We Taste-Tested 19 Tortilla Chips—Here Are the Winners

This week, I gave my colleagues the very difficult task of tasting bags and bags of tortilla chips. And in return, they left me with the equally challenging job of deciphering their responses. It turns out that most of my colleagues really like tortilla chips, whether eaten on their own, dipped into salsa or guacamole, or used to make nachos, taco pizza, and soup. As I parsed through their responses, I came across notes like “I like chips” from our associate editorial director Megan and “fine, I guess?” from our editorial director Daniel. Cruel as it may be to force my colleagues to pick a favorite tortilla chip, it had to be done. 

To find the very best tortilla chip, our editors sampled 19 different tortilla chips you’re likely to find at your local supermarket or online. We placed each in bowls, then sampled them in random order without knowing which chip was which. After tasting our way through 19 different chips, we tabulated the results and crowned an overall winner, along with several runners-up that we’d be happy to keep in our own pantry.

The Criteria

Great tortilla chips should be crispy and flavorful: they should taste like masa—dough made from nixtamalized corn—which is what’s traditionally used to prepare corn tortillas. The chips should be earthy and nutty. They should be sturdy enough to dip into guacamole or salsa without disintegrating, but not so thick that they are difficult to bite into. And while salt is essential, they should not be overly salty—just well seasoned enough so that you’d be happy eating the chip on its own.

Overall Winner

Siete Maíz Corn Tortilla Chips With Sea Salt

Daniel gave these chips a high score and left only one note: “good.” Megan, our resident chip lover, thought these chips had a “nice toasty corn flavor” with a solid crunch. Like Megan, I thought these chips had a distinct flavor unlike the others we tasted. It had a pronounced and deeply earthy corn flavor that reminded me of good-quality tortillas made from freshly ground masa.

Runners-Up

• Garden of Eatin’ Yellow Chips
• Kirkland Signature Organic Tortilla Chips
• On the Border Café Style Tortilla Chips
• Que Pasa White Corn Tortilla Chips
• Que Pasa Yellow Corn Tortilla Chips

While no brand really gave Siete a strong run for its money, all of the tasters enjoyed the chips from each of these brands. If you can't find Siete, set these out in a bowl next to some homemade guacamole and salsa and nobody is going to complain. (If they do complain, go ahead and show them to the door.)

The Contenders

• 365 by Whole Foods Market Organic White Corn Tortilla Chips
• Bowl & Basket Bite-Size Tortilla Chips
• Garden of Eatin’ Yellow Chips
• Good & Gather Organic White Corn Tortilla Chips
• Good & Gather Organic Yellow Corn Tortilla Chips
• Kirkland Signature Organic Tortilla Chips
• Late July Organic Tortilla Chips With Sea Salt
• Mi Niña Organic Sea Salt Tortilla Chips
• On the Border Café Style Tortilla Chips
• Que Pasa White Corn Tortilla Chips
• Que Pasa Yellow Corn Tortilla Chips
• Santitas White Corn Tortilla Chips
• Siete Foods Maíz Corn Tortilla Chips
• Simply Tostitos Organic Yellow Corn Tortilla Chips
• Tostitos Restaurant-Style Tortilla Chips
• Trader Joe’s Organic Yellow Corn Tortilla Chips
• Trader Joe’s Truly White Corn Tortilla Chips
• Vista Hermosa Totopos Tortilla Chips 
• Xochitl Salted Corn Chips (Mexican Style)

In Conclusion

Our winner, Siete Foods Maíz Corn Tortilla Chips, is the only brand that specifies that it uses nixtamalized corn in its ingredients list. Nixtamlization is the process of soaking and cooking dried corn kernels with an alkali ingredient like calcium hydroxide (slaked lime); as Daniel touches on in his corn tortilla recipe, this removes the corn’s bran and makes it easier to grind into masa and, crucially, makes the corn more flavorful and nutritious. Given how much this process impacts flavor, we suggest you keep an eye out for another brand that uses nixtamalized corn if you can't find this brand. 

Most chips are made with yellow corn or white corn. Of all the tortilla chips we tasted, our winner is the only brand that uses a blend of yellow corn and white corn for its chips, which likely contributes to its more complex flavor. Interestingly, these chips are also made with just one kind of oil—avocado—instead of the usual blend of oils used to make tortilla chips, like sunflower, safflower, vegetable oil, and/or canola oil.

While Siete Foods rose to the top, our team of tasters didn't really dislike any of the chips. We'd be happy to eat any of them, especially with salsa or another dip.

Our Testing Methodology

All taste tests are conducted with brands completely hidden and without discussion. Tasters taste samples in random order. For example, taster A may taste sample one first, while taster B will taste sample six first. This is to prevent palate fatigue from unfairly giving any one sample an advantage. Tasters are asked to fill our tasting sheets ranking the samples for various criteria. All data is tabulated and results are calculated with no editorial input in order to give us the most impartial representation of actual results possible.