The Grilled Cheese Dipping Taco from Taco Bell does not bring much heat and it is rather messy, but it is quite good and a nice change of pace for this establishment.
We all know the deal with Taco Bell. They have a set number of ingredients in the kitchen for their standard menu items and on a regular basis they spin those around and maybe throw in one or two add-ons to come up with the latest “new” item. But once in a while, The Bell actually comes up with something that is more new than retread for their drive thru and they have done that just recently with the Grilled Cheese Dipping Taco.
This taco features slow-braised shredded beef which truly is a new item for TB. That is stuffed inside a white corn tortilla shell with a three-cheese blend which is melted on the inside and grilled on the outside. It is served with a nacho cheese sauce and a red sauce for dipping and this item is “inspired by the rich flavors of birria”, jumping on a trend that has seen these birria tacos showing up at more and more eateries lately (more on that below).
To start off with, the meat has a good beefy taste and is well-seasoned. This is similar to slow-braised beef I have had from authentic Mexican restaurants and Taco Bell should certainly make this a regular item in the kitchen. (Think of how many “new” items they could make with it!) Next up is the cheese, and there is lots of it. They stick it inside and then one entire side is covered with it and grilled, making this a rather messy taco. The shell is not crispy after the grilling, but it is still al dente and that works out well.
There are no other ingredients in the taco as the whole point is to dip it in the sauces that are provided. The red sauce is rich and heavily seasoned with a strong cumin taste, very similar to their medium sauce. It works well with the taco, but not quite a good substitute for the birria broth that the real things come with. The cheese sauce doesn’t really make since with this taco because it is already pretty cheesy. And the flavor profile of the nacho cheese does not go well with meat and cheese. I suggest substituting another cup of the red sauce or one of their other sauces instead.
And if you are looking for heat, you came to the wrong taco. This one has no burn at all and that red sauce is Mild at best on my scale, so it doesn’t kick things up much. I threw in a few drops of habanero sauce to amp up the heat and that worked pretty well as this taco holds up well to some spice. The TB Fire or Diablo sauce are good options as well, and if your location still has lava sauce (mine is out) then give that a try. Or you can add-on any of your own favorite sauces.
This taco is really quite good and a nice change of pace for the Bell, though it does not truly replicate the birria experience. That trend of tacos dipped in broth and grilled up is something I only recently became aware of (more on that here), and a grilled cheese taco by TB with red sauce and nacho cheese is about as unauthentic as you get. So just ignore the birria connection and enjoy the taco. Also take note that what you get looks very different from the taco they are showing in the advertisement.
Another misfire from The Bell on this taco is the price. One taco plus two dipping sauces for $3.69 in my area is pricy in the drive thru these days. They should drop the nacho cheese to ease up on the expense, and it doesn’t work well with the taco anyway. Three bucks would be a more acceptable price as two of these (305 calories each for the taco and red sauce) makes a meal.
The Grilled Cheese Dipping Taco is of course on loan from Limited-Time-Only-Ville, so these will disappear at some point. Hopefully that slow-braised beef will stick around, though, and maybe at some point they will be able to figure out a more authentic birria taco. But spinning that up with just about any of their combination of ingredients (slow-braised beef nacho fries!) could prove quite tasty. Despite all my misgivings above, I did like this taco and will try to pick up a couple more before they disappear from the menu. And if you want to try one, I advise getting to a location near you soon because we know how quickly things disappear from Taco Bell.
Nutrition Info:
Serving Size: One Taco
Calories: 290
Fat: 16g (24g Sat/0g Trans)
Protein: 15g
Carbs: 20g
Sodium: 460mg
The writer knows nothing of Mexican fast food… Let alone Mexican food in general!
The shredded beef dipping taco is the equivalent of ripping open a taco seasoning packet from Old El Paso and placing it all on a spoon… Jeffrey Dahmer could have made a better taco…
That’s pretty grim. I’ve lived in Texas most of my life, so I think I know a thing or two about Mexican food.
Just tried the new dipping taco and really enjoyed it. The shredded beef is IMO beats the ground beef in flavor. I too would eliminate the two sauces as your packets of sauce would be just as good and you can lower the price by a dollar. That would make it a great value.