We Taste-Tested 24 Brands of Tortilla Chips—Most Were Fine. 1 Was Outstanding.

This week, I gave my colleagues the very difficult task of tasting bags and bags of tortilla chips. And in return, they left me with the equally challenging job of deciphering their responses. It turns out that most of my colleagues really like tortilla chips, whether eaten on their own, dipped into salsa or guacamole, or used to make nachos, taco pizza, and soup. As I parsed through their responses, I came across notes like “I like chips” from our associate editorial director Megan and “fine, I guess?” from our editorial director Daniel. Cruel as it may be to force my colleagues to pick a favorite tortilla chip, it had to be done. 

To find the very best tortilla chip, our editors sampled 24 different tortilla chips you’re likely to find at your local supermarket or online. We placed each in bowls, then sampled them in random order without knowing which chip was which. After tasting our way through many different chips, we tabulated the results and crowned an overall winner, along with several runners-up that we’d be happy to keep in our own pantry.

The Criteria

Great tortilla chips should be crispy and flavorful: they should taste like masa—dough made from nixtamalized corn—which is what’s traditionally used to prepare corn tortillas. The chips should be earthy and nutty. They should be sturdy enough to dip into guacamole or salsa without disintegrating, but not so thick that they are difficult to bite into. And while salt is essential, they should not be overly salty—just well seasoned enough so that you’d be happy eating the chip on its own.

Overall Winner

Siete Maíz Corn Tortilla Chips With Sea Salt

This chip had a pronounced, deeply earthy corn flavor that reminded us of good-quality tortillas made from freshly ground masa. Megan enjoyed their “good, nicely toasty corn flavor,” and Daniel called the chips “very popcorn-y.” and “good.” They had a nice crunch and good thickness, with a deep corn aroma that kept us going back for just one more chip.

Runners-Up

Kirkland Signature Organic Tortilla Chips

The chips had a prominent corn flavor that reminded me of Fritos, Daniel of Doritos (“minus the flavorings”), and Amanda of Tostitos. “It tastes like childhood,” she added. That nostalgia factor definitely boosted this chip’s popularity, and everyone enjoyed this chip’s saltiness and crunch. “It’s probably too salty,” Amanda noted. “But that’s what I want.” The chip had a sturdiness we enjoyed, and a “great crunch” that Megan appreciated. Overall, we’d be perfectly happy eating this chip straight from the bag.

Garden of Eatin’ Organic Yellow Chips

Unlike some of the chips we tried, these dark yellow chips from Garden of Eatin’ actually tasted like corn. Our associate visuals director, Amanda, praised the chips’ fresh corn–like sweetness. We disagreed on the salt level: Megan found them “quite salty,” while Amanda found them slightly under-salted, and I thought they were well-seasoned. We did, however, agree that these chips had a nice, solid bite and crunch that would hold up when dunked into sauces or dips. I enjoyed these chips so much that I took the rest of the bag home.

The Contenders

• 365 by Whole Foods Market Organic White Corn Tortilla Chips
• Bowl & Basket Bite-Size Tortilla Chips
• Calidad Corn Tortilla Chips
• Garden of Eatin’ Yellow Chips
• Good & Gather Organic White Corn Tortilla Chips
• Good & Gather Organic Yellow Corn Tortilla Chips
• Kirkland Signature Organic Tortilla Chips
• Late July Organic Tortilla Chips With Sea Salt
• Mi Niña Organic Sea Salt Tortilla Chips
• Nature’s Promise Organic White Corn Tortilla Chips
• On the Border Café Style Tortilla Chips
• Que Pasa White Corn Tortilla Chips
• Que Pasa Yellow Corn Tortilla Chips
• Santitas White Corn Tortilla Chips
• Siete Foods Maíz Corn Tortilla Chips
• Simply Tostitos Organic Yellow Corn Tortilla Chips
• TortiYahs! Superior Dipping Chips
• Tostitos Cantina Style Thin and Crispy
• Tostitos Restaurant-Style Tortilla Chips
• Trader Joe’s Organic White Corn Tortilla Chips
• Trader Joe’s Organic Yellow Corn Tortilla Chips
• Trader Joe’s Truly White Corn Tortilla Chips
• Vista Hermosa Totopos Tortilla Chips 
• Xochitl Salted Corn Chips (Mexican Style)

Key Takeaways and Conclusion

Our winner, Siete Foods Maíz Corn Tortilla Chips, is the only brand that specifies that it uses nixtamalized corn in its ingredients list. Nixtamalization is the process of soaking and cooking dried corn kernels with an alkali ingredient like calcium hydroxide (slaked lime); as Daniel touches on in his corn tortilla recipe, this removes the corn’s bran and makes it easier to grind into masa and, crucially, makes the corn more flavorful, as well as more nutritious. Given how much this process impacts flavor, it makes sense that we got such a pronounced corn flavor in these chips. This brand also used a blend of yellow and white corn, which may have added to the chips’ complexity.

Most chips are made with yellow corn or white corn. Of all the tortilla chips we tasted, our winner is the only brand that uses a blend of yellow corn and white corn for its chips, which likely contributes to its more complex flavor. Interestingly, these chips are also made with just one kind of oil—avocado—instead of the usual blend of oils used to make tortilla chips, like sunflower, safflower, vegetable oil, and/or canola oil.

One of our runners-up, Kirkland Signature Organic Tortilla Chips, is made with organic corn, organic sunflower oil, and sea salt. Our tasters really enjoyed the subtle smokiness, saltiness, and crunch of these chips. Our other runner-up, Garden of Eatin’ Yellow Chips, has just three ingredients: organic yellow corn, organic expeller-pressed oil (sunflower, safflower, and/or canola oils), and sea salt. These chips had a pronounced corn flavor, good seasoning, sturdy thickness, and satisfying crunch, which made them the favorite of the bunch.

While Siete Foods rose to the top, our team of tasters didn’t really dislike any of the chips we tried. We’d be happy to eat any of them, especially with salsa or another dip.   

Our Testing Methodology

All taste tests are conducted with brands completely hidden and without discussion. Tasters taste samples in random order. For example, taster A may taste sample one first, while taster B will taste sample six first. This is to prevent palate fatigue from unfairly giving any one sample an advantage. Tasters are asked to fill our tasting sheets ranking the samples for various criteria. All data is tabulated and results are calculated with no editorial input in order to give us the most impartial representation of actual results possible.

April 2025