Bottom Line: The Creamy Chipotle Crispy Chicken Taco from Taco Bell is quite familiar and quite tasty, but not too spicy. A Volcano version would surely be welcome.
Taco Bell is once again trying to get into the action of Chicken Sandwich Wars. And it’s not as blatantly obvious when they put out the Chicken Sandwich Taco, which was pretty good here. But they are promoting crispy chicken more than a sandwich, hoping to convince people that a taco is a better way to go than a sandwich. And Taco Bell doesn’t really want to just bring anything new, they are not really recycling again.
The Taco Chicken Crispy Chipotle Creamy is a tortilla made of flour, wrapped in chipotle sauce and filled with shredded cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, and crispy chicken. It is similar to the Taco Chicken Crispy Cantina Chipotle from last year, but with a slightly different name.
. . . Like that or something. The new crispy chicken meets the same standards as the old crispy chicken, but how does the song go? The current version is good, but the Cantina version was also good, so that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s not different from what they offered before, but they renamed it to make it sound new.
The person who complains about the tortilla being too standard but holds everything together well enough, the cheese doesn’t add much while the tomato and lettuce are fresh and the sauce delivers some nice smoke and creaminess with a chipotle kick. It is well-seasoned and has a decent ratio of breading-to-meat with some good crispiness. But perhaps they should take a hint from Box-in-Jack and go with a bigger piece of chicken than the taco itself, as the name of the taco suggests that the filling should fill up the tortilla more than just a small side on the tender side.
Texas charges an additional fee to include jalapenos (which cost forty-five cents), but you can also request to add them. They should consider adding a Volcano version to the menu, which works well with the other ingredients and amps up the flavor. If you order a taco chicken, they will charge you an extra dollar but you can also get some Volcano sauce on the side. Fortunately, they have a solution for that. They could use a bigger piece of chicken to give it an even bigger kick, but the taco is still good as it is. The chipotle sauce falls short in terms of spiciness, it doesn’t even rank as Mild on my scale.
They are selling these for $2.79 in my area, so even if you double up, it won’t break the bank. Just like a siren’s call to your appetite, the Taco Bell menu can easily go on adding anything else. If you’re not doing too bad for the drive-thru, you can have one of the Volcano tacos that currently have 240 calories available, or you can tack on a regular taco with 170 calories, which comes out to the exact same tally of 270 calories as the crispy chicken taco before.
If you’re looking for a delicious lunch option, I recommend trying the chicken taco from this new place called Volcano Taco. It’s one of my go-to joints for tacos, especially because they have the Volcano sauce. However, keep in mind that these tacos are only available for a limited time, so make sure to plan accordingly and try them before the end of the summer when they will both disappear.