Dorito Popcorn – Gluten free & Vegan
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Do you like DORITOS but want a healthier option? Try this Dorito Popcorn Recipe to get the flavor of Doritos but without the chemical topping. Delicious and dairy-free too!
If you've been around my blog, or my family, for awhile, you know that we love popcorn – I've got a bunch of homemade popcorn recipes on my site from Healthy Peanut Butter Popcorn to one of our faves Surprisingly Good Seasoned Popcorn. And of course, there is Basic Healthy Stovetop Popcorn for the popcorn purist. But one thing you likely don't know is that I love Doritos.
But I don't eat them anymore.
In fact, no one in our home eats them.
We did have an unfortunate episode with a Ranch Dorito® long ago that led to a near anaphylactic reaction in my oldest, but that's not why we don't have them around.
Since I've become a natural-whole foodie, GMO corn and the chemical concoction on top of the crispy chips are not welcome in our home anymore.
The ingredients in Doritos are just nothing that I want in neither my nor my family's bodies.
When you think about it, would you really choose to have your chips topped with monosodium glutamate, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Red 40, disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate?
Me neither.
I actually have a few funny things to tell you about Doritos first.
Why Our Oldest Didn't Know What Doritos Were
When I found some Dorito seasoning recipes on the internet and told my boys that I would be making Dorito Popcorn, my youngest asked what Doritos are.
I know that sounds pretty ridiculous to some folks, but since we've never had them in our house, and we don't watch much TV, my son didn't know what they are.
Hint: If you are trying to whole-foodify your family's diet, avoiding TV is a huge help. And avoid the center aisles of the grocery store too. That's where almost all of the processed stuff lurks. Just waiting to tempt you to spend too much and put chemicals and additives into your body.
The Only Dorito My Oldest Son Has Ever Had
When my son was about 5 months old, he was diagnosed with life-threatening food allergies to 3 foods (later other foods were added to his “off limit” list). You can read Eczema and Food Allergies–from Despair to Healing to learn more about all we went through.
Dairy, egg whites, and peanuts have not been in his diet. Ever.
Well, mostly.
When he was about 1 1/2 years old, we were at a church party.
Suddenly, I noticed my son had hives all down one side of his face and was holding a half-eaten chip.
I grabbed the chip and quickly figured out what had happened.
My suspicions were verified when I found the offending chip's bag.
Ranch Doritos. They contain MILK powder.
Another small child had placed his unfinished plate of Doritos down little kid level and my son had gotten a bite.
We quickly gave him Benadryl and called his allergist who assured us he was in no danger as long as the symptoms didn't progress to vomiting or breathing. Which they didn't.
So:
- between the one son who didn't know what Doritos are
- the other who has only had a small bite ever cross his lips and
- Mom who just loves Doritos but can't stomach the ingredient list,
we were all super excited to work on making a seasoning that we could put on popcorn and have that delicious Dorito flavor without all the allergy problems and chemical and GMO ickiness.
And now you can enjoy it too.
Where to buy Quality Spices?
I personally LOVE Frontier spices for their freshness and quality. I buy almost all of my spices from them in bulk because we do so much cooking from scratch.
If you prefer small amounts, Simply Organic is Frontier's section of products in smaller quantities.
Recipe Notes and Substitutions for Dorito Popcorn
- Nutritional Yeast: Oh–and as a side note, nutritional yeast is a non-candida-feeding yeast that has a nutty-cheesy flavor. Vegans tend to use it a lot for a cheesy taste without dairy.
And if you're trying to avoid synthetic folic acid (almost all nutritional yeast has it), here is a brand to try. - THM: This recipe is a “crossover” if you are on the Trim Healthy Mama plan, unless you use air-popped popcorn, which will make it an “E.”
Other Popcorn Recipes
If you love popcorn as much as we do, you'll love trying out these other recipes.
- Homemade Popcorn Seasoning – everyone asks for this recipe
- Herb Popcorn – a surprisingly delicious recipe
- Sugar-free Kettle Corn – amazingly good!
- Peanut Butter Popcorn – which can also be made into Almond Butter Popcorn as well.
The BEST Stovetop Popcorn Popper
We've had this popper for many years and we love it.
Most crank-style poppers are made of aluminum, but this one is made from stainless steel — much better for your non-toxic lifestyle.
“Dorito” Popcorn – dairy free, gluten free, vegan
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unpopped popcorn kernels (organic preferred)
- 2 – 3 tablespoons coconut oil (for popping)
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder or granules (if you would like to make your own garlic granules, see Easy Homemade Granulated Garlic)
- 1 teaspoon onion powder or granules
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon chili powder (if you would prefer homemade chili powder, see The “Best” Basic Chili Powder)
- 1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
- 2 teaspoons salt (or to taste)
Instructions
- Prepare popcorn using oil with your preferred method. This Healthy Stovetop Popcorn post has more information about popping and about my favorite stovetop popcorn popper. Air popped popcorn won't work without additional oil since the seasoning needs moisture from the oil to adhere to the popcorn.
- Combine all spices, and salt in a small bowl.
- Blend seasonings in a spice or coffee grinder, or blend in blender to make a fine powder.
- Sprinkle seasoning over popcorn and toss to coat.
Notes
- Nutritional Yeast: Oh–and as a side note, nutritional yeast is a non-candida-feeding yeast that has a nutty-cheesy flavor. Vegans tend to use it a lot for a cheesy taste without dairy.
- And if you're trying to avoid synthetic folic acid (almost all nutritional yeast has it), here is a brand to try.
- THM: This recipe is a “crossover” if you are on the Trim Healthy Mama plan, unless you use air-popped popcorn, which will make it an “E.”
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is merely an approximation. Optional ingredients are not included and when there is an alternative, the primary ingredient is typically used. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts since they have been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
I hope you love this Dorito Popcorn as much as we do!
What is your favorite way to eat popcorn?
Do you still eat Doritos :)?
Have you ever used your “Dorito” seasoning on organic corn chips??? Homemade Doritos!
I haven’t yet but I have another recipe I hope to share soon. Needed tweaking though…and I have been thinking about the chips – thanks!
My son is allergic to garlic, onion, and coconut, along with a few other things but if I can figure out how to make faux garlic bread and taco seasoning that he isn’t allergic to, I’m sure I can figure out how to tweak this so it will work. I used to use a lightly oiled pot with a lid on top of the stove to make popcorn but it started scratching my new smooth top stove so I recently bought a popcorn popper that has an arm that spins around so the kernels cook evenly. I’m so glad I did. It’s the best popcorn I have ever had! I can’t wait to try a version of this recipe this weekend!
checked out the Frontier Spices and anyone with allergies or trying to eat using healthy ingredients had better check out their ingredients carefully—some are not good at all!
I agree. I only use their plain spices.
Finally tried this tonight. My husband (a 7 yr recovered Dorito addict) loved it!! He just asked for seconds so I need to go. 🙂
Ha! Love it! Doritos dumped! Another Dorito treat is in the making – make sure you are subscribed!
I was surprised that this taste like doritos! haha! This was good on our popcorn! We became vegans about 5 months ago and don’t use oil anymore so we popped out popcorn kernels in a paper bag in the microwave and used a little bit of water to make the seasoning stick and it turned out just fine! 🙂 We love this! It’s great, Thank you! 🙂
I want to make salt and vinegar popcorn so my husband will (hopefully) stop buying potato chips! The problem is all the vinegar powder I’ve found online has maltodextrin and potato starch added. I was wondering if you have any suggestions for how I can make it at home, since you have more experience in the test kitchen. Do you think after I evaporate the vinegar I could add arrowroot or whey, maybe? I really don’t want to spritz wet vinegar on our popcorn. Thanks!
There are a few posts if you check on the internet but it doesn’t appear that there is a “this is the greatest thing” way to do it. I am very intrigued, though :).
Do you have to use nutritional yeast? I don’t have any and would love to try this recipe!
The yeast gives it the cheesy flavor. Without it you will likely have a chili / taco flavor. If you can have dairy you could sub in dried parmesan I think. 🙂
We are popcorn fanatics at our house…we eat it nearly every evening – with coconut oil and sea salt. I bought nutritional yeast the other day just to try this recipe. I made this popcorn tonight, and OH MY!!! It. Is. Delicious!!! In our past eating life, our oldest loved Doritos (well…we all did, for that matter). This is going to be an excellent addition to our healthy snacking. Thanks so much for this recipe, and for all of your wonderful blog posts.
Our family has been enjoying the popcorn seasoning — only on squash and zucchini. I cube the squash, pour a very small amount of olive oil on it to get the powder to stick, then shake it in a bag with the seasoning. Roast as usual in a hot oven. Even my pickiest non-squash eater loved it.
Aaaaand I’ve got the ingredients I didn’t have on my grocery list. This looks delicious. We too are HUGE popcorn fans.