Corn chips is easier to cook with than it looks. Here's how to choose, use, and store them, what to substitute, and 45 recipes to get you started.

What are corn chips?

Corn chips are small, sturdy chips made from cornmeal that is worked into a stiff dough, shaped, and deep-fried until crunchy. Fritos are the original and best-known brand, and most cooks picture that dense, salty, deep-corn crunch when a recipe says corn chips.

They are saltier and far more rigid than a tortilla chip, which is pressed from a flat tortilla and is thinner and more brittle. That heft is why corn chips hold up as both a scoop and a baked-in ingredient.

Out of the bag they are a snack. In cooking they pull double duty as a crunchy topping and a built-in starch.

Cooking With Corn Chips

Their signature dish is Frito pie: chili ladled over corn chips, then cheese and onion, eaten straight from the bag or layered in a dish. Texas Straw Hats builds the same idea into a full plate, and they crown bowls of chili like Meatless Monday Chili and Chili N'Awlins.

They are a fixture in taco and tostada salads, where they replace lettuce-bowl crunch and soak up dressing, as in Schulz's Guacamole Salad and Ranch Style Taco Salad. Folded into a Tex-Mex casserole such as Coronado Casserole, they soften slightly and thicken the whole bake.

Crushed, they make a fast, flavorful coating. Press the crumbs onto chicken or fish before baking for a crisp, salty corn crust; Lulu's Corn Chip Chicken does exactly that. They also fold into meatloaf as a binder, the move behind Chili Cheese Fritos Meatloaf.

Add them late when you want crunch and early when you want them to melt into the dish. They cannot do both at once.

Pairing and Common Mistakes

Corn chips belong to Tex-Mex flavors: chili, cheddar, ground beef, beans, salsa, guacamole, and lime. The salty fried corn is a natural match for anything rich and spicy.

The most common mistake is topping a dish with them too early. Stirred into hot chili or baked under a wet layer, they turn soggy and disappear within minutes, so scatter them on at the table for crunch.

The second is forgetting how salty and oily they already are. When you use them as a coating or binder, pull back on the salt elsewhere or the dish turns harsh. Taste before you season.

Substitutes

For topping chili or a taco salad, tortilla chips are the closest swap, though they are lighter and less salty; crush them a little to mimic the smaller corn-chip bite. Plain corn nuts give a similar deep-corn crunch in a pinch.

As a crushed coating or binder, crushed tortilla chips or cornflake crumbs stand in, each a touch less rich than fried corn chips. Plain cornmeal works too if you toast it. Add a pinch of salt to bridge the gap.

There is no exact match for Frito pie, since the dish is built on that dense, salty chip. Tortilla chips work but eat differently, so when the chip is the star, reach for real corn chips.

Buying and Storing

You will find corn chips with the snack chips, sold plain or in flavors like chili-cheese; for cooking, plain salted gives you the most control. Brands differ in thickness and saltiness, which matters most when they are a main ingredient rather than a garnish.

Keep them sealed and dry. Like all fried snacks they go stale and chewy once they meet humid air, and the oil in them can eventually turn rancid, giving an off, painty smell. Trust your nose over the printed date.

An unopened bag keeps for a couple of months in the pantry; once opened, press out the air and clip it shut, and use within a week or two for the best crunch. Never refrigerate them, since the damp fridge air softens them quickly.

Nutrition

Quick facts

Where to find corn chips: Corn chips are usually found in the snacks section or aisle of the grocery store or supermarket.

Food group: Corn chips are a member of the Snacks US Department of Agriculture nutritional food group.

In Chinese

玉米片

British (UK) term

Corn chips

en français

croustilles de maïs

en español

chips de maíz

How much do corn chips weigh?

Amount	Weight
1 ounce	28 grams
1 bag (7 oz)	198 grams

Related

Snacks

Recipes using corn chips

There are 45 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 45 recipes