Review: Taco Bell's New Luxe Value Menu Is The Affordable Option We Need Right Now

When it comes to fast-food innovation and seizing viral moments, very few brands do it quite like Taco Bell. Over the years, the chain has done a lot to lean into its reputation as a fun, affordable, and ultimately super customizable fast-food experience, which has managed to keep customers coming back. But now, the beloved chain, known for its relatively budget-friendly pricing, is going for something that's ostensibly a little more highbrow with the introduction of its Luxe Value Menu.

As the name suggests, the latest set of items added to the Taco Bell menu takes an elevated approach to presentation and ingredients, all while still maintaining an affordable price point of $3 or less. But are these fancy new features all they're cracked up to be? Last week, I was invited to a Taco Bell Cantina location in Herald Square, Manhattan, to be one of the first to sample the entire menu. While I was a little skeptical of this allegedly fancy approach, I was actually quite surprised by how well many of these debut items turned out. Here's how I think the entire menu stacks up, including which items I'll likely be going out of my way to order again.

If you're already excited to dive into the Luxe Value menu yourself, you won't have to wait very long. The new offerings will be rolling out to Taco Bell locations nationwide from January 22, 2026. However, if you're signed up for the Taco Bell Rewards Member loyalty program, you'll get a bit of a head start with early access kicking off on January 16.

The first five items to launch on the menu are a Mini Taco Salad ($2.49), Beefy Potato Loaded Griller ($2.49), Chips & Nacho Supreme Dip ($2.49), Avocado Ranch Chicken Stacker ($2.99), and Salted Caramel Churros ($1.99). These will be joining previous menu items that are returning, including the Cheesy Roll Up, Spicy Potato Soft Taco, Cheesy Bean and Rice Burrito, 3 Cheese Chicken Flatbread Melt, and Cheesy Double Beef Burrito. The menu will also grow with new additions throughout the year, but the Churros are the only new item on the menu that will be available for a limited time only (before they go the same way as other discontinued Taco Bell desserts). 

When it comes to nutritional information, these items are quite moderate. The Mini Taco Salad has 280 calories and 16 grams of fat; the Beefy Potato Loaded Griller has 490 calories and 25 grams of fat; the Chips & Nacho Supreme Dip has 360 calories and 19 grams of fat; the Avocado Ranch Chicken Stacker has 360 calories and 16 grams of fat, and; the Salted Caramel Churros have 230 calories and 16 grams of fat.

Our full tasting started off with this dish, which looked plenty appealing and well-presented in its crispy tortilla bowl. Our hosts explained that while "mini" might be in the name, this is actually the size that other versions of taco salad have been at the chain in the past. It only took a couple of bites to realize that, despite its compact stature, it's still a very satisfying option. The layered combination of seasoned beef, creamy chipotle sauce, Cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and refried beans really works, with the spiciness of the chipotle providing a nice kick at the end amid the cool, crunchy lettuce.

I personally really enjoyed the hearty, creamy element brought by the refried beans. The taco shell itself is pretty bland on its own, but when eaten with the rest of the ingredients (presumably as intended), it fulfilled its intended purpose of providing a great crunchy base. Naturally, this would be hard to order from a drive-thru window and eat in the car without making a mess, but if I'm taking a table and eating in-house, you can absolutely count me in on this side dish.

I'm a huge fan of Taco Bell's potatoes, which I've counted on as an addition in the past to help bulk up a lot of my favorite orders. In this case, the new Luxe Value Menu has done the work for me, incorporating seasoned beef, crispy potato bites, nacho cheese sauce, chipotle sauce, and reduced-fat sour cream, all wrapped up in a flour tortilla and grilled.

Not only did this item have a nice heft to it for costing just $2.49, but it also had a nice combination of textures. The fluffy potatoes help carry the savory beef, and the tortilla is positively loaded with just enough creamy sauce and cheese to feel decadent but not soupy. Of course, the chipotle sauce provides a hint of spice that takes it even further.

The toasted tortilla itself also has a decent texture — not too rubbery or limp like some other versions. I noticed cheesier and smokier flavors on the finish, coming from both the nacho and chipotle sauces, too. Still, this is certainly a filling option and what I would imagine an elevated Taco Bell dish (or at least a savvy custom menu order hack) would taste like. Once again, it became a little messy to eat in just a few bites, meaning that it might be hard to eat with your hands while driving if you don't leave it wrapped as you go along. But this isn't enough of a problem to keep me from ordering this again.

As someone who usually tacks a tortilla chip-based item of some kind onto his Taco Bell order, I was pretty excited by this dish. Once I realized it was made with seasoned beef, refried beans, nacho cheese sauce, reduced-fat sour cream, pico de gallo, and topped with a shredded cheese blend, I was actually surprised this didn't already exist on the menu in another form.

It didn't take long for me to realize that this latest iteration beats a basic seven-layer dip any day. The cheese sauce is a highbrow-lowbrow take here, for sure, but the combination of flavors on a perfect swipe that combines all of the ingredients is nothing short of comforting. I don't see the luxe angle if I'm being perfectly honest, but I certainly feel like I'm in familiar territory with it (especially for just $2.49). I especially liked the pico de gallo, which my colleague seated next to me agreed was a definite highlight, providing a lively contrast to the other heavier ingredients.

At first, I found that the texture can also be a little jarring on some bites, with cold ingredients mixing with warm, gloopy ones. But once I started working more towards the middle and picking up more of each ingredient, I didn't really mind it so much — especially thanks to how crispy the accompanying tortilla chips are. I'd warn that this might not travel well as a delivery item, but then again, that might not be the point.

I'll have to admit that I pictured something very different in my mind before this dish was placed in front of me. It's made with all-white-meat chicken, a shredded cheese blend, lettuce, tomatoes, and an avocado ranch sauce. Because of this, there aren't any of the chunks of lively green avocado I'd anticipated.

The compact, folded pocket looked plenty appetizing, but would this live up to the other rich and savory items we'd already tried? It turns out that out of all the protein options on the menu, the chicken at Taco Bell truly is a standout! I love the punch of ranch that makes this both brighter and more decadent at the same time. Unfortunately, the folded pocket that made this option look like a great handheld meal mostly fell apart on one bite, but not entirely. I'm just glad I had a plate handy!

I quickly realized that this stacker has a chicken Caesar wrap quality to it, which I love. It also might be the item I'm most likely to order again, if only because of how different it is from the rest of the regular menu. Still, I couldn't help but notice that it was very wet, making me wish halfway through that there were more chicken and less sauce. And while it might be adding to the dressing's texture, I couldn't tell if there was any avocado in this dish whatsoever, aside from it being in the name.

I grew up enjoying Taco Bell cinnamon twists as a sweet treat, and I've maintained that of all the items this restaurant serves, it has absolutely no business messing up churros. I was somewhat surprised when they arrived at the table as much shorter, bite-sized pieces instead of a longer cut, and without any kind of dipping sauce implied by the name.

My colleague sitting next to me at the tasting pointed out that they looked like a small cannoli, and in one bite changed the description to a "sweet mini mozzarella stick." Despite my initial fears of there being nothing to dip these bites in, they have a cream-cheese-like filling that takes the dessert to the next level and largely removes the need for an extra sauce. They're perfectly crispy and airy around the dense filling, topped with the perfect balance of sugar and salt.

My fellow tasters and I agreed that this was likely the highlight of the tasting — a real bummer, considering it's the only limited-time item being added to the menu. While the smaller, bite-sized stature and seeming lack of gooey caramel might disappoint some, it won't stop me from ordering them again before they disappear. They simply work too well!

Even for a fast-food restaurant that's about as affordable as it gets, the new Taco Bell Luxe Value Menu feels like a win from top to bottom. Does it feel like it's getting particularly fancy in any way? Despite sipping Baja Blast out of a champagne flute during the tasting, it wasn't the massive jump in presentation that I was expecting. But when it comes to flavor, approachability, pricing, and a degree of originality, the new items feel like they'll be rounding out the everyday offerings.

When everything costs $3 or less, it's not hard to see how curious customers will begin adding these items onto their orders (especially when there are starters like the Mini Taco Salad and sides like the Supreme Dip available). While the Salted Caramel Churros may have been the all-around favorite, there wasn't a single item I tried that I wouldn't consider getting again. If anything, I might take some liberties and add hot sauces, extra ingredients, and make other "hacks" to really get the most out of the new dishes. Even without any tweaks, though, these feel like the kind of additions most Taco Bell fans will be happy to have available to them.