Soy Sauce Is The Secret Weapon In Your Favorite Sweet Chili Chips

There's no doubt that Doritos are popular. A brand that's perhaps best known for its classic Nacho Cheese flavor also has a broad lineup of chip flavors, from the Flamin' Hot variety and beyond. When it comes to chips, people are always looking for the next great flavor. That thirst for delicious, tasty chips has given us one of the most popular flavors yet: Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos.

With their dark purple bag, Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos are a hit, and it's all thanks to a healthy dose of soy sauce in the ingredient list. They're not as hot as some of the other members of the Doritos lineup, but they bring a ton of sweet and spicy flavor. Soy sauce plays a huge role in that, as it brings a savory flavor to round out the rest. The result is a chip that has a perfect balance of heat, sweetness, and savoriness, all at the same time.

Soy sauce is the key ingredient in these chips, because it packs a punch of umami. Considered the fifth flavor, umami refers to a rich, savory taste that can be somewhat earthy. It was discovered over a hundred years ago in Japan by Kikunae Ikeda, a chemist looking to find out why his broth was so delicious even without meat. He managed to isolate glutamate –- an amino acid responsible for the bold and intense savory flavor that he called "umami."

A year after Ikeda discovered glutamate, MSG (monosodium glutamate) appeared on the market, sold by the Ajinomoto company. MSG has long gotten a bad rap in the United States, but the truth is: Glutamates naturally occur in all kinds of foods, like soy sauce. Because of its high glutamate content, soy sauce acts as a flavor-enhancer, bringing out the other notes in the dish, or in this case, chip. When it comes to those Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos chips, soy sauce is the supporting actor that makes the other flavors shine.

Doritos first hit the shelves in 1966, and the brand established itself as a mainstay in American snacking. The flavors that immediately come to mind are probably Nacho Cheese and Cool Ranch, but the company regularly introduces new Doritos flavors to its lineup. Spicy Sweet Chili flavored Doritos first came out in 2008, but they have flown relatively under the radar, slowly gaining popularity over the years.

Spicy Sweet Chili chips are a real standout, because they manage to pack such intense flavor into a tiny, crunchy triangle. There's rarely a bland chip in the bag. That bold pairing of sweetness with a little heat, underlined by umami, makes them a wonderful snack whenever the craving strikes, but it also means the chips can be used in other ways, too. Try using them in place of plain corn chips for a sweet and spicy base-layer on your next plate of nachos. Or, consider chicken tenders that are breaded in crushed Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos. That's an easy way to quickly add a burst of umami flavor to dinner.