Wilder Shaw / Cheapism
Taco Bell is known for so many wacky innovations that at this point, it might be hard to remember what they started with. Tacos are still, some would argue, the heart and soul of the menu.
But with a whopping 14 options, what should you choose? What does "Supreme" mean? What are the differences between these very similar foods? Never fear: I got one of each and ranked them for a taste test. Here are the best tacos from Taco Bell, ranked.
$3.29
Bang-up job on the new Cantina Chicken menu, Taco Bell. Its burrito counterpart is the best one on the menu, and it looks like the same goes for the taco. The new slow-roasted chicken is far tastier than any other protein they're offering, and paired with the crunchy purple cabbage and tangy pico de gallo, I'm all about it.
The real hero is the new salsa that T-Bell has debuted alongside the taco, "Avocado Verde Salsa." It works beautifully with all the Cantina offerings, bringing a punch of brightness and just the right amount of heat. Please never get rid of this salsa, Taco Bell. Or at least give me a heads up before it goes, so I can start hoarding it.
Related: 12 Taco Bell Copycat Recipes
$2.99
The tacos I see in my heart and in my dreams are soft tacos. I love them dearly. So here we are, with the soft taco as the runner-up. Hard-shell tacos never really did much for me, unless they are from Henry's Tacos, so a Top-3 rating was never really possible.
This taco scales up significantly when you substitute chicken for ground beef.
Related: The Healthiest Taco Bell Items, According to Redditors
$3.29
Simplicity is the secret of this taco's success. All we've got here is chicken, Creamy Jalapeño Sauce, and melty cheese inside a restaurant-adjacent taco shell. Once again, the avocado salsa is doing some major heavy lifting, but if Taco Bell's whole menu started tasting more like this, I'd be a happy camper.
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$1.99
"Supreme" versions of these tacos come with sour cream and tomato, and it's my firm belief that they need them. This is a drier, less balanced experience, but in a pinch it will always hit the spot.
$2.99
This is absolutely fine. You know what you're getting here; they really don't taste much different from many other classic hard-shell tacos. This is the dish that Taco Bell built its empire on. When they're fresh and hot, it's hard to ignore the pull of nostalgia, but at the end of the day, there are better choices here.
$1.69
I've never once had a Spicy Potato Soft Taco that didn't have mushy, soft potatoes. This is a bummer to me, because if we were able to crisp those guys up, this might be a Top 3 taco. Taco Bell's chipotle sauce is very tasty and a natural pairing for the potatoes and I actually really like these, but texturally, they're as one-note as it gets. Give me something to crunch on please.
$1.99
So, I received two Supremes instead of a classic Crunchy Taco. I didn't realize this until far too late, but use your imagination and pretend those tomatoes aren't there.
As you can plainly see from the image in your vivid imagination, this taco is a little bit dry. Any of Taco Bell's hot sauces will help (especially the delicious new salsa verde), but the lack of acid from the sour cream and tomatoes leave a hole that's hard to fill. You want Supreme.
$5.39
This is like a Chalupa with a crispy taco shell inside, and melted cheese between the two shells. Melted cheese is the way to go, because as you'll see, Taco Bell is sticking nacho cheese between two shells in the Double-Stacked Taco, and that earned it a one-way ticket to 14th pace.
The winning component here? Spicy ranch. I'm a fan.
$5.49
You can probably deduce that this is just a Cheesy Gordita Crunch with a Doritos taco shell in the middle. I'm not loving the Doritos vibes at Taco Bell for the sheer amount of salinity it brings, so you're better off not ruining this by sticking a massively salty cracker in the center. Plus, these shells get soft and lose their crunch about 40 seconds after you open them.
$4.39
It's not that I have an issue with the flatbread-esque tortilla that Taco Bell serves its Chalupa on, I want to make that clear. It's just that it's so damn heavy. The recovery time after a Chalupa is substantial. If you like to get two or three things when you eat fast food, this one isn't conducive to that. It's a filling beast, but that's my only knock. She'll get the job done, and I happen to like Taco Bell's black beans a lot.
$5.19
Do yourself a favor and swap out the ground beef for something better in this guy. If black beans aren't your vibe, at least go for some grilled chicken or steak. Taco Bell's ground beef just gets lost in all the thickness of the ingredients in a Chalupa. Feels like a waste.
$3.69
There probably isn't a more iconic partnership in all of fast-food than the one between Doritos and Taco Bell. Conceptually, I love this. Why not make a big taco shell out of a Dorito? The idea seems sound.
Unfortunately, a Crunchy Taco from Taco Bell is already on the verge of being too salty. Now you're adding in a shell with a ton of seasoning, and everything gets pushed over the edge to me. Something fatty like an avocado would help get this back on balance, but as it stands, it's tough. The Supreme version has tomatoes and sour cream, which help a lot. But as for its basic model...
$2.99
It's just so salty, y'all. Much like you will be, I assume, after reading this. I don't get how you're supposed to eat more than one or two bites. If you must, be smart and "Supreme" it up.
$1.99
Nacho cheese is a no for me. 100 times out of 100, I prefer melted cheese. The Double-Stacked Taco sort of seems like it might contain a layer of melted cheese betwixt the two tortillas, but it's actually nacho cheese.
Remember one paragraph ago when I said I don't like nacho cheese? That's at it's best, in a controlled environment. When it's bursting out of the sides of a taco? So much worse. This needs onion or tomato or something with acid. It's like a big, flowing cloak that ensnares every part of your mouth, dragging your tongue down and coating your teeth in its scream-silencing ooze.