Review: Are Taco Bell's New Crispy Chicken Menu Items Worth The Switch-Up?

Taco Bell is a beloved, Mexican-inspired fast food chain. It's even one of icon Dolly Parton's favorite places to frequent. While the chain is best known for its range of ground beef products, including tacos, burritos, and quesadillas, this year promises to be the year of chicken. Earlier in the year, Taco Bell announced that it would be adding new, chicken-based products to the menu. Then, in April, it brought its Crispy Chicken Nuggets to the menu. Now, it's expanding its menu to further incorporate its crispy chicken.

Starting today, customers have the option to order a Crispy Chicken Burrito, a Crispy Chicken Taco, or Chicken Strips (which are different than the nuggets). Plus, the chain is also offering two new sauces to devour them with: a Spicy Ranchero and an Avocado Ranch sauce. But do the products live up to all the hype, or should Taco Bell stick with what it knows? I had the opportunity to dive into this question and taste the new products for myself. Here are my thoughts on the new chicken menu options and sauces.

The new crispy chicken menu items are heavily inspired by the fan favorite Crispy Chicken Nuggets. The new strips use the same signature recipe of all-white meat chicken breast marinated in buttermilk, but in a bigger format. What's different is that this chicken will then be stuffed inside the tacos and burritos that made Taco Bell a household name, as Taco Bell Chief Marketing Officer Taylor Montgomery explained: "Crispy chicken is having a moment, but our fans made it a movement, so we decided to bring our sell-out Nuggets recipe to the formats that defined our brand."

Unfortunately, this is only a limited-time nationwide run, so if you want to try them, there is no time to waste. Score yourself a Crispy Chicken Taco for $2.79, a Crispy Chicken Burrito for $5.49, or two Crispy Chicken Strips for $3.99. How long the limited run will last hasn't been officially announced, but there is some good news if you miss your chance now. Taco Bell states that crispy chicken has a place on their permanent menus starting in 2026.

My first bite of the Crispy Chicken Strips was packed full of flavor. There was the tiniest bit of heat, but it was mostly an earthy warmth laced through a umami-heavy flavor profile. The breading is crunchy enough to offer a nice crisp bite, but not so hard that it's challenging to eat. This is fantastic, because chicken strips having textural issues (like being too hard or too soft) is an issue I've run into frequently at fast food chains. Overall, these were very satisfying and set my taste test off on a great foot — in fact, I prefer them over the crispy chicken nuggets Taco Bell recently brought back.

The Crispy Chicken Strips are made with all-white meat chicken that's been marinated with signature Taco Bell seasonings. The breading is crafted from crunchy tortilla chips. Two Crispy Chicken Strips contain 470 calories. They're automatically served with a Spicy Ranch Sauce, which contains another 210 calories. When eaten together, the meal comes out to 680 calories.

The Crispy Chicken Taco wasn't as amazing as I thought it would be, based on my initial experience with the chicken strips. We have the full flavor of those strips, wrapped up with earthy vegetables, and creamy cheese inside of a soft shell flour tortilla. Unfortunately, there is just something lacking here that I can't pinpoint — it's not bad, but the Crispy Chicken Taco isn't anything to write home about, either. It felt mildly unbalanced and mine (which was eaten with the Spicy Ranchero Sauce) was overly spicy rather than flavorful.

The Crispy Chicken Tacos are made with all-white meat chicken, a warmed flour tortilla, shredded cheese, fresh Pico de Gallo, and lettuce. You can choose between Spicy Ranchero and Avocado Ranch, but mine was topped with Spicy Ranchero Sauce. One taco contains 240 calories, 28% of your daily sodium, 10 grams of fat, and 11 grams of protein. Due to the high sodium content, this isn't a good option for anyone who needs to restrict their salt intake.

From the first bite, I enjoy the Crispy Chicken Burrito much more than the taco. It feels more balanced, and I honestly think the sauce on this one is better (mine came with Avocado Ranch). The sauce difference aside, the burrito's format and fillings are just better. There are more vegetables packed into this one, which provides a heavier earthy profile to balance out the savoriness of the chicken. The cheese and sauce provide rich, creamy notes with the ranch providing the faintest extra hints of earthiness.

The Crispy Chicken Burrito is made with all-white meat chicken, a warmed flour tortilla, cheddar cheese, pico de gallo, lettuce, and shredded purple cabbage with the sauce of your choice. One burrito contains 500 calories, 57% of your daily sodium, 20 grams of fat, and 23 grams of protein. Like the taco, this has a high sodium content that isn't appropriate for those watching their salt intake.

Either the Avocado Ranch Sauce or the Spicy Ranchero Sauce can top either the new crispy chicken taco or burrito offerings. So, after tasting both sauces, and one on each offering, I found that I greatly preferred the Avocado Ranch (despite the fact that you can't taste the avocado in it). There is a faint earthiness and a light kick of heat interspersed through the rich creamy flavor profile that feels balanced and is downright delicious.

The Spicy Ranchero Sauce primarily tastes like pure heat, which isn't something I'm a big fan of. Once that initial heat fades, there is a mildly sweet profile laced with faint earthy notes, but it's a barely noticeable aftertaste. Even worse, this sauce is very overwhelming to the point that it takes over the whole dish.

If you're going to choose one of these sauces, I highly recommend choosing the Avocado Ranch. Unless, of course, you want pure heat with no real discerning flavor, in which case the Spicy Ranchero would work just fine.

The verdict? The chicken strips themselves are actually fantastic, which I'll admit I wasn't expecting from a place known for their vaguely Mexican dishes. I may even prefer these strips over other fast food chicken tender options, too. The burrito is good, the taco is mediocre, and the sauces were a mixed bag. But I was largely underwhelmed by the items into which the crispy chicken was incorporated. They aren't bad by any means, but they're far from the best thing I've ever eaten. Personally, I prefer the standard Taco Bell offerings over the Crispy Chicken Taco or Crispy Chicken Burrito.

That being said, Taco Bell's new crispy chicken might be worth trying if you want to switch things up once in a while. If you do choose to try them, I recommend opting for the burrito over the taco, and the Avocado Ranch over the Spicy Ranchero Sauce. Personally, I'll likely switch things up with the burrito once in a while, but not very often. I'll mostly stick to my go-to top-ranking Ground Beef Crunchwrap Supreme or standard ground beef tacos instead.