Wash your hands and get ready for cheesy fingies, because today we have 6 bags of Doritos to quest on. Doritos are an incredibly popular chip in the United States, many people sticking with the classic Nacho Cheese flavor or the Cool Ranch, which tastes nothing like ranch. No matter your preference, you are getting a nice crunchy chip with some intense flavor.
Which Doritos are we trying today?
Nacho Cheese
Cool Ranch
Spicy Sweet Chili
Flamin’ Hot Cool Ranch
3D Crunch Chili Cheese Nacho
3D Crunch Spicy Ranch
Who is on this fried tortilla quest?
Hannah, silent but deadly.
Nate, has ranch flavored sweat.
Matt, feeling gluttonous.
Amy, watching out for the gateway cheese.
And of course, our subscribers! Thanks to our small, yet coveted group. We appreciate the support. You too can join us on this food journey. All you need to do is… SUBSCRIBE!
The History of Doritos
To go back to the beginning of the Doritos saga, you are going to have to travel back to 1955, and to an unlikely location. That location? Disneyland in Anaheim, California. In 1955, Frito-Lay struck a deal with Disney to open a Mexican restaurant in the Frontierland section of the park. This restaurant was known as “Casa de Fritos”.
You see, Doritos actually came as a solution to old tortillas. Instead of throwing out old, stale tortillas, the restaurant would cut them up, add seasoning, and fry them. That way they wouldn’t lose money on inventory, and actually make money on would-be trash. The employees liked the chips so much, they started packaging them as well.
In the early 1960s, Archie West, the vice president of Frito-Lay, visited the restaurant and saw how busy it was. And along with being busy, they were selling huge amounts of the bags of chips. Archie was taken with the chip. He decided that since they were golden in color, to name them for the Spanish word for gold, “oro”. Combined with the “ito” in Frito, and slapping the letter “D” to the beginning, the name Dorito was born. Soon after, mass production of the chip began.
A soft launch happened in the southwest region of the United States and it was so successful that the factory was overwhelmed by the demand. The popularity was unquestioned. Doritos made their national debut in 1966, when Frito-Lay and Pepsi-Cola merged.
The first flavor that debuted was taco flavored. In 1972, history was made with the release of the Nacho Cheese Doritos, becoming the most popular variety. In 1986, Cool Ranch Doritos were released.
Since the release, there have been over 100 different flavors. Flavors you can get today include…
Flamin’ Hot Cool Ranch
3D Crunch Spicy Ranch
3D Crunch Chili Cheese Nacho
Flamin’ Hot Nacho
Flamin’ Hot Limon
Nacho Cheese
Cool Ranch
Spicy Sweet Chili
Dinamita Chile Limon
Spicy Nacho
Flamas
Salsa Verde
White Cheddar
Tapatio
There have also been flavors like
Cheeseburger
Ranch-Dipped Chicken Wings
Mountain Dew
And overseas…
Olive
Yogurt and Mint
Clam Chowder
In 2020 99.67 million Americans consumed Doritos.
The Results
**SPOILER ALERT!**
Listen to the episode first if you do not want the results revealed to you yet!
6th Place: Flamin’ Hot Cool Ranch
Amy - 2
Hannah - 1
Matt - 2
Nate - 1
5th Place: 3D Crunch Spicy Ranch
Amy - 4
Hannah - 1
Matt - 3
Nate - 3
4th Place: 3D Crunch Chili Cheese Nacho
Amy - 3
Hannah - 3
Matt - 4
Nate - 2
3rd/2nd Place (TIE!): Spicy Sweet Chili
Amy - 4
Hannah - 4
Matt - 4
Nate - 6
3rd/2nd Place (TIE!): Nacho Cheese
Amy - 6
Hannah - 2
Matt - 5
Nate - 5
1st Place: Cool Ranch
Amy - 6
Hannah - 3
Matt - 5
Nate - 6
There you have it. Cool Ranch Doritos receive the Quest for the Best seal of approval.
Thank you all for joining us on this episode of Quest for the Best. Let us know what you thought. Have you tried all these Dorito flavors? We would love to hear your rating as well.
Also, do you have any foods you would love to get the coveted seal of approval? Let us know in the comments what you want to hear next.
And of course, remember to subscribe to hear the latest episodes. Additionally, paid subscribers will have access to monthly content where we put two restaurants head to head in a Quest for the Best battle. You definitely do not want to miss out.
SHOW NOTES:
https://www.doritos.com/products
https://www.snackhistory.com/doritos/
https://www.tasteofhome.com/collection/things-didnt-know-doritos/
D-Oro-Itos... Or Doritos!