Frito Pie - Oh My! Your Basic Frito Pie Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Is Frito pie just a Texas thing? ›

Frito pie is a dish popular in the Midwestern, Southeastern, and Southwestern United States, whose basic ingredients are chili, cheese, and corn chips (traditionally Fritos, hence the name).

The similarly simple Frito pie is surprisingly (and famously) controversial, with the classic concoction of meat, chile (or chili, depending on the regional variety), cheese, beans, and, of course, Fritos, claimed by at least two possible points of origin: New Mexico and Texas.

Unlike a walking taco, a Frito pie is always made with, you guessed it, Fritos. But that's not even the main difference between the two foods—the thing that sets a Frito pie apart from a walking taco is that a Frito pie is topped with chili instead of taco meat.

Ingredients. Corn, vegetable oil (corn and/or canola oil), and salt.

But regardless of its true origins, Walsh argues that Texas helped the dish achieve notoriety: "Frito pie owes its popularity to Texas high school stadium concession stands where it's made by tearing open the bag of chips and ladling in all of the options in the condiment holder," he tells Eater.

In some places, particularly the Midwest, the term walking taco is used to refer to what in other places is called Frito pie.

While pumpkin pie gives pecan pie a run for its money at Thanksgiving, and apple pie, blueberry pie, key lime pie, and other flavors all have their fans in Texas, pecan pie is the No. 1 pie in the state.

The Texas State Historical Association can confirm that Fritos were invented in San Antonio in 1932. Credit is given to the Doolin family, which owned the Highland Park Confectionary. Charles Elmer Doolin wanted to add a “salty snack” to the company's line of products and responded to an ad in the San Antonio Express.

The largest Frito pie weighed 601.01 kg (1,325 lb), and was assembled by Frito-Lay (USA) at the State Fair of Texas in Dallas, Texas, USA, on 1 October 2012.

“It is such a New Mexican food now,” says Santa Fe food author Lynn Cline. “It's ingrained in our culture.” But it's a relatively new phenomenon. Legend has it that the idea originated in the 1960s at the lunch counter of the old Woolworth's (now the Five & Dime) and was served then, as it is now, directly in the bag.

Who started Frito pie? ›

Texans, meanwhile, claim that the dish, complete with onions and cheese, was invented in San Antonio by Daisy Dean Doolin, the mother of Fritos inventor Charles Elmer Doolin, in the 1930s.

(NEXSTAR) — It may be a Texas classic and you may like to consider it a Texas creation, but the origin of the Frito Pie — the cheesy, crunchy county fair treat — is not so cut-and-dry. In fact, Texas is in a long-standing rivalry with another state for birthplace bragging rights.

The Frito pie is a popular dish throughout the Midwest and Southern United States consisting of chili topped with Fritos Corn Chips and shredded Cheddar Cheese. This can be served with a variety of toppings, which frequently vary by region.

Corn, Vegetable Oil (Corn, Canola, And/or Sunflower Oil), Maltodextrin (Made From Corn), Salt, Tomato Powder, Lactose, Whey, Skim Milk, Onion Powder, Sugar, Garlic Powder, Monosodium Glutamate, Maltodextrin (Made From Corn), Cheddar Cheese (Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), Dextrose, Malic Acid, Corn Syrup Solids, ...

Water, Skim Milk, Canola Oil, Modified Corn Starch, Cheddar Cheese (Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), Maltodextrin [Made From Corn], And Less Than 2% Of The Following: Natural Flavors, Cream, Pasteurized Milk, Salt, Cheddar Cheese (Cultured Pasteurized Milk, Salt, Enzymes), Butter Fat, Annatto, Disodium Phosphate, ...

It is made with sautéed pimentos, sweet peppers, and onions, and mixed with cornmeal, milk and of course whole kernel corn and creamed corn at times. Shredded cheese is usually added into the corn pie and over top so it bakes up golden and bubbling.

Oftentimes, they are made with a biscuit-like pie dough or even pizza dough if you want to make it really easy. But as an expert on these fried pies, they are only traditional when made with dried apples and a homemade flaky crust.