I Finally Found a Dupe for Chili’s Chips and Salsa

I live in Los Angeles, a city with an embarrassment of delicious Mexican food, but if I’m ever in the suburbs, you better believe I’m scoping out the nearest Chili’s. I’m ordering a novelty drink from the bar (bonus points if it comes with a limited edition stirrer). I’m getting the sizzling fajitas (chicken/steak combo, plz). And I am damn sure starting the meal with an order of bottomless chips and salsa. 

Videos by Sporked

Why are Chili’s chips and salsa legendary? 

Okay, “legendary” might be a bit of an overstatement, but they are so good in my personal chain-restaurant-loving gringo opinion. I think about them. I crave them. If I really examine my Chili’s fetish, the fajitas are mostly just fine—a solid B. It’s really the chips and salsa I’m there for. Why? The chips are shatteringly thin. They’re among the most delicate objects on earth. They’re a little oily, perfectly salted (by which I mean, VERY salted), and they’re served hot. While they’re certainly too thin to heft scoops of a chunky salsa, we don’t have to worry about that, because Chili’s salsa is delightfully well pureed. Some people (who are blasphemers) might describe it as “watery,” but in my opinion it’s simply thin and delicate, just like the chips.

The dupe: Tostito’s Cantina Thin & Crispy Tortilla Chips and Pace Restaurant Style Salsa

When I set out to once again update our ranking of the best tortilla chips, I specifically focused on thin and crispy chips. We’d already added blue corn and lime-flavored chips to the mix, so finding nice thin ones was my next mission. Let me give it to you straight: 99% of the supposedly thin and crispy tortilla chips at the grocery store are not thin. Some of them are downright thick and crunchy, and I get it—truly thin chips are prone to breakage and I’m sure most companies don’t want to field complaints from people who ended up with a bag full of crumbs. Tostito’s Cantina Thin & Crispy chips are a feat. They’re truly delicate but they aren’t pulverized in the bag. They’re salty. And if you heat them in the toaster oven for around a minute, you could seriously confuse them for Chili’s chips

As for my Chili’s salsa dupe of choice, Pace Restaurant Style Original Recipe Salsa has been my personal favorite grocery store salsa for a while. It really wasn’t until I tried it with the Cantina chips that I realized why: It really is a Chili’s salsa dupe. It’s loose. It’s delicate. It has a bright tomato flavor with just a little bit of cumin for depth. If you’re 20-plus miles away from the nearest Chili’s like I am, you have to try this combo.