Tag: Taco Bell

What is it?

Taco Bell’s new Cherry Bliss Freeze is for the kind of people who steal all the red Jolly Ranchers out of the bag. You know who you are.

How is it?

As big a sugar fiend as I am, I’m not a huge consumer of sugary drinks. I don’t dislike them, but my reasoning is that if I have a limited calorie allotment for treats, then I’d rather have my fun in the form of cake, or maybe a sundae, as opposed to a liquid. That said, I was excited to try the Cherry Bliss Freeze because it gave me an excuse to do something unusual for me. I also prefer black cherry soda on the rare occasions when I have soda, so I’m already something of a cherry fan.

Circumstances aligned themselves in favor of me liking the CBF: I got it on an unseasonably warm day, and I was feeling pretty thirsty by the time I got it home. It was actually hard to wait long enough to take a photo, because I was that parched.

My first sip, all I could think about was Luden’s Cough Drops. Apparently, they’ve rebranded as Throat Drops because they were never actually cough drops, or something, but you probably know what I’m talking about. The more I sipped, the more it started to taste like fruit punch. Apparently, Taco Bell uses the flavors of strawberry, raspberry, and blackberry in this freeze, so it stands to reason that it would taste like a mix. The final impression it left me with is liquified Cherry Starburst. I think those of us who are into cherry-flavored products will approve of that.

As you would expect, this thing is incredibly sweet. I actually liked it more toward the second half of the drink, as the ice started to melt and the water diluted the flavor a little bit.

Anything else you need to know?

Taco Bell’s promotional images for this depict it as red and purple in color, but what I received was pink. Was this a mistake, or is something else going on here?

Conclusion:

If you like cherry-flavored things, you’re not going to do much better than this.

Purchased Price: $2.99
Size: Small
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 180 calories, 0 grams of fat, 70 milligrams of sodium, 47 grams of carbohydrates, 45 grams of sugar, and 0 grams of protein.

If not for Taco Bell’s new Loaded TRUFF Nacho Fries, I don’t think I would’ve made any effort to try TRUFF’s Original Hot Sauce. Sure, it’s one of Oprah’s Favorite Things, but spending $18 for a six-ounce bottle of black truffle-infused hot sauce that may or may not be worth $18 is a bet my wallet is not willing to open its bifold for.

Other than the sauce, you’ve probably had all the other ingredients together in a burrito or on fries because this is Taco Bell’s Steak Nacho Fries, except the chipotle sauce has been replaced with pricey hot sauce. But if you’re unfamiliar with this combination, it’s Taco Bell’s-could-be-permanent-but-will-never-be Nacho Fries with marinated steak, nacho cheese, cheddar cheese, tomatoes, reduced-fat sour cream, and of course, TRUFF Hot Sauce.

As I drove this home from the second closest Taco Bell location, it filled my car with the aroma of tomatoes. The smell made me wonder if the headlining ingredient had a bit of tomato-ness to it or if I’m going to be surprised by a tray of nothing but diced tomatoes. Thankfully, it was neither.

The hot sauce, which reminds me of claymation movie blood, is not that hot. Well, at least to me. The TRUFF website claims the condiment is between 2,500-3,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU), which is how spicy Tapatio is. But I found it to be as tame as Taco Bell’s Mild Sauce. Maybe the nacho cheese and sour cream take it down several hundred SHUs, or maybe there was not a lot of it on my order because it’s $18 for a bottle of the stuff, and Taco Bell employees can’t be generous with it like they sometimes are with hot sauce packets or ice in beverages.

Thankfully, the lack of heat allowed the light truffle flavor to come through, even with all the other ingredients. The sauce also has a slight sweetness, and the peppers and spices in it make it flavorful beyond just the truffles. Overall, it’s a tasty condiment on these loaded fries.

Is the sauce good enough to convince me to buy an $18 bottle of it? No, but I would be happy if Santa put a bottle in my stocking. Is it good enough that I would order Taco Bell Loaded TRUFF Nacho Fries again? Yes.

Purchased Price: $6.99*
Size: N/A
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 500 calories, 31 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 35 milligrams of cholesterol, 1250 milligrams of sodium, 40 grams of carbohydrates, 4 grams of fiber, 3 grams of sugar (including 1 gram of added sugar), and 15 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.

Taco Bell’s website describes its Cheesy Double Beef Burrito as having “seasoned rice, seasoned beef, nacho cheese sauce, fiesta strips, three cheese blend, reduced fat sour cream wrapped in a warm tortilla.”

Oh, I’m sorry. I copied and pasted the ingredients for Taco Bell’s Beefy Melt Burrito.

Here’s what the website says the Cheesy Double Beef Burrito has: Double the seasoned beef as compared to a Crunchy Taco, seasoned rice, nacho cheese sauce, fiesta strips, reduced fat sour cream, and a three-cheese blend wrapped in a warm flour tortilla.

Hey, wait a minute. So the Cheesy Double Beef Burrito is a beefier Beefy Melt Burrito, or a Beeeefy Melt Burrito, if you will.

If you’re a regular Taco Bell-er I’m sure you already recognized this. And being so astute when it comes to all things Taco Bell, you probably knew there was a Cheesy Double Beef Burrito before that didn’t have the fiesta strips and sour cream.

As for how it tastes, well, the first thought that popped into my head after taking a bite was that it tastes like what I imagine is the textbook flavor definition of Taco Bell. And that’s because there’s nothing unique about the combination of ingredients, nor is there something that makes this product special, like Frito-Lay chips or a new sauce.

If you’ve eaten many different Taco Bell products over the years, there’s a 99 percent chance that you’ve eaten something with the combination of seasoned beef, seasoned rice, nacho cheese sauce, three cheese blend, and reduced fat sour cream. And let’s face it, the seasoned rice is more for filler than flavor, and the three cheese blend’s flavor gets lost when paired with nacho cheese sauce. So the ingredients that really get noticed here by my tongue are beef, nacho cheese, and sour cream, and I don’t have enough fingers to count the number of times those three ended up in the same product.

I will admit I was surprised by this burrito’s heft. I guess having double the seasoned beef as a crunchy taco makes a difference. Also, the fiesta strips still had some crunch even after I drove home and took photos.

Is it good? Yeah, it’s good. Is it inventive? No. Would I order it again? If I could buy it at the $2 advertised price, definitely. Even at the $3.59 price I paid because I live on a rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean where everything is more expensive, I probably would.

Purchased Price: $3.59
Size: N/A
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 620 calories, 30 grams of fat, 12 grams of saturated fat, 0.5 grams of trans fat, 60 milligrams of cholesterol, 1440 milligrams of sodium, 64 grams of carbohydrates, 7 grams of fiber, 4 grams of sugar, and 24 grams of protein.

Taco Bell’s latest offering features Nacho Fries topped with steak, nacho cheese sauce, tomatoes, reduced-fat sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, and the new White Hot Ranch Sauce.

Yes, that combination of ingredients, minus the White Hot Ranch, seems familiar. I’m probably going to have to look through our entire review archive to find out what it is. Give me an hour or so.

(Seconds later)

Oh, they were in last month’s Steak Nacho Fries Burrito. So this new menu item, which is also available in burrito form, is basically last month’s menu item, except the chipotle sauce is swapped for the White Hot Ranch Sauce. I expect this reusing of ingredient combos from Taco Bell, but not with back-to-back products.

Since I imagine many of you have an idea of how most of this menu item tastes, let’s focus on the White Hot Ranch Sauce. The best way I can describe it is to say its flavor and heat remind me of Flamin’ Hot Cool Ranch Doritos, but I’m not saying they taste alike. With the chips, they were basically spicy Cool Ranch Doritos where the Flamin’ Hot’s flavors didn’t come into play. And with this sauce, it’s pretty much a spicy ranch. It has a noticeable tanginess with some heat, but there’s no flavor from that kick. With that said, it’s a tasty addition to the vast Taco Bell sauce lineup, and I enjoyed it enough that I found myself trying to scrape up as much as I could from the bottom of the container.

As for its spiciness, I’d put it at a lower mid-level heat. But I wonder if it might’ve been higher if the somewhat soothing sauces of nacho cheese and sour cream weren’t there.

When I first read about these topped Nacho Fries, I thought, “Did Taco Bell get rid of its Spicy Ranch and replace it with this new spicy ranch? Or is this Spicy Ranch, but with a longer name?”

No and no. Taco Bell now has two spicy ranch sauces available.

What’s the difference? The older one has habanero peppers, while the newer one has ghost chile powder, which makes it slightly spicier. Ohhhh, now I get it, “white hot” = “ghost chile.” I should’ve put dos and dos together.

I noticed a few other things about the menu item as a whole. While as tender as it always is, the steak tasted different to me. It was low…okay, it’s always been somewhat low quality to begin with, but it had a slightly less meaty flavor. Also, I will repeat what I wrote in my Steak Nacho Fries Burrito review. I really liked the tomato’s acidic bursts, which bring fresh, tasty moments that cut through all the savoriness and spiciness.

Overall, the combination of most of the ingredients in Taco Bell’s Steak White Hot Ranch Fries isn’t new, but the addition of the White Hot Ranch Sauce makes it worth a try.

Purchased Price: $5.79*
Size: N/A
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 510 calories, 33 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 40 milligrams of cholesterol, 1040 milligrams of sodium, 40 grams of carbohydrates, 4 grams of fiber, 4 grams of sugar, and 14 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.

What is the Taco Bell Steak Nacho Fries Burrito?

It features the returning Nacho Fries with steak, tomatoes, reduced-fat sour cream, cheddar cheese, chipotle sauce, and nacho cheese sauce inside a warm flour tortilla.

How is it?

Well, it depends on how tired you are of Taco Bell’s creamy chipotle sauce. I’m fine with it because it’s still tasty to me, but it sure seems as if it’s been in every product the chain has put out over the past six months. So I wouldn’t be surprised if there are folks whose taste buds have grown bored of it. Last September, it came with the Crispy Chicken Sandwich Taco. Last November, it was in the Double Steak Grilled Cheese Burrito. In January, it was nestled in the Chipotle Cheddar Chalupa. And, last month, it was squirted into a Cantina Crispy Chicken Taco. But if you’re like me and still enjoy that smoky, slightly spicy sauce, then there’s a great chance you’ll like it in this burrito.

Along with the creamy chipotle sauce, the other highlight of this menu item was, and this is going to be hard to believe, the tomatoes. Yes, they’ve been in DOZENS of previous products, and I don’t think I’ve ever considered them a highlight. But the bites I enjoyed the most were the ones where the acidic explosion from a tomato happened on the backdrop of the chipotle and nacho cheese sauces, which created something like tomato queso.

The flavors of the headlining ingredients – the steak and Nacho Fries – come through with most bites, but the sauces stand out the most. The steak was, as usual, unusually tender. And, despite hanging out with three different sauces in the flour tortilla, the handful of fries surprisingly had some crispiness to them.

Anything else you need to know?

You’re not alone if you thought to yourself, “Is the Taco Bell Steak Nacho Fries Burrito new?” I confused it with the Loaded Taco Fries Burrito I had last summer that had seasoned beef, Nacho Fries, crispy red strips, lettuce, nacho cheese sauce, spicy ranch, tomatoes, and cheese.

Also, while we’re comparing burritos, I felt that this one wasn’t as hefty as the Loaded Taco Fries Burrito because it appears to have fewer fries stuffed in it. Of course, your fry stuff-age may vary.

Conclusion:

If you want to celebrate the return of Taco Bell’s Nacho Fries, its Steak Nacho Fries Burrito is a delicious way to do so.

Purchased Price: $4.59*
Size: N/A
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 520 calories, 27 grams of fat, 7 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 40 milligrams of cholesterol, 1140 milligrams of sodium, 53 grams of carbohydrates, 4 grams of fiber, 5 grams of sugar, and 17 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.