The best corn chips are way better than you might think. Before this taste test, I never would have looked twice at a bag of corn chips. Boring! Too thick! Not worth my time when things like Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos exist! But I admit that I was wrong. Corn chips are good. And the best corn chips are great.
To find the best corn chip, I gathered together every corn chip I could find, which meant a lot of Fritos corn chips. Fritos kind of has the best-corn-chips-brands market cornered. But they aren’t the only brand out there. Here’s what I was looking for: crunchy but not distractingly crunchy, corn flavor, and munchability—that is to say, something you can’t stop yourself from munching, again and again. The best corn chips should also be good to eat on their own, as well as submerged into a dip or sprinkled onto chili. So now that we know what we want, let’s get corny with the best corn chips.
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- Trader Joe’s Organic Corn Chip Dippers
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Trader Joe’s corn chips are thick. Like…real thick. But not so thick that you can’t easily crunch them down. They are also quite large. These corn chips have a presence—you know when they’re on a table. While they’re great for dipping into a chunky salsa or pico de gallo, like the picture on the bag suggests, I think they’re the best corn chip for chili—especially if you’re like me and treat chili as a hot dip. They can handle the weight.
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- Trader Joe’s Elote Corn Chip Dippers
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When Trader Joe’s gets it right, they really get it right. These corn chips really do taste like elote. It’s corn flavoring on a corn chip. Hot corn on corn action. XXX corn! There’s a hint of spice on the end too, which is really like. You can eat them alone or dip them into a cool, creamy dip—something made with sour cream.
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- Fritos Lightly Salted
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We’ve entered the Fritos section of the best corn chips ranking. Welcome. And get ready to get angry, because you won’t be seeing classic Fritos on this ranking. Why? Because the Lightly Salted version is better. It’s more corn forward, still adequately salty, and great for dipping, in part thanks to its slightly lighter salt flavor. They are smaller and more delicate than most of the other corn chips on this list, which makes them good to use as a crunchy topping—try them on a salad!
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- Fritos Scoops Spicy Jalapeno
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These corn chips are like big, crunchy, corn chip boats. They are seriously sizable, satisfying snacks. And oh, boy. That flavor. They have so much good jalapeño flavor with just a hint of spice at the end. There’s something reminiscent of a Cool Ranch Dorito in it, as well. These convinced me that corn chips could stand up to other chips as a snack worth snacking on. In my tasting notes I wrote, “I could eat these forever.” What a future. If that doesn’t say “best corn chip,” I don’t know what will.
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- Fritos Chili Cheese
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Fritos and chili are great; but what if you could have the combo without dirtying a bowl? These corn chips taste like chili! Who needs a messy walking taco when you can just eat a bag of these? They taste like a Taco Bell taco but…they’re chips. Seriously, these are the best corn chips. The only way they could get better would be if they were Scoops. Because I want more.
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Best for Chili
Best for a Creamy Dip
Best Lower Sodium
Best Spicy
Best of the Best
Other corn chips we tried: Fritos Flamin Hot, Fritos Bar-B-Q, Fritos Honey BBQ Twists, Fritos Scoops, Fritos Original
Totally agree on #1. I could eat a whole bag if I wasn’t paying attention.