Review: For Taco Bell's Returning Volcano Quesarito, It's All In The Sauce (And Not Much Else)

It's back! No, not The Pitt. And no, not balloon jeans. Although, yes, they are both apparently back. We're talking about the Volcano menu from Taco Bell. The world's biggest Tex-Mex chain has decided to ring in 2026 with a shot of spice to your nogged, hammed, babka'd, gravy'd, nutmegged, lasagna'd, rugelach'd, and RumChata'd holiday palate. The highlighted offering this go-round is the Volcano Quesarito — seen for the first time since a limited run in 2015. Like the Lava Sauce it featured back then, the Frankenstein-ed food gained a bit of a cult following. Although maybe not to the same extent as the beloved condiment.

Taco Bell's Volcano meals debuted in 1995, as a promotional tie-in with the movie "Congo". You remember? The one with Laura Linney and gorillas. No, you're thinking of "Love, Actually". The one with the gorillas -– ah, never mind. Obviously, Taco Bell decided to take inspiration from the active stratovolcano Mount Nyiragongo, in the now Democratic Republic of the Congo, for a fast food item with spicy, runny sauce. Or they just realized people liked cheese and spicy food. 

Fun fact: In 2014, the Quesarito entered sports infamy. Deep into that year's NBA Draft, the Denver Nuggets were getting set to make their second round pick. So, hey, why not run an ad for the hot new Quesarito during the announcement of an eventual basketball nobody? That selection: Nikola Jokić. M.V.P., champion, all-time great. The man himself hasn't forgotten either. And despite Taco Bell's PR-driven outreach to the NBA superstar in conjunction with the return of the Volcano Quesarito, it doesn't look like he'll be eating one anytime soon. Well, we did it for him.

Let's start with: What is a Quesarito? It's a Bell-ian combination of a quesadilla and a burrito. Like Chipotle's burritodilla hack(which was a big leap after finally offering a simple quesadilla), Taco Bell has done a Mexican mashup. Because, apparently, you can't have too much of a good thing. Or, you can have two good things smashed together into one good thing.

A burrito is filled with ground and seasoned beef, rice, sour cream, and a chipotle sauce. Said burrito is then enveloped in, not just the dull, plain, classic tortilla we all know (that's fed populations for like tens of thousands of years), but a grilled cheese quesadilla. Hence, the hybrid moniker.

So, the Volcano Quesarito then? Re-released on January 8, 2026, it's everything as described above, except the chipotle sauce is replaced with the new Volcano Sauce. But wait, you might be thinking. What happened to the Lava Sauce people are so desperate for that they've tried to analyze and deduce the recipe, so as to make it themselves, to not be without it in their lives? First of all, calm down and stop yelling at the screen. Secondly, Taco Bell is very aware of how devoted their Lava Sauce lovers are. All the people in the big corporate kitchen did was take that Lava Sauce and ramp up the heat. So much so that it warranted a new name: behold, the Volcano Sauce.

According to some dieticians, there are healthy ways to eat Taco Bell. Not sure the Volcano Quesarito is one of those routes, though you could do worse. As far as the nutritional makeup goes, it's a total of 640 calories. A full meal in itself calorically, but the serving is not enormous — it basically being a shrunken burrito. (A burrito-ito?) The 13 grams of saturated fat is roughly two-thirds of the recommended daily intake. Same goes for the sodium count. And between the rice and the doubled-up tortillas you're getting almost 70 grams of carbohydrates, a quarter of what you should be having every day.

The positives: You are getting a nice dose of protein at 21 grams, which is right smack in the recommended range for a meal. And the cholesterol count of 55 milligrams isn't so bad, as long as you're mindful when eating the rest of the day. The decent fiber return of 5 grams also mitigates some of the carbs you're absorbing. All in all, if this is your unhealthiest meal of the day, it's not such a bad day. 

To reiterate what was mentioned before, it's not a huge helping. Whether that's good or bad is subjective. But when your brain knows a burrito is going to be involved – with the many ways a burrito can satiate you — the compact size may be a disappointment.

Moving on to actually eating it, there's a slight disappointment at the start. Or, perhaps, confusion. And maybe this is because I wasn't much of a Quesarito-eater before, but as far as a bite goes, it's a burrito bite. Not a quesadilla bite combined with a burrito bite. Just a burrito bite. The grilled cheese quesadilla that surrounds the burrito becomes completely absorbed and therefore redundant texturally. There's no snap or crunch, or any divergence in the slightest, that would suggest this is anything but a burrito-like burrito.

With that said, the cheesy factor is nicely calibrated, even though it's coming at you from a few different angles. Not too messy and chaotic, but you're still getting — between the nacho cheese and the cheddar cheese that's both standalone and part of the Volcano Sauce — a nice hit. Speaking of that Volcano Sauce: It definitely takes a cue from its progenitor, the Lava Sauce, in that it's the star of the show. An apparent but subtle spice hit upon initial consumption, the heat endures, and even rises, but never overwhelms. You can see it working on other items and even standing alongside your Cholula or Tabasco or whatever you got going on in your fridge — except it also has an almost umami factor because of the imbued cheese. Yep, that part very much works.

Listen, if you're a Taco Bell stan, there's probably no way I can convince you one way or the other. This is an item you're going to want to experience before the chance is lost. But independent of that, the burrito-quesadilla combo is completely lost as far as mouth-feel (and really, isn't that essentially the difference between the two?). Plus, the volume of food you're getting might leave you wanting, even though the calories, sodium, carbs, and saturated fat are still pretty substantial. However, there's an expertly calculated delivery of cheese and the Volcano Sauce is all the Lava Sauce is cracked up to be and more — which is the whole point. And why not? Spicy food can kind of get you high. 

So, Bell-heads: You will like it. Non Bell-heads: Eh, I'm not so sure it will convert you. Or, you might just be better off customizing Taco Bell's menu on your own.