by Bottom Line: The Lava Sauce on the Volcano Taco from Taco Bell brings some heat and a boost of flavor to that chain’s standard crispy taco.
Taco Bell is at it again, spicing things up on its menu. Those who frequent that fast food establishment know that its regular offerings do not bring that much heat, but you can kick them up to your liking with the Fire or Diablo sauce packets (or might I recommend Secret Aardvark Habanero Hot Sauce which goes particularly well with tacos). And from time to time the Bell puts out other sauces that amp up the heat like the White Hot Ranch and the Yellowbird hot sauce. Some time back, they put out the Lava sauce which was a big hit, but then it disappeared from stores. With the return of the Volcano Menu this Summer, though, that sauce is back.
The new Volcano Menu does not have too many options at this point, and there is not even an option for Nacho Fries which usually get paired with the latest hot sauce. Currently, your choices are the Volcano Taco and the Volcano Burrito (or a combo with both and a drink). The former is basically a standard crispy taco in a red shell and with the Lava Sauce added. The latter offers a double portion of their seasoned beef, rice, shredded cheese, fiesta strips, reduced-fat sour cream, and the Lava Sauce. I went with two of the tacos to try out the return of the spicy sauce.
You pretty much know what you are getting with the tacos. The meat is seasoned nicely, and the cheese offers a little bit of creaminess and sharpness in contrast. The lettuce is mostly filler, but it doesn’t detract from the taco and you can pretend like you are getting in a serving of vegetables. That red taco shell gets its hue from food coloring, not any sort of spicy seasoning (though the Fiery Doritos Locos taco shell would have actually worked well here). So this all comes down to the Lava Sauce and whether that is worth a trip to the drive thru.
That sauce has a nice creaminess with a bit of a kick that you detect right away. I got a separate order of the sauce (which costs a buck), and it seems similar to a creamy chipotle sauce with a peppery bite and some sour cream-like tang. Adding that to the taco is a good substitute for bland sour cream (which has no business on Mexican food, or in the case of the Bell, Mexican “inspired” food), and it brings some burn. After one taco, the heat is above the Medium level on my scale and lingering. After the second taco it is approaching but not quite reaching Hot. This is definitely a slow-burn sauce, and on its own it is above the Hot level.
So is it worth a trip to the Bell to try the new Volcano Menu?
I liked the tacos well enough that I will try to make another trip or two before these return to Limited-Time-Only-Ville. That burrito seems pretty messy, especially with the rather redundant sour cream added, and it clocks in pretty high on the calorie meter at 660 (the tacos are 240 cals each). So I am not too interested in that (even if they hold the sour cream), but I would like to see a Nacho Fries offering with the sauce at some point (the location near me does not have the Nacho Fries on the menu at all at the moment).
As mentioned, the Volcano Menu is here for the dreaded limited-time-only duration, and it is not uncommon for Taco Bell to completely run out of supplies for these promotions. At some point, they will ditch those marketing “geniuses” that come up with these limited promotions and just keep things on the menu that are selling well. But in the meantime, they will continue to play this here-today-gone-tomorrow game. The Volcano Tacos are worth the trip, and you can get the Lava Sauce and put it on any of your favorite TB items to kick them up if you want. But plan on visiting your local Taco Bell soon, because you don’t know how long these will stick around.
Nutrition Info:
Serving Size: 1 Taco
Calories: 240
Fat: 17g (5g Sat/0g Trans)
Protein: 13g
Carbs: 8g
Sodium: 420mg
