The original Nacho Cheese flavored Doritos have been around since the 1960's and became
a big hit with snackers. But with so many flavor possibilities Frito-Lay was bound to
experiment. Some new flavors were successful, but sadly others missed the mark only to become
part of snack history. So let’s look back on 10 discontinued Doritos flavors we miss.
Sour Cream & Onion Doritos
Sour Cream & Onion is a popular taste combination for savory snack chips, but it isn't quite
right for every occasion. Potato chips were made for Sour Cream & Onion, but corn chips?
Probably not so much. Perhaps some snackers are a little self-conscious about how the
onion will affect their breath and would rather not take any chances when there are so many
other flavors of Doritos available. A lot of odd things happened in the 1970's so it's
probably not surprising the decade that gave us disco also gave us Sour Cream & Onion Doritos.
Although this particular chip flavor had a certain following, it certainly wasn't enough
to save it from eventually being discontinued in the 1980's. But maybe the efforts of loyal
snack lovers finally paid off or maybe Frito-Lay just decided it was time to give them another
try. Regardless of the reason, the snack food company decided to bring back Sour Cream & Onion
Doritos in 2013 for a limited time. No doubt their fans hoarded the savory chips while
they were available for purchase. There's no word on when or if these chips will make
another appearance, but here's to hoping, because there are a lot of disappointed snackers
that miss the Sour Cream & Onion Doritos.
When Flavors Collide
One Doritos flavor is usually pretty tasty so a collision of two flavors sounds like
a good idea. Frito-Lay introduced these flavor collisions in 2007 with combinations such
as Hot Wings & Blue Cheese, Zesty Taco & Chipotle Ranch, Habanero Chili & Guacamole, and Pizza
Cravers & Ranch. These collisions of popular flavors sound like they would be hits with
savory snackers of all tastes. Each bag was made up of roughly half one flavor and half
the other flavor. There were also a few flavor collisions that were combined into a single
chip for an even more dramatic chip experience. The different flavored chips were slightly
different colors so you could tell which was which and pair them up as necessary. Apparently
these mashups had a strong fanbase who liked the slightly outrageous flavors, so it was
a little surprising when they were abruptly discontinued only a couple of years later.
There are some reports from the time that these special Doritos flavors cost more than
regular Doritos flavors, which could have caused them to be less popular than they would
have otherwise been. In retrospect, this probably seemed like a bad way to launch a new batch
of Doritos flavors. Interestingly though, select Doritos Collisions flavors are still
available in the UK. Whether that means these are on the comeback trail, or that the UK
offerings will eventually be disappearing as well, we just don't know, but at least
there is hope!
Doritos Loco
A lot of people love Doritos, but it's probably true that even more people love tacos. In
the 1990's Frito-Lay and Taco Bell entered into a partnership to sell more Doritos by
concocting Taco Bell inspired Doritos chips with spicy Mexican flavors. These chips were
called Taco Supreme Doritos and are not to be confused with Taco Bell's Locos Tacos that
featured a crunchy Doritos taco shell in place of the standard tortilla taco shell. Both
products were fairly popular with customers, but neither one of them became a permanent
part of either company's lineup. Though this is a confusing statement, let's try to clear
it up. Doritos Taco Bell Taco Supreme chips were released in the 90's, eventually being
discontinued. However, when Taco Bell Released their Doritos Locos Tacos, Frito-Lay decided
to piggyback off of that success and came out with Locos Tacos Doritos. Which are Doritos,
based on the Taco Bell Locos Tacos, that have a taco shell made of Doritos... Hopefully
you're not too lost in this Doritos inception to realize that while the original Doritos
Taco Bell Taco Supreme chips are discontinued, you can still get that Taco Bell Doritos flavour
in chip form today with Locos Tacos Doritos, hooray!
Pizza Cravers Doritos
Around the same time Frito-Lay partnered with Taco Bell for its Taco inspired chip, the
company decided to do the same thing with Pizza Hut. The pizza inspired Doritos were
called Pizza Cravers, but it’s unclear if they tasted more like tomato sauce, cheese
or pepperoni. Regardless of the exact flavor, this tasty collaboration seems like a no brainer
since there are so many people who love both tortilla chips and pizza. These pizza flavored
Doritos were sold by themselves like the Taco Supreme Doritos, but they were also sold as
part of the Collisions product line. The pizza flavored chip was paired with Ranch flavored
chips. This is a natural combination that makes sense because the cool ranch compliments
the spicy pizza flavors very well. Even though you'd think these are winning flavors, both
versions of Pizza Cravers Doritos only lasted a brief time before being discontinued. Pizza
Hut tried to get in on the action as well by featuring Doritos in a couple of different
ways on its pizzas, but this collaboration only lasted for a short time too. Sometimes
two great foods simply don't go as well together as you would have thought, but there are still
snackers who miss Pizza Cravers Doritos.
Doritos: The Quest
Who cares what these Doritos taste like! This was a cool marketing campaign with cool packaging
to boot. This 2008 Doritos roll out was unlike other product roll outs because it was bigger
than just the particular flavor. This Frito-Lay marketing blitz was centered around snackers
being encouraged to solve puzzles and track down clues to find out the identity of the
new flavor. Instead of just revealing it, they turned it into a fun game that increased
the hype to the point that the "quest" was more important than what the new Doritos flavor
was going to be. When the new flavor was finally revealed, it was probably a little disappointing
because it would have been hard to live up to the dramatic build up. Sodas like Mountain
Dew go great with Doritos and other salty snacks, but as a flavor for tortilla chips
it feels like less than a home run. This Mountain Dew chip roll out coincided with the soda
company's Dewmocracy flavors that included a grape soda called Mountain Dew Supernova
and a cotton candy flavor called Mountain Dew Revolution. The Mountain Dew flavored
Doritos were secondary to the fun advertising campaign, so even if the chip isn't really
missed, the quest that preceded them should be.
Jumping' Jack Cheese
When it comes to snack chips there is always room for another cheese flavor so in 1990
Frito-Lay introduced a new Doritos that tasted like Pepper Jack cheese. These Jumping' Jack
Doritos sound very tasty and apparently comedian Jay Leno agreed, because he was hired as an
enthusiastic pitch man for this cheesy tortilla chip. This flavor proved to be popular with
snackers, but as the bags clearly stated, this was a limited edition flavor, not meant
to stay on the supermarket shelves for long. Although you can never say never to an encore
in the snacking world, and as proof, Frito-Lay brought the popular flavor back briefly in
2013. They were billed as a "throwback" flavor the second time around, but like the first
time, they were only available for a short while. Fans of the savory chip were sad to
see them go once more, and there has been a Facebook campaign in an effort to convince
the snack giant to bring back this cheesy favorite. Several online reviews of Jumping'
Jack Doritos described them to have a pleasant cheese flavor and the right amount of spice.
This flavor sounds like a win all around and Frito-Lay probably should seriously consider
bringing these back and even making them a permanent member of their snack chip line
up.
Chester Does Doritos
Talk about two great tastes that go great together. A combination of Doritos and Cheetos
is surely a match made in heaven, or at least Frito-Lay thought so when the company introduced
Chester's Cheese Doritos in 1995. The always suave Chester with his dark sunglasses and
perfect wit is a well-known corporate mascot. Chester's famously cheesy, crunchy, and puffy
snacks have been long time favorites with kids and snackers of all ages. The only negative
is their tendency to leave a lot of cheesy powder on your fingers, but this is a small
price to pay to satisfy your savory cheese fix with Chester. The crunchy goodness of
a Doritos chip blended with the distinctively sharp cheese flavor of Cheetos was sure to
be a hit with snackers of all spots. Instead of having to choose between the crispy goodness
of Doritos or the over the top cheesiness of Cheetos, you could get the best of both
in one inspired snack chip. It is inexplicable that this flavor did not last longer or even
become a permanent flavor, but for whatever reason, Chester's Cheese Doritos enjoyed only
a short life before disappearing from store shelves for good. Perhaps we can hold out
hope that a new generation of snackers will discover what they've been missing and start
a campaign to bring them back so we can all enjoy Chester's Cheese Doritos once more.
X-13D?
Back in 2007, Frito-Lay decided to throw snack lovers a little curve ball and introduce a
mystery chip that was identified as the X-13D Flavor Experiment. This mystery chip even
had a tagline that read: "Tasting Notes: All American Classic." The point of all this was
to allow Doritos fans to come up with a name for the mystery chip. Perhaps the coolest
thing about these Doritos is that they were sold in a dramatic black package that got
customers' attention. Unfortunately, the actual flavor didn't seem to live up to all the hype. As
far as taste, this version of a Doritos chip was said to taste something like a cheeseburger.
Some snackers described the chips as having a strong pickle or relish taste that overpowered
the other flavors mixed into the chip. This could have something to do with why the chip
was discontinued after a short run in stores so it doesn't really matter what customers
came up with for a name. The X-13D Doritos are a bit of a cautionary tale for marketing
experts who try to promote a product using hype for something that isn't ready for prime
time. They were hoping for a cheeseburger taste explosion, but ended up with a pickle
flavored dud. Although they do have at least a little following and at least for a time
they were available for sale on eBay.
A New Dimension In Doritos Flavor
3D Doritos were offered to the snacking public in the 1990's and they may have reminded them
of the lesser known snack chips, Bugles. Like these rounded out Doritos, Bugles had a hollow
center capable of holding all kinds of tasty dips. The new Doritos shape looked like a
bugle and they were kind of fun, but it's unclear why the maker of Doritos thought it
was the way to go with their tortilla chips. This new sculpted Dorito came in several flavors
such as Jalapeño Cheddar and Zesty Ranch. A miniature 3D chip was also sold that came
in a cylindrical container that would probably remind you of a certain famous potato chip
can. Most Doritos chips taste pretty great and have been snacking favorites for a long
time. The company probably didn't need to copy and borrow from other snacks to get some
sales, but the snack market is very competitive and this was a way to generate some buzz.
3D Doritos were discontinued by the early 2000's, but after a hiatus they were brought
back. In 2015, a thicker version of the chip called Doritos Jacked 3D was introduced. This
version didn't have the hollow center and some people described them as similar to a
different well-known snack: Funyuns. Doritos Jacked 3D enjoyed only a limited run before
being discontinued.
Are You Feeling Lucky? Doritos Roulette
Food can sometimes be a gamble, but in 2015 Frito-Lay took this truth literally when it
introduced a new Doritos flavor called Roulette. According to the bold marketing campaign,
the company decided to produce bags with approximately one in six chips having an extra spicy flavor.
Frito-Lay described the new Doritos as being so hot that they "may bring you to tears." The
chips have also been described as "solid slap in the face" hot. As an added bonus, some
of the spicy chips would turn your tongue blue. Who knows about just how spicy these
chips actually were, but they do sound like they were pretty spicy. The extra spicy chips
looked exactly like the Nacho Cheese flavored chips in the bag so snackers had to roll the
dice and take their chances just like in their favorite casino. After initial success outside
of America, Doritos introduced a limited-edition Doritos Roulette flavors to un-expecting Americans.
These got all sorts of press, both good and bad, and being a limited Edition means they'll
be hard to find and not around forever, try them if you can still find them!
We’ve got more than Doritos on our menu, so stick around and tap on one of our other
great videos. And while you’re tapping around, show us some love and tap that subscribe button
and that bell to join our notification squad.