Bottom Line: The Cantina Chicken Crispy Tacos from Taco Bell offer a slight twist on that chain’s selections, but they don’t bring much heat.
Taco Bell is at it again. Trying to mix things up to convince us that it has something new in the drive thru, and like so many other places it is doing that by kicking up chicken. The Bell has unveiled its new Cantina Chicken menu that revolves around their latest twist on the bird. This cantina-style poultry has been oven-roasted, shredded, and packed with a savory seasoning of Mexican spices including pasilla and other varieties of chilis. And they are putting this into tacos, burritos, and quesadillas and also adding it to a salad/bowl.
I stopped into my local Taco Bell to get the Chicken Bowl because I wanted to try the chicken by itself and that also looked like something different enough from the usual fare they offer. But it was not available (it has some ingredients that are not typical for the Bell and may not be offered in all locations), so I went with the Crispy Cantina Tacos instead. Those have the new chicken along with Creamy Jalapeño Sauce and a 3-cheese blend, and they are coated with a layer of grilled cheese on the outside and served with Avocado Verde Salsa. I got the meal deal which included two of the tacos, chips and nacho sauce, and a drink, and that runs $9.69 in my area.
These are not your usual crispy tacos as the cheese is melted on the outside of the shell. That makes them more al dente than crispy, but it still works quite well. The chicken has a mild taste, but it is tender and well-seasoned. I like it better than the shredded chicken the Bell has offered in the past, but it brings almost no heat at all and not too much in the way of the promised “Mexican spices”. The jalapeno sauce delivers some creaminess and tang and there seems to be some smokiness there as well, reminiscent of their chipotle sauce. It was not evenly distributed on either of my tacos, though, so I got several bites without the sauce. There is plenty of melted cheese inside and outside of the taco which brings a bit of sharpness. Some tomatoes might have been good for freshness (and they will be happy to add those for forty-five cents a taco), but that is not a big miss.
The Avocado Verde Salsa is also a new item and it is creamy and tangy with hints of avocado. It also has some tomatillo and green pepper taste, and it makes me think of a Mexican-style salad dressing. It would certainly work quite well on the Chicken Bowl, but it seems somewhat superfluous with the tacos since they already have the jalapeno sauce. It worked okay for those bites that did not have any sauce, though.
As for the heat? Well, this is Taco Bell and they don’t typically bring too much burn to the table. As mentioned, the chicken itself has little to no heat, and the avocado salsa barely gets to Mild on my scale. The Creamy Jalapeño Sauce has some kick, but when countered by the other ingredients, the Cantina Tacos end up at barely the Mild level. You can add some Fire or Diablo sauce to amp up the burn, but Secret Aardvark Habanero Sauce works better (more on that one here). I did rather enjoy the tacos and the habanero kick added the heat I was looking for, but I would love to see the Bell bring back their Volcano Sauce for these.
Calorie-wise, these come in at 290 cals per taco, and then add another 50 cals if you squeeze on that entire packet of avocado salsa. If you get the combo with the chips and nacho cheese, you are at 900 cals total, so you better order a diet drink or the unsweet iced tea. Like most things from Taco Bell, the Cantina Chicken menu is around for a limited time only, though they may keep the chicken itself available to add to other items. It is not too much different from the poultry they have offered in the past, though it still works out pretty well for a drive thru selection, and I will almost certainly stop by again for more of these tacos. (Plus, I want to try that Chicken Bowl.)