Taco Bell is one of America’s most beloved fast food joints. While lovers of Mexican food will always look at the Bell skeptically, if you appreciate Taco Bell for what it is — Mexican-inspired stoner-friendly Frankenstein food — it’s pretty damn good. Some days, nothing hits the spot like rolling up through a Taco Bell drive-thru and picking up an absolute feast for under $10.
But recently I’ve been wondering why exactly Taco Bell is so addicting — which menu items keep us coming back again and again? I’ve concluded that it’s the restaurant’s namesake, the tacos.
If you ride hard for the Mexican Pizza or the Crunchwrap Supreme, we get it, but I think most of the popularity of those items are due to their limited nature and novelty. The Mexican Pizza tastes better in the memory than in actuality (we know, we just had it) and the Crunchwrap may be distinctly Taco Bell, but at the end of the day it’s really just all the same ingredients as what you’ll find in a taco, just wrapped in a giant flour tortilla. The discontinued Double Decker did that better!
So for this ranking, we’ll be focusing on what Taco Bell does best by reviewing and ranking every single taco on the menu (chalupas included) in search of the single best. Let’s dive in!
13. Black Bean Chalupa Supreme
Price: $4.49
Tasting Notes:
It’s actually harder to pick the bottom spot on a ranking than it is the top and no matter what is chosen, it always feels a bit mean because even at its worst, most fast food menu items are at least okay, if not kind of good. With the Black Bean Chalupa Supreme, it’s not hard at all.
This thing blows. Taco Bell’s black beans are nearly flavorless and taste like under-seasoned bean broth. This Chalupa also has no texture whatsoever, it’s just a sludge of bland flavors in your mouth that no amount of sour cream, lettuce, cheese or tomatoes can fix. The thick masa wrap does this thing no flavors.
The Bottom Line:
Not only is it Taco Bell’s worst chalupa/taco, but it might also just be the worst item on the menu next to the Cheesy Roll Up.
12. Cheesy Gordita Crunch
Price: $4.59
Tasting Notes:
The Cheesy Gordita Crunch seems like a good idea, but the lack of quality control at most Taco Bells just make this taco a missed opportunity. The Gordita features a thick flour tortilla wrapped around a crunchy taco and welded together with a three-cheese blend, but it doesn’t really improve your taco in any way — it just makes it more of a mouthful.
Inside the taco, you have ground beef, a layer of spicy ranch, lettuce, and shredded cheddar cheese, which tastes fine, but that wrapped tortilla isn’t doing a whole lot, it mostly just muddles the flavor of the tasty hot ranch. Maybe if this thing truly looked like its press photos, with cheese pouring out of the sides like a quesadilla, it would be good. Instead, the cheese lives mostly at the bottom of the tortilla and isn’t distributed enough for you to ever actually notice it.
The Bottom Line:
A good idea, but the discontinued Double Decker taco, which features beans instead of cheese, did this layered approach to the taco much better.
11. Black Bean Chipotle Cheddar Chalupa
Price: $4.49
Tasting Notes:
I promise that I don’t hate Taco Bell’s chalupas, it’s the black beans I have a problem with. This has all the same problems as the Black bean Chipotle Supreme, only it’s marginally better thanks to the inclusion of Taco Bell’s chipotle sauce. The sauce is creamy and savory with smokey notes and the slightest hint of spice which is enough to make these black beans a lot more palatable.
Unfortunately in the pantheon of Taco Bell tacos, it’s not enough to get this ranked any higher.
The Bottom Line:
Taco Bell’s best black bean chalupa, though that’s not saying much.
10. Crunchy Taco Supreme
Price: $2.89
Tasting Notes:
You’ll see when we get to the top of this ranking that the Classic Taco Bell taco is one of the chain’s best, but the Crunchy Taco Supreme feels like a real slap in the face. All this taco adds to the classic recipe are bland flavorless light pink tomatoes and strangely watery sour cream, and then they have the audacity to charge you over a dollar more than what the classic costs! You could add guacamole for just 75¢ and it would taste a lot better than this thing.
Essentially, you’re paying more money for a taco that has more ingredients but tastes a lot worse. It’s also hard to keep those tomatoes in the taco, once you crunch through it once, tiny diced tomatoes go flying into the air and land outside of the taco. It’s a flawed design.
The Bottom Line:
Skip this one. It’s not worth the higher price.
9. Nacho Cheese Doritos Locos Tacos
Price: $2.59
Tasting Notes:
It’s not that the Nacho Cheese Doritos Locos Tacos is bad, it’s clearly been a crowd favorite since its launch, but my main issue with it is that it’s totally redundant. Doritos has over 14 different flavors, so why the hell did Taco Bell choose Nacho Cheese over Cool Ranch and Salsa Verde?!
By choosing Nacho Cheese Taco Bell is adding a cheesy salty quality to a taco that already has salty cheese in it. To be fair to Taco Bell, they have experimented with a Cool Ranch shell before, but for whatever reason, this one enjoys permanent menu status, and I don’t think it deserves it.
The Bottom Line:
A sharp and salty cheddar-esque flavor in a taco that already has real cheddar cheese in it. The flavors are too redundant to be truly great.
8. Soft Taco Supreme
Price: $2.89
Tasting Notes:
It has all of the same problems of the Classic Taco Supreme, only the tomatoes and sour cream are a lot easier to taste wrapped in a soft flour tortilla and the tomatoes don’t fall out of the taco as you eat it. Still, you’re paying extra for ingredients that don’t do a lot to improve the flavor.
The Bottom Line:
Marginally better than the crunchy version, but you should still avoid this one.
7. Doritos Locos Supreme
Price: $2.99
Tasting Notes:
By now it must be obvious that I’m not a fan of Taco Bell’s more expensive ‘”Supreme” option, but the Doritos Locos is the only taco where I feel it truly works. The sour cream and tomato, as bland and watery as they are, serve as a perfect counterbalance to this overly artificial cheesy taco. The sour cream muddles the sharp intensity of the Doritos shell to something more palatable, while the tomatoes add a bright burst of natural flavor.
If you really want it to taste delicious, sub that sour cream for spicy ranch or chipotle sauce.
The Bottom Line:
The only Supreme taco from Taco Bell worth your money.
6. Chalupa Supreme
Price: $4.49
Tasting Notes:
The Chalupa Supreme takes what’s good about the Doritos Locos taco and adds a sweet component to the whole thing, which works better than that stale Dorito shell. What you lose in crunch, you gain in sweetness with the chalupa wrap — which pairs a lot more harmoniously with the tomato and sour cream.
This thing is big and substantial enough to satisfy with just a single order, which can’t be said of the Doritos Locos Supreme. This is missing a spicy component here, so again, sub that sour cream for some spicy ranch or chipotle sauce.
The Bottom Line:
Slightly better tasting and a lot more satisfying than the Doritos Locos Supreme.
5. Doritos Cheesy Gordita Crunch Nacho Cheese
Price: $4.19
Tasting Notes:
The Doritos Cheesy Gordita Crunch gives you a quintuple dose of cheese, but thanks to the three-cheese blend and thick tortilla wrap, it offers a much better experience than the plain Doritos Locos Taco.
The three cheese brings together salty mozzarella, nutty Monterey Jack, and sharp cheddar, offering a lot of cheesy complexity while the tortilla wrap tamps down some of the sharper notes of the Nacho Cheese shell. Instead of being overwhelming, this helps the palate focus in on the spicier notes of the shell and spicy ranch sauce, providing a little kick of heat at the end of each bite.
The Bottom Line:
The best form of the Doritos Locos taco.
4. Spicy Potato Taco
Price: $1.29
Tasting Notes:
I like the Spicy Potato Taco a lot, but I can’t for the life of me figure out why there isn’t a crunch version. Potato tacos are a true Mexican food delight, but they’re almost always fried — so this one puzzles me. Aside from what feels like a missed opportunity, this is still very good. Taco Bell does potatoes much better than they do ground beef, offering a fluffy texture with a well-seasoned exterior that manages to pack more flavor than the greasy beef itself.
The taco always features Taco Bell’s chipotle sauce, adding smokey and subtle spicy notes to each bite that absorbs perfectly into the potatoes. The only thing holding this thing back is the texture, it’s just too damn soft.
The Bottom Line:
Almost Taco Bell’s best taco, it’s that good. If they ever decide to make a crunchy version it’ll be a toss-up between this one and our number one choice.
3. Soft Taco
Price: $1.79
Tasting Notes:
At first glance, this seems way like it’s being ranked too high for something this simple but Taco Bell is at its best when it’s simple. The soft taco features ground beef, lettuce, and shredded cheddar cheese, and that’s all you really need. Crushing three of these is easy, and with the right Taco Bell sauce, this thing just tastes perfect.
Without any distracting ingredients, it’s easier to focus in here on the savory meaty flavors of the ground beef, and the soft flour tortilla is a lot more filling than the crunchy version. It’s a near-perfect fast food taco.
The Bottom Line:
Simple but meaty, savory, and satisfying.
2. Chipotle Cheddar Chalupa
Price: $4.49
Tasting Notes:
The flavor combination here is perfect! The Chipotle Cheddar Chalupa features ground beef, a layer of spicy chipotle sauce, lettuce, tomato, and cheddar cheese all mixed together in a thick sweet chalupa wrap. Each bite offers a balance of spicy, smokey, and sweet flavors, with rich meaty tones dominating.
Thanks to the thick chalupa wrap, this thing fills you up nicely, like a Taco Bell burrito, but puts a greater emphasis on the fillings, allowing you to enjoy some of Taco Bell’s best ingredients all in one singular dish.
The Bottom Line:
Easily a top-five item on the entire Taco Bell menu. The Chipotle Cheddar Chalupa makes the case for the chalupa category’s existence on the menu.
1. Crunchy Taco
Price: $1.79
Tasting Notes:
You had to see this coming. The Crunchy Taco simply is Taco Bell. This is the flavor that comes to mind when you’re debating on if you should hit up Taco Bell in the first place, whether this is your go-to order or not. The combination of peppery fried corn tortilla and savory greasy ground beef is the Taco Bell brand, and as such it tastes great with each of Taco Bell’s sauce packets, as well as the hot green and red sauce that you can and should order on the side.
The texture is just on point with this taco, you get crunch from both the lettuce and shell, and the way the salty cheese wraps everything together is as good as Taco Bell ever gets. Everything is perfectly proportioned here, which can’t be said of most of Taco Bell’s other tacos.
Anytime I write about Taco Bell I mention how it’s stoner food, and I do think smoking a couple of bowls of herb or rocking up a few drinks deep is the best way to enjoy most of the menu, but the Crunchy Taco is different. You can eat this thing stone-cold sober and still find a lot to love here. Plus, it delivers on any nostalgia you have for Taco Bell and actually manages to match your memories.
The Crunchy Taco is to Taco Bell what fries are to McDonald’s — the best encapsulation of the brand.
The Bottom Line:
Anytime you order anything from Taco Bell, at least one classic Crunchy Taco is a must to add to your order. For that reason, it gets the top spot.
Find your nearest Taco Bell here.