We Tried And Ranked 7 Frito Flavors

It's time to talk about everyone's favorite corn chip. And surprisingly, we're not talking about tortilla chips, which are admittedly very delicious. Rather, we're talking about their crunchy, salty, and deeply delicious alternative: Fritos. Fritos are typically more stout and heavy than classic tortilla chips, and their flavor is very different. They have a more prominent toasted corn flavor and oiliness because they're deep-fried. I personally love them because they're as corn-tasting as a chip can get. Plus, their unique, hearty structure makes them conducive to sprinkling over chili or making into the savory Texas dish known as Frito pie.

I've indulged in my fair share of Fritos over the years, mostly in the form of individually packaged variety chip boxes that grace the snack aisle of my local grocery store — so I can't say that I've ever had such a profound craving for this snack food where I've gone out of my way to buy a whole bag of them. But that made me wonder; have I just been eating the wrong flavor of Fritos? Besides the original, Fritos come in a whole bunch of different varieties, including the popular chili cheese, barbecue, and even queso. I acquired several different varieties of these chips to see which flavor was the tastiest, most versatile, and best complemented the corn-y flavor for which Fritos are known. My top picks are excellent for garnishing your crock of chili or eating with dip. 

Some recommendations are based on first-hand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer/distributor/etc.

I will be the first person to admit that I don't like ranch-flavored things. Ranch dressing is something I could take or leave, while ranch-flavored potato chips aren't something I gravitate toward. But considering all the great work that Fritos has done with its flavors overall, I expected that its original ranch chips would really impress me. I was wrong.

Now, this is one of the few food reviews I've done where the products were, for the most part, great. And, if you're searching specifically for a ranch-flavored chip, you might think these are great, too. Their flavor is slightly acidic and herby, though the salt takes its balancing role very seriously. These chips are not heavy on the palate, and even though I liked them the least, I still felt my hand subconsciously gliding back to the bag for another couple of bites "just to test my theory." The ranch flavor could have been bolder, and I would have liked to see more buttermilk notes. I also had to place this one on the bottom because I felt that the toasted corn flavor and the ranch seasoning were butting heads rather than working together to create a cohesive and tasty snack. After some peer mediation (and maybe a slight tweak of the recipe), I have no doubt that the two could find common ground. 

Besides the fleeting flavor, these chips were, overall, not as memorable as the ones I ranked higher. If ranch chips are your jam, by all means, try Fritos' take on them — but I would be hard-pressed to buy another bag for myself. 

Fritos drew a line in the sand with its Flavor Twists. While the other flavors could plausibly be used for dipping and scooping, the Twists are made to be eaten straight from the bag. They're a snack food through and through, and while this diminishes their versatility somewhat, I'm glad that Fritos went with the flavor that it did for them. 

I tried these chips right after the regular barbecue ones because I wanted to see if there was a major difference in flavor (as there should have been). And there certainly was. These chips abandoned some of their salt for sweetness, which pushed the chips more into a sweet mesquite flavor rather than a savory one. The Twists were well-covered in seasoning, and I can confidently say that they were one of the better sweet barbecue-flavored snacks I've had. 

But (and there's always a but), the shape of these Fritos was a distraction and something that made them decidedly un-Frito-like. I missed the crispiness of the toasty corn chip, and it almost tasted like Fritos abandoned the corn base for a blend of wheat- or potato-something. Fritos already had a perfectly engineered food product that was snappy, corn-y, and well-salted, and the consistency of this offering veers too far away from that for my liking. If you're a big honey barbecue person, by all means, try these, but if you grew up on classic Fritos like I did, you may scoff at this offering. 

I am a big proponent of queso. But queso-flavored products are not something that I always feel great about. I tried queso-flavored potato chips for my Aldi chip ranking, and I found that it was really hard for Clancy's to replicate the same mouthfeel and flavor as a bowl of cheesy dip on every thin chip. But I'm happy to report that Fritos not only gets a gold star for its cheesy flavor on these Twists, but also the deliberate use of spice. 

A good queso has an excellent blend of thick, gooey, and creamy cheese sauce and piquant (but not overwhelming) heat. These Fritos take on both of these flavors with no questions asked. The bites are cheesy and almost juicy, which is not an experience I have often had with chips. My mouth was coated in cheesy bliss for the first few seconds before the heat prickled on the back of my tongue. Like with some of the other Fritos on this list, the spiciness could have been more pronounced, but the brand opted to prioritize cheesiness over heat — a smart move, if I do say so myself. I was so entranced by the flavor of these chips that I couldn't pay attention to the fact that they were Twists and not regular Fritos. If the brand reshaped these Twists into normal Fritos, they would have skyrocketed to the top of my list. I just missed that clear, toasted corn crunch and mouthfeel that I've come to expect from the brand. 

I am admittedly on the fence about these lightly salted Fritos. On one hand, I'm happy that Fritos has an option for folks who are looking for a less sodium-heavy snack, but on the other, I think that nixing some of the salt from the recipe changes the fundamental experience of eating these chips. Snack foods are made to be salty — that's what keeps your hand diving into the bag for handful after handful. 

The primary worry that I had about these chips going in was that the low salt would highlight more of their greasiness. However, I was happy to find that this was not the case. While I was craving a bit more salt and flavor all around from these chips, their oiliness wasn't as prevalent as I anticipated. If anything, the lack of salt made these chips seem less well-toasted — more like tortilla chips than Fritos. 

Despite having half the amount of salt as the original Fritos recipe, the lightly salted chips do indeed hold their own. If you were making a Frito pie or dipping them into an especially salty Buffalo dip, I doubt you would miss the salt. But the lack of salt is what separated these chips from the original Fritos — and what ultimately made them not as hyperpalatable. They're not a bad chip by any means, but I still prefer the original over them. 

If anything, I had to include the original Fritos flavor in this ranking as a baseline. While there were some Fritos that were objectively worse than them, as they boasted lackluster flavors that detracted from the snacking experience, there were other flavors that were just more interesting than the humble original Fritos. The predominant flavor in these chips, of course, is corn. It's very strong and very toasty and is what makes the flavor of these snacks so different from every other chip on the market. Salt is another key element of the profile of each of these chips. Unlike some of the other snacks I've tried over the years, Fritos perfectly coats each of its chips in a thick layer of salt. There are no discrepancies or differences between the seasoning of the large chips and the small ones, which, from a product engineering standpoint, is great. 

But does the flavor of regular Fritos make me sing? Not at all. There were some points when I was eating these chips that I wished their flavor was less salty, though this would have likely made the greasiness of the chips underneath more pronounced. The toasty corn notes were very tasty and, combined with the salt, I felt my hand gliding back into the bag for handful after handful. However, after a couple of bites, I started to wish they had more going on — and I'll admit that they don't hold a candle to Trader Joe's elote corn chip dippers or some of the higher-ranked options on this list. 

The awkwardly stylized "barbecue" Fritos are very much in my tasting wheelhouse. I've tasted my fair share of barbecue chips in my food reviewing career (read: Is nine bags of barbecue chips too much?). But this is one of the first times that I've tried a corn chip variant of the flavor, and I can confidently say that Fritos does really well with it. While I couldn't pick up on a specific type of wood smoke — like mesquite, applewood, or hickory — I can say that their flavor is enjoyable. The subtle smokiness and mild pop of sweetness give balance to the flavor of the chip. They're definitely saltier than some of the other chips on this list, but since they're barbecue chips, I don't entirely think this is a bad thing. 

I felt myself compelled to stick my hand back in the bag for more of these chips, which was not the case with some of the lower-ranking Fritos (or at least not to the same extent). The barbecue flavor never eclipses the corn profile; instead, its toasted notes offer the flavor dust a unique canvas to experiment with. While these chips aren't something I could foresee adding to Frito pie, I would eat them over the original Fritos without question, earning them a relatively high spot in this ranking. They were almost my No. 1 pick, but I just thought the flavor of the blue ribbon winner was more complex and better developed. 

The chili cheese Fritos are an example of a brand listening to its audience. Frito-Lay probably heard that people were putting their Frito chips on chili, so why not circumvent the whole process and make a chili cheese-flavored chip that would not only intensify the flavor of the chili, but also make for a tasting snack experience sans chili crock as well? 

In order for these chips to be successful, Fritos would need to balance both the cheese and the chili flavor. And I do think that this effort and engineering was a triumph. It would have been so easy for the brand to concoct a savory, barbecue chip-like flavoring dust for this selection. But instead, it channels the flavor of smoked paprika, chili powder, and the like to create a snacking chip that indeed tastes like chili — and how often do you come across a chili-flavored chip?

I also give Fritos credit for thinking about its spiciness. Instead of leaning into Flamin' Hot territory, it gives its chips enough warmth to make them compelling, but not so much that the sole flavor is spice. If I had to register only one flavor for these chips, it would be "umami," which is pretty impressive for a snack food. Compounded by the fact that the brand kept its saltiness in check, I can confidently say that these are chips that I will be grabbing more often if given the option.

Tasting all the Fritos flavors is hard work, but someone has to do it. To prevent them from becoming stale and ensuring an objective review, I sampled each of these Fritos flavors on the same day I opened the bag. I ate these chips without any dip or accompaniments so that I could get a better look at their overall flavor. I assumed that the texture would be similar across varieties, seeing as they were the same product, just in different shapes and with different flavor dusts. 

The top-ranked Fritos on this list have a robust and balanced flavor that sent my hand back into the bag for a second (or third, in many cases) handful. A good chip is easily snack-able, just salty enough that it makes me crave more, but not so salty that I was sent gasping for water. I also looked at whether the flavor dust helped or hindered the natural corn flavor that makes Fritos such an iconic snack in the first place. Overall versatility was another important consideration; I ranked the chips that could be eaten straight from the bag, with dip, or crumpled on a sandwich, soup, or chili higher than those that I might crave once in a blue moon.