Like sands through an hourglass, Taco Bell is releasing a two more nacho variations to their menu. Sadly not the ones we were all looking forward to, but instead just take offs of their soft taco. Between the new Loaded Nacho Taco and the new Spicy Loaded Nacho Taco, one of these is just a luke-warm rehash, and the other changes the fast food nacho taco combo game. But which is which?
I’m going to spoil it, the Spicy Loaded Nacho Taco is the game changer, but first we need to rip the Loaded Nacho Taco down so the ascension of its brother seems so much greater. I would challenge, nay, defy you to convince me that the overpowering flavor of any Taco Bell item isn’t their seasoned beef. I’m not saying this is a bad thing, it’s just that anything that includes it just happens to taste predominantly like it and all other flavors are overpowered. That does kind of cut down on your distinct flavor profiles if you really want to mix up, but that is something that could be said about a lot of Mexican dishes where almost all the same ingredients are reused in different combinations for various foods.
The only changes between the Loaded Nacho Taco and the Soft Taco are some chip pieces and a little bit of nacho cheese. While the chip pieces add a little crunch, it’s not a far enough cry from a hard shell taco to drop you to your knees and cause you to praise your lord and savior that the second coming of nachos is here. There’s some nacho cheese too, but not nearly enough to turn things around. Maybe if you had more it would have increased the cheese ratio enough to make it something new, but as is, no dice.
Exquisite.
What is dice (and all D20’s at that) is the Spicy Loaded Nacho Taco. The only difference between this and the regular version is the addition of jalapenos, which you wouldn’t think by themselves would be the game changer, but man are they ever. A quick look through the Taco Bell website picture menu doesn’t show a single item with jalapenos coming standard, which while unusual for a Mexican food place, makes sense considering a jalapeno would probably burn a hole through the guts of most of your casual fast food eater. You can get them added to anything you’d like, but who has the time to remember to tell them that when they’re making your food? First world problems for sure.
If what you are looking for is a new Taco Bell flavor, just the simple addition of jalapenos changes that up times a thousand. I literally felt like I was eating a whole new creation from a different restaurant, despite it being almost exactly the same thing that I had eaten a minute earlier. The spice and pickledness of the jalapenos mixing with the nacho cheese gives it that classic concession nacho flavor and also serves to cut the taco bell beef flavor in a way I had not had there before. I was impressed.
I don’t think these are going to settle anyone’s nacho cravings, but if you’re in a situation where your doctor has forbidden you from eating any nachos you could get around that by having these tacos instead. What Taco Bell really needs to do is stop being a tease and release the Buffalo Chicken Nachos nationwide, as those are truly going to be the fast food nachos we will be talking about for years to come. Also, throw more jalapenos on things. You’re worth it.