20 of the Most Unusual Doritos Flavors Ever Created

While Americans predominantly prefer their chip flavorings to be cheesy and/or spicy, there are people around the world who are more adventurous when it comes to the unusual flavor of Doritos they’re willing to enjoy. After all, Doritos has created some pretty weird chip flavorings over the years. But Doritos hasn’t always been so unusual. Did you know the original Doritos were unflavored?

The Frito-Lay snack company had a Mexican-style eatery in Disneyland called “Casa de Fritos” that would cut up stale tortillas, fry, and season them, instead of throwing them in the trash. Customers couldn’t get enough of these savory snacks which led Frito-Lay and Alex Foods, a local tortilla factory, to mass produce the golden chips. The chip was later revamped to create what we now know as the Doritos Taco flavor as it began to gain a following, and now there are more than 100 Doritos flavors sold throughout the world. 

Opening a bag of Garlic Shrimp flavored Doritos is like taking a deep breath right next to the ocean and getting smacked in the face with a pungent fishy smell. From a glance, the triangular pale-orange chips appear similar to the nacho cheese flavor. Take one bite of this unusual flavor, however, and your mouth will be swimming with the familiar flavors of shrimp that have been studded with diced pieces of garlic.

For those craving slightly spicy and allium-heavy prawns on the go, this savory snack — sold predominantly in Asia — may be the umami flavor combination your taste buds have been looking for. These chips are made with ingredients containing crustaceans and fish, so if you have a shellfish allergy, you’re going to want to avoid the spicy little snacks rather than ripping open the bag.

Duck-flavored chips? There are not many. But crunch into these rectangular-shaped chips and your tongue will be met with a symphony of sweet, savory, and slightly sour notes. Meat-flavored chips may not be common in the United States, but the crispy texture of the snack, combined with the unusual savory seasoning, makes this a treat worth trying. 

According to anecdotal evidence, the chips look similar to Cool Ranch-flavored Doritos, but are packed with powerful iconic flavors that are synonymous with the culinary delicacy of Peking duck, such as hoisin sauce. Powdered miso is one of the ingredients as well, which is perhaps why opening a bag of Peking Duck Doritos is like taking a deep breath over a warm bowl of an umami-laden soup. 

If you’re craving an Asian chicken dish but only have time to enjoy a bag of chips, the fried chicken and green onion sauce-flavored Doritos, sold in Japan, may be just the snack you’re looking for! These modified wedge-shaped chips feature rounded edges and are seasoned with dried leeks and powdered soy sauce, among other flavorings and ingredients. 

This unique variety of Doritos chips taste reminiscent of a savory onion sauce that might be used to top an Asian chicken dish. After eating a handful or two, the most powerful flavor becomes soy sauce. In fact, reviewers have exclaimed that these chips smell like soy sauce more than anything else. With such a light seasoning, it’s expected that the bold flavor of glutamate would be the thing that comes through the most, though a few chicken cracklings might help the dish’s overall case.

When Doritos released test flavor 2653 in 2014, consumers had no idea what to expect. Turns out, this taste tester, which was intended to slot under the Doritos Jacked branding, was an unusual combination of chocolate, bacon, and smokey chipotle pepper. Opening a bag, your nose was tickled with a mix of taco seasoning and barbecue sauce. But sink your teeth into these chips, and your mouth was enveloped with milk chocolate, which can be off-putting when you were expecting a umami flavor. 

The chocolate flavor was quickly overridden with flavors of smoked bacon and chipotle chili. These spicy chips were made with brown sugar, chocolate liquor, cocoa powder, skim milk, garlic and onion powder, and paprika. Combined with the chipotle chili flavor, bacon, and natural smoke taste, this Doritos flavor was one big bag of contrast. 

Doritos first came to Japan in 1987, but in 2015, Frito-Lay wanted to create a classic Japanese flavor of Doritos. The wasabi flavor of Doritos was born. If you’ve ever enjoyed the spicy condiment with sushi, or you’re looking for a way to consume wasabi around the clock without getting strange looks, you may enjoy these neon-green Doritos.

While some reviewers found the wasabi chips to be incredibly spicy, others said that the snack were mild flavored, noting that there was a strong ranch-flavor when upon first bite into these Doritos. Perhaps the horseradish-dyed green drowned out the flavor of any real wasabi that found its way into these chips. The snack was available for a limited time in the U.S., otherwise, you’ll have to travel to Japan to get them. 

Open this bag of Doritos and your nose will be smacked with the powerful scent of curry. Heavily seasoned compared to other flavors, the red seasoning powder will adorn your fingers within the first few bites. But you may not mind because the taste of curry combined with the tangy heat of Thai red peppers adds a burning intensity that will have you reaching back into the bag until every crumb is devoured.

Although some tasters described the flavoring of this snack as being closer to Tom Kha than a curry, noting there is a sweet coconut flavor. Perhaps this is why some tasters originally believed this mystery flavor was flaming hot kettle corn?

The iconic neon-green soda Mountain Dew combined with the delicious crunchy taste of Doritos. How bad could it be? Open a bag of Mountain Dew Doritos and your nose will be whacked by a musty-stale scent. Perhaps this is why the company has tried to release these a few different times, first in 2008, in 2014, and then again in 2020. 

If you’re able to get past the smell, the taste is not much better. The yellow-colored corn chips are dusted with a neon-green seasoning that tastes plain, sweet, and tangy and leaves you wondering if the chip just tastes bad or if you somehow got a bag that was stale.  

Open a bag of Chicken Sizzler Zesty Salsa Doritos and you are transported to Chili’s as a fresh sizzling plate of spicy chicken fajitas makes its way to you — minus the steam. 

This bag of Doritos is unique in that half of the chips are flavored like salsa, while the other half tastes like grilled chicken. The chips are designed to look differently, with the chicken-flavored chips looking more yellow than the salsa-flavored chips, which were a mix of yellow and orange. Unless you are able to open your mouth wide enough to fit both flavors in your mouth simultaneously, there is not much of a flavor collision.

Pizza and Doritos are both triangular-shaped, but how does an unusual pizza flavoring like teriyaki chicken taste once it becomes a Doritos flavor in Japan? If you’re not used to meat-flavored chips, opening this bag of Doritos can be overwhelming as there is a very strong meat smell with an undertone of barbecue sauce. However, once you start eating these savory chips, it’s hard to stop.

This unusual Doritos flavor combination, done in partnership with Japan’s second largest pizza-delivery chain behind Dominos, is delicious. There is a sweetness from the teriyaki, and the chicken flavor shines through too, thanks to the meat extract powder, leaving your taste-buds quite satisfied.

Chips are often salty, but what about sweet, buttery, coconutty, with a hint of curry flavor? For those in Japan, Coconut Curry Doritos are exactly that. Unlike the spicier Thai Red Curry Doritos, this flavor is inspired by the sweeter, mild Thai green curry or a Japanese curry.

Sweet and savory with a hint of spice, this is a chip so perfectly seasoned you will want to turn the bag inside out in order to lick every single crumb. While this flavor of Doritos is not spicy, a lack of heat had some tasters comparing this unusual Doritos flavor to crunchy ramen noodles rather than a flavorful curry.

Tuna mayonnaise flavored Doritos? That is definitely an unusual flavor for tortilla chips, but consumers in Japan seem to enjoy them. In order to make these chips, Doritos had to do some unusual things too. These chips are heavier and denser compared to regular Doritos. There’s also a slimy film covering these chips, likely from the mayo flavoring, along with a sharp fish taste and smell.

Unevenly seasoned, some chips in the bag are completely unflavored, which could be a good thing, as many tasters reported they were done with these chips after one bite.

If you have an umami taste palette, you may already be aware of the delicious combination that is butter and soy sauce. In Japan, you can quench your hunger for something savory with these Butter and Soy Sauce flavored Doritos.

The smell of fish is present after immediately opening the bag, along with soy sauce, but the soy sauce flavor in particular dissipates as more and more chips are consumed, with the butter flavor taking over your mouth. In fact, this snack started to taste more like a heavily salted buttered popcorn than a chip containing soy sauce. Perhaps Butter and Soy Sauce Doritos is the new unusual movie snack?

Unlike crab-flavored snacks or crab pizzas, these Doritos are specifically made with Winter crab flavors. Crab varieties commonly caught and eaten during the winter months like Snow crab, have a sweet and savory flavor, and are known as Winter crabs.

Pizza-la, a pizza delivery company in Japan, which partnered with Doritos to create this unusual flavor, offers a few different crab pizzas, including a Winter crab pizza, which is topped with mozzarella, cheddar, garlic, alfredo sauce, vegetables like onions, bell peppers, or jalapenos, and seafood seasoning. While these chips have a pizza-flavored base, the most powerful taste profile is the crab flavoring along with the mozzarella, cheddar, and alfredo sauce, making these chips taste reminiscent of crab cream gratin.

In Turkey, mint yogurt sauces, flavored with garlic and lemon, are a refreshing side dish served on the side of every meal to dip your food into or it can even be enjoyed on its own with a spoon. So it only seems fitting Doritos would create a yogurt and mint flavored chip to appease Turkish taste buds.

Although this flavor combination doesn’t seem as bizarre compared to other weird flavors of Doritos, these chips leave much to be desired. The mint flavor is practically non-existent and unless you really enjoy the taste and flavor of yogurt, this Turkish snack may not be worth indulging in. Why? These basically taste like someone tried to bake yogurt until it was crispy.

With notes of garam masala, garlic, cumin, ginger, lemon, yogurt, cinnamon, cayenne, and coriander, the Tandoori flavored Doritos were packed with flavors that are quintessential to Indian food. And just like Indian food, these chips packed a punch. While the flavor of these corn chips tastes pretty authentic to a chicken tandoori dish served in an Indian restaurant, the texture is strange, and may have you searching for water to clean out your mouth before the subtle heat does.

Available for a limited time in the UK and Canada before they were discontinued, Doritos forums and fan pages are filled with requests from consumers around the globe to bring this flavor back!

Opening a bag of Spicy Mustard Doritos is a little uneventful. The smell is nearly identical to that of regular Doritos, unless you hold the bag over your nose and take a big whiff. Only then does a mild mustard scent shine through.

Although this unusual flavor of Doritos is heavily seasoned with a fine yellow powder that is meant to taste similarly to the hot mustard packets included with Chinese take-out orders, the heat from the mustard is somewhat lacking. Most of the spice comes from a hint of horseradish included in the flavored powder. However most tasters don’t seem to mind, noting that the taste is reminiscent of hot mustard from McDonald’s.

If you enjoy crispy salmon as an entrée, you may think the crispy salmon-flavored Doritos are right up your alley! But then again, some unusual flavored snacks may not be as tasty as the dish that first inspired them, especially when it comes to seafood.

While these Christmas-bell shaped chips from Japan smelled like the cool ranch flavor at first, there was a fishy odor and taste, even though it was understated, that made these chips quite unpleasant to eat for some. But for others, these salmon jerky flavored corn chips were the perfect savory snack, especially when there was a side of mayonnaise to dip them into.

Anchovies and garlic is not exactly a classic flavor combination like peanut butter and jelly. But then again, anchovies and garlic are both in Caesar dressing and that is quite delicious, so perhaps the unusual pairing of anchovies and garlic flavored Doritos could be tasty too?

Once you get past the intense aroma of garlic mixed with fish when opening the bag, the chips are actually kind of tasty. While garlic dominates your flavor palette initially, there is a subtle sweet fish flavoring that complements the garlic flavor quite well. Perhaps these chips are enjoyable because they are not overly seasoned but the more you eat, the stronger the flavor gets.

Opening a bag of Clam Chowder Doritos is going to smell, well, a little fishy. Luckily for those who love the savory taste of a warm clam chowder soup, the flavoring of these unusual Doritos is surprisingly authentic.

Like most Japanese Doritos, these chips are more dense than American Doritos and they have rounded edges. The seasoning is also more subtle than you may expect based on the strong aroma when opening the bag. But for those who enjoy adding Nacho Cheese Doritos to a big bowl of clam chowder, or for anyone who is craving a warm bowl of soup, this unusual-flavored savory snack may be just what your taste-buds are looking for.

Doritos often introduces chip flavors in Japan that are representative of local delicacies. The Octopus Dumpling Sauce flavored Doritos for example, are inspired by a dish called takoyaki so-su ,which is doughy octopus dumplings topped with mayonnaise, dried bonito fish flakes, seaweed flakes, and a savory takoyaki sauce, which has a salty, tangy flavor.

These unusually-flavored Doritos are quite unique, so much so that they are only available on two islands in Japan; they are not even available on the mainland of Japan. However those lucky enough to snag a bag say the salty, tangy flavor combination of takoyaki with the corn tortilla chips is a match made in snack heaven.