I Tried Taco Bell's New Enchirito & These Were Its Biggest Flaws
The Enchirito is one of those legendary dishes Taco Bell fans can't get over. This fan-favorite menu item was discontinued in 2013, made a brief re-appearance last year, and then came back to the menu this week. It features seasoned beef mixed with refried beans and sauteed onions wrapped in a flour tortilla. The whole dish is smothered with red sauce and blanketed with melted cheddar cheese.
It sounds good on paper, but some of the customers that have tried the Enchirito in the last few days lodged complaints on social media about the lackluster effort that seems to have been put into its revival, criticizing everything from its size to its value.
Some said the dish was far too small for the price. Others said the cheese was not melted or that there wasn't enough sauce. One of the funniest Reddit threads posted had a picture of a somewhat raw-looking dish with the headline "Roast My Enchirito." One quipped, "Someone needs to."
So what's going on with the Enchirito? I decided to try the iconic dish to see if there was any merit to the complaints.
The look
The abundant cheese was melted nicely on my dish, but it definitely covered only one side. Either this happened during delivery or the sauce was unevenly spread across the folded tortilla. While no one really expects fast food to look like the ads, it is nice when it does.
In terms of size, I encountered one complaint that said this creation looks bigger in the ads, but it is about the same size as a soft taco. I bought a Soft Taco Supreme for comparison, and this is 100% true with a few caveats.
The Enchirito definitely has a lot more cheese and, as I would discover upon cutting into it, was more filling than a Soft Taco Supreme which is a lot of lettuce with meat just towards the inside of the folded tortilla. The entire length of the Enchirito, while not fat with the filling, was covered with the meat and bean mixture. Plus, at $3.99 versus $2.89, the Enchrito isn't much more expensive than the Soft Taco Supreme.
In terms of calories, the Enchrito has more with 350 versus the Soft Taco Supreme's 210. It also has a good dose of filling fiber, 8 grams versus the 3 grams in the soft taco.
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The taste
The red sauce was a little greasy and I definitely tasted a lot of mushy refried beans over seasoned beef in my first bite. Turns out, the filling was very unevenly mixed—one end had a bunch of taco meat while the middle had a bunch of beans. Since I cut into the middle, I got all the beans first. These elements could have been mixed together better.
The sauce had a thick, syrupy texture and while not unpleasant, it wasn't extremely flavorful—a touch tangy and just a tiny bit spicy. I did taste the onions, which were snug on the inside instead of spread on the outside. They added a little pop of sweetness and some lightness to the heavy dish.
While the refried beans mixed with the beef do make the Enchirito filling, the dish is a little one-note. It would have been better with something fresh on top, like lettuce, sour cream, and guacamole. Taco Bell, of course, gives you the option to add all sorts of extras for a price. I would love to give this guy another try with those fresh extras, but then of course I'd be looking at a dish that cost over $5, more if I went truly wild with my creation.
While the Enchirito is a filling entree it has a few big flaws: The sauce is bland, the texture is very mushy, and the whole thing is lacking flavor. But you can definitely jazz it up on the Taco Bell app. Don't just sail through the options, become your own chef!
To deal with the bland sauce, add a few drops of one of Taco Bell's spicy sauce packets. Or, if you don't mind spending a little extra, add some of the new Chile Verde Sauce for $.60. To combat the dish's lack of texture add lettuce, tomatoes, or even jalapeños for a kick. If you consider this dish a blank canvas, it can be a truly tasty meal.
