Tortilla Chip Review

Sizing up the corn-chip testers

We found the best tortilla chip reviews in major magazines and newspapers, including Real Simple, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Hartford Courant, and Cook's Country. Real Simple's review, covering 14 brands, is the largest of its kind, but editors downgrade chips that crumble upon contact with the thick condiments they whip up, including a "quicksand-like" bean dip. However, the test isn't as useful for those who eat chips straight out of the bag, where flavor trumps most other considerations, including the tendency to shatter. And many snack lovers prize a light, brittle texture in their tortilla chips.

In general, tortilla chips earn better marks than potato chips do, perhaps because they tend to be less salty and greasy. Experts say that the worst tortilla chips are bland, but their lack of flavor can easily be camouflaged with a bold dip or a cheesy pile of nacho toppings.

Unfortunately, no dip can save baked tortilla chips, which editors at Eating Well and Consumer Reports agree are pretty terrible. In fact, Eating Well describes Baked Tostitos (*Est. $2.50 for 8 ounces) as "pale, bland, and anemic," with a texture some reviewers find downright "alarming."

Both the San Francisco Chronicle and Eating Well pan Guiltless Gourmet All-Natural Yellow Corn Tortilla chips (*Est. $2.30 for 7 ounces), which are baked, not fried. These chips have just 3 grams of fat per serving but carry a heavy payload of sodium (250 milligrams per serving). The San Francisco Chronicle's testers rank Guiltless Gourmet chips dead last out of the 12 brands they tasted. Eating Well's editors variously found them "fake," "burnt" and "stale." Guiltless Gourmet has changed its chip recipe, and the company promises that its new chips are "crispier, crunchier, tastier, and better-looking." These made-over chips haven't yet found their way into reviews, however.

To our surprise, we found that some "boutique" tortilla chips fare far worse in reviews than mainstream brands like Tostitos and Santitas. Food blog The Nibble downgrades Xochitl Topos de Ma'z (*est. $3.70 for 5 ounces) for shattering too readily and for tasting "like air." To make matters worse, the bottom of the bag was full of chip shards.

Even blander than Xochitl Topos de Ma'z are Snyder's Restaurant Style Corn Chips (*est. $3.70 for 16 ounces). The Hartford Courant derides them as tasteless, and Eating Well finds them both nondescript and greasy.