Frito pie
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| Place of origin | United States |
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| Main ingredients | Chili con carne, cheese, corn chips (Fritos) |
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Frito pie is a dish popular in the Southern, Midwestern, and Southwestern United States, whose basic ingredients are chili, cheese, and corn chips (especially Fritos). Additions can include salsa, refried beans, sour cream, onion, rice, or jalapeños. There are many variations. Frito pie can be prepared in a casserole dish, but itinerant versions prepare it in a single-serve Fritos-type corn chip bag with various ingredients as toppings. Variations on the dish made in a corn chip bag include pepper bellies, walking tacos, Frito boats, and tacos in a bag. In Mexico, a similar type of dish is tostilocos.
The exact origins of the frito pie (or tacos frios) is not completely clear. It is believed that it was created somewhere in Mexico and was popular at fiestas before it took off in other countries like the United States.
The oldest known recipe using Fritos brand corn chips with chili was published in Texas in 1949. The recipe may have been invented by Daisy Doolin, the founder's mother and the first person to use Fritos as an ingredient in cooking, or Mary Livingston, his executive secretary. The Frito-Lay company attributes the recipe to Nell Morris, who joined Frito-Lay in the 1950s and helped develop an official cookbook which included the Frito pie.
Another story claims that true Frito pie originated only in the 1960s with Teresa Hernández, who worked at the F. W. Woolworth's lunch counter in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her Frito pie used homemade red chili con carne with cheddar cheese and onions, and was served in the bag – which was thicker in the 1960s.
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