Cheetos vs Doritos: What’s the Difference?

Cheetos and Doritos are two of America’s most favorite snacks that each brings in over $1 billion in revenue for their parent company. This article will take a look at the similarities and differences between these two snack foods. Be sure to vote for your favorite between Cheetos vs Doritos in our poll in the “Taste” section below.

Appearance

Cheetos (pictured left) are stick-like corn puffs that are topped with a generous amount of unnatural-looking cheese. Doritos (pictured right) are mostly triangle-shaped tortillas chips covered in a generous portion of nacho cheese.

Ownership & Brief History

Cheetos is a brand of PepsiCo and is made by the company’s snack food subsidiary called Frito-Lay. This corn puff snack brand was first sold in 1948 throughout the United States. Cheetos were invented by Charles Elmer Doolin who partnered with Herman W. Lay to distribute the brand nationally. In 1945, Lay’s company, called H.W. Lay & Company, merged with The Frito Company to form Frito-Lay. That same year, Frito-Lay became a part of Pepsi when the two companies merged in June 1965.

Doritos were first made at Disneyland during the early 1960s at a restaurant called Casa de Fritos (called Rancho del Zocalo today). The restaurant was owned by Fritos as you like guessed from its name. It used its surplus of tortillas that were otherwise going to be discarded at the end of the day to create deep-fried triangle tortilla chips. These chips were served to the guests without a charge. Their popularity allowed Frito-Lay to capitalize on their success by bringing them to consumers nationally across the U.S. in 1966. Today, Doritos are a brand of PepsiCo that is made via Frito-Lay similar to Cheetos.

Taste

We typically do our own taste test and then let the readers vote for their favorite. However, we suspect that most readers have consumed both of these snack foods on many occasions. Instead of boring you with our taste test, we ask readers to vote for their favorite in the below poll.

Nutrition

Okay, most people don’t eat either of these snacks with the idea that they are eating healthy. That being said, here are the nutrition facts for Doritos Nacho Cheese and Cheetos Crunchy Cheese. There are no major differences between the two. You do consume slightly fewer calories, fat, and sodium when opting for Doritos over Cheetos.

	Doritos – Nacho Cheese	Cheetos – Crunchy Cheese
Serving Size	28g/About 12 Chips	28g/21 Pieces
Calories	150	160
Total Fat	8g	10g
Saturated Fat	1g	1.5g
Trans Fat	0g	0g
Sodium	210mg	250mg
Fiber	1g	Less than 1g
Total Carbohydrates	18g	15g
Sugars	1g	Less than 1g
Potassium	50mg	50mg
Cholesterol	0mg	0mg
Calcium	40mg	10mg
Iron	0.3mg	0.4mg
Vitamin D	–	–

Ingredients

Doritos Nacho Cheese Chips – Corn, Vegetable Oil (Corn, Canola, And/or Sunflower Oil), Maltodextrin (Made From Corn), Salt, Cheddar Cheese (Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), Whey, Monosodium Glutamate, Buttermilk, Romano Cheese (Part-skim Cow’s Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), Whey Protein Concentrate, Onion Powder, Corn Flour, Natural And Artificial Flavor, Dextrose, Tomato Powder, Lactose, Spices, Artificial Color (Yellow 6, Yellow 5, And Red 40), Lactic Acid, Citric Acid, Sugar, Garlic Powder, Skim Milk, Red And Green Bell Pepper Powder, Disodium Inosinate, And Disodium Guanylate.

Cheetos Crunchy Cheese Snacks – Enriched Corn Meal (Corn Meal, Ferrous Sulfate, Niacin, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Vegetable Oil (Corn, Canola, And/or Sunflower Oil), Cheese Seasoning (Whey, Cheddar Cheese [milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes], Canola Oil, Maltodextrin [made From Corn], Natural And Artificial Flavors, Salt, Whey Protein Concentrate, Monosodium Glutamate, Lactic Acid, Citric Acid, Artificial Color [yellow 6]), And Salt.

Products Offered

As most people realized, Doritos and Cheetos offer a variety of products to consumers. Here are the products that each brand offers at the time of this article: