What Happened To The Discontinued Sour Cream And Onion Doritos?

In addition to classics like Cool Ranch and Nacho Cheese, today you can find plenty of different Doritos flavors, including Barbecue and Flamin' Hot Limón. Through the years, the chip brand has also released flavors like All Nighter Cheeseburger, Pizza Supreme, and 3rd Degree Burn, though most of these were discontinued without people really noticing. Sour Cream & Onion Doritos are also long gone, but when they were available, they were enough of a favorite that a Change.org petition started circulating decades after its original release. It's possible, however, that the flavor didn't really go away. Instead, it may have been reformulated.

Sour Cream & Onion Doritos first came out in 1978, making them one of the earliest Dorito flavors ever to be released, after Taco Doritos in 1968 and Nacho Cheese Doritos in 1972. Unfortunately, the variety wasn't available for very long after it was introduced, disappearing from shelves in the mid-'80s, according to collective memory. Today, if you're craving a taste of Sour Cream & Onion tortilla chips from the brand, you'll have to settle for the Doritos Sour Cream & Chives chip dip instead.

When a company stops making a product, it's usually because it isn't that popular. However, according to what Frito Lay representatives told multiple customers, who then shared the comments to the website In the '80s, Doritos allegedly decided to stop making Sour Cream and Onion Doritos because of plans to further innovate. Given that the flavor was seemingly discontinued in the mid-80s and Cool Ranch Doritos were released in 1986, this explanation might just check out. Other customers claim they were told that dwindling sales were to blame — both reasons could realistically be true.

Some consumers described the flavor of Sour Cream and Onion Doritos as similar to Cool Ranch Doritos but slightly blander. This could mean that Cool Ranch was simply an improvement on the existing Sour Cream and Onion recipe, especially since both chip varieties share the same main ingredients of onion, garlic, tomato, and cheese.

With brands like Oreo and Pop Tarts reintroducing nostalgic favorites from the '80s and '90s, it wouldn't be that surprising if Doritos were to bring back Sour Cream & Onion Doritos, and the flavor did actually make a comeback in 2012. In December 2011, Doritos broke the news on Facebook, announcing, "It's official. You have us convinced! Get excited for Doritos Sour Cream & Onion in retro packaging in January 2012."

This comeback ended up being fairly short-lived, as it was only available for two months nationwide. As recently as 2016, Sour Cream & Onion Doritos were spotted in Japan, though it appears that was only for a limited time, and for a brief period in 2021, the chips also appeared in Puerto Rico and Canada. Other parts of the world, however, have been without Sour Cream & Onion Doritos for several years, and it remains unclear whether Doritos will ever bring them back for good.