The 7 Wildest New Taco Bell Items of 2024
It's the most wonderful time of year, when presents (and Spotify) are being wrapped, and merry music sets the soundtrack for the holidays. It's also that special time when you can hit the pause button and look back over the year of audacious fast-food innovations. And while plenty of chains really pushed the envelope in 2024—beer at McDonald's, anyone?—few brands have gotten as crafty as the one and only Taco Bell.
Always a reliable chain for wild new menu items, Taco Bell seems to be in competition with itself to up the ante each year— and this year's crop of menu oddities did not disappoint. Sure, there were a few customer complaints this year, but for every gripe about prices, Taco Bell just doubled down on novelty items.
From a full-blown Cheez-It collaboration to gelato, these are the wildest and most inventive new menu items to debut at Taco Bell in 2024.
Cheesy Chicken Crispanada
It was really only a matter of time before Taco Bell bastardized another Mexican street food, and this year, the chain turned its attention to empanadas. While it's not the first time that Taco Bell has tinkered with empanadas (diehards recall a dessert empanada with a cult following), this new version—the Cheesy Chicken Crispanada—was easily the wildest the chain has ever produced.
Launched in February, the limited-time item was a mouthful to both say and eat, featuring shredded seasoned chicken and a melty three-cheese blend, inside a crispy pastry dough, with a side of Spicy Ranch for dipping. Most of the online murmuring was critical, and one review dinged it for its diminutive size, while touting its crispy texture. Either way, you gotta hand it to Taco Bell for managing to release something called "Crispanada" with a straight face.
Big Cheez-It Crunchwrap
2024 will always be remembered as the year that Taco Ball looked at Cheez-Its, and thought, "Let's go big." During its Live Más Live event earlier this year, the chain announced an intriguing partnership with the cheesy snack brand to include super-sized versions of the crunchy cracker. And thus was born one of the wonkiest sounding menu items to date, the Big Cheez-It Crunchwrap.
A very literal menu addition, the limited-time novelty was exactly what it sounded like: a Crunchwrap that swapped out the usual tostada shell in favor of a giant Cheez-It, a whopping 16 times larger than the typical cracker. Bundled in a warm tortilla, the jumbo Cheez-It was accompanied by seasoned beef, nacho cheese sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, and sour cream. Customer reactions were, understandably, mixed. But points are definitely due for the sheer absurdity of it all.
Baja Blast Gelato
2024 was a special year for Taco Bell, in that the chain's signature tropical soda—the Mtn Dew Baja Blast—turned 20 years old. To celebrate the "Bajaversary," Taco Bell proved that there truly are no limits when it comes to tropical soda, by rolling out Baja Blast Gelato, available exclusively for rewards members who ordered through the app.
Initially tested in California last year, this weirdly colored frozen treat generated decidedly mixed reviews, with some criticizing its price, its off taste, and its sherbet-like, icy texture. Considering ice cream and gelato is not a genre that Taco Bell regularly experiments with, it's not terribly surprising that the chain didn't hit a home run here, but again, kudos for celebrating the "Bajaversary" in a way that only Taco Bell can.
Cheesy Street Chalupas
It's been a minute since Taco Bell blessed America with a new Chalupa. That changed this year, with the abrupt introduction of the Cheesy Street Chalupa. The vaguely named item was made with two crispy chalupa shells, filled with melted pepper Jack and mozzarella cheeses, and choice of grilled steak or slow-roasted chicken, plus fresh cilantro and diced onion.
It sounded great, but customer reviews were all over the place, with some raving about them, and others…less so. Regardless of how cheesy your chalupa wound up being, it was great to see Taco Bell getting creative with chalupas again.
Crispy Nuggets
Taco Bell's bread and butter has always been Mexican food, but just because "Taco" is in the title doesn't mean the chain doesn't veer into other culinary territory too—remember Mexican Pizza? This year, Taco Bell crossed into a lane typically reserved for the likes of Wendy's and McDonald's: the nugget lane. Crispy Chicken Nuggets is something Taco Bell had teased in the past, but rolled out at different locations this year, and unlike commonplace nuggets at other fast-food restaurants, these ones are pretty wild. Made with all-white meat chicken marinated in a mild jalapeño buttermilk, the kicker is in the crispy breading, made with crunchy tortilla bits.
Hitting nationwide menus this month, it's a new take on nuggets that you haven't seen in the fast-food space yet, and could prove game-changing. Regardless of whether or not customers feel more nuggets at more chains is the right move, Taco Bell once again reminds the masses that they aren't afraid to get weird, and they aren't afraid to cross into other cuisines.
Jalapeño Ranch Nacho Fries
Nacho Fries are the gift that keeps on giving. A Taco Bell signature, and a marquee example of the chain's penchant for audacious riffs on classic comfort foods, Nacho Fries are constantly being tinkered with, teased, and hacked. And this year was an especially momentous one, in terms of Nacho Fries innovation. After spicing things up with a collaboration with Secret Aardvark hot sauce, Taco Bell swiftly followed that up with another new version: Jalapeño Ranch Nacho Fries.
It's all the goodness of Nacho Fries you know and love, but with the excessive addition of a creamy Jalapeño Ranch sauce, made from buttermilk, sour cream, garlic, red jalapeño, pasilla peppers, parsley, and spices. Oh, and they're topped with pico de gallo and either seasoned beef or black beans. Altogether, it looked like a cheesy, Mexican version of poutine, indicative of Taco Bell's apparent "more is more" philosophy. One can only wonder what 2025 has in store for Nacho Fries.
Cheesy Dipping Burrito
First came the Grilled Cheese Dipping Taco, a 2023 menu item that begged more questions than answers. This year, Taco Bell evidently thought that it needed to go bigger. And thus, the origin of the Cheesy Dipping Burrito, an inventive anomaly that probably never needed to exist, but no one is mad about it.
Specifically designed for dunking into sauce, which is a flex, each order consisted of two snack-sized burritos stuffed with a three-cheese blend, ranch, and choice of steak, chicken, or seasoned beef. Topped with more of that three-cheese blend, the burritos came served with dipping sauces like Creamy Chipotle, nacho cheese, and sour cream. So, essentially mini burritos with maximum cheese and sauce, the Cheesy Dipping Burritos, available exclusively in the Detroit market, were as oxymoronic as they were undeniably delicious.
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