Bottom Line: Both of these tacos are good rehashes of mostly previously used ingredients,but they don’t bring much heat.
Taco Bell is spinning the menu dial again, mixing and shuffling menu ingredients to come up with something “new”. But at least this time there is more new than with some of their past menu rehashes. The Chipotle Cantina Crispy Chicken Taco reuses the relatively new crispy chicken tender so it is not a complete retread. And the Flamin’ Hot ® Cool Ranch ® Doritos ® Locos Taco (that’s a lot of registered trademarks to go in one taco) adds a new entry to the Doritos ® Locos crew based on the newest flavor from Doritos ® snacks (my lawyer has advised me that I have satisfied the use of the ® for the rest of this review).
The Chipotle Cantina Crispy Chicken Taco is the Bell’s latest spin on its crispy chicken tenders which uses that chicken item as the filling for the taco. It comes with lettuce, tomatoes, shredded cheese, and chipotle sauce and is wrapped in a flour tortilla. Previously they featured the tenders in the SEO-friendly named Chicken Sandwich Taco, obviously hoping that some search engine results for “chicken sandwich” would redirect to Taco Bell’s site (you can see my review of those here). The new version is much closer to their regular taco and certainly enjoyable.
The chicken tender remains crispy in the taco, even after a the ride home from the drive thru. The standard filling ingredients all work well, but don’t bring anything particularly exciting to the taco. The chipotle sauce adds some creaminess with a bit of a zing and about Mild level heat. It’s a nice change of pace from their regular taco, but nothing that will have people lined up around the block to order. Personally, I liked the Chicken Sandwich Taco more and still much prefer the Naked Chicken Chalupa (that one is truly a standout for the Bell and they need to make it a regular menu item).
The Flamin’ Hot Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Taco is the latest edition to that branded line with a slight tweak to the seasoning to match the new Doritos on the shelf. I have tried those separately and rather enjoyed them (see my review here) and they work well in taco form. The shell seems to have a bit more tang and a bit less heat than the Doritos themselves, but everything still comes together quite well. Consider this a slightly milder and more tangy version of the Fiery Hot Doritos Locos taco (which is not currently on the menu), and you will know what to expect.
Both of these items are on the lower side calorie-wise, so you can get one of each and still be below the 500 calorie mark. But this is Taco Bell and you know you will add at least one more item to your order, so don’t go to crazy or that belt will start to tighten. Both of these tacos are also limited time only, so if either or both sounds interesting to you, then head over to the Bell now before they disappear. (And chicken items have been disappearing pretty quickly these days). But before long they will hit spin and remix again and you will have something similar to choose from that Taco Bell will tout as its latest “new” item.
Tale of the Tape
Chipotle Cantina Crispy Chicken Taco
Calories: 270
Fat: 13g (3g Sat/0g Trans)
Protein: 13g
Carbs: 25g
Sodium: 690mg
Flamin’ Hot Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Taco
Calories: 170
Fat: 10g (4g Sat/0g Trans)
Protein: 8g
Carbs: 12g
Sodium: 370mg