Doritos Collisions Stranger Pizza X Cool Ranch Review: Retro Looks, Familiar Flavors

For the last six decades, pizza and chips have been serviceable junk food items enjoyed by teens, time and time again. Whatever era you hail from, you probably have your own fond memories of snacking on both, perhaps even at the same time. Nostalgia for those grand old times is a wonderful feeling, and the Netflix series "Stranger Things" has done an amazing job of capturing the sights and tastes of the '80s, whether you lived through the decade or not. The show has been such a massive hit that, naturally, there has been an endless string of tie-in products for fans to buy, including a line of Stranger Things-themed pineapple pizzas from Walmart. Before the final season hits screens this November, the latest edible promotion to hit stores is a bag of Doritos. And not just any bag, but a Collisions one, where good old Cool Ranch chips will live side-by-side with the new Stranger Pizza flavored chips. In a statement, Tina Mahal, SVP of Marketing at PepsiCo Foods North America, said, "Our fans have been asking us for a pizza-flavored Doritos for some time, it's one of our top requested flavors and the launch of Stranger Things Season 5 felt like the perfect time to deliver."

So, are these new Doritos on a collision course of totally tubular awesomeness, or are they more like stranger danger straight out of The Upside Down, here to spoil the taste buds of Hawkins and beyond? The Takeout took in a few bags to see where the truth lies, and is ready to reveal all in this chew & review.

Launched in 1966, Doritos' first official flavor was actually taco. In the five-plus decades since, Doritos has delivered over 200 flavors, with more hits than misses. In 2007, Frito-Lay set a new course for Doritos with its line called Collisions, which were bags of chips with two different flavors inside. The snack brand has released plenty of Collisions varieties since, including flavor combos like Late Night Loaded Taco with Nacho Cheese.

Now, to help promote the final season of Netflix's hit series "Stranger Things," Doritos is releasing a bag of Collisions that will pit Cool Ranch against a new flavor called Stranger Pizza. Tina Mahal, SVP of Marketing at PepsiCo Foods North America, noted, "The new Doritos Collisions Stranger Pizza x Cool Ranch mash-up in its retro 80's bag was designed to fit perfectly into 1987 Hawkins where pizza is a part of fan lore and Doritos Cool Ranch would have been one of the hottest new snacks." For the record, this isn't the first time Doritos has become familiar with "Stranger Things." The two partnered up in 2022 for various season 4 cross-promotions, including the release of Doritos 3D Crunch Three Cheese.

In addition to the new Doritos Collisions Stranger Pizza x Cool Ranch flavor, Frito-Lay is rolling out even more "Stranger Things" branded snacks. Standard Doritos flavors like Nacho Cheese, Cool Ranch, and Sweet & Tangy BBQ will all be decked out with the iconic "Stranger Things" logo and other spooky imagery. Also, canisters of Doritos Minis Spicy Sweet Chili will be rather illuminating this fall, as they will glow in the dark.

Starting September 15, Doritos Collisions Stranger Pizza x Cool Ranch chips are rolling out to stores nationwide, but they'll only be available for a limited time while supplies last. You can buy them at your local supermarket, at big-box retailers, or online from places like Target. They may also be available to order for delivery in your area, from sites and apps like Instacart. If all else fails, one can always buy an overpriced bag from eBay.

The chips are available in two sizes. A 9-ounce bag for the family, and for those who perhaps don't want to share, a 2.625-ounce bag. The former retails for $6.29, while the latter goes for $2.69. The 9-ounce bags I procured from Target set me back $5.19. As you might have guessed, prices will vary by retailer.

This bag of Doritos brings together the talents of ingredients like corn and vegetable oil. It also has less than 2% of salt, tomato powder, brown sugar, onion powder, garlic powder, honey, cheddar cheese, and sugar. Additives include natural and artificial flavors, citric acid, and artificial colors blue 1, yellow 5, and red 40, which is different from red dye 3. For allergen considerations, these chips contain milk ingredients.

A serving size is about 1 ounce, which equals approximately 11 chips. The bags are 9 ounces each, so they should have roughly 100 chips. Each serving delivers 150 calories, 7 grams of total fat, 160 milligrams of sodium, 18 grams of total carbohydrates, 1 gram of total sugars, and 2 grams of protein. It also contains 40 milligrams of calcium and 60 milligrams of potassium.

Based on the expiration date printed on the bag, these chips should remain snackable for at least two months if unopened.

I pulled open the bag of Doritos Collisions Stranger Pizza x Cool Ranch, and leaned in for a whiff. It didn't have a discernible scent — just one that smelled like corny chips that had some sort of taco-like seasoning to them. Not wanting to get my hands immediately dirty, I poured the chips onto my plate for a visual inspection. Since I was already plenty familiar with Cool Ranch Doritos –– with their dark yellow tint and lovely flecks of red and green –– it was obvious which chips were the Stranger Pizza ones. These new strangers in town were far more orange and appeared to be way more seasoned, evidenced by their sandy texture. While these new chips also had red and green flakes, the dark orange background didn't really allow the seasoning to stand out as much.

I'm also well aware of what a Cool Ranch Dorito tastes like (pure awesomeness), so I shifted my attention and palate to the new guy. First, I took a lick, and it reminded me of two toppings you'd find in shakers at any pizza joint: Parmesan flakes and garlic salt. While that sounds like a pizza, it wasn't exactly tasting like one. I carried on with an actual bite and immediately thought of the classic wonders of Combos Pepperoni Pizza ... which don't exactly taste like pizza either. Further bites cemented my love for these Stranger Pizza Doritos, and yet they didn't turn out to be all that strange, nor pizza-like. That's fine, because they had such a comely appeal to them that I couldn't keep from gobbling one handful to the next.

As the flavoring of these new Stranger Pizza Doritos reminded me a lot of Pepperoni Pizza Combos, I started to become happily overwhelmed with a swell of food memories past. Combos aren't exactly my go to snacks these days, but they certainly hit the spot in my youth. The Pepperoni Pizza flavor of Combos were first introduced in 1988, which is one year later from when the new season of "Stranger Things" takes place. So for me, these chips do indeed transport me back to a certain time, and place, hitting that taste of '80s nostalgia right on its yuppie yummy head.

Now, this new fangled edition of Doritos isn't just a standalone bag of Stranger Pizza chips. They are sharing real estate with another snack icon introduced in the '80s (1986 to be exact) — Cool Ranch Doritos. While Cool Ranch alone have a unique, but now familiar delicious creamy flavor, here they serve quite well as the partner to the more stark Stranger Pizza chips. As I let these chips collide, either chasing one with the other, are stuffing both into my mouth at the time, the Cool Ranch continually earned its "cool" stripes, as being the more chill flavoring here. 

The Stranger Pizza didn't have any spiciness to it, but was definitely a super-tangy flavor that left a mark. Perhaps the Strange Pizza Doritos wouldn't hit as well on their own, but alas, I have already moved on to more vexing issues, like dialing up the "Chip In For Hawkins" phone number printed on the bag. Sadly no one picked up, and a message told me to call back on September 30. Guess I'll just polish off my two remaining bags while I wait for next steps.