Review: Steak And Bacon Are The Stars Of Taco Bell's New Limited Menu Items

For the now-adults who grew up on certain fast foods, the smells, colors, and tastes of these institutions are such a pull for nostalgia that we scarcely need a reason to visit them — just seeing the sign on the outside can be enough to trigger a memory and draw one inside. Taco Bell is certainly that place for me, the thought of their iconic turquoise-hued Baja Blast and Cravings Boxes instantly reminding me of high school hangouts, road-trip pit stops, and happy memories.

Thus, when I heard they were putting some new limited-edition menu items on the roster it was all the excuse I needed to run to the nearest location and place an order. The menu items in question: Pepper Jack Steak Nacho Fries and a Crispy Chicken Chipotle Bacon Melt Burrito (try saying that five times fast).

If you're like me and Taco Bell is one of your go-to fast foods, you probably won't need much reason to pay a visit to the chain — but you may need some convincing to order outside of your tried-and-true favorite menu items. So the question remains: Are these new limited release options worth buying? As a longtime Taco Bell fan, I'll be giving a full honest review of the new burrito and nacho fries, no holds barred.

My process in reviewing these new menu items is largely focused on flavor. There's a running joke among Taco Bell fans about your stomach bubbling the day (or hour) after you've indulged in a meal from the chain, so nutrition value didn't play a role in my judgement. In regards to price, we all know that those tacos are not as cheap as they used to be, but chances are when I get a craving I am going to splurge a bit to satisfy it. Thus, I note the price but it didn't sway my judgement one way or another.

The factors I was looking for are how true-to-the-name these items are (if it says crunchy in the name, that thing better crunch), how they taste after being transported from delivery, how spicy, salty, or fresh they might be, and how they compare to other menu items. Lastly, Taco Bell did not sponsor this review so any positive feedback is purely of my own volition.

Let's get into it: The Crispy Chicken Chipotle Bacon Melt Burrito is a mouthful to say, but the adjectives in the name are quite effective at explaining exactly what you'll get in this burrito for $5.99. The white-meat chicken is tossed in a tortilla chip coating which does an incredible job of staying crispy. Seriously, it eats like fried chicken that's been freshly plucked from the fryer, even after being wrapped up in a tortilla with sauce and cheese, sitting in a bag for a while, and then reheated.

Besides the chicken, there's bacon bits that are seasoned with chipotle spices, a nice layer of melted cheese, a barely-noticeable smattering of lettuce, and avocado ranch sauce. The whole thing eats very rich and salty (which I enjoy). The avocado ranch sauce wasn't quite evenly distributed throughout the burrito, but when you got a good bite of it it was just the component necessary to cool your mouth down from all that sodium and refresh the palate. I do wish there was more lettuce (the amount on it was almost undetectable), or perhaps some tomato to balance out the salt, but cold ingredients like these do make a burrito more difficult to reheat, so I understand why they're left off or only included in light portions.

Overall, I enjoyed this burrito. The portion size of the burrito wasn't quite enough for a full meal, but it didn't feel skimpy on portions like many customers have complained about with other menu items. The crunchiness alone would have me ordering the Crispy Chicken Chipotle Bacon Melt Burrito again.

Call them Mexican-inspired poutine, call them nacho fries, call them whatever you want — but don't call them boring, because these Pepper Jack Steak Nacho Fries are full of flavor. Those iconic, crispy, orange-colored fries are loaded with Taco Bell's signature nacho cheese (which you can copycat at home with the right store-bought sauce), a creamy pepper jack sauce that has a nice spice to it, a blend of shredded cheese, chunks of grilled steak, and a smattering of pico de gallo.

The spice level is the first thing I'm looking for — if something has pepper jack, I'm hoping for a little kick — and it delivers. I still add some Diablo sauce to mine, but the cheese sauce is tasty. The next thing I notice is that the steak is actually pretty good. Taco Bell is well known for their flavor-packed ground beef that many fans are looking to replicate at home, but the steak can sometimes be questionable. The pieces on my nacho fries were nicely seasoned and had a good bite — not too tough or chewy.

This isn't the ideal snack for eating one-handed while driving down a freeway, as many Taco Bell connoisseurs do (I do not recommend this — drive safe), but it is the perfect level of salty, crunchy, saucy, cheesy, and spicy that you expect and crave when ordering from Taco Bell. It's a perfect late-night snack that I'm sure I'll be craving again soon.

All-in-all, both of these new limited edition menu items passed the taste test with flying colors. They were true to their name, delivering exactly what one would hope for in a Taco Bell special and expect given their descriptions. Will they surpass the Chalupa Supreme or chicken quesadilla in popularity, or live on to become permanent menu items? That remains to be seen, but one thing I know for sure: I would skip my favorite order at least once or twice more to enjoy these items while they last. They're exactly the level of salty and spicy that we all crave at the end of a night out, a flavor that begs for a crisp Baja Blast on the side to wash it all down.

If I had to choose between one or the other, I would say the burrito was the most impressive. Keeping that crunch fresh and crispy through a reheat is no small feat, and texture plays a huge role in the food we enjoy. The burrito is also more filling than the fries — although they're the same price — making it my preferred order.

While the Crispy Chicken Chipotle Bacon Melt Burrito does have an impressive 27 grams of protein in it, it also has 700 calories for a serving size that hardly equates to a full meal. The sodium levels are also off the charts with 1,560 milligrams (68% of your daily value). You'll need to drink a lot of water after eating this one.

The Pepper Jack Steak Nacho Fries are a little lower on the calorie count with 490 calories in a serving, but they also only have 14 grams of protein and aren't nearly as filling as the burrito. With 1,220 milligrams of sodium, eating items like this too often will put you at risk of fatal diseases like chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, and gastric cancer. These menu items, while delicious, will unfortunately not be included on the list of Taco Bell's healthiest menu items for the year.

As far as availability, all we know is that these items are available nationwide for a limited time. Likely, how long they stay will depend on how popular they are and the availability of their ingredients, so the best bet is to get one while you can.