We Tasted And Ranked Every Item On Taco Bell's New Cantina Chicken Menu
During Taco Bell's boisterous Live Más Live, many of 2024's menu items were revealed and served up for the first time to the salivating public. Taco Bell's new desserts have opened eyes, and the Cheesy Chicken Crispanada was an immediate "Yes!" Making less noise but hoping to make a name for itself is the new Cantina Chicken Menu, featuring five items: the Cantina Chicken Bowl, Chicken Burrito, Chicken Crispy Taco, Chicken Soft Taco, and Chicken Quesadilla. That's a lot of chicken, so what's all this clucked up to be about?
In a press release, Taco Bell's Global Chief Food Innovation Officer Liz Matthews said, "This Cantina Chicken menu has been a labor of love and we've worked tirelessly to ensure we landed on the best slow-roasted chicken recipe and selected the finest supporting ingredients to maximize craveability." She added. "We knew our fans wanted more chicken, and we also knew that we could elevate chicken with unexpected ingredients like purple cabbage and Avocado Verde Salsa."
With these five new Cantina items, has Taco Bell taken chicken to new heights, or do they need to be knocked down a few pegs? Like any proud Taco Bell Rewards member, I took advantage of the early access perk and assessed which was the best of the best, and which ones should perhaps take a rest. This chew-and-review ranking of Taco Bell's new Cantina Chicken Menu is based on taste, texture, and overall lovability — you can read more about how I decided the ranking at the end of the article.
5. Cantina Chicken Burrito
Without even taking a bite, one would safely assume that a burrito is probably going to be the biggest winner out of any item added to a new sub-menu at Taco Bell. Apparently, that is not always the case, as the new Cantina Chicken Burrito sadly proves to be the exception to this assumptive rule.
From the outward look of it, this burrito appears decently sized, with crisp, browned folds that came about in its pressing. The exterior cannot actually be cracked open and holds firm throughout. A first bite didn't reveal much, unless folded tortilla breading and crisp pieces of purple cabbage are something to take note of. Those two took up about a quarter of this burrito, and that's where I should have stopped with this one, as it somehow goes downward from there.
I'm not sure if it's the onions in the pico de gallo or the Avocado Ranch Sauce, or perhaps even the combination of the two, but this burrito somehow has a bitter taste that the palate won't be able to bypass. This unexpected acidity soils the entire burrito, stopping enjoyment dead in its tracks. The pungent taste mutes all the other ingredients, like the new slow-roasted chicken or usual dependable Creamy Chipotle Sauce, basically making this one an odd coleslaw burrito that any eater will try hard to quickly forget.
4. Cantina Chicken Bowl
It's actually quite surprising that Taco Bell doesn't offer more bowls, so the Cantina Chicken Bowl seems like an instantly welcome addition. This bowl is beautifully laid out, as if the one that was made for me just came fresh from a photoshoot. The bowl's perfectly portioned ingredients all butt up against one another, with shredded lettuce taking the most real estate, concealing a bed of rice. Also looking good on top is a pile of reddened chicken, a pool of black beans, an island of purple cabbage, and mounds of pico de gallo and guacamole, all of it finished off with a mound of cheese covering dollops of sour cream and Avocado Ranch Sauce.
While this bowl is essentially an open-faced version of the Cantina Chicken Burrito, it somehow escapes the latter's bitter trappings as being something wholly indelible. Since everything is initially separated, I was able to taste each component as is. This wasn't good news for the new chicken, which turned out to be a disappointment. The not-so-chunky meat is dressed up with garlic, onion, chilies, and Mexican spices, and somehow, with all that, it doesn't make much of a mark, unless we're talking question marks.
As a whole, this bowl is completely fine and good to have for those who want one. I'm not sure it warrants a $7.99 suggested price tag, but it certainly is plentiful. Perhaps it would have fared better with non-shredded lettuce and a stronger dressing like the Creamy Chipotle Sauce.
3. Cantina Chicken Soft Taco
Taco Bell rings truest for the items that have kept it going for all these decades, and that's why it's no shock that a new soft taco offering would easily be a tasty snack. The Cantina Chicken Soft Taco isn't anything all that revelatory, just standard fare sure to please longtime customers looking for yet another soft option. This one includes the new Cantina chicken, Avocado Ranch Sauce, shredded iceberg lettuce and purple cabbage, pico de gallo, and thin shredded cheddar cheese.
Sure, the soft shell can crack easily, and its open top lends itself to losing ingredients rather easily, but at a suggested low price point of $2.99, the Cantina Chicken Soft Taco presents itself as a good value for what it is. Sure, it shares many commonalities on the inside with its brethren bowl and burrito, but it proves that less is more within a soft taco. The chicken here is also not all that flavorful, but it's passable swimming in all the other trimmings, so don't be afraid to douse this taco with the entire packet of the new Avocado Verde Salsa.
2. Cantina Chicken Crispy Taco
What's better than a good ol' soft taco? How about a crispy one that's been gloriously cheesed up on its exterior? The Cantina Chicken Crispy Taco was the second item I taste-tested, and since I already knew right away that it was a step up from the Cantina Chicken Soft Taco, I had a feeling that the other three items to follow would be just as awesome. That didn't exactly turn out to be the case, but I was most happy to return to this Crispy Taco on second, third, and polishing off rounds of eating it.
This taco is an even more pared-down item, consisting only of the new slow-roasted chicken, a three-cheese blend, and Creamy Jalapeño Sauce. Here, even less is even more of a score. Also, it's a dream to look at, as if peering at the sun slowly rising from the eastern horizon, with shades of yellow, orange, white, and brown appealingly fighting for the love of your eyeballs. This taco kind of tastes like enclosed nachos with chunks of chicken that luckily have the Creamy Jalapeño Sauce to up their flavor profile. It's also a bargain at the suggested price of $2.99. It's so good that it doesn't even need the Avocado Verde Salsa, but it certainly doesn't hurt to apply some for even more flavorful fun.
1. Cantina Chicken Quesadilla
Just when I was ready to crown the Cantina Chicken Crispy Taco the best in show for this new menu, along came the Cantina Chicken Quesadilla, which wanted to have a word with my taste buds about such a preemptive crowning. This item is essentially the exact same thing as the Crispy Taco but swaps out the Creamy Jalapeño Sauce for the Creamy Chipotle Sauce. Also, it's bigger, greasier (always a welcome sign), and comes in handy four-slice form, which is nifty for sharing, or perhaps allowing an eater to take a break from scarfing this delicious beauty down in a matter of seconds.
This one works better than all the rest because it's super cheesy, which helps to disguise the chicken's lack of flavor, and it's covered in the zesty chipotle sauce, which has light bits of smoky heat and a creamy coolness to it. The suggested price of $6.49 actually seems a bit high compared to the Crispy Taco, which doesn't seem that much smaller, but some things are worth the splurge. This is one new item that I hope sticks around for the long haul.
Methodology
This Cantina Chicken Menu taste test was conducted at a Taco Bell in Manhattan at around 9 a.m. All five items were ordered through Taco Bell's app, as they were only available to Taco Bell Rewards members during the early access period. The full Cantina Chicken Menu will be available to order by anyone starting on March 21.
The five items were sampled in an order based on which would stay warmest for the least amount of time. Then a second round of tasting was held to compare and contrast each from the others. The final ranking is based on their actual taste, texture, smell, warmth, cost value, likelihood of reordering it, and overall lovability.