Bottom Line: The Yellowbird Nacho Fries from Taco Bell offer a nice, spicy kick to a fan-favorite item, but they won’t be around long.
Taco Bell is at it again. They’ve brought back their Nacho Fries (again) and loaded them up while also adding a little twist from our friends at Yellowbird Hot Sauce. That company is located just one town over in Austin and they are known for their homegrown, craft sauces that are currently available in many stores across the country (you can read my review of their Ghost Pepper Sauce here). They have concocted a Habanero Ranch Sauce for these fries and it is available in the drive thru for just a short time.
First of all, let’s get the basics out of the way. The loaded fries are pretty much the same as what they have offered multiple times before and we know what to expect from them. Following is the checklist
Loaded Nacho Fries: Some of the best fries you can get from the drive thru and they should be on the permanent menu.
Steak: No, it is not what you would get from a steakhouse, but it is well-seasoned and tender and they are pretty generous with the portion size.
Nacho Cheese Sauce: The standard creamy, gooey stuff that works quite well on fast food fries.
Shredded Cheese: Who’s going to say no to more cheese?
Diced Tomatoes: Look mom, I’m eating my vegetables!
Reduced Fat Sour Cream: Not really needed, but it gets mixed in with the cheese and sauce and you don’t really notice it.
So this new batch of loaded fries is all about the Yellowbird Sauce. Does that kick it up to the next level and justify a trip to the drive thru? My vote is yes.
The Habanero Ranch Sauce is apparently an exclusive that Yellowbird created for the latest batch of loaded Nacho Fries from TB and it works quite well. It is creamy with a bit of tang and not too heavy on the ranch seasoning. Some may consider the latter point to be a bad thing, but personally I am getting tired of Ranch, so it doesn’t bother me.
Most importantly, this sauce does bring the heat, just like you would expect from Yellowbird. It kicks these loaded fries up to right about Hot on my scale and really gives them a bite. The new version reminds me a lot of the White Hot Ranch fries they put out a while back (you can read my review of those here), and the average mortal will definitely struggle with these. Chiliheads won’t run screaming from the room, but they will feel the heat. You can add jalapenos for sixty cents and that will amp things up even further. (Though I thought it was illegal to charge extra for jalapenos on nachos in Texas. Gotta check into that.)
Nutrition-wise, these come in at 490 calories which is not bad for a drive thru item. (Just avert your eyes from that 1240mg of sodium.) You can even add a regular crispy taco to your order (only 170 cals) without breaking the calorie bank.
As is typical for The Bell, these will be heading back to Limited-Time-Only-Ville pretty soon. In fact, only a two-week run is planned at this point, and don’t be surprised if stores run out of supplies earlier than that. If they do, just get the regular loaded Nacho Fries (those are sticking around longer) and stop by your local grocery store to get the Yellowbird Serrano or Habanero or Ghost Pepper sauce and make your own spicy version of loaded fries. And maybe that Habanero Ranch sauce will show up in stores at some point as well.
Nutrition Info:
Calories: 490
Fat: 30g (6g Sat/0g Trans)
Protein: 15g
Carbs: 35g
Sodium: 1240mg