Cheetos Asteroids – Overview Of All-time Favorite Flamin’ Hot Snacks

Snacking is always associated with childhood and sweet times. So, you may remember munching on Cheetos Asteroids and thinking how heavenly and delicious it tasted. The good news is that after being discontinued for quite some time, the snack is back on the shelves of popular supermarkets and stores. 

Cheetos is one of the most iconic snack products that has ever been sold in the US. Cheetos have been a huge success since the 40s, and there have been various spin-off products that were almost as popular as the original puffed snack products. There is something delightfully addictive about eating the crunchy, cheesy little puffed snacks that Frito-Lay makes in this product line-up. It would be hard to meet anyone in the US who has not tried Cheetos or who is not familiar with its unique flavor and texture profile.

Cheetos Asteroids are just one of the many different kinds of product variations that Frito-Lay has made using the tried-and-true Cheetos snack design. Cheetos are usually thin, fry-like puffed snacks, but the Fritos Asteroid is a much larger and more round ball of Cheeto goodness. While the Cheetos Asteroid product has changed slightly over time, the overall delicious nature of this snack product is still comment-worthy even all these years later.

Below in this article, we will explore the ingredients, history, and tastes of these amazing cheesy snacks.

A Brief Overview

The first Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Asteroids appeared in 2000. The snack was part of the Go Snacks line of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, which had made its debut in 1992. They took everything people loved about them and turned them into the ideal crunchy puffs. They were packaged in cylindrical canisters and shaped like spheres rather than the usual squiggle, and people adored them. Unfortunately, they were eliminated from the Cheetos lineup in 2009, disappearing much like an asteroid that collides with a planet and burns away in its atmosphere.

But as is sometimes the case with favorite foods that are no longer available, devoted followers never gave up dreaming that they would one day come back. In fact, a fan page for Cheetos Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Asteroids on Facebook that was established back in 2011 has almost 9,000 followers. And while there wasn’t much activity on the page during 2018, it has just had a rebirth. The little, sphere-shaped food that has a puff ball form has an appealing texture. The chance to test the Cheetos Flamin’ Hot Asteroids recently presented itself. 

A Cheetos crunch is highly personal to many people. The dispute between puffy and crunchy may be fierce. The little puffy shape is quite wise considering that this snack is intended to be eaten on the go. Even though the texture allows the scorching heat to surrounding your taste buds, the crunch is still discernible. After each handful, the heat intensifies into a taste explosion.

The Frito Lay Flavor Shots Grab-And-Go Collection

The Frito Lay grab-and-go line has been expanded with these new Flavor Shots. However, before the invention of Cheetos Asteroids, Crunch Nuts, and Doritos Crunch Mix were introduced. The idea of Cheetos Asteroids was to offer different variations of textures, tastes, and shapes. 

In four different flavors — Doritos Fiery Habanero Triangles, Doritos Nacho Cheese Nuts, Doritos Flamin’ Hot Nacho Cheese Nuts, and, of course, Cheetos Flamin’ Hot Asteroids the new Frito-Lay Flavor Shots collection offers portable pouches of food. 

The Flamin’ Hot Asteroids are the same Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Asteroids from before, dressed in a flashy new wrapper. The Habanero Triangles are sort of like eating the shape of a Dorito. The two nut flavors that are in the Frito-Lay flavor shot collection are essentially peanuts encased in a crunchy, Dorito-like shell.

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Ingredients & Nutritional Value

Cheetos Asteroids have the taste of cheddar cheese, so it is obvious that one of the main ingredients of the snack is cheese. However, to give it a crunch and delicious texture, manufacturers also add cornmeal, vegetable oil, cheese seasoning, canola oil, maltodextrin, salt, and natural and artificial flavors.

In terms of nutritional value, one package contains approximately one serving. The serving size is almost 12 ounces (35.4 grams). One package includes 200 calories. The snack contains calcium, approximately 7% carbohydrates, 9% saturated fats, 2% iron, less than 2% fiber, a negligible amount of potassium, 14% sodium, protein, and vitamin D. 

As for the allergens, because Cheetos Asteroids specifies 5 components that contain corn and 5 ingredients that, depending on the source, may also contain corn, it is not corn-free. This product contains dairy in 7 of its listed ingredients, thus it is not dairy-free. As there are no ingredients for eggs indicated on the label, this product is considered to be egg-free. Additionally, there are no fish-related substances stated on the label. 

Given that it specifies just one ingredient, gluten may or may not be present in this product. Also, Cheetos Asteroids contain milk, pescatarian, sesame, and oat. The snack contains no peanuts, shellfish, or soy and is not suitable for vegans or vegetarians. 

Ingredients

• Contains Milk Ingredients
• Enriched Corn Meal (Corn Meal, Ferrous Sulfate, Niacin, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, and Folic Acid)
• Vegetable Oil (Contains One or More of the Following: Corn, Soybean, or Sunflower Oil)
• Whey
• Cheddar Cheese (Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes)
• And Less than 2% of the Following: Salt,  Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil,  Maltodextrin,  Disodium Phosphate,  Sour Cream (Cultured Cream, Nonfat Milk),  Artificial Flavor,  Monosodium Glutamate,  Lactic Acid,  Artificial Color (Including Yellow 6),  and Citric Acid.

There are allergy warnings for milk and its derivatives on each bag of these snacks. The basic recipe is the same for all of the varieties of the new version of the Cheetos Asteroid. There are some slight variations in the overall flavoring that is added but that is all.

There is no Cheetos flavor that does not include milk and these are not vegan-friendly products either. After all, what would Cheetos be without cheese? This can be a bit of a disappointment to those who love cheesy snacks and struggle to find anything that is as good as the Cheetos products that are on the market today. Perhaps eventually the company will come up with a vegan version of this classic snack so that everyone can fall in love with Cheetos over and over again.

Nutrition

Serving Size:	1 package (35g)	% Daily Value*
Amount Per Serving
Calories	200
Calories from Fat	117
Total Fat	13g	20%
Saturated Fat	2g	10%
Trans Fat	0g
Cholesterol	0mg	0%
Sodium	320mg	13%
Potassium	40mg	1%
Total Carbohydrates	19g	6%
Dietary Fiber	0.5g	2%
Sugars	0g
Protein	2g
Calcium		0.8%
Iron		0.5%

• Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000-calorie diet.

Where to Buy?

These single-serve snack options are frequently preferred by consumers. Since Cheetos Asteroids came back, the snack is widely available at convenience stores and gas stations. Additionally, you can get it at Walmart, Costco, Kroger, and many more locations. You can also order it online on Amazon and have the delectable hot snacks delivered right to your door. 

Available statewide are the new Flavor Shots and Cheetos Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Asteroids. Although the weight of each variety varies depending on the snack, each pouch sells for roughly $1.19. The nuts weigh 1.75 ounces in each bag.

Marketing

Cheetos Asteroids are new enough that they have always been advertised with the help of the Cheetos Cheetah. Chester Cheetah has been a staple of the Cheetos marketing plans for years, and he is perhaps as iconic as other mascots like Toucan Sam. Taglines for the products, including the Asteroids line-up, have been things like, “Dangerously Cheesy” or “It ain’t easy bein’ cheesy.” There have also been a bunch of recent ads for the Asteroids product that show Chester Cheetah rapping or doing adventurous things like skydiving.

This is a product that has been so popular for so long that not much marketing is required to get people’s attention. However, it is clear that many people thought that the Asteroids version of the Cheetos product vanished when the plastic containers were retired. This is not like Frito-Lay, but a campaign by avid snackers on sites like Reddit has helped to ensure that everyone who loves cheesy snacks is still getting access to their favorite round Cheetos product type.

Cheetos continues to put itself in front of audiences in a big way during things like the Super Bowl, and the company has also cleverly begun to focus on advertising via Facebook and other forms of social media. This kind of campaign is likely partially responsible for some of the more recent marketing efforts, which have included Frito-Lay-owned and operated pop-up restaurants that make dishes that include Cheetos and Cheetos Asteroids.

Package Design

Cheetos Asteroids packaging is in red, black, white, and orange colors. Four small puffs of the snack are shown on the package. The “Cheetos” brand name is located in the upper-middle corner in a yellow color on a bold background. The next text on the design is “Flavor Shots” in white, which sticks out because of its black background. Below, “Flamin’ Hot” is written in orange with black shadows. 

“Asteroids” is the word that is written in the lowest, the middle part of the design. The text is wrapped in a diagonal orange color design and separated from the rest of the snack’s packaging by a fire-like theme. 

The overall design perfectly shows the nature of these snacks. With just one look, anybody can guess that there is something hot and fiery in the package. It is impossible not to get the mouth-watering with its non-modest, intriguingly designed packaging. 

Frito Lay Company

The Frito-Lay Company is a manufacturer of Cheetos Asteroids, so it is important to also overview its history and milestones. Corn chips, potato chips, and other snack foods are produced, marketed, and sold by Frito-Lay, a PepsiCo subsidiary in the United States. Fritos corn chips, Cheetos cheese-flavored snacks, Doritos and Tostitos tortilla chips, Lay’s and Ruffles potato chips, Rold Gold pretzels, and Walkers potato crisps are the main snack food products made under the Frito-Lay name. In 2009, each brand’s yearly global revenues exceeded $1 billion.

The Frito Company and H.W. Lay & Company, the two independent businesses that would later join to establish Frito-Lay, Inc., were the forerunners of Frito-Lay in the early 1930s. PepsiCo was created in 1965 following the merger of Frito-Lay, Inc. and the Pepsi-Cola Company. Since that time, PepsiCo has run Frito-Lay as a wholly-owned subsidiary.

With sales of its products accounting for 40% of all “savory snacks” sold in the United States and 30% of the market outside of the United States in 2009, PepsiCo, through its subsidiary Frito-Lay, is the largest snack food manufacturer with a global distribution network. In 2018, 25% of PepsiCo’s yearly sales came from Frito-Lay North America.

The Brand Behind Cheetos

Charles Elmer Doolin, the man behind the creation of Fritos, came up with the idea for Cheetos in 1948 while cooking early test batches in the Frito Company’s research and development facility in Dallas, Texas. The cheese-flavored snack was well received, but Doolin lacked the resources for a countrywide rollout in terms of production or distribution. 

Due to this, as already mentioned above, Doolin teamed up with potato chip entrepreneur Herman W. Lay for marketing and distribution, and in 1948, Cheetos and the potato snack Fritatos both debuted nationwide in the United States. 

Before Cheetos Puffs were introduced in 1971, Crunchy Cheetos was the only product offered by the company for 23 years. Beginning in 2004, baked Cheetos, as they are also called, were made accessible.

Midway through the 2000s, Natural Cheetos were released as part of the Frito-Natural Lay’s brand, boasting all-natural ingredients and genuine Wisconsin white cheddar cheese. They compete in the market with other health-conscious snack foods like Pirate’s Booty and other Frito-Lay items in the Natural brand. In 2014, the Natural brand was changed to Simply.

A limited-edition Sweetos snack with cinnamon-sugar flavor was introduced to U.S. markets by Frito-Lay in 2015. In the 67-year history of the company, Sweetos was Cheetos’ first release of a sweet snack in the United States.

In its home country of the United States, Cheetos was identified as the cheese puff brand with the highest sales in 2010, with annual retail sales of almost $4 billion globally. 

Even though the original Crunchy Cheetos are still manufactured, there are now 21 other varieties of Cheetos available in North America alone. Since Cheetos are distributed in more than 36 countries, the flavor, and ingredients are frequently changed to accommodate local tastes and cultural norms. For example, savory American cream Cheetos are offered in China, and strawberry Cheetos are available in Japan. 

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Bottom Line

Nothing compares to the sensation of a crunchy, cheese-flavored snack. However, when it is combined with a hint of spiciness, it moves up to a totally different level. Even though the snack has been discontinued for over 10 years, it was reintroduced in 2018 because of the high demand. Today, anybody can enjoy the amazing, hot taste of the famous Cheetos Flamin’ Hot  Asteroids.