New Doritos Cool Ranch Ruffles: My Honest Review as a Cool Ranch Lover

I was so excited about Lay’s Flavor Swap chips. It felt like a foolproof experiment. The delicious flavor dust you know and love, now on different snacks? Great! Do it! Take my money! But we’ve tried a couple of these Freaky Friday chips and…they’ve failed to live up to our hopes and dreams. Cool Ranch Ruffles are no exception. Let’s get into it.

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New Ruffles Flavor!

Ruffles Doritos Cool Ranch: Review

Hy-Vee

Walmart

Pros: A Ruffles chip is a great chip. It’s big and crunchy and textured—eating one of these ridged chips is a thoroughly pleasurable experience. And the concept? The concept is great! Cool Ranch dust on a Ruffles chip! Love it!

Cons: I really hope I got a dud of a bag because there is barely any Cool Ranch seasoning on these chips. I can see that there is some of that green and red dust sprinkled into the crevices of the chip, but when I taste one, there’s just the faintest hint of a Cool Ranch Dorito. You really have to focus to kinda taste the flavoring. If I was blind-tasting these chips, I would never guess they were Cool Ranch. I’m not sure I would guess they were even flavored with anything but salt. (Although I swear I did get a rogue Sour Cream & Cheddar Ruffles in the mix.)

Verdict: If this is how all the bags are, then Lay’s needs to try again ASAP. I stand by the position that these chips could be incredible if someone actually put some flavor powder on the dang things. Maybe I need to get in contact with Dude Perfect guys (this Ruffles flavor was launched with them on the bag). Perhaps they can convince Lay’s to try again.

Credit: Liv Averett / Hy-Vee

Rating:

6/10

Sporks

What’s the deal? Why is the Cool Ranch flavor so lacking on the Doritos Cool Ranch Ruffles?

I compared the ingredient list of the Ruffles Doritos Cool Ranch and Cool Ranch Doritos and there are a couple of differences. Cool Ranch Ruffles include lactic acid, Cool Ranch Doritos do not. And Cool Ranch Ruffles are colored with vegetable juice, turmeric, paprika, and annatto. Cool Ranch Doritos are colored with artificial colors. And the Doritos ingredients list also includes things like malic acid, dextrose, disodium inosinate, and disodium guanylate, which are all missing from the more “natural” Cool Ranch Ruffles. Perhaps these new Ruffles are too natural to taste like the extremely artificial (and delicious) Doritos.

About the Author

Hi! I’m the editor-in-chief of Sporked. I will never turn down a fresh-shucked oyster but I’ll also leap at whatever new product Reese’s releases and I love a Tostitos Hint of Lime, even if there is no actual lime in the ingredients. Why you should trust me: I have been writing about food and beverages for well over a decade and am an avid at-home cook and snacker. I began my career writing about fine dining and recipes, moved into cocktails and spirits, and now I talk about groceries. If you can eat it or drink it, I’ve probably written about it. What I buy every week: Trader Joe’s dried okra. Appleton Farms prosciutto from Aldi. Some sort of Trader Joe’s cheese (I’m into the aged gouda at the moment). Frozen waffles (usually the Eggo Cinnamon Toast Minis). Spindrift water (loving the Cosmopolitan right now). Favorite ranking: Smoked salmon. Imagine me as Scrooge McDuck but instead of coins I’m diving into a vault of slippery smoked salmon slices. Pure joy. I also found some real steals in that taste test! Least favorite ranking: Canned oysters. I had such high hopes for this but it quickly became a chore. The kitchen smelled like an uncleaned aquarium.