Bottom Line: The Serrabanero Ranch Sauce adds a nice kick to Taco Bell’s Secret Aardvark Nacho Fries, but they need to give you more of that and less (or no) sour cream.
Nacho Fries are back at Taco Bell. Again. Some marketing “genius” at that company has come up with the brilliant idea to take away one of the most popular items sold at that chain from time-to-time because that will make customers want them more. And that’ll have people on the hook and cause them to come running back as soon as they are available again.
So what do I say to that? Well… um… I went running back to get them as soon as they were available again. But I did it to provide a review of the new Secret Aardvark Nacho Fries for my faithful readers. So no marketing genius at Taco Bell has me trained to come running back every time they put the Nacho Fries banner in the window . . . I guess. Anyway, on to the review . . .
The Nacho Fries are a known item at the Bell now, seasoned fries with nacho dipping sauce on the side, and nothing has changed about the basic product with the latest release. So this is all about the new twist they are putting on the loaded version of the fries which includes adding Secret Aardvark’s Serrabanero Ranch Sauce which is made exclusively for Taco Bell.
Secret Aardvark is a gourmet hot sauce producer out of Oregon, and their products have become quite popular over the past twenty years, showing up on many grocery store shelves these days. I personally shill for their Habanero Hot Sauce on a regular basis (more on that one here) as it is like a gourmet version of the Taco Bell sauce with quite a kick. Their collaboration on the Nacho Fries led to their Serrabanero Ranch Sauce (not currently available in stores) which they claim is crafted from green tomatoes, roasted tomatillos, serranos, and green habanero peppers and blended with savory ranch.
That sauce is topped onto the fries along with several of the usual suspects: slow-roasted chicken, nacho cheese sauce, a three-cheese blend, reduced-fat sour cream, and pico de gallo. So let’s go down the checklist and see how this latest version of loaded Nacho Fries turned out.
Nacho Fries: Always good, and they even held onto some crispiness despite all of the toppings. Somebody at that company needs to show that marketing “genius” the door and put these on the permanent menu.
Nacho Cheese Sauce: Ooey and gooey with a nice creaminess to it. This isn’t gourmet, but it sure is satisfying.
Slow-Roasted Chicken: There was very little of this, but what I got was good. I’m not sure if this is their new Cantina Chicken, but it added some nice flavor in the few bites where it was present.
Three Cheese Blend: We can always use more cheese! But they were pretty skimpy with this, so I hardly noticed it.
Reduced-Fat Sour Cream: Totally superfluous. Between the nacho cheese sauce and the Serrabanero Ranch, there was more than enough creaminess in this dish and the sour cream just seems like a pile-on to stretch things out. I usually ask them to hold that, but I decided to order as advertised for the review. My initial instinct was correct.
Pico de Gallo: I don’t know that I would really call this pico de gallo; it is mostly just diced tomatoes and onions with maybe a trace of cilantro and chili pepper. Still, this added a nice, fresh pop and went really well with the other ingredients.
Serrabanero Ranch Sauce: It really all comes down to this because the new sauce is what sets it apart from previous loaded versions of the Nacho Fries. It is very tangy with a nice creaminess and a definite kick. The chilis don’t come through distinctly, but there is an overall peppery flavor to the sauce. And it has a nice bite as you would expect from Secret Aardvark. But following a theme from above, there wasn’t enough of it. They needed to ditch the sour cream and add more of this sauce to really amp up these Loaded Nacho Fries.
Heat-wise, the Serrabanero Ranch Sauce by itself works its way close to Hot on my scale. But when you combine all of the ingredients, I would put the loaded fries around Medium. You could add on some Fire or Diablo Sauce to kick things up more, but I would recommend a few drops of Secret Aardvark Habanero Hot Sauce. In fact, it would have been really nice if they offered a packet of that with the fries.
Overall, I would say that the new loaded Nacho Fries are good, though I was disappointed that they were rather stingy with some of the toppings. They aren’t too much different than past versions, but that’s pretty much what you expect from the Bell. The Serrabanero Ranch Sauce definitely makes them worth trying, though, and I hope that Secret Aardvark releases that to stores at some point.
Calorie-wise, this order of fries comes in at 510 cals for the whole order which is not bad for the drive-thru. But this is Taco Bell, so you know you are going to add at least one more thing to your bag. The regular crispy taco is only 170 cals, so you can get one of those and not have to worry about paying too much penance at the gym later. And that will make for a pretty satisfying meal.
The loaded fries go for $4.99 in my area which is not bad for the drive-thru these days. But these are around for the dreaded limited time only, so you better get to your local Taco Bell soon if you want to give them a try. When they partnered with Truff Hot Sauce a while back on Nacho Fries, those disappeared within a week, so no telling how long the Secret Aardvark version will be available. If the store near you is out already, go grab a bottle of the SA Habanero Hot Sauce and put a few drops in the cheese sauce for a kicked-up version of the regular Nacho Fries! (And you can now get those in a large size.)
Nutrition Info:
Calories: 510
Fat: 32g (6g Sat/0g Trans)
Protein: 15g
Carbs: 42g
Sodium: 1160mg