Cheetos Puffs versus Cheetos Crunchy

Cheetos Puffs potato chips have a wonderful, albeit light, cheesy crunch whose ultimate selling point is consistency through each and every single bite. Which, is ultimately its downfall and what makes the Puff more preferred by those with an unrefined cheesy palates and/or adolescent in spirit.

Those with refined palates prefer the classic Cheetos Crunchy flavor. It’s tour-de-force of cheesy flavor is deliver in waves of cheesy varied by its unique sizes and shapes. Like a snowflake, no two Cheetos Crunchy are the same, and no two pieces will deliver the same one-two punch of flavor, which keeps connoisseurs like myself coming back for more. 

–  James Daugherty, Cheetos Enthusiast Since 1988

We get asked at least a half-dozen times a week if we prefer Cheetos Crunchy or Puffs. Below we compare the two chip flavors.

Poll Results

Of the 1,104 people surveyed:

Prefer Cheetos Crunchy: 57%

Prefer Cheetos Puffs: 39%

Not sure / no preference:  4%

Cheetos Puffs:

Pros

• Bigger bag
• Don’t fill you up

Cons

• Not as many “chips by weight”
• One time I got sick and threw up after eating them. Coincidence? Maybe
• Gets stuck in your teeth.

Cheetos Crunchy:

Pros

• Feels far more substantial
• The crunchy texture is preferred among consumers
• More flavors to choose from

Cons

• Even half a bag will fill you up
• Addictive, probably laced with something
• The bags always feel so small

It’s hard to understate enough that we enjoy both Puffs and Crunchy here at The Chip Review. There’s no denying that Frito-Lay has kept a good thing going for decades. We also appreciate that they experiment with different neon-colored cheese powders and claim it’s 100% real cheese as if we’re supposed to believe them.

Listen, no hate here, 100% real or not, it’s delicious. And when we’re eating a bag of chips, pathetically sitting on the couch watching six hours of Project Runway reruns or whatever, we’re not looking to get the same nutritional benefits as a tofu kale salad after a run.

But, at the end of the day, we agree with the poll responses, that Cheetos Crunchy are in fact the superior chips. Puffs, you’re a damn fine chip yourself though, so don’t take this too harshly, please.