Doritos Cool Original vs supermarket own-label tortilla chips

If you're a tortilla chip fan, you'll no doubt have noticed this is yet another snack that has become more expensive as food price inflation continues to bite. 

Can cheap versions deliver on taste? We asked a panel of consumers to blind-taste and rate Doritos Cool Original tortilla chips alongside supermarket versions from Aldi, Asda, Sainsbury's and more to find out.

The results show that Doritos do reign supreme – coming out on top in our taste test. But one cheaper supermarket tortilla chip came a close second, so switching can save you money without losing out on flavour. 

Read on to find out how the different supermarket tortilla chips fared and which ones are worth popping in your trolley.

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Best cool-flavour tortilla chips

Doritos may have taken the top spot, but Sainsbury’s tortilla chips were a close second, and less than half the price. M&S's cool tortilla chips aren’t far behind, but other supermarket versions were decidedly less impressive.

Best Buy: Doritos Cool Original Tortilla Chips - 72%

£1.99 for 180g (£1.09 per 100g)

With their satisfying crunchy texture and great balance of flavour and saltiness, Doritos show sometimes paying more pays off.

They're a little darker in colour than most of the supermarket tortilla chips, but this doesn't detract from their appeal. They had the most appealing smell, but they're also the most expensive tortilla chips on test. At full price they're more than double the price of Sainsbury's tortilla chips – the next-best brand. They're usually on sale somewhere for £1.25, but even then they're 21p per 100 grams more expensive than Sainsbury's chips. 

Available to buy from Asda, Iceland, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose.

Best Buy: Sainsbury’s Tortilla Chips Cool - 71%

95p for 200g (48p per 100g)

With an overall score just one percentage point lower than Doritos, these Sainsbury's tortilla chips are a winning swap if you're looking to save without sacrificing flavour. They matched Doritos' score for flavour, texture and appearance. 

Three quarters thought they had just the right amount of crunch, while eight in 10 tasters said the saltiness was spot on. Better than that, these tortilla chips are less than half the price of Doritos, so if you regularly shop at Sainsbury's they're definitely worth a try. 

Available to buy from Sainsbury’s.

M&S Cool Tortillas - 68%

£1.00 for 200g (50p per 100g)

These M&S cool tortilla chips aren't quite up to our Best Buys, but they aren't far behind. They fell down slightly on flavour, which was deemed a little weak, but 93% of our panel said the colour was just right and they were rated just as highly as Doritos and Sainsbury's for texture and crispness. 

They're marginally more expensive than Sainsbury's but significantly cheaper than Doritos. If you prefer your chips to taste a little less salty, you may actually prefer these.

Available to buy from Ocado.

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How Asda, Aldi, Morrisons and Tesco tortilla chips compare

While all of these brands' tortillas taste alright, the flavour didn't quite match up to the highest scoring packs. They're generally cheaper but you might not find them quite as satisfying.

• Asda Cool Sharing Tortilla Chips - 63%. The least appealing looks-wise, these chips were darker in colour than most. Four in 10 said the flavour strength was just right, only Doritos and Sainsbury's fared better with tasters in this respect. 75p for a 180g bag (41p per 100g). Available from Asda.
• Aldi Snackrite Cool Tortilla Chips - 62%. As with other lower-scoring tortilla chips, the flavour is alright, but more than half of our tasters said Aldi's offering wasn't salty enough. They're the cheapest chips on test at less than a third of the price of Doritos. 69p for a 200g bag (35p per 100g). Available from Aldi.
• Morrisons Cool Tortillas - 62%. Most tasters found them lacking in flavour, and a quarter thought they could have done with a bit more crispness. 85p for a 180g bag (47p per 100g). Available from Morrisons.
• Tesco Cool Tortilla Chips - 61%. Tesco's chips were bottom of the pack, with 72% rating the flavour as too weak and half finding them not salty enough. They also didn't match up to higher scoring chips on texture, with a quarter saying they lacked crunch. 80p for a 200g bag (40p per 100g). Available from Tesco.

What do cool flavour tortilla chips taste like?

'Cool' is quite an odd description of a chip flavour, but, while Doritos 'Cool Original' flavour is likely a closely guarded secret, most supermarket packs contain a mix of cheese, tomato and garlic along with onion, so they should pack a tasty punch. 

Every brand of tortilla chips we tested is classed as high in fat according to NHS guidelines. Perhaps surprisingly none of them exceed the 'high' threshold for salt content. Recommended portion size varies between bags, ranging from 22.5 to 40 grams for those on test. Thirty grams is around 11 tortilla chips. 

If you're watching your salt intake, it's worth knowing there's quite a big difference in the salt levels per portion across the brands. Tesco's tortilla's were the least salty, containing 0.15 grams per portion compared with 0.57 grams for a serving of Morrisons tortilla chips.

How we tested tortilla chips

The products were rated in April 2022 by a large panel of consumers who regularly buy and consume tortilla chips. The make-up of the panel broadly represents the demographic profile of adults in the UK. Each brand of cool tortilla chips was assessed by 61 people.

The panellists rated the taste, texture, aroma and appearance of each product and told us what they liked and disliked about each one. The taste test was blind, so the panellists didn’t know which brand they were trying. The order they sampled the tortilla chips was fully rotated to avoid any bias. Each panellist had a private booth so they couldn’t discuss what they were tasting or be influenced by others.

The overall score is based on:​​​​

• 50% taste
• 20% aroma
• 15% texture
• 15% appearance

These weightings are based on consumer rankings of the importance of different tortilla chip attributes. 

How to recycle tortilla chip bags

Tesco is the only brand on test whose bags include information about taking your empty packet to a local supermarket for recycling. All of the other supermarket bags explicitly stated that they were not recyclable. 

Doritos packets reference a website you can visit to check recyclability.

Prices correct as of 20 May 2022.