We Tried Taco Bell's New Cravings Value Menu Items And This Is Our Favorite One
Taco Bell has long been a destination for fast food eaters looking to maximize the bang for their buck. The chain's value menu, whether it was called the Why Pay More? or Cravings Menu, has always been a reliable go-to for those who want to live más, but at a lower price point. As 2024 just starts to settle in, Taco Bell is freshening up its Cravings Value Menu by adding six brand-new items: the Cheesy Double Beef Burrito, Chicken Enchilada Burrito, Double Stacked Taco, Loaded Beef Nachos, Stacker, and 3-Cheese Chicken Flatbread Melt.
By name, description, and look (outside of the nachos), these new items all seem like slightly differently shaped and filled variations of the same thing. Time is money, and it's always best to save both, so I headed off to my nearest Taco Bell to see which of these new Cravings was worth the expenditures, and which should perhaps be hidden in a cave. Feel free to try this exercise yourself, as it's only $14.74 plus tax to grab this new half-dozen. Fair warning — you won't have any craving room left after doing so.
These new items are available now at participating nationwide Taco Bell locations, while supplies last. Prices and availability may vary per location. They can be ordered in-store, on the app, or through Taco Bell's website. Prices will be higher via delivery.
6. Chicken Enchilada Burrito
Who doesn't love a flattened enchilada, but how is it still an enchilada if it's in the rounded shape of a burrito? The Chicken Enchilada Burrito aims to answer that question (although I'm not sure many people were asking), all for just $2.49.
Inside this standard tortilla lies grilled white-meat chicken, surrounded by seasoned grain rice, reduced-fat sour cream, red sauce, and a three-cheese blend made up of mozzarella, cheddar, and Monterey Jack and American cheese with peppers. The Chicken Enchilada Burrito is certainly a handful by weight, and a mouthful to taste. It also happens to be the one item lowest in total fat out of the six new ones.
Sadly, this enchilada-as-a-burrito thing all comes off as being rather bland. The supposedly spiced red sauce doesn't seem to make much of an impact, and neither does the sour cream, which isn't very present in the taste. Even though the wet rice keeps the contents slick, the chicken is a little dry, spoiling any chance of this being a menu item to truly crave.
With another burrito on the Cravings Value Menu, this is one you certainly don't have to think twice about. I would have been more than happy to pay $2.49 for a super cheesy enchilada, hold the chicken and the burrito.
5. 3-Cheese Chicken Flatbread Melt
The fine citizens and Taco Bell eaters of Dayton, Ohio, are no strangers to the new 3-Cheese Chicken Flatbread Melt. That city was chosen as the test market for this item that pits grilled chicken, a three-cheese blend, and chipotle sauce together in a folded semicircle of flatbread.
I'm not sure the word "flatbread" was initially registering with my brain when I read the menu. By the looks of the $2.29 3-Cheese Chicken Flatbread Melt, it reminded me of a soft taco, albeit thicker. Closer inspection revealed that the breading was more like a browned pita, which automatically made it feel out of place for something sold by Taco Bell.
The positive note with this item is that it's a slight step above the bland Chicken Enchilada Burrito, in that the creamy chipotle sauce adds a tangy heat that resonates long after eating it. It's also the lowest-carb option out of the six new items. The drawback here remains the chicken, which still feels like it's in deep need of more seasoning, even though it's bathed in the strong chipotle sauce. And what's with this flatbread? I'm all for branching out for the brand, but maybe hold off using it until Taco Bell is ready to tackle gyros. Opa!
4. Loaded Beef Nachos
The thing about nachos is that whether they're great or not so great, they're always edible and make for a solid snack. The new Loaded Beef Nachos Taco Bell added to its Cravings Value Menu are nothing super special, and that's completely fine. They are nachos, with stuff on them. What more do you want? Perhaps a lower price point? Even though it's the highest-priced item on the entire value menu at $2.99, it's still an actual good value for what you get.
Oftentimes, when the word "Loaded" appears in an item's name, it never is fully so. However, these Loaded Beef Nachos come through on that promise, with generous amounts of seasoned beef, reduced-fat sour cream, and a salsa-y guacamole strewn about over the lightly salted, thin tortilla chips. There were also red sauce and beans in there, too, but both sort of receded to the background, giving way to those more colorful items holding court in the foreground.
These functional nachos work best as the one value menu item that's shareable with others. It also has the lowest cholesterol out of the new items, at 20 milligrams. Be sure to eat them quickly, as the splayed beef will tend to go cold quickly since it doesn't have a hard or soft tortilla shell to act as a blanket to keep it nice and cozy and warm.
3. Double Stacked Taco
Can't decide between a soft taco or a hard taco? Taco Bell has been solving this choosy conundrum for customers with a best-of-both-worlds option ever since it introduced the Double Decker Taco back in 1995. By 2016, a similar concoction featuring a hard-shelled taco wrapped in a soft-shell tortilla came about under the new name of the Double Stacked Taco. Today, thankfully, the Double Stacked Taco is back in our lives, for the very fair price of $1.99
This juicy beef taco is the messiest of the new bunch, with the shredded cheddar cheese and unremarkable lettuce continually falling loose from this open-faced item. The Double Stacked Taco is also the lowest-calorie option at 320, so shedding some cheese and a bit of lettuce is practically like dieting even more.
With the dual shell textures, kept together by nacho cheese, this also makes for the most fun new item to munch on. Although, with the hard shell already in tow, I'm not sure the addition of the Fiesta strips was at all necessary. They're like not-as-good Fritos that come in the colors of a serape blanket. Perhaps they should be used as confetti to throw in the air, after having such a good time eating this Double Stacked Taco.
2. Cheesy Double Beef Burrito
While I really enjoyed the Double Stacked Taco, for only 80 cents more, you can get a bigger, badder, better, and beefier value item with the new Cheesy Double Beef Burrito. According to Taco Bell, the doubling of the beef is in comparison to the amount one would find in its Beefy Melt Burrito. It also includes rice, fiesta strips, and reduced-fat sour cream.
The beef isn't the only thing that's doubled up in this Double Beef Burrito. This baby has two kinds of cheese substances to really make things very fromage forward. In addition to Taco Bell's three-cheese blend, the nacho cheese is along for the slide. When it comes to cheese, the more is always the merrier.
This heavy-handed burrito is consistently creamy, succulently savory, and just all around darn good. At $2.79, it's not only a great value to crave, it's a steal to rave about.
1. Stacker
After being crushingly disappointed that the Chicken Enchilada Burrito wasn't very enchilada-esque, I found solace in the item that mostly resembled one — the Stacker. Delivered in the shape of a puffed-up triangle, complete with browned grill marks, this item's appearance was just as mysterious as its name.
Like the Cheesy Double Beef Burrito, this one also employs both nacho cheese and the three-cheese blend, but there's nothing else under the tortilla hood but seasoned beef. Simplicity serves this one well, even when the first few nibbles seem to be just folded pieces of tortilla. By the time you get to the center, where all the filling lies, this hot pocket of goodness both warmed and won my heart over. While the other new Craving Value Menu items weren't all that dissimilar, the Stacker is the one that stands out. Let's just say the others don't quite stack up. Like Madonna, Prince, and Cher, the Stacker requires only one name to tell the world it's a true star. Shine bright, Stacker!