Bacon fries, bananas, and Flamin' Hot Fritos, anyone? Taco Bell might be your fast food go-to, but there's still plenty you don't know about the chain's beloved burritos.
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00:00Bacon fries, bananas, and flamin' hot Fritos, anyone? Taco Bell might be your fast food
00:08go-to, but there's still plenty you don't know about the chain's beloved burritos.
00:14Glen Bell opened the first Taco Bell in Downey, California in 1962. The original Taco Bell
00:22was a walk-up restaurant that looked very different from the Taco Bell of today. Taco
00:26Bell says that the original vision was to nestle the restaurant in a Mexican-inspired
00:31setting surrounded by other attractions. There was even a stage for live Mexican dancers
00:37and mariachi performers. If you were one of the first visitors to the original Taco Bell,
00:43Taco Bell says you would have found burritos among its five debut menu items.
00:48Along with burritos, the chain's first offerings included tacos, frijoles, tostados,
00:55and chili burgers. You could get anything on the menu for just 19 cents.
01:00Not every item on the original Taco Bell menu remains today. However, the burrito has remained
01:07throughout all the changes. Stuffing favorite ingredients into a flour tortilla never fails
01:13to please, so burritos have stayed on the menu and multiplied over the years.
01:18It's a whole new meat delivery system.
01:21Any Taco Bell burrito fan knows it's become fairly standard to customize burritos with the app or
01:27kiosk. Making secret Taco Bell burrito menu items is easier than ever. To get an extra-crispy,
01:34double-grilled burrito, simply ask for any burrito to be grilled and for twice as long
01:40as usual. Chili cheese burritos, sometimes called chelitos, start with your favorite burrito.
01:46Then you simply add chili sauce and melty shredded cheese. An original seven-layer
01:51burrito hack is attainable if you've been missing the version that debuted in the 1990s.
01:56According to blogger TJ the Sports Geek, start with a cheesy bean and rice burrito,
02:02subtracting nacho cheese sauce and creamy jalapeno sauce. Make it supreme, meaning add tomatoes and
02:09sour cream, and then add lettuce, cheese, and guacamole. It's shockingly delicious.
02:16Several secret menu burritos have superhero names. Ordering the Hulk is as easy as ordering
02:29a bean and cheese burrito and adding guacamole. If you're looking for a burrito that will certainly
02:34fill you up, give the Superman a try. You'll start with a cheesy double beef burrito,
02:40adding potatoes, crispy tortilla strips, sour cream, and guacamole.
02:45The Taco Bell Grilled Cheese Burrito starts out looking like an ordinary burrito.
02:50It's a soft flour tortilla filled with seasoned beef, a three-cheese blend, sour cream,
02:56creamy chipotle sauce, and seasoned rice. It acquires even more cheesiness with nacho
03:01cheese and crunch from red tortilla strips. To complete the fusion of a burrito with grilled
03:06cheese, Taco Bell employees sprinkle a little cheese on top of the burrito before making it
03:12toasty and crisp with the grill. The Grilled Cheese Burrito is appealing not only because
03:16it has a grilled exterior, but because it's a filling menu item. If you order a more expensive
03:22version like the Double Steak Grilled Cheese Burrito, it might come out at a higher price
03:26point. But at 920 calories, you'll probably not want to order anything else.
03:32While many restaurants were closing and losing money, Taco Bell started creating
03:36higher-caliber menu items with higher price tags. Yum! Brand's CEO, David Gibbs,
03:42says that customers have been demanding more high-end, premium-value menu items
03:47during a November 2022 Yum! Earnings call. Gibbs explained,
03:52That's why you're seeing us do things like the Double Steak Grilled Cheese Burrito at Taco Bell,
03:57which is at a higher price point than normal, but still a great value and a big part of our
04:02success in Taco Bell. During the second quarter of 2022, Taco Bell saw same-store sales increase
04:09by 8 percent and its gross operating profit increase by 10 percent, according to Yum! News.
04:16Finding the perfect burrito at Taco Bell can be a little frustrating,
04:20since the company tends to cycle through menu items at an alarming rate. We'd like to say
04:25that you'll always find the Bean Burrito and Burrito Supreme on the menu, no matter what.
04:30But even the Seven Layer Burrito, which was a menu staple for decades, disappeared in 2020.
04:36Ultimately, cycling through burritos helps to keep the menu fresh and customers coming in to
04:41try new things. There are 13 different types of burritos on the menu. The burritos use grilled
04:47chicken, grilled steak, seasoned beef, refried beans, or black beans for their main protein.
04:54Luckily, if you know the ingredients in your favorite burrito, you can usually recreate it
04:59by adding and subtracting ingredients from existing menu items when ordering. You can
05:03add tomatoes and sour cream by choosing the Make It Supreme option, and many burritos come with
05:09the option to Make It Grilled. When we look at all the burrito options available abroad,
05:15we're frankly a little jealous. While we tend to occasionally get new sauces in the U.S.,
05:21the main ingredient combinations tend to remain the same. We've yet to see ingredients like seafood,
05:27avocado, or non-Tex-Mex sauces. While there's always the possibility of a
05:32fusion menu in the future, we won't hold our breath.
05:35So, what types of burritos can you find in international Taco Bells?
05:42Nearly every burrito from Taco Bell India contains fajita veggies,
05:47and the cheese is likely to be paneer. Plus, you can order a tikka masala burrito.
05:52At the Korean Taco Bell, you can order a kimchi or shrimp burrito.
05:57In Cyprus, there is a fajita burrito, you can get the grilled stuffed burrito,
06:02with shredded meat, and there are two bacon burritos — the cheesy bacon fries burrito
06:07and the bacon quesadito. Costa Rica also has bacon on its burrito menu in the form of its
06:13bacon cheddar burrito. In Chile, the burrito chilito has chili sauce cooked into the ground
06:19meat. However, some burritos you can find around the world are sweet rather than savory.
06:25For example, in Cyprus, the bannerito contains a banana,
06:30hazelnut praline sauce, and colored vermicelli sprinkles.
06:34Sometimes, your eyes are bigger than your stomach and you buy far too many burritos.
06:40Other times, you may buy extra burritos for lunch the next day to kill two proverbial birds
06:45with one Taco Bell trip. You'll want to consider that not every ingredient reheats equally.
06:50If your burrito contains lettuce, guacamole, or creamy sauces,
06:54the texture and taste will likely change negatively upon reheating.
06:58Microwaving is the fastest way to reheat your Taco Bell burrito. Simply wrap your burrito in
07:04a paper towel, place it on a microwave-safe plate, and reheat for a minute. The main negatives are
07:10that it may not heat evenly and the tortilla can come out chewy. An air fryer is the next
07:15fastest way to heat a Taco Bell burrito. You should wrap it in foil and heat it at 300 degrees
07:21Fahrenheit for about five minutes. The resulting burrito will be warm and somewhat crunchy.
07:27However, the absolute best way to reheat Taco Bell burritos is in the oven. It will take 15
07:33to 20 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit to make them hot and delicious on a baking sheet.
07:40According to the Los Angeles Times, Taco Bell has been transparent about its use of cellulose
07:46in its ground beef, nacho cheese sauce, and chips. However, some people have been concerned.
07:52After all, unlike termites, we don't have healthful bacteria living in our stomachs
07:57to help us digest wood. So why is Taco Bell adding cellulose to its burritos?
08:02Let's back up a bit. While you may think of cellulose as being a component of wood,
08:07it's also a natural component of the fruits and vegetables that our stomachs are designed
08:12to digest. It's not like they're putting pieces of shredded wood in your food. You're not in
08:16danger of splinters. The truth is that cellulose helps thicken food, reduces clumping in cheese,
08:23and improves the texture of creamy sauces. As a bonus, it provides fiber to your diet.
08:28So while cellulose may look like a suspicious ingredient for your burrito,
08:32there's really nothing to worry about with the small amounts you'll be consuming.
08:37Chances are, if you've tried to make burritos at home, you've used the same brand of tortillas
08:42that Taco Bell uses, Mission. After all, Mission is among the top five best tortillas you can use.
08:48Astronauts even use Taco Bell tortillas during their space missions.
08:52According to the manager of food for the International Space Station,
08:56and as reported by CNET, the tortillas that Mission makes for Taco Bell are packaged in
09:01a way that allows them to stay fresh for nine months. There are several options for getting
09:06a Taco Bell tortilla to use at home. For a tortilla that's closest to what Taco Bell sells,
09:12you can buy Taco Bell's Soft Taco Dinner Kits, or Soft Taco Mission Restaurant-Style
09:17Flour Tortillas. However, Soft Taco tortillas are 8 inches rather than 10 inches, the size
09:23that's ideal for burritos. Mission also sells Super Soft Burrito Flour Tortillas, which are
09:29likely somewhat similar to Taco Bell tortillas, and reviewers seem to like them just fine.
09:35Many of the food brands that Taco Bell uses in its burritos are probably already familiar to you.
09:41If you have Mission Tortillas, Tyson Chicken, and Taylor Farms Lettuce,
09:45you're already buying the same brands that Taco Bell does. Our recipe creators at Mashed have
09:50worked hard to determine which ingredients, sauces, and spices you can use at home to get
09:55extremely close to your favorite Taco Bell burrito flavors at home. The Copycat Taco
10:01Bell Bean Burrito is easy to make because it only has five ingredients, refried beans,
10:06a flour tortilla, Ortega mild taco sauce, a yellow onion, and shredded sharp cheddar cheese.
10:13Making a Copycat Taco Bell Quesadito is a little more complicated since you need to make
10:18Copycat Taco Bell Quesadilla sauce and Copycat Taco Bell ground beef first. Additionally,
10:25you'll need tortillas, Mexican cheese, rice, caldo de tomate, sour cream,
10:31and nacho cheese sauce. However, the results are worth it.
10:36"'Beans. I love beans. Big, fat, hot, juicy beans."
10:44None of Taco Bell's burritos satisfy its customers quite like the Bean Burrito. In fact,
10:51Thrillist confirmed with Taco Bell that it was actually the third best-selling menu item Taco
10:56Bell had in 2017. Only the Crunchy Taco and Soft Taco beat the Bean Burrito in popularity.
11:03No other burritos made the top five. This five-ingredient burrito is so simple that
11:09you can recreate it easily at home. However, somehow, it just tastes better from the bell.
11:15Part of the Bean Burrito's popularity likely lies in its price point. The Taco Bell Bean Burrito is
11:20only $1.69 and is filling enough for a meal at 350 calories. Sure, it's a favorite with vegetarians.
11:28However, its simple and comforting combination of melty shredded cheese, refried beans,
11:34red chili sauce, and onion makes even carnivores happy. And if you add guacamole to make the Hulk,
11:41it's even more filling.
11:43Of all the burritos that have cycled on and off the Taco Bell menu,
11:47the Beefy Crunch Burrito is one that fans have lamented most when it's been gone.
11:52According to Tasting Table,
11:54the ingredient combination of seasoned rice, seasoned beef, sour cream, nacho cheese sauce,
12:00and Flamin' Hot Fritos was comforting, filling, and hit just right with texture and spice.
12:06The Beefy Crunch movement Facebook page has 67,000 likes and 66,000 followers,
12:12and it's still going strong after 12 years. At least eight members of the Facebook group
12:17have expressed their love by getting Beefy Crunch Burrito tattoos.
12:21Taco Bell listened long enough to bring it back in 2022, but sadly, it's gone once more.
12:28Unlike many other discontinued burritos at Taco Bell, there's no way to hack the menu to get these,
12:34which gives fans that much more anguish. However, you can order a Beefy Melt Burrito
12:39without the three cheese blend and fiesta strips and add your own Flamin' Hot Fritos.
12:45Unfortunately, Redditors say that Flamin' Hot Fritos are difficult to find.
12:50However, you can sometimes find them online or with Frito-Lay's product finder.