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Wednesday, February 24, 2027
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About National Tortilla Chip Day
National Tortilla Chip Day, February 24, salutes the crunchy triangle that launched a thousand dips. Tortilla chips are simple: corn masa, pressed thin, cut into wedges, fried or baked, and salted. Yet that simplicity is exactly their power. They are sturdy enough for the heaviest guacamole, thin enough not to steal the show, and neutral enough to pair with salsa, queso, bean dip, or straight-from-the-bag eating on the couch.
The chip grew out of Mexican cooking, where corn tortillas have been a staple for thousands of years, and stale or leftover tortillas were routinely fried into crispy totopos. In the mid-twentieth century, commercial versions packaged that idea for American supermarkets, and snack aisles never looked back. Today tortilla chips are among the best-selling salty snacks in the United States, a fixture of parties, restaurants, road trips, and nacho platters. February 24 is the excuse to appreciate the humble wedge without any dip-based guilt.
History of National Tortilla Chip Day
Tortilla chips trace back to Mexican cuisine, where frying cut tortillas is an old practice known as totopos, long used to preserve corn tortillas and add crunch to dishes. The modern commercial chip is often credited to Rebecca Webb Carranza and her family's Los Angeles tortilla factory, who in the late 1940s began cutting misshapen tortillas into triangles, frying them, and selling them in bags. The snack caught on so well that it became a business of its own, and Carranza was later honored for helping popularize it. Mass production followed through the 1960s and 1970s, riding the wave of Tex-Mex and Mexican-inspired restaurant chains. Salsa overtook ketchup as America's top-selling condiment in the early 1990s, largely on the chip's crunchy back. Snack historians and marketers later granted the wedge its own day, settling on February 24.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- When is National Tortilla Chip Day?
- It comes around every year on February 24, a midwinter moment for crunch.
- Is National Tortilla Chip Day a public holiday?
- No. It is a snack-themed food holiday, not a public holiday, though offices across the country are known to keep salsa in the break room anyway.
- How do people celebrate National Tortilla Chip Day?
- People celebrate with dip spreads, homemade chips, nacho night, and taste tests of different corn varieties. Mexican restaurants often promote chips and salsa on the date.
- What is the difference between tortilla chips and corn chips?
- Tortilla chips are cut from pressed corn masa and shaped like wedges, while corn chips are extruded from masa dough into thicker, curlier pieces, which is why corn chips fry up denser and greasier.