $5.99, or $0.65 per ounce.
When we tasted the first bite of these chips, we were instantly transported back to our high school cafeteria, where students traded bags of Doritos in search of their favorite flavor. And, we found ourselves constantly reaching back into the bag for one chip after another — which we didn't do for other types of chips we sampled. Doritos are a perfectly engineered food product because they make you want to reach in for "just one more." The spicy sweet chili flavor was a strong balance of the sweet at the beginning and a spicy aftertaste that lingered on the tip of our tongues. The only major drawback to these chips is that they are meant to be eaten independently, without a dip, because the flavor would otherwise get too muddled.
1. Mi Niña
The Mi Niña chips are a staple in our household — especially the pico de gallo and jalapeño agave flavors. Although these chips are slightly more expensive than other brands we've reviewed, we find the flavor of these chips to be a step above the others. The chip itself is not too salty, which in turn, allows the underlying organic taste of the corn to shine through. In addition, these chips are certified organic and non-GMO project verified.
The sea salt flavor chip is admittedly bland. Instead, we recommend trying the pico de gallo flavor. Its subdued spice is filled with tomato, jalapeño, lime, and cilantro notes. This chip flavor truly combines the taste of the dip and the chip into one. If you're feeling adventurous, the jalapeño agave flavor will get your tastebuds swirling with sweet, salty, and savory notes. Despite the big flavor that Mi Niña brings, it's still the best type of chip because you can eat it on its own just as much as you can scoop it into your favorite dip.