Business
10 Discontinued Doritos Flavors We Miss!
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 such as Rollitios and Pizza Cravers are part of snack history now.
10. Onion Breath
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 effect 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. 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.
9. 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 and 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 was 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 can tell which is 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 that 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 Doritos flavors. Interestingly, these flavors never made even a temporary comeback they way some of the other discontinued flavors did.
8. 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. Then it gets a little confusing because after all this Frito – Lay decided to piggy back off the favorable response of Taco Bell’s Locos Tacos with Doritos shells. The snack chip company decided to come out with Locos Tacos Doritos. This doesn’t make a lot of sense since they already rolled out Taco Supreme Doritos and discontinued them. If the company thought snackers were craving the spicy goodness of tacos they could have simply brought back the Taco Supreme Doritos. We have to assume that these very similar products must have tasted pretty much the same, but since both of them have been discontinued we can no longer prove it.
7. Pizza Chips
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 is unclear if they tasted more like tomato sauce, cheese or pepperoni. Regardless of the exact flavor they came up with 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 tired 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 as well. 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.
6. 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 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 that announced so even if the chip isn’t really missed the quest that preceded them should be missed.
5. 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 only so after an all too brief run in your local supermarket Jumping’ Jack Doritos proved to be a flash in the pan. Although you can never say never in the snacking world and as prove 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 around they were only available for a limited time. Fans of the savory chip were sad to see them go and there has ben a Facebook campaign online in an effort to convince the snack giant to bring back this cheesy favorite. Several online reviews of Jumping’ Jack Doritos described 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.
4. 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-Lays thought so when the company introduced Chester’s Cheese Doritos in 1995. The always suave Chester with his sense of wit and dark sun glasses 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 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.
3. 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 is a bit of a cautionary tale for marketing experts who try to promote a product using hype for a product 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.com.
2. A New Dimension In Flavor
3D Doritos were offered to the snacking public in the 1990’s and they may have reminded them of lesser known snack chips called Bugles. Like these rounded out Doritos, Bugles had a hollow center capable of holding all kinds of tasty dips. The unique shape looked like a bugle and they were kind of fun, but it’s unclear why the maker of Doritos thought is was the right way to go with their tortilla chips. This new sculpted Doritos came in several flavors such as Jalapeño Cheddar and Zesty Ranch. A miniature 3D chip was also sold that came in a cylinder shaped 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 well-known snack – the Funyun. Doritos Jacked 3D enjoyed only a limited run before being discontinued.
1. Are You Feeling Lucky?
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 role the dice and take their chances just like in their favorite casino. At first these new chips were only available in Venezuela, South Africa and Canada, but when they proved to be successful in these countries they were introduced to the American market. There were some reports of usually nice Canadian parents having fun and serving the extra hot chips to their children. People were warned and were willing to gamble with these chips – at least until they ran out of luck and were discontinued.