The perfect food for astronauts, and meat that's part beef and part science experiment. There's a lot more stuffed inside Taco Bell's soft tacos than you might think!
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00:00The perfect food that's part beef and part science experiment.
00:04There's a lot more stuffed inside Taco Bell's soft tacos than you might think.
00:09If you had visited the first Taco Bell when the restaurant originally opened in 1962,
00:14you would have only found five items on the menu — frijoles, tostadas, chili burgers,
00:19burritos, and tacos.
00:21However, the original tacos at Taco Bell were crunchy, not soft.
00:25The crunchy taco was the top item on the menu before Taco Bell added the soft taco.
00:30However, fans were rather intrigued with the soft taco as an alternate offering.
00:34During its first two years — 1970 and 1971 — the soft taco became the best-selling
00:40menu item at Taco Bell.
00:41The basic soft taco is comprised of just a flour tortilla, ground beef, lettuce, and
00:46shredded cheese.
00:47It was simple, but fast food goers were impressed.
00:50Nobody was offering wraps yet, so nothing quite like the soft taco was available for
00:54major fast food chains of the time.
00:57You may think real Mexican tacos consist of a soft corn tortilla.
01:01However, Mexico has a variety of regional cuisines, so tacos from each area are different
01:07based on the immigrants who settled there and the ingredients that were available to
01:10them.
01:11According to the Mexican author Gustavo Arellano, Mexicans have been consuming tacos for a long
01:16time, particularly in terms of stuffing food into tacos.
01:20Additionally, according to Arellano, some people assume that flour tortillas are a recent
01:25invention, but their origin is older and more surprising than you might think.
01:29Corn tortillas have been around for centuries in Mexico, but flour tortillas are common
01:33in the northern part of Mexico.
01:35There's a possibility that Jews who moved to the New World in the 1500s may have created
01:40flour tortillas as a kosher, lard-free alternative to corn tortillas.
01:44Although, Arellano says it's also a possibility that flour tortillas came to northern Mexico
01:49in the borderlands with the Spanish Moors, who were Muslims of Middle Eastern and North
01:54African descent.
01:55Whatever way flour-based tacos came to northern Mexico, contemporary northern Mexicans still
02:00use flour tortillas in their cuisine, so flour-based tacos are still very much authentically Mexican.
02:07Most people wouldn't be too surprised to learn that Taco Bell's top seller is their original
02:11crunchy taco, and while the soft taco was the most popular item for the first two years
02:16it was on the menu, the novelty wore off eventually, demoting the soft taco to second place.
02:22The popularity of crunchy tacos over soft tacos may have everything to do with their
02:26delightful crunch factor.
02:28Smell and taste researcher Dr. Alan Hirsch told Mental Floss that people often enjoy
02:33the crunchiness of hard tacos, and that hearing the sound of crunchy foods can actually make
02:38us want to eat more.
02:39This may also be because we assume foods are fresher when they are crunchier.
02:43For example, items such as apples and celery, which are crunchy, contain several vitamins
02:48and nutrients, especially when they are fresh.
02:51So even when we're eating junk food like chips, our brain is convinced we're eating uber-healthy
02:56food and urges us to eat more.
02:58The same goes for tacos.
03:00People may simply buy more crunchy tacos than soft tacos because their brain convinces them
03:04they need more, pushing soft tacos into the second most popular position on the Taco Bell
03:09menu.
03:11The truth about Taco Bell's seasoned meat is that around 12 percent of the ingredients
03:15aren't really any meat at all.
03:18But don't just take our word for it.
03:19Our seasoned beef is 88 percent premium ground beef and 12 percent signature recipe.
03:25Sure, 88 percent of the seasoned beef is real cow meat, but it's the other 12 percent that
03:31gives people pause.
03:33If you make taco meat in your own kitchen, you're likely to add many of the ingredients
03:37Taco Bell puts in its seasoned beef.
03:39These ingredients include salt, chili pepper, tomato powder, sugar, onion powder, smoke
03:44flavor, and even cocoa.
03:46You might even add oats to your ground beef as Taco Bell does, since they help lean meat
03:50stick together.
03:51However, there are a few other ingredients in the seasoned meat that makes it sound more
03:56like a chemistry project than something you want to put in your mouth, as it contains
04:01cellulose, malodextrin, soylecithin, disodium inosinate, and guanylate, and sodium phosphates.
04:08It also contains more familiar ingredients, like yeast, citric acid, dextrose, lactic
04:13acid, and cornstarch.
04:14Luckily, all of these are safe ingredients in small amounts.
04:19When people try to make a healthier choice at Taco Bell, they often go for the soft taco,
04:23most likely because, unlike the crunchy taco shell, the flour tortilla isn't fried.
04:29However, the truth about Taco Bell's soft taco is that it has more calories, sugar,
04:33and sodium than Taco Bell's crunchy taco.
04:36The soft taco has 180 calories, while the crunchy taco has 170 calories.
04:42Eating a soft taco will provide you with 500 milligrams of sodium, in comparison to the
04:46crunchy taco's 300 milligrams of sodium.
04:49The soft taco also has over 1 gram of sugar, while you'll find less than a gram in a crunchy
04:54taco.
04:55However, the soft taco is better if you're looking for a higher protein and lower fat
04:59option.
05:00The soft taco has 9 grams of protein, in comparison to the crunchy taco's 8 grams, and the soft
05:05taco has 9 grams of fat, compared to the crunchy taco's 10 grams.
05:10Taco Bell's website states that they use Mission brand flour tortillas in the frequently asked
05:15questions about their ingredients.
05:17It's probably only a coincidence that both companies have a bell as a logo, right?
05:21Well, it certainly sounds suspicious.
05:24According to Mission, it's the top tortilla company in the United States, and the brand
05:29prides itself on its authenticity.
05:31However, Mashed only considered it the fourth-best tortilla brand when we ranked tortillas from
05:36worst to best, since they don't have as strong a commitment to using healthy ingredients
05:40as some other brands.
05:42If you want to make soft tacos at home that are similar to Taco Bell's, Mission's soft
05:46taco restaurant-style flour tortillas are probably your best option, if they're easily
05:51available in your area.
05:53If you walk into a Taco Bell and use the kiosk to order, there's a magical new option called
05:58Veggie Mode, which allows you to instantly find all the available veggie options on the
06:02menu.
06:03However, under the tacos section of the menu, you will likely only see the Spicy Potato
06:08Soft Taco.
06:09Having only one soft taco option on the menu can be rather disheartening for soft taco
06:13fans, but you're always welcome to hack the Taco Bell menu.
06:17Anything Taco Bell has on the menu is fair game for your soft taco.
06:21However, if you're using the online menu or kiosk to order a soft taco, you're a little
06:26more limited than if you're ordering in person.
06:29According to Taco Bell, its tortillas are vegan.
06:32Vegan ingredients you can add or substitute for meat include black beans, hash browns,
06:36jalapenos, onions, potato bites, premium guacamole, red strips, seasoned refried beans, seasoned
06:43rice, and tomatoes.
06:44It also offers several American Vegetarian Association certified sauces, including breakfast
06:50salsa and red sauce.
06:51All of its hot sauce packets are also vegan.
06:54In addition to the vegan ingredients, Taco Bell says vegetarians can add eggs during
06:58breakfast hours, reduced-fat sour cream, and the three-cheese blend.
07:03The avocado ranch, creamy chipotle, creamy jalapeno, nacho cheese, and spicy ranch sauces
07:08are also vegetarian.
07:11In 1995, Taco Bell announced three new menu items featuring bacon, including a BLT soft
07:17taco.
07:18That year, other major fast food chains like McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, and Arby's
07:23rolled out sandwiches with bacon, so it seemed like an obvious step for the booming taco
07:28chain.
07:29The BLT soft taco was only 99 cents, but unlike burgers with bacon, people just didn't go
07:34for tacos with bacon.
07:36Taco Bell's bacon cheeseburger burrito and chicken club burrito also didn't do well.
07:41It wasn't long until all three of these bacon-based menu items slipped back quietly into obscurity.
07:46Taco Bell customers in 1995 just weren't ready to embrace bacon in their Tex-Mex, but perhaps
07:52the fast food giant was just a little too ahead of its time, as today, bacon is popular
07:57in everything from soap to lip balm.
08:00In 2022, Mashed suggested that bacon jam is an ingredient you should be putting on your
08:05taco but aren't, so maybe the world is finally ready for the BLT taco to make its triumphant
08:10return.
08:11We're hacking, baby!"
08:14There are many ways to hack Taco Bell's soft taco.
08:16Do you see a new menu item that looks good, but you prefer soft tacos?
08:21No problem!
08:22Just ask for it as a soft taco instead, and you can always customize with upgrades and
08:26add-ons from the menu.
08:28Are you missing the Cheesarito?
08:30According to Tasting Table, to get a Cheesarito, you should simply order a soft taco minus
08:34lettuce, with taco sauce and scallions.
08:38Tasting Table also explains how to get a soft taco with a kick, but without added calories
08:42from sauces.
08:43This can be done by simply ordering a soft taco with jalapenos.
08:47An overloaded potato soft taco is a vegetarian twist on the soft taco that doesn't rely on
08:52beans.
08:53To get it, substitute the meat in the soft taco for potatoes, and make sure to ask to
08:58substitute romaine lettuce for iceberg lettuce.
09:01Then, ask to add four ingredients, premium Latin rice or seasoned rice, guacamole, pico
09:07de gallo, and chipotle sauce.