If you don’t live in the southwestern region of the United States, you may have never heard of the Sabritas line of potato chips. Originally its own brand, it is now a subsidiary of Frito-Lay, and controls a large share of Mexico’s snack market. In Arizona, Mexican snacks are widely available in national chain stores, and one of my local convenience stores has a whole section of Sabritas chips.
I have to admit, I didn’t really do my in-store research when I bought these chips. When I saw the festive and very Mexican front of the bag, and saw that I could create my own combination, I thought things might get interesting. For you gringos, “prepáralos a tu gusto” doesn’t really translate into “create your own combination”, but instead roughly translates into “prepare to your liking (or loving, literally)”. Those two years of Spanish in high school are really serving me well. They get even more lax down in the bottom left corner, where “totopos de maíz con chile”(Corn tortilla chips with chile) becomes “flavored tortilla chips”. Us gringos can’t handle anything more descriptive than “flavored”.
I thought that maybe there would be some flavor packets inside, a la Doritos Flavor Shots, which would be fun to mix and match, adding to the already salsa verde-flavored chips. However, I was in for a surprise when I got home:
What the fuck, Tostitos? Instead of including everything I’d need to create my own combination, they are expecting me to take these home and turn them into nachos? What’s the point of that? Furthermore, who would even do that? You buy a bag of chips at the convenience store, you’re probably stuffing your face as you drive to work, not going home to make some sad nachos in a bag. No, seriously, who would do that?
The answer: Mexicans. I saw the phrase “tostilocos” on the back of the bag and thought that Tostitos was trying to make their own catch phrase, like Combos’ ludicrous “combivore” campaign. I got excited, thinking I could salvage this review with some screenshots from a ridiculously themed Tostitos website. I was in for a big surprise when I consulted my friendly neighborhood search engine.
Tostilocos are a very real, very Mexican thing. According to my extensive Internet research, in Tijuana (and possibly other parts of Mexico, I’m not sure), there are street carts set up all around the city, selling these tostilocos. They do basically what the back of the bag says: they take a bag of tortilla chips, slit it open along the side, and fill it with whatever you want. From what I’ve read, some of the most traditional ingredients include peanuts, jicama, cucumber, tamarind or tamarind candy, a liberal lime juice, and even pork rinds, as I read in this blog. I don’t want to use anyone’s pictures without permission, so here are some links to tostilocos-related items.
The back of the bag has some very different suggestions for additions to your tostilocos: salsa, sour cream, cheese and jalapeños. After my learning experience, I’d love to try some traditional tostilocos, but coincidentally, I have zero of the ingredients for that and all of the ingredients listed on the back of the bag, so I guess I’ll go with that.
Cutting open the bag was easy, and I was happy to see that it stood up on its own. I decided to try the chips by themselves, before I went tostiloco and added all the ingredients. The chips themselves are actually pretty good; they come in the traditional Tostitos round shape and have a pleasant cheesy/spicy flavor with a bit of peppery bite on the back end. I wouldn’t say it tastes exactly like dipping a tortilla chip into a bowl of fresh salsa verde, but the chile flavor is there. I would feel just fine buying a bag of these to tear open in the more conventional manner to shovel into my face during a road trip, or just sitting my lazy ass down in front of the tv. But the real point of these, chips, apparently, is to go tostiloco, and who am I to disobey the back of a bag of chips.
After I added all the ingredients, the weight of the bag of chips increased about threefold. I felt like I was hefting a real meal, not just an absent-minded snack. The bag held together wonderfully, still standing up like a trooper after I added all the ingredients. For the sake of open journalism, I’ll list all of the specific ingredients I added: Table Top medium salsa, Daisy sour cream, Sargento Artisan Blends Authentic Mexican (Queso Quesadilla, Asadero, Queso Gallego, Manchego and Anejo Enchilado), and Embasa Nacho Sliced Jalepeños.
It’s a little unwieldy to eat. I have tiny, delicate, feminine hands, and even so, I found it difficult to really dig into the bag without getting my knuckles and fingers covered in salsa juice and sour cream. As I move the bag around, my carefully constructed toppings begin to redistribute themselves, covering all the chips and ensuring that my hands will never be clean again. I hope they give out napkins at the tostiloco carts in Mexico, because otherwise there’s a lot of people walking around with sour cream and salsa hands, terrorizing the local children who are just trying to sell you chicle.
At the end of the day, my tostilocos are nothing more than half-ass nachos made in a bag of Tostitos. There’s nothing not to enjoy about the combination of tortilla chips, salsa, sour cream, cheese, and jalapeños, but it’s really nothing to write home about. My chips got a little soggy after a while, but that’s okay, since my hand was coated with all the toppings by then anyway, so I didn’t mind just mushing the chip and putting it in my mouth, as I have no dignity. Soggy tortilla chips are not that great, but they were a little more acceptable with all the toppings on them. As I write this review and continue to shovel tostilocos into my mouth, I notice that I’m getting a little full. I looked on the back of the bag, and it says that there are six servings of chips in this bag. How are you supposed to do that, exactly? Chuck your sad, slit-open bag of Tostitos into the fridge to eat soggy mush with a spoon later? I guess I should have invited over five friends so we could have a tostilocos party. Nothing says wild and crazy times like a small bag of chips I bought at a gas station and some shit I found in the back of my fridge.
The salsa verde flavor of the chips adds a nice compliment to the toppings, but you could substitute just about any spicy-flavored tortilla chip to get the same effect. I’m willing to bet that the tostilocos that they make in Mexico have a much more interesting and varied flavor than the ones recommended on the back of the bag. As it stands, with just a little more effort, you could make some real nachos at your house, on a real plate, without having to become the dreaded sour cream hand monster with a bag full of mess.
- Score: 3 out of 5 niños selling chicle for the chips alone; 2 out of 5 napkins for the tostilocos
- Price: $1.99, not including toppings
- Size: 5 1/2 oz. bag
- Purchased at: Circle K
- Nutritional Quirks: There may be six servings in a bag, but if you make tostilocos, whatever you don’t eat then is lost forever.
Mexicans seem pretty big on “open the bag and add stuff”-based snacking. Where we live, there is a snack sold in bags, that are almost like little flavorless Dorito 3-Ds. I thought they were terrible, until a friend explained that we weren’t eating them “albanile,” or bricklayer style: You slice open the bag, and dump a can of jalapenos, juice and all, inside. They get much better, though pretty soggy, too.
That’s interesting. I’d imagine the bag would be nothing but mush in seconds, considering all the jalapeño juice and the fact that Doritos 3-Ds, if I remember correctly, were pretty darn thin.
I love tostitos :D.. i am dying to eat some!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
omg.. thats not even half of the things u could add to tostitos.. try adding cabbage,diced tomatoes, diced cucumbers,diced onions, diced pickled pig skin, chamoy,salasa valentina,fresh limon juice and lots of quezo fresco. trust me once u tried it like this u will never want to try it any other way!!!
Here’s a few of our friends preparing tostilocos, and tostielotes (with corn) in Mazatlán. So we at least know it goes that far south…
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=mazatlan,+si&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=49.043149,45&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Mazatl%C3%A1n,+Sinaloa,+Mexico&ll=23.20367,-106.419883&spn=0.000809,0.002406&z=19&layer=c&cbll=23.203671,-106.419882&panoid=8QX__Xrrg7INmjezS-dhqA&cbp=11,244.81,,2,4.93
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=mazatlan,+si&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=49.043149,45&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Mazatl%C3%A1n,+Sinaloa,+Mexico&ll=23.202859,-106.419856&spn=0,0.004812&z=18&layer=c&cbll=23.202773,-106.419832&panoid=mOpdQDM0NqhpcP3sO4GiVw&cbp=12,230.5,,1,23.77
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=mazatlan,+si&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=49.57764,64.248047&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Mazatl%C3%A1n,+Sinaloa,+Mexico&ll=23.202874,-106.419861&spn=0,0.015686&z=16&layer=c&cbll=23.202882,-106.419757&panoid=-cL_SLv7NN_pwr9BxJBrFQ&cbp=12,190.83,,1,21.96
I found this post by Googling these chips (trying to figure out how the fuck I can get them here in Nashville, where we have a ton of Mexicans but apparently don’t want to carry their tasty chips in the stores), and I had to comment because I was literally laughing out loud while reading at work.
“Nothing says wild and crazy times like a small bag of chips I bought at a gas station and some shit I found in the back of my fridge.”
Awesome. Thanks for the review. I’ve got to order me some of these from mexicanpantry.com now so I can make my own soggy tostilocos.
IF your job is jeopardized due to laughing at my words, I consider that a compliment and an accomplish, so thank you!
As far as finding them, I’d try prowling convenience stores. I see them in almost every one I go to, but then again, I’m in Arizona and you’re in Nashville, so who knows. I hope you find them someday and can experience the…sogginess.
hey I’m from Iowa and we don’t get these kind of mexican snacks. so I was wondering if there’s a page online where I could place an order
Joel, I’m sure a quick Google search could help you out, but really, any bag of cheesy/spicy tortilla chips and some ingredients from the store would do. You can, as the bag says, prepáralos a tu gusto.
your title are wrong, i am a mexican,
these ARE NOT “Tostitos locos”
these are “tostitos con queso y chile”
(tostitos with cheese and chili)
this is the original recipe of TOSTITOS LOCOS;
Tostitos,
clamato,
pepino, (cucumber)
sal, (salt)
salsa, (hot sauce)
chamoy ( — ) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamoy)
(http://www.elpalmardistribuidora.com/productos/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0128.jpg)
your combination NOT ARE “Tostitos Locos”,
corrects that title, do not confuse people.
Greetings from mazatlan
I love this chips I don’t think any salsa spicy tortilla chips would do. I believe that if you make it to your liking and not do the recipe the bag says you would love it also. I have eaten them regular which i like but I love it with chamoy, hot sauce, and limon 🙂 It sucks i was in Arizona also and could find them anywhere but now im in North Carolina and can’t find them anywhere 🙁 and i have been craving them since I have been pregnant
oh and to eat it correctly and not make your hands so dirty you don’t stick your whole hand in it instead you move the chips up by pushing the outside of the bag together to get the chips higher and you just eat it like that
I had to Google ‘Tostilocos’ after hearing that we were expected to bring something in. Sounded interesting enough. After getting the ingredient list I decided that this white girl will be bringing in cheese, guac and maybe, if I want to get muy loco, some beans! Thanks for the laugh 🙂
I absolutely LOVE Tostilocos! But I don’t know anyone who eats them how the bag says. Most people eat them with lemon, chamoy, chile, pork rinds, japanese peanuts, tamrind candy, cucumber, and jicama. Also, most people eat them with a fork and of course the people who sell them give out napkins!
Yeah, a lot of that sounds more traditional, Haydee. I’m assuming Tostitos was trying to appeal to a more American audience?
I went to Arizona to visit my brother and we went to the swat meet. He bought me a bag of chip and they add everything in the bag for you. I tried it “OMG” I feel in love. That was the best combo chips I have ever ate. I live in Madera and I’ve been looking for these chips every where in my town. My parents went to AZ again and my brother is sending me pictures of the chips “This hella sucks”
Wow some white people are so unaware of such simple things. *moron
I live in Virginia and the way I get tostitos is bringing them back from México every time I go. I bring them in a shoe box (in a way they don’t get crushed). For those who live far away from the border and don’t have access to original ingredients, here is a simple but incredibly delicious recipe:
INGREDIENTS:
– Can of sweet corn (Del monte or whatever but salted preferably)
– Sour cream
– Sliced jalapeños can from “La Costeña”
– Tostitos cheese dip
– Tostitos salsa verde bag of course.
PREPARATION:
– Dump the water of the corn can, put a little bit of butter in a pan and then dump all the corn of the little can there and fry until it gets dark and toasted.
-Microwave 3 big tablespoons of cheese for 45 seconds,
– Open the bag like it was explained, pour some jalapeño juice in it first, then add the warm cheese and as much corn as you like. I add 1 spoon of sour cream and a bunch of jalapeños at the end and then re-use the spoon to help me eat the last soggy pieces.
– Last but not least, enjoy the Food-gasm! 😀
I can get pretty much all those things at the supermarket or the Circle K. Virgina sounds like the worst place in the world.
I live in Arizona, had tostidos last night at carnival with roasted corn, lime mayo, cojita cheese, crema, and chile. I ate the whole bag, it was that good. Btw I used a fork, ;-). I’m going to Food City this week to buy bags of these chips.
I found this site by googling “preparalos a tu gusto” at the bottom of the bag out of fear that us gringos for being secretly shamed for not knowing Spanish while also being too lazy to look up the meaning – think Chinese character tattoos that “look cool” and have a hidden meaning unbeknownst to the tattooee.
This was a fine write up and made finishing off my bag of salsa verde goodness all the better.
GODSPEED!