REVIEW: McDonald’s Hot Honey Sauce and Hot Honey McCrispy

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McDonald’s Hot Honey Sauce and Hot Honey McCrispy

Welcome to the hot honey hoedown, McDonald’s!

It’s been going on for a few years, but you know what they say, “Better late than running onto a bandwagon that has lost its wheels.” While you’re tardy to the party, your new Hot Honey Sauce makes up for it.

There are multiple ways to taste McDonald’s Hot Honey Sauce: a McNugget and McCrispy Strips dipping sauce, a Hot Honey Snack Wrap, and two Hot Honey McCrispy Sandwiches. As you can see from my photos, I picked up some McNuggets and a Hot Honey McCrispy Sandwich.

McDonald’s Hot Honey McCrispy side view

The latter features a McCrispy filet topped with shredded lettuce, crispy jalapeno chips, mayonnaise, and the Hot Honey Sauce on a potato roll. There’s also a version with bacon.

I was surprised about the addition of mayo because I imagined it would affect the flavor and heat of the peppery sauce, and it did. I kind of wish there was a double application of the swicy sauce instead of one layer of mayo because the sauce is quite good with a natural honey flavor. It has a perfect amount of sweetness and an ideal level of spiciness for something with “hot” in its name.

McDonald’s Hot Honey McCrispy split view

Another topping that seemed unnecessary was the crispy jalapeno. I initially mistook them for crispy onions because they look similar. They were also mostly flavorless and provided no additional spiciness. If anything, all they added was a pleasant crispiness to enhance the chicken filet’s exterior.

Despite the mayo and the lack of pop from the crispy jalapeno chips, it’s a pretty tasty sandwich and more enjoyable than a Spicy McCrispy. I guess if the mayo bothers me, I could leave it out the next time I try this sandwich, which is tasty enough to repurchase.

McDonald’s Hot Honey Sauce cup and McNuggets

While some of the toppings on the sandwich cut through the sauce’s sweet and spicy flavors, I felt the full brunt of the sauce’s taste and heat when I ate it with my McNuggets, and I loved it. Eating it this way, I could really taste its sweetness and pepperiness, feel its spiciness, and appreciate the nice balance between the two.

McNugget dipped into McDonald’s Hot Honey Sauce

Because there wasn’t anything to hold back the heat, I could feel it build up to a decent level, which I’d give a five on my personal heat index. If I remember correctly, many of the other McDonald’s spicy sauces released in recent years were hotter.

Overall, I would love to see this sauce become permanent, so I just hope the Hot Honey Bandwagon never loses its wheels.

Purchased Price: $6.99 (McCrispy), $2.99 (McNuggets)
Rating: 7 out of 10 (McCrispy), 8 out of 10 (sauce)
Nutrition Facts: (McCrispy) 660 calories, 34 grams of fat, 5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 70 milligrams of cholesterol, 1240 milligrams of sodium, 62 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 17 grams of sugar (including 15 grams of added sugar), and 27 grams of protein. (Dipping Sauce Cup) 50 calories, 0.5 grams of fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 230 milligrams of sodium, 13 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 11 grams of sugar, and 0 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Taco Bell Luxe Value Menu

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Taco Bell Luxe Value Menu

Taco Bell has gotten expensive.

I’ve seen your comments complaining, and I completely agree with you because I hear the voices in my head yelling profanities in between statements like, “SEVEN DOLLAR DIPPING BURRITOS!? Back in my day, you could spend seven dollars at Taco Bell and eat for seven days! Now get off my lawn!”

Those days of a few dollars getting you a lot of food are long gone, but Taco Bell has heard your grumbling and my mind’s cursing because there’s now a new Luxe Value Menu that features ten items that are advertised for three dollars or less. While that’s not like the days of yore quiero Taco Bell, it’s a start.

Of those ten menu items, five are new-ish: Beefy Potato Loaded Griller, Salted Caramel Churros, Mini Taco Salad, Chips and Nacho Supreme Dip, and Avocado Ranch Chicken Stacker. The not-new-ish are the Cheesy Double Beef Burrito, Spicy Potato Soft Taco, Cheesy Bean & Rice Burrito, 3-Cheese Chicken Flatbread Melt, and Cheesy Roll Up. I’ll be reviewing the five new-ish ones here.

Avocado Ranch Chicken Stacker

Avocado Ranch Chicken Stacker

Let’s start with my least favorite of the bunch, which features grilled all-white-meat chicken, avocado ranch, creamy chipotle sauce, a three-cheese blend, lettuce, and tomatoes, all wrapped in a folded tortilla.

Yeah, it’s my least favorite of the bunch, but it’s still decent. Although I’m not sure mine was made correctly, I could definitely taste the avocado ranch sauce, but not the creamy chipotle. Whatever I got, it’s pretty basic tasting with just the chicken and ranch sauce coming through. The poultry is tender, and the lettuce adds a little crunch, but the tomatoes aren’t noticeable at all, despite my order having several chunks.

The Avocado Ranch Chicken Stacker is a limited time offering, but it’s so mid that it’s okay to skip it. Also, it’s the priciest of the bunch.

Purchased Price: $2.99
Rating: 5 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 430 calories. No other nutritional information is available at the time of publication.

Beefy Potato Loaded Griller

Let’s follow up my least favorite of the bunch with my favorite: a grilled roll-up filled with seasoned beef, crispy potato bites, chipotle sauce, nacho cheese sauce, and reduced-fat sour cream. Those of you who edit the Taco Bell Wiki probably realize that this is awfully similar to Taco Bell’s Beefy Potato-rito from 2017. The only ingredient difference between this and that is the addition of sour cream in this one.

I gave the Beefy Potato-rito a 7 out of 10, and I’m going to give this one a slightly better score because it’s bigger, making it beefier and potato-ier. There’s a chili cheese fries vibe with these, and I love the seasoned beef and potato combo. The nacho cheese is the most noticeable of the sauces, and there’s also a slight kick that might be coming from the chipotle sauce, but it doesn’t build to anything beyond smoldering. The Beefy Potato Loaded Griller is terrific, and it makes me wonder why more Taco Bell items don’t have potatoes in them. Will definitely be repurchasing this.

Purchased Price: $2.79
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 490 calories, 25 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 30 milligrams of cholesterol, 1120 milligrams of sodium, 54 grams of carbohydrates, 5 grams of fiber, 3 grams of sugar (including 2 grams of added sugar), and 12 grams of protein.

Mini Taco Salad

Mini Taco Salad

Let me start by saying this Mini Taco Salad is super adorable. That adorable mini tortilla bowl is filled with seasoned beef, chipotle sauce, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, and refried beans. I want to call it a Taco Side Salad.

Despite having “salad” in its name, it’s more meaty than salad-y. Actually, if it didn’t have the lettuce, it looks like the dip from the chips & dip you’ll read about next. With the lettuce and tortilla bowl, it has that familiar taco salad taste. So it’s almost everything you’d taste from a regular taco salad, but in a cuter form.

However, I think the best thing about the Mini Taco Salad is the fact that I didn’t need a fork to eat it. Sure, I was given one, but I took one look at the mini tortilla bowl and thought, “Yeah, not gonna need utensils with this one.” Then I picked it up with my hands and started chomping away. Surprisingly, I didn’t make a mess. Your cleanliness may vary.

Purchased Price: $2.49
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 280 calories, 16 grams of fat, 4 grams of saturated fat, 20 milligrams of cholesterol, 490 milligrams of sodium, 26 grams of carbohydrates, 6 grams of fiber, 2 grams of sugar, and 9 grams of protein.

Chips & Nacho Supreme Dip

Chips & Nacho Supreme Dip

I’m a little surprised this wasn’t called Chips & Six-Layer Dip. Okay, “six” doesn’t EXACTLY rhyme with “chips” and “dip,” but it kind of does. Those six layers include seasoned beef, beans, nacho cheese sauce, reduced-fat sour cream, pico de gallo, and a three-cheese blend, which is served with a sleeve of tortilla chips.

As I looked at the Luxe Value Menu on my table, I had thoughts about dumping the Nacho Supreme Dip into the Mini Taco Salad’s tortilla bowl and eating them as a combined menu item. Maybe I’ll spend five dollars to do that during my next Taco Bell run.

The dip is plentiful, and there’s enough for all the chips given. Much like the Beefy Potato Loaded Griller, the nacho cheese sauce is the most noticeable condiment. With my order, there was a slight bitterness, which might’ve been from the pico de gallo. The dip overall had a familiar flavor, which isn’t surprising since it’s made with common ingredients in the Taco Bell Universe. I guess you could think of this as a burrito filling that doesn’t have a flour tortilla to go home to.

The chips and dip were enjoyable, and I would spend another $2.50 to eat them again.

Purchased Price: $2.49
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 360 calories. No other nutritional information is available at the time of publication.

Salted Caramel Churros

Salted Caramel Churros

I ended my Luxe meal with the only dessert on the menu. An order comes with three pieces featuring a creamy filling and a crispy exterior dusted with salted caramel-flavored sugar. That crystalline substance on the crispy fried dough is definitely sweet and definitely salty, but perhaps a bit more salty than I was expecting.

The creamy filling adds a modest amount of sweetness, but I kind of question whether it was necessary if all the salted caramel flavor comes from the sugary coating. I also wondered whether the filling wanted to be involved with this dessert, because when I bit into a piece on one end, the filling would escape from the other, as if it were trying to run away from being associated with these churros.

Other than being saltier than I expected, I think these churros were worth it. For $1.99, you don’t have to fork over much.

Purchased Price: $1.99
Size: 3 pieces
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 230 calories, 16 grams of fat, 5 grams of saturated fat, 10 milligrams of cholesterol, 20 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 12 grams of sugar (including 12 grams of added sugar), and 2 grams of protein.

With Taco Bell’s Luxe Value Menu, you won’t be able to stretch five dollars as much as you could a decade or so ago. However, you can get two or three of these items for five, six, or seven dollars. I paid under $13 for all five, which isn’t enough to quiet the voices in my head. Although they’re whispering, “That’s not too bad.”

REVIEW: Burger King Ultimate Steakhouse Whopper

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Steakhouse Bacon Whopper whole

Some of your stomachs might be thinking, “Hey! Didn’t I recently digest a Burger King Ultimate Steakhouse Whopper?” Also, I imagine some of your intestines are wondering the same thing.

Well, digestive tracts, what you’re thinking of is not the Ultimate Steakhouse Whopper. Instead, what you remember is last year’s Steakhouse Bacon Whopper, which had a flame-grilled beef patty topped with bacon, two tomato slices, lettuce, Swiss cheese, crispy onions, A.1. Sauce, and a creamy peppercorn aioli between a sesame seed bun.

This Ultimate Steakhouse Whopper does not feature all of the ingredients listed above, plus a few more to make it the “ultimate.” Instead, it swaps the vegetables with onion rings and sauteed mushrooms, and leaves the A.1. Sauce off. But the bacon, Swiss, and peppercorn aioli are still there. Maybe this should’ve been named Steakhouse Bacon Whopper 2?

In my review of the Steakhouse Bacon Whopper, I wondered whether the peppercorn aioli could carry the entire burger’s flavor, since the addition of A.1. Sauce made everything taste barbecue-y. Well, it turns out that while last year’s version had a “Western” barbecue flavor, the Ultimate Steakhouse Whopper tastes like another burger variety — mushroom & Swiss.

Steakhouse Bacon Whopper split

Looking back at my previous reviews of Burger King menu items featuring mushrooms, their flavors ranged from too much to non-existent. With this Whopper, the ‘shrooms make themselves known just the right amount, with the peppercorn aioli enhancing the savoriness of the ‘shrooms and Swiss and adding a mild pepperiness. The sauce creates a noticeable difference from other mushroom & Swiss burgers. So I guess I finally got my answer about the peppercorn aioli. It can carry an entire burger.

Almost Olympic rings number of onion rings in my Steakhouse Bacon Whopper

What didn’t do any heavy lifting were the onion rings and bacon. While I was excited about the addition of onion rings, they didn’t bring much taste, despite having six and a half rings in my order. Instead, they provided a bit of crunch and texture to contrast with the mostly soft ingredients, especially the squishy mushrooms. I’m also surprised the bacon didn’t bring its usual salty, smoky, and porky attributes, despite a sheet of it in my burger.

The lack of flavor from the onion rings and bacon is a shame, because I think they would’ve helped distance this burger even further from a mostly mushroom-and-Swiss-tasting offering than the peppercorn aioli. While it isn’t ultimately unique, it’s still a tasty menu item. However, the $13.99 I paid, which is more than many of you will pay, makes my stomach ache.

Purchased Price: $13.99*
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 1020 calories, 60 grams of fat, 20 grams of saturated fat, 1 gram of trans fat, 130 milligrams of cholesterol, 1950 milligrams of sodium, 77 grams of carbohydrates, 9 grams of fiber, 14 grams of sugar, and 44 grams of protein.

*Because I live on a rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, things are a bit pricier here. You’ll probably pay less than I did. Because, damn, $13.99 is a lot to pay.

REVIEW: Burger King Cinnamon Apple Pie

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Burger King Cinnamon Apple Pie sleeve

There are a few places in the United States where McDonald’s offers fried pies. One of those places is this rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I heard a fourth party rumor that this has been the case because the McDonald’s franchisee here refused to sell the baked version, believing that selling the fried apple pie with the molten filling would be appropriate for the islands with an active volcano spewing molten lava.

Look, I could waste more of your time by speaking glowingly about the McDonald’s Fried Apple Pie until the cows that make the dairy in McFlurrys come home. Instead, I will give you some time back by telling you not to spend any on Burger King’s new Cinnamon Apple Pie, available for a limited time and featuring a golden, crispy crust and warm cinnamon apple filling.

Burger King Cinnamon Apple Pie size next to Apple TV remote

First off, Burger King’s version pales in comparison to McDonald’s Fried Apple Pie. But since many of you can’t experience that fried fruity goodness, I’m going to compare this Burger King dessert with something similar many of you can order — Popeyes’ Cinnamon Apple Pie.

Burger King Cinnamon Apple Pie filling

While the Burger King version looks roughly the same size, that’s all it has got going for it. The filling in the BK pie has an astringent taste that brought some weirdness to some bites. If the filling had more flavor and sweetness, it might’ve overcome that, but it was overall a bit mild.

Burger King Cinnamon Apple Pie crust close up

As for the crust, it wasn’t as crispy as the pies from other fast food chains, and the seams at the ends came apart as my bites got closer to them, causing the jelly-like part of the filling to ooze out. If this were a freshly made pie when I started eating it, my fingers would’ve felt the burn.

Popeyes Cinnamon Apple Pie as comparison

So, basically, the Popeyes version is crispier, sweeter, fruitier, sturdier, and cinnamon-ier, and what makes it significantly better is the cinnamon sugar coating. It ups the sweetness and gives the pie a stronger cinnamon kick, which Burger King’s offering really needed.

While BK’s Cinnamon Apple Pie isn’t horrible, I can’t recommend it when there’s something significantly better. But I guess if you don’t have a Popeyes location near you (or a Whataburger, which also offers something similar), then this is your only option if you want to experience a fried apple pie. But if you do have easy access to the Louisiana Kitchen, don’t waste your time or money on this pie.

Purchased Price: $2.99
Rating: 5 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 270 calories, 12 grams of fat, 5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 280 milligrams of sodium, 36 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 9 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Starbucks Iced Dubai Chocolate Mocha

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Starbucks Iced Dubai Chocolate Mocha cup

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard of Dubai chocolate. It’s a thick chocolate with pistachio cream, tahini, and shredded phyllo pastry. It went viral over the last few years, and now Starbucks has jumped on the bandwagon to capitalize on the flavor and the popularity.

Starbucks introduced the Iced Dubai Chocolate Mocha and, wow, is this thing a treat. I felt like I was drinking a decadent dessert – in a good way – rather than a morning coffee.

The first thing to note is that there is A LOT going on here. You’ve got your espresso and mocha sauce, standard of any Starbucks mocha drink, but then you add in pistachio cream cold foam and what Starbucks calls a “Salted Brown-Buttery Topping.” I wasn’t sure how everything would mesh, but it proved to be a winner.

Starbucks Iced Dubai Chocolate Mocha foam

This drink is much creamier and thicker than a usual mocha. It almost feels like you’re getting a mouthfeel of a bite of chocolate. The pistachio cream cold foam stayed very intact and worked its way naturally into the drink like a dream. I’ll admit that I don’t feel the topping on the cold foam added much of its own flavor, but again, lots of meshing together here. I’m glad Starbucks went iced with this drink – I’m not sure the flavors would have had the same effect in a hot version.

Starbucks Iced Dubai Chocolate Mocha smile

You have to know up front that you’re getting a ton of sugar and even sodium here, but I was pleasantly surprised to see it had nine grams of protein.

I’ll definitely get this one again and might even consider it as a dessert by swapping the espresso shot for decaf if it’s later in the evening.

Purchased Price: $5.95
Size: Tall
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 330 calories, 15 grams of total fat, 10 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 45 milligrams of cholesterol, 180 milligrams of sodium, 41 grams of total carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 38 grams of total sugars, 9 grams of protein, and 80 milligrams of caffeine.

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