A Food Editor’s Ranking (and Photos) of Taco Bell’s 10 Newest Menu Items, Including Toasted Cheddar Street Chalupas

• What Is It: slow-roasted chicken, Caliente Sauce and three-cheese blend, grilled in a flour tortilla, served with guacamole, reduced-fat sour cream and avocado verde salsa sauce
• Price: $6.50

Does Taco Bell not cut their quesadillas into quarters anymore? The two halves were much messier to eat, especially with all the Caliente sauce in the mix. There was something almost pasta-and-red-sauce-ish about this Caliente item in particular. The texture was pretty soggy, and IMO, the last thing this quesadilla needed was cheese on the outside to make it even more saturated with grease. I much prefer the creamy jalapeño sauce that comes on the regular quesadilla, although a dunk in sour cream helped.

• What Is It: fried tortilla chips with warm, creamy queso sauce with green chiles
• Price: $2.50

The queso was pretty thin and got cold fast, but it had nice acidity and medium heat. Full disclosure: I find Taco Bell’s tortilla chips pretty unremarkable, since they’re thin and brittle (most of mine were broken into small shards). That said, I’d like to try the queso on a quesadilla or even over Fiesta Potatoes.

• What Is It: seasoned nacho fries topped with slow-roasted chicken, nacho cheese sauce, Caliente Sauce, shredded cheddar cheese, crunchy fiesta strips and reduced-fat sour cream
• Price: $5.50

I’m also not a huge fan of Taco Bell’s fries, but I didn’t completely dislike this new menu item. Although it was sloppily layered with all the Caliente sauce on one side, I think the trick is eating this one fresh (read: its quality will steadily diminish on the ride home from the drive-thru). The fries quickly turn mushy and oversaturated, thanks to the sauce and double dose of cheese. This also zapped the crispness out of the tortilla strips; if they’d still been crunchy, I would have enjoyed it more. Pile on the sour cream for tangy contrast.

• What Is It: slow-roasted chicken, Caliente Sauce, lettuce, shredded purple cabbage, pico de gallo and cheddar cheese in a warm flour tortilla, served with avocado verde salsa sauce
• Price: $3

This was the first Caliente item that I tasted, and I was surprised that it was actually…well, caliente. Its profile is a touch smoky and moderately sour, but mostly just hot. I wish it was a bit more nuanced, like the chain’s Fire hot sauce. In terms of color, it was very bright (it reminded me a bit of tandoori chicken). I did like the acidity though, and I bet this would’ve tasted even more balanced with sour cream, so order it Supreme.

• What Is It: Mountain Dew Baja Blast with sweet vanilla creme swirl
• Price (small): $3

PureWow VP of editorial Candace Davison was right in her review of this trendy drink: It tastes a lot like key lime pie. I was grateful that the Baja Blast leaned sour, because this would’ve been way too sweet if it hadn’t. The cream swirl separated and solidified as the soda sat though, which made it less appetizing. The vanilla flavor was pretty subtle, but kind of reminded me of vanilla-scented bath products or candles.

• What Is It: slow-roasted chicken, seasoned rice, black beans, Caliente Sauce, reduced-fat sour cream, lettuce, shredded purple cabbage, pico de gallo, guacamole and cheddar cheese, served with an avocado verde salsa sauce packet
• Price: $8

I’m admittedly not wild about Taco Bell’s sour cream or guacamole (I wonder why they don’t use a tangier, full-fat sour cream for a thicker consistency, and the guac is thin and doesn’t really taste like avocado). That said, I thoroughly enjoyed their black beans, which are starchy and creamy every time. The rice wasn’t my favorite either, but this time, it was well seasoned and not overcooked. The Caliente sauce’s slightly bitter acidity stole the spotlight, but the greens offered both nice color and crunch. TLDR? It was a mixed bag (er, bowl).

• What Is It: slow-roasted chicken, Caliente Sauce, lettuce, shredded purple cabbage, cheddar cheese and pico de gallo, grilled in a flour tortilla and served with avocado verde salsa sauce
• Price: $6

The burrito is a generally the best way to experience a variety of textures in a single bite, no matter where you order it from. However, I wish there had been some rice and beans to soak up some of the Caliente sauce. It totally doused the veggies, eclipsing their flavor and taking away from their crispness. That said, the grilled tortilla made this much easier to eat than the rest of the overly sauced items and helped the burrito hold its shape.

• What Is It: slow-roasted chicken, Caliente Sauce and three-cheese blend in a crispy taco shell grilled with more three-cheese blend on the outside, served with avocado verde salsa sauce
• Price: $3

I enjoyed the taste of the crispy taco more than the soft (the char of the cheese added another layer of complexity to the Caliente sauce’s one-note heat), but I wasn’t totally sold on the texture. I missed the craggy, crackly crunch of the taco under all that cheese—not that it went completely soft—and it was very hefty for a taco. One of the many things that are great about tacos is being able to eat half a dozen of them in one sitting, and I’d probably be full after two of these.

• What Is It: two toasted cheddar Chalupa shells filled with grilled, marinated steak, chile lime crema sauce, shredded cheddar cheese and an onion-cilantro blend
• Price: $5.50

Yup, the newest mini Chalupas stole the show. The shell was thick and visibly coated in little baked bits of crispy cheese. I loved the lime crema’s citrusy edge that broke up the decadence of the cheese and meat. The cheese on the shell didn’t necessarily offer much in terms of flavor (it made the overall taste a touch too salty at points), but it did bring plenty of crunch.

• What Is It: two toasted cheddar Chalupa shells filled with cantina slow-roasted chicken, chile lime crema sauce, shredded cheddar cheese and an onion-cilantro blend
• Price: $5.50

I preferred the texture of the chicken to that of the steak. There was something more rustic and homemade-tasting about it. The punchy lime radiated more in the chicken version of this new menu item as well. I also loved the crunch and sharpness of the raw onion. It certainly wasn’t a street taco, but I wasn’t mad about it.