It’s OK to say that the push to make foods like chips, soda and candy healthy has gone too far, right? We’re on the verge of losing the blue M&M to appease a small but vocal crowd that has forgotten that these foods are — and I’m gonna use a phrase that I hate since you shouldn’t feel guilty about enjoying things — guilty pleasures.
Doritos Dinamita Simply NKD Chile Limón are the latest item to get the “no artificial dyes or flavors” treatment from PepsiCo. The Simply NKD lineup launched at the end of last year, with a variety of very pale Doritos and Cheetos hitting stores.
I wasn’t a big fan of the first round of Simply NKD products. The tradeoff just didn’t make sense to me. “Cheetos Puffs are pure joy, a gift from the snack gods,” I wrote in December. “Cheetos Simply NKD Puffs don’t offer that experience. I don’t know why I would eat Cheetos Puffs if that magic is absent.”
The addition of Dinamita Simply NKD Chile Limón to the Simply NKD lineup is a good opportunity to give the sub brand another shot. Has PepsiCo learned from the initial release of Doritos and Cheetos and found a way to more finely dial in the flavor of Dinamita in this format?
“Dinamita Simply NKD Chile Limón was developed for snack lovers who want it all — a bold, layered flavor experience made without any artificial dyes or flavors,” Jess Spaulding, vice president of marketing at PepsiCo Foods, said in the company’s announcement. “Building on the momentum of our Doritos and Cheetos Simply NKD launches, this innovation shows how we can continue expanding fan-favorite brands to revolutionize the snack aisle.”
OK, Dinamita Simply NKD Chile Limón, let’s see if you can still bring the heat ...
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What it costs
Doritos Dinamita Simply NKD Chile Limón will be available in both 3.25 oz. and 10.75 oz. bags. I haven’t seen pricing on the smaller bag, but the 10.75 oz. bag was stamped with a $5.49 price.
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While I’m extremely familiar with many, many of the flavors across the standard Doritos lineup, I think I’ve purchased Dinamita once or twice. (Definitely more times than I’ve purchased the blue flavor of Takis, the rolled-tortilla chip rival that inspired Dinamita. That blue flavor scares me.) But I know what to expect with the Chile Limón flavor. This is a hot chip, but thanks to the addition of a touch of citrus, the heat isn’t what you’d get from Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.
Like their previously released Simply NKD siblings, Doritos Dinamita Simply NKD Chile Limón is a yellowy beige color. It’s actually kind of shocking to open up a bag and realize that PepsiCO is serious when it comes to “no artificial dyes or flavors.”
A side-by-side comparison of regular Doritos Dinamita Chile Limón and Doritos Dinamita Simply NKD Chile Limón really drives home the difference. Like the Flamin’ Hot flavors in both the Doritos and Cheetos lineups, the classic version of Dinamita are a hue of red that immediately triggers multiple warnings in your brain. Millennia of evolution have taught us that something this shade of red should not go into our bodies.
But we eat them anyway.
Doritos Dinamita Chile Limón and Doritos Dinamita Simply NKD Chile Limón as seen through 3D glasses. / Snackology
And, yes, eating Doritos Dinamita Simply NKD Chile Limón felt incredibly close to eating the non-Simply NKD version to me. This introduction to the lineup is PepsiCo’s most successful attempt yet. The heat is there. The hint of lime that tempers that heat is right where it should be.
The one weird part about the experience of eating Doritos Dinamita Simply NKD Chile Limón is that the lack of red color somehow makes the heat not seem as immediate?
The Omnicosm founder. Snackology, Popculturology and The Cold Open writer. A Rochester, N.Y., native now living in the Washington, D.C., area. Won’t pass up a Genny Cream Ale.
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