Bottom Line: Taco Flavored Doritos have very little heat and the recipe has changed, but they have an intense, bold flavor that carries plenty of nostalgia.
These days, there are hundreds and hundreds of flavors of chips on the store shelves. Doritos alone has at least two to three dozen different varieties on the market at any given time. But I remember a day when the selection was much slimmer and there were only three types of Doritos available, which included one of my all-time favorites: Taco flavor.
Doritos got its start in 1966 after a Frito-Lay executive discovered fried tortilla chips being sold as a snack at Disneyland in California. These chips were named “Dorito” which is a contraction of the Spanish word doradito meaning little fried and golden thing. They started out as a regional offering and quickly expanded to the national market, and in 1972 the Nacho Cheese flavor was released which has since become one of the most popular snack items of all time. But before that, the first Doritos flavor beyond the original was Taco and that came out in 1967.
True to its name, this flavor has the taste of taco seasoning. Not necessarily tacos themselves, but the seasoning that goes in the meat and has an earthy flavor with notable hints of cumin. The retro bags of Taco Doritos you find these days also have a creamy, almost cheesy taste, but that wasn’t part of the original formula (more on that below). The chips have cheese and sour cream in the ingredients which mellows out the taste to a degree.
They have almost no heat (and never really have because spicy was not popular when they were created), but they do have an intensity to them and the bold flavor of something that has been heavily seasoned. To enjoy these, you have to be able to handle a strong punch of flavor. But they definitely will not set your mouth on fire unless you pour on some hot sauce (which would go quite well with these, especially Tapatio).
When I see the retro bags in the store, I usually will pick one up from time to time as a throwback to my younger days. But I know that these aren’t the same Taco Doritos I used to gobble down as a kid. I seem to recall that at some point in the ‘80s they changed the formula and released them as Taco and Sour Cream Doritos (I can’t find confirmation on that name though). And that version is what has since been released as the original Taco Doritos.
I did some searching online to confirm that, and found a post on Delishably.com (at this link) that verified that this flavor of Doritos did in fact go through a change. The author of that piece did some research of her own and found a picture of the ingredients list from one of the early bags of Taco Doritos. That is a much shorter tally of ingredients than you find on the current bag and did not include any cheese or dairy products. Interestingly, it did include cocoa which is no longer in the chips and probably helped intensify the flavor back in the day.
The current ingredient list looks like a tome compared to the original (see below), but back in the day you could get away with lumping more items into the “spices” term. These days they break that out to a more detailed list, but you can’t convince me that the original chips had much if anything from the dairy group included in its ingredients.
I still like the version of Taco Doritos they put on the shelves today, but it doesn’t quite have the kick that I remember from when I was much younger back in the ‘70s. Those were the days when I could eat half a bag in the afternoon and still be hungry for dinner, and I was a skinny little kid back then. Nowadays, I have one serving and feel like I have to hit the treadmill for half an hour! Oh well, at least they have some nostalgia value.
Tale of the Tape
Ingredients: Corn, Vegetable Oil (Corn, Canola, and/or Sunflower Oil), Salt, Yellow Corn Flour, Spices, Maltodextrin (Made From Corn), Whey Protein Concentrate, Monosodium Glutamate, Whey, Cheddar Cheese (Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Hydrolyzed Corn Protein, Citric Acid, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Buttermilk, Artificial Color (Including Yellow 6 Lake, Yellow 5 Lake, Blue 2 Lake, Yellow 6, Yellow 5), Sour Cream (Cultured Cream, Skim Milk), Butter (Cream, Salt), Modified Corn Starch, Blue Cheese (Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), and Lactic Acid.
Serving Size: 28g (About 12 Chips)
Calories: 170
Fat: 8g (1g Sat/0g Trans)
Protein: 2g
Carbs: 16g
Sodium: 200mg
You’re absolutely correct, the current taco flavored Doritos aren’t the original recipe available from 1967 to about 1985, when they added the sour cream flavor which was noted on the bags at the time. The last time I remember buying the original 1967 taco Doritos was early in 1985.
The original taco chips were more heavily seasoned and were visibly coated with lots of seasoning. The nacho cheese chips also had more seasoning and flavor in the old days compared to today.
I wish Frito-Lay would return to the old recipe but at this point I’m certain it’s highly unlikely!
I remember being adicted to the Taco Doritos when the came out.
I eat a lot better now than then.
All the ingredients are GMO these days. I wish they had an organic version.
No Round Up!!
Thanks for posting that story. My brother sent it too me.
In the 70’s I ate a ton of the toco flavor. They were loaded with toco powder it was even in the bottom of the bag in clumps just so good. They should have NEVER changed such a good product that many people loved. Sometimes change is not a good thing and in this case is was not. When you have a good product that your customers love then leave it alone. Just do not care for the new and changed brand with the sour cream and cheese yuck not everyone cares for sour cream.