The Best Store-Bought Tortilla Chips: What Brand To Choose For Taco Night

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When you're craving a salty, crunchy vessel to transport fresh salsa or guacamole to your mouth, tortilla chips are called for. From tortilla chip's origin as a practical way to use up broken tortillas, this snack food has come a long way since the 1940s. With so many brands now stocked on grocery store shelves, it's overwhelming to pick one, especially when some chips taste stale or too salty.

Don't worry — we've done the work for you. Out of Chowhound's ranking of 15 different tortilla chip brands, one came out on top: Mi Niña White Corn Tortilla Chips. We have to agree with the bag, which states "just the best tortilla chip" — these have a fresh, restaurant-quality flavor with an appropriate amount of toastiness and salt. These won't break when loaded with a heavy guac or chunky pico de gallo salsa, these are some sturdy chips that hold their own.

Wondering where to buy a bag for your next taco night? These can be purchased at stores like Whole Foods or ordered online on Amazon. If you can't find Mi Niña tortilla chips, consider our two runner-ups: Juantonio's Gluten-Free Tortilla Chips and Santitas White Corn Tortilla Chips. And the tortilla chip to avoid? For us, the Signature Select White Corn Tortilla Chips, a Safeway and Albertsons brand, came in dead last.

Aside from the perfect crunch and balanced salt level, Mi Niña's choice of ingredients and its production process seem to be what contribute to the quality flavor of its tortilla chips. For starters, the brand is dedicated to using minimal amount of ingredients and which are sustainable as well, including organic corn and sunflower oil. The only two other ingredients are sea salt and lime.

How the company produces its chips is also impressive. It uses the ancient process of nixtamalization that was developed by indigenous people of Mesoamerica thousands of years ago, which involves soaking and boiling the corn with the mineral lime. This helps break down the tough outer husk and makes some of the nutrients more bioavailable. Every day, Mi Niña Tortilla grinds the treated corn with volcanic stones, and the masa, the corn dough, is then rolled out and cut into chips. Instead of frying the chips, they are baked.

If you're looking to branch out from plain white corn tortilla chips for a more flavor-loaded snack, the brand also sells several varieties of chips. There's blue corn, jalapeño agave, pico de gallo, spicy chipotle lime, and even a sweet option, cinnamon churro, that could be dipped in a DIY Auntie Anne's sweet glaze at home.