12 Discontinued Doritos Flavors We Wish Would Return

Doritos have been a favorite snack of many since they came on the scene in 1964. There are probably things you didn't know about Doritos, like the fact that they originated at Disneyland. The cheesy chips were created from tortillas served at the Frito-Lay company's Mexican-inspired restaurant, Casa de Fritos, in Frontierland. Instead of throwing stale ones in the trash, the restaurant cut them up and tossed them in the fryer.

These were served as snacks in the restaurant and eventually nationally under the Doritos name in 1966. The taco flavor was introduced in 1968, followed by nacho cheese in 1972. There have been about 179 kinds of chips that have come and gone over the years. Some were downright flops with everyone, and then you have the bizarre flavors, like the chicken or garlic shrimp, that were just plain strange.

There were some Doritos varieties that were lamented, with customers protesting for their return. But the tortilla chip conglomerate says it has its reasons. "We understand each brand or flavor will end up being a front-runner for someone. We wish we could carry them all. Regrettably, some snacks must be discontinued to make room for new ideas and the ever-changing market demand," a rep once reportedly wrote to a fan.

Sour cream & onion flavored Doritos came out in the late '70s when the slogan was: "They taste as good as they crunch". They had a decent run. And while these were favored among fans, they were discontinued in America in the early '80s. Since they were popular with customers, the savory chip was revived in the U.S. in 2013. But that only lasted a period before a petition was started in 2019 asking to bring them back again.

"I had tried these and fell in love with the flavor. I want the Frito-Lay Company to bring these back to America permanently. These delicious snacks should be sold in any normal Doritos sizes and sold in markets that Doritos are already sold in," the petition pleads. While you can still find listings for Sour Cream & Onion Doritos on sites like Walmart, they show up as being sold out or unavailable. According to that petition, they are still available in countries like Japan.

People miss Fiery Habanero Doritos so much that a petition and a Facebook page are dedicated to bringing them back. They were introduced between late 2005 and early 2006. While the habanero chili notes were cooled by cheese, onion, and garlic flavors, it was still a very spicy chip.

"For years, we got to enjoy the deliciously spicy chips that came to be many people's favorite. Then, without warning, this all was taken away," the petition, which started in 2017, states. Cries for the heat-heavy snack's return go back to 2009 on the Facebook page. While Doritos has introduced many different spicy flavors since then, fans of Fiery Habanero say they don't compare.

One customer tried the Diablo flavor as a substitute but said, "These turned out just being basically Takis." A rolled-up version of the previously square chip was introduced under the name Doritos Dinamita Fiery Habanero, but this also didn't satisfy fans who said, "The flavor is different the old ones had a smokey savory flavor. These are more sharp and over burdening."

Once upon a time, a bag of Doritos cost less than $3. That's when the Taco Supreme! flavored chip came out as a partnership between Taco Bell and Frito-Lay in the '90s. The collaboration was commemorated with its very own commercial where three couch potato teens declared, "That was a good idea. That was a real good idea." To be fair, this was meant to be a limited-time-only flavor. However, the fans have spoken and want their Taco Supreme Doritos back. A petition for their return describes them as "addictively delicious."

"We think the world has suffered enough without this wonderful snack. We think it should hit shelves again as soon as possible, and I should be flown to LA to talk about this on 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show.' Whatever, we'll also settle for just the chips. BRING EM BACK!" the petition's creator wrote.

Others in the petition's comments called it "The absolute best flavor of Doritos ever. End of story." For now, you'll have to settle for a Doritos Locos Taco at Taco Bell if you're looking to recapture this discontinued flavor.

In 2003, the geniuses at Frito-Lay had an idea to save customers from buying chips and dip separately. The company combined them both into one as Doritos Guacamole. They didn't taste exactly like seasoned avocado, but the inspiration was there inside of its tasty unique flavor. Fans loved rustling through the bag to pull out the darkest chips with the most seasoning. Sometimes, there are things that taste better with Doritos versus trying to pack different flavors onto a chip.

To their dismay, the chip was pulled from shelves in 2006. "The green chips were an awesome idea and were too good to be gone from the Doritos line," a petition to have them returned states. While petitioners weren't successful in convincing Frito-Lay to bring its Guacamole flavor back to the U.S., they did become available in the U.K. in 2020.

The U.K. version was branded as a new flavor, but many fans called the company out, saying this wasn't the case and that they had already seen these chips elsewhere when they were kids. Guacamole Doritos made another appearance in a dual-flavored bag that was also filled with salsa-flavored chips. The bag states that they are a limited edition and are available on some non-U.S. websites.

It felt as though many new items were entering the world of snack foods by the late '90s, so Frito-Lay had to come up with something entirely new. The company's 2D snacks were not cutting it, so they added another dimension. The 3D Dorito line featured puffed triangles that were a touch smaller than the standard chips. They came in different flavors, but they didn't last on the market very long. Some flavors were eventually relaunched, and you can still find 3D versions of Spicy Ranch and Chili Cheese Nacho on the market.

One flavor that has been discontinued is the Jalapeño Cheddar. They have been described as not being too spicy but still retaining the pepper's true essence. The heat comes at the end of the bite. These chips were so beloved that one fan took to Reddit 10 years ago to try and barter for a bag, with one commenter saying, "Oh my god. My mom and I Ioved those. I used to eat them all the time when I was younger. Then they were taken away. I'd love to have them again."

In the meantime, fans will have to settle for Doritos Loaded Jalapeño Cheese Breaded Cheese Snacks. The cheese and pepper-filled breaded bites are a frozen food and are similar to a jalapeño popper.

When Frito-Lay decided to create a party mix with our favorite crunchy triangles in 2016, it was described by Food Processing as "its biggest product launch in recent history." Bags of Doritos Mix Explosion were filled with different shaped pieces, like a mini tortilla chip, an open triangle, a rolled tube, and a spiral — each with a different flavor. It came in two different versions: Cheese Explosion and Taco Explosion.

Cheese Explosion had nacho cheese, four cheese, jumpin' jack cheese, and spicy nacho flavors, while the Taco Explosion had spicy nacho, sour cream, taco, and salsa-tasting pieces. Though listings for them that are still up on Amazon and Walmart, they are out of stock, and there doesn't seem to be anywhere else to purchase them. The last purchase on Amazon was in 2017, but the taco-flavored ones have more recent reviews on Walmart in 2022. There is actually a single triangle chip from the Cheese Explosion bag that is being sold on eBay for $22,000.

Sometimes you want to taste a little bit of everything. Frito-Lay accommodated this when it came out with its Dorito Collisions line in 2008. Each bag came with two different flavored chips, and there were all different types of combos like Hot Wings and Blue Cheese, Pizza Cravers and Ranch, and Zesty Taco and Chipotle Ranch.

There aren't any Collisions shown on the Doritos U.S. website. And none of these flavors appear to be available anymore for purchase anywhere else, either. Interesting mixes like Honey Glaze Ribs & Lemon Blast and Guacamole & Habanero Chilli were introduced in the U.K. in 2018. But those are gone from the company's U.K. website and don't show up in a Google Shopping search.

However, that might be a different story in Australia. The Australian Food Shop and Treats from Oz websites sell Guacamole & Salsa Doritos. Though they aren't branded as Collisions, they still come with two different flavored chips in one bag. But we want our choices and all of the Collisions lines returned — and we'd like them now, please.

The X-13D Dorito was branded as a "flavor experiment" or, as Two Bites in Suburbia explains it, an "unholy" snack and "attempt at getting gullible people like me to buy more chips we don't need." This chip is believed to have been introduced in 2007 and came in a black bag that asked you to go to a website to find the Clue Generator, which made you solve puzzles to find out what flavor they were.

There isn't a solid consensus on what this mystery chip was supposed to actually taste like. Most said it was a cheeseburger flavor, while others said it tasted like barbecue or "barbecue and ass." While some bloggers noted that they could definitely sense the beef, cheese, mustard, and even pickle flavors, others were horrified by the flavor — which was described as "bizarre." One blogger said the X-13 was "the most disgusting junk food I've ever eaten," while another reported, "I'm frightened by these Doritos, yet somehow drawn to them." Clearly a lot of mixed reviews and thoughts across many different blogs.

A 2007 YouTube video review of the chip actually begged Frito-Lay to take them off the shelf. But not everyone felt this way — one customer on Reddit was impressed, saying, "These were hella good. they didn't taste exactly like a cheeseburger but pretty much as close as you could make a chip taste like one." So, why do we want them back? Just to keep things weird. They give off a Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans vibe, and we are here for it.

In 2008, Doritos launched another contest with another mystery flavor. It also came in a black bag, but this one was labeled The Quest, with the tagline "Guessing the flavor is just the beginning." The bag listed a website where you would be sent on a puzzle-solving quest to figure out what the secret flavor was in order to win a $100,000 prize.

The chips had a very sweet tang to them, prompting guesses like lemon-lime, Girl Scout Cookies, margarita, and key lime pie. The general consensus of Dorito eaters was that these secret chips weren't as out there as the X-13D were. It was later revealed that Doritos decided to combine a tortilla with some soda for this contest. The mystery flavor was eventually revealed to be Mountain Dew. Frito-Lay went on to bring Mountain Dew Doritos to Australia in 2020 as a limited edition offering. An unopened bag of them is being sold on eBay for over $100.

Apparently, there was a time in 2010 when Frito-Lay was looking to spice things up, ranging from mild to extreme. The tagline for its Degree Burn line asked, "Can you take the heat?" There were three different bags available: 1st Degree Blazin' Jalapeño, 2nd Degree Fiery Buffalo, and 3rd Degree Scorchin' Habanero. The chips were marketed along with Pepsi Max Cease Fire which was aimed at cooling down the heat from the Doritos.

Blazin' Jalapeño packed some serious heat but not enough to overpower the flavors. While Fiery Buffalo offered a sinus-clearing burn, some reviewers said it didn't have much of a buffalo taste. The Scorchin' Habanero was covered in seasoning to the point where they were basically red in color. They were said to be cheesier but less spicy than the Fiery Habanero. Still, they were just as hot as the 2nd Degree version. A petition was started in 2019 to bring 3rd Degree Burn Doritos back.

This is another example of Frito-Lay giving its customers the opportunity to not compromise between two of their favorite treats. The company's two powerhouse brands combined forces in 1995 to create Chester's Cheese flavor, a marriage between Cheetos and Doritos named after the puffed snack's mascot.

Many say they were among the cheesiest of snacks. One tester claimed they "were almost OD'd with cheese," while another said, "We think they're simply mahhhhhvelous and a cheese-lover's delight." They had so much cheese that some said it was "too much," though we're pretty sure too much cheese isn't even a thing. Others weren't fans of the cheetah on the bag, as they weren't exactly sure who he was. These Doritos were only available for a limited time.

Although people can find a t-shirt commemorating the chip's collaboration selling online, the puffed snack and tortilla brand seemed to have a falling out. Chester came out with a diss track after Doritos copied Cheetos' "Flamin' Hot" branding in 2019. We sure hope these two make up because we'd like all that cheesy goodness back.

Doritos released its Blaze line in 2018, with the package saying the chips were like "licking a volcano." And it delivered in this department because it made our editors "choke and cry." They needed milk and some tissues nearby just to get them down. Our staff found the chip to begin as "bland" and end with their mouths on fire by the time they were done chewing.

"It feels like their only point is to make your tongue burn... if you have no tolerance for spiciness, that is," an editor wrote. But some people are into that. Still, it didn't stop Doritos Blaze from being discontinued. We're not exactly sure when this fiery flavor was pulled from shelves, but a Twitter page created in 2020 was dedicated to encouraging their return. So, we don't think it lasted too long.

The creator of the page said they were "the taste of the gods" and that "England wants Blaze, America wants Blaze, the world wants Blaze." One of the main reasons we want them back is because they were vegan – which is not entirely common for Doritos.

Even the name of these sound delicious. Launched sometime between 1996 and 1997, the Smokey Red BBQ flavor came out with a bang and its very own TV commercial featuring the "Doritos Girl" and former Miss USA winner Ali Landry. In the commercial, the chips were so smoking hot that is set off the sprinklers in rooms full of drooling male students — seemingly in college.

By 2008, people were still pining over the tangy treats which held a touch of spice. "I've been craving these for over a decade – by far the best Doritos ever made," one fan wrote on the '90s message board. One person even described them as "the T-bone of chips." We're not sure where the "red" comes in, but it may have referred to its color. Some say that these chips taste very similar to the Doritos Spicy Sweet Chili flavor. 

Doritos has experimented with several different barbecue flavors over the years, like Smokin' Cheddar BBQ or the New! Doritos Sweet & Tangy BBQ. Yet, Smokey Red BBQ seems to be a crowd favorite by far.