Doritos has two new products — the Crunch Mix and Crunch Nuts. Not since Taco Bell’s Doritos Locos Tacos have I ever been so excited for a new Doritos-branded product to hit the market.
My fellow reviewer was pleased with the new Doritos Crunch Mixes, but how does the star items in those, the Crunch Nuts, stand on their own? A Doritos Locos Taco home run? Or a Doritos Loaded strikeout?
Regardless of how they are, they do have cool packaging. It’s futuristic looking with a unique shape that’s square at the bottom but then tapers to completely flat at the top. Its shape and design makes it perfect for snacking in the car.
Upon opening up each container I got blasted with a strong peanut aroma. I could tell right off the bat both flavors have a significant amount of seasoning. The Nacho Cheese is intensely orange, while the Cool Ranch is a lighter tan with a few dark speckles. Each Crunch Nut has an outer crunchy coating that’s covered with seasoning and then an inner portion that’s a full peanut.
With both varieties, they nailed the Doritos flavor as each one tastes exactly their chip counterpart. Also, the name Crunch Nuts isn’t a misnomer as the crunch on them is epic as well. I found the best way to eat these is to soak up the seasoning a bit on your tongue so you get the full flavor and then swing for the fences with your teeth to get the crunch.
Once you get to the peanut part, though, it starts striking out. It completely overpowers the shell. It’s as if the Doritos essence vanished and never happened. I mean, I love peanuts as much as anybody, but the flavors together for these aren’t working. The Cool Ranch ones fare a little bit better as the flavor lasts longer and seems to meld better with the peanut, but with Nacho Cheese, not so much. The more I ate, the stronger the peanut flavor got and so I could only eat a few before it bored me.
Doritos Crunch Nuts are nowhere near a home run. They’re more of a line drive that looks like a double and you run past first base on your way to second but then have to quickly shuttle back to first as you realize your hit wasn’t as deep into the gap as you thought.
(Nutrition Facts – about 3 Tbsp – Nacho Cheese – 130 calories, 8 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 140 milligrams of sodium, 11 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of dietary fiber, less than 1 gram of sugar, and 4 grams of protein. Cool Ranch – 130 calories, 8 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 140 milligrams of sodium, 12 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of dietary fiber, less than 1 gram of sugar, and 4 grams of protein.)
Purchased Price: $1.99 each
Size: 3 oz.
Purchased at: 7-Eleven
Rating: 4 out of 10 (Nacho Cheese)
Rating: 5 out of 10 (Cool Ranch)
Pros: Futuristic packaging. Plentiful seasoning and great crunch. Baseball analogies.
Cons: Overpowering peanut flavor. Cheese flavor and peanuts not quite having a beautiful marriage. Not suited to be a solo act.
packaging on this is horrible.
These are not bad. Not really much of a tortilla flavor, to me. I agree with Richard, that the packaging could be better. It’s a bit cumbersome, but probably necessary to keep the tortilla coating from coming off the peanuts during shipping. It’s quite thick and sturdy cardboard, but is an awkward shaped container. I thought from all of the reviews I have seen that this was a 7-Eleven exclusive, but I found them at Walmart, located in the checkout lanes.
We will have to agree to disagree on these. I won’t pretend that these are any kind of gourmet treat, but as a lover of peanuts and Doritos it’s a match made in heaven for me. Loved the nacho cheese and I’m looking forward to cracking the Cool Ranch open.
The Nacho Cheese Crunch Nuts are awesome! They are a massed produced replacement for my beloved, but gone Nutterz. They were peanuts wrapped in crunchy shells of varying flavors. I hope these become popular enough to stay around for a long time!
They are awesome please keep them around I prefer just the nuts over the mix ones
I am in love with this product!! But I can’t find them anywhere. I was able to find them at Walmart, but they only had the Cool Ranch flavor and I prefer the Nacho Cheese. I like the nuts more than the mix, but both are good. Target has had them, but now they are always out. I really hope more stores pick this product up – big hit with me and my family!!
omg I love them !
OMG I Love Them !
I love the crunch mix cool ranch, but why aren’t they making big bags, one small little box for $1.99 doesn’t go very far, and I sure can’t buy enough for a party! Please make them in big bags like Doritos chips.
AWESOME! This is my new pre-workout snack! Healthy because it’s nuts with 5g of Protein. Quick-grab n go portion size doesn’t get you in trouble…and that super CRUNCH what a treat. My fav is the Nacho Cheese!