Flamin' Hot Nacho Doritos - Chip Review

As you probably know I love spicy food. Wings, obviously, but all sorts of foods. Snack foods especially. When I saw that Dorito's had a new spicy chip, not the Roulette, not their Spicy, but Flamin' Hot Nacho, I had to try them.

That happened, and we all let that happen ...

Funny enough, I didn't know about this commercial until recently. I've seen a shorter version (that almost completely cuts out the Backstreet Boys) but never even absorbed that it had anything to do with Doritos, let alone the Flamin' Hot. While I don't mind the mash up or the music, both, in my opinion, are terrible pop choices for this product. Terrible. With chips this spicy, I want a commercial that plays up the danger, and nothing about this commercial says danger, or crazy hot, or watch out.

I'm going to do a little spoiler - I bought a bag with the intention of reviewing it, and then I ate it before taking any photos. I liked them that much. Doritos are an awesome chip in my general opinion. Flavour wise my ranking of the flavours goes something like this:

1. Nacho
2. Roulette
3. Sweet Chili Heat
4. Cool Ranch
5. Spicy
6. Dill
7. Zesty
8. Jalapeno & Cheddar
9. BBQ Bold

It changes depending on my mood, but my top two are the Nacho cheese and the Roulette (because it incorporates the nacho and spicy). So the fact that these new chips are a spicy nacho made them sound perfect.

I was surprised looking at the ingredients that there wasn't much listed as heat spice, other than 'spices'  and 'red and green bell pepper powder' which isn't spicy at all. I was also surprised that the US ingredients list is different than the Canadian ingredients list. Huh. I wonder if they taste that different or if one is spicier than the other?

Doritos feel like they are becoming more of a luxury chip, where the average 230g bag ranging from $3-$5 a bag, occasionally going on sale for 2 for $6 or 2 for $5. I only buy them on sale, and fortunately for me, they were on sale. The bags feel so small nowadays.

The chips are the same size as classic Doritos.

If you are not familiar with Doritos, that's a little surprising, but each tortilla chip is triangular and are all uniform in size. The chips are fried, then coated in seasoning. They are crunchy, but not as hard as other flavoured tortilla chips as other brands. Just the right texture in my opinion.

The seasoning on these chips is quite generous. Each chip has a very good dusting on it with most chips being completely covered, or at least mostly covered. You are definitely going to get your fingers stained and covered in nacho dust - both cheesy and spicy.

The flavour on these are pretty intense. These are a bold bold chip - you get that cheesy blast from the Nacho cheese, but then you get that vicious bite from the spices. The heat on these leaves a nice sting on the lips, and I think is as hot if not hotter than their Spicy or the heat chip in the Roulette. Like many things, a chili-head is not going to find this spicy, but for the average person these are going to be hot. They sit in a perfect heat/taste range for me. What makes these great is that combo of the heat, but you really still get that flavour of the nacho cheese.

Would I try it again?

Hell yes. They are now my favourite Dorito by far. I'm going to be bummed if this is only a limited time offer. Crispy chips, lots of seasoning, bold cheese and heat. Way to go Doritos, Flamin' Hot Nacho is aces in my books.

1. Nacho Flamin' Hot Nacho
2. Roulette
3. Sweet Chili Heat
4. Cool Ranch
5. Spicy
6. Dill
7. Zesty
8. Jalapeno & Cheddar
9. BBQ Bold

Doritos Flamin' Hot Nacho Flavoured Tortilla Chips

www.doritos.ca/products/doritos%C2%AE-flamin%E2%80%99-hot%C2%AE-nacho-flavoured-tortilla-chips

McDonald's Spiciest Ghost Pepper McChicken

Spicy continues to go mainstream.

McDonald's for the past month has introduced their line up of Spicy, Spicier, and Spiciest McChicken sandwiches. By simply adding a Jalapeno, a Chipotle, and finally a Ghost Pepper sauce to the McChicken sandwich, they've added a new dimension to their poultry sandwiches.

But as the ad seems to imply, everyone is trying this and getting 'spice face' from eating spicy food. Most North Americans can't eat spicy spicy food, and this commercial gives me the impression they are making these things accessible to the masses. But if everyone is just getting 'spice face' from eating Ghost Pepper, is the sauce really that hot? I wanted to find out for myself.

I skipped Jalapeno and Chipotle all together. I just wanted the Ghost Pepper. All or nothing. I do like how they had a weekly build up of the sandwiches, like a test. Can you pass level 1? How about level 2? I used a cheat code and went straight to the final boss, and I'm glad I waited too;

I have the McApp on my phone for deals on the go. The app is buggy and the deals aren't always great, but I have gotten free fries or cheaper sandwiches for sure. When one came up for buy a Spicy McChicken and get a free small milkshake, it was time to bust out the phone at the drive-thru. The idea of pairing up the sandwich with a milkshake is brilliant, because if the sandwich is too hot, the milkshake will help you get through the pain.

The sandwich itself is $6.29, which is about $1 more than the regular McChicken. The spicy sandwiches also have their own box with a tab for the staff to indicate which sandwich is which. Mine had lettuce sticking out.

I opened that cardboard clam shell and there was the sandwich. I was excited, but not worried at all.

I was really impressed how much sauce they put on there. It was oozing all over the place, bringing a landslide of sauce and lettuce off the burger. I could smell the hot sauce. All very good signs.

Not scared at all, I took a big bite. Like a big bite. It was good. I could taste the chicken (and I like the McChicken patty), and the sauce. There was a bit of a burn. I could taste the flavour of Ghost Pepper. It had a nice bite. I kept expecting it to get waaaay hotter, but it didn't. I mean it's the hottest thing I've had at McDonald's (like the Jr Chicken, which has a small kick), probably any other fast food spicy offering for that matter too. For chili heads, this was going to be disappointing. For your average person, this was going to be spicy. I think it was spot on for the sandwich to be enjoyable for a wider audience.

The make-up is basically the same as a regular McChicken. Sesame seed bun, crispy ground McChicken patty, shredded lettuce. But instead of their mayo-y McChicken sauce, they have a small layer of the mayo-Ghost pepper sauce on the bottom, and a LOT on the top.

Would I Get It Again?

Yes, totally would. I mean McChicken is good on it's own but the added spice is good. Like the marketing suggests, its a spicy sandwich for everyone. But if you think this is really spicy and that you had full on Ghost Pepper, you are going to be sorely wrong if you ever try anything that is actually Ghost Pepper. A Ghost Pepper is over a million Scoville units, and as someone who has eaten them in challenges, there is a lot of pain, sweat and tears. This sandwich did none of that, but it was tasty and is good enough for a mini-thrill.

McDonald's 
1850 Baseline Road, Ottawa ON
McDonalds Canada
Spicy McChickens