Review: Taco Bell Hidden Valley Ranch Diablo Is Packing Heat, But The Ranch Is Hidden

Taco Bell continues to be one of the busiest chains in the fast food biz, reeling off one hot new release after another. 2026 has already proved to be a mover and shaker for those looking to live and eat más, with the return of Volcano Quesaritos, and a $3 or less Luxe line-up that includes awesome Salted Caramel Churros for warmth in the dead of winter. Another week has passed, and the Bell is ringing once again for even more chow to chow down on. This latest installment isn't exactly something new, but newish: The Crispy Chicken Nuggets, which keep dropping in out of nowhere, and then disappearing for too long a time. Well, they're back, and so are the dipping sauces that stole the show in their debut ... but with a twist.

One dipping sauce worthy of note was the Hidden Valley Fire Ranch, which we dubbed "a cool customer with just the right amount of flame broiling of the mouth." Well, in the interim, that sauce had its temperature taken, and Taco Bell decided it needed to increase the heat. It's back in this latest round with the spice level amped up, and it's now billed as Hidden Valley Diablo Ranch.

So is this new Hidden Valley Ranch sauce a total smoke show, or should it be perhaps hidden from public view? The Takeout headed on over to our nearest Taco Bell to see if we could find the devil in this sauce's details. Sit back as we dip into this chew & review, hoping to both fan and become fans of the flames.

Some recommendations are based on firsthand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer.

On the first day of its release, I went to a Taco Bell in New York City to try the new Hidden Valley Diablo Ranch Sauce.  I ordered it on the Taco Bell app, along with an order of Crispy Chicken Nuggets, Crispy Chicken Strips, and additional sides of Chipotle Sauce and Creamy Jalapeño Sauce. Taco Bell provided me with a gift card to pay for the items, but weren't involved in any other aspect of this review.

This review is a summation of my own personal tastes and opinions, which takes into consideration my past and present experience with Taco Bell's nuggets, strips, and dipping sauces. The ultimate criteria for this chew & review are based on flavor, appearance, smell, texture, familiarity, originality, spiciness, ranchiness, and overall awesomeness as a sauce. Dip responsibly, my friends.

Taco Bell released a Crispy Chicken Sandwich Taco in 2021, and its crunchy success led to an innovation: Crispy Chicken Nuggets. These were Taco Bell's first venture into the world of chicken nuggets, which were tested in Houston and Minneapolis markets through 2023. By the end of 2024, these nuggets made their nationwide debut, followed by an encore in April of 2025, and then the introduction of Taco Bell's crispy tender strips that summer. The nugs came with three dippable sauces –  Hidden Valley Fire Ranch Sauce, Bell Sauce, and Jalapeño Honey Mustard Sauce.

Crispy Chicken Nuggets are making yet another return in 2026, with familiar dips like Bell Sauce and Jalapeño Honey Mustard Sauce. Hidden Valley's Ranch is back too, but this time it's not breathing "Fire." It's supposedly hitting even hotter with the adjective "Diablo" in tow. In a statement, Michelle Amador, Head of Away-From-Home Sales & Partnerships at Hidden Valley Ranch, noted, "Our goal was simple: take the ranch fans love and give it a fiery upgrade worthy of Taco Bell's bold flavors."

In a press release, Taco Bell describes the new Hidden Valley Diablo Ranch Sauce as one that "turns the fan-favorite collab up a notch, fusing the signature cool creaminess of Hidden Valley Ranch with the smoky, rich heat of Taco Bell's iconic Diablo sauce for a new sauce that was made to go big on Crispy Chicken."

Crispy Chicken Nuggets are returning to the Taco Bell menu — at participating nationwide locations — starting January 22. Along for the ride are returning dips Bell Sauce, Jalapeño Honey Mustard, and newbie Hidden Valley Diablo Ranch Sauce. The nuggets and sauces are available to purchase anytime Taco Bell or Taco Bell Cantinas are open for business, including the chain's breakfast hours. This is a limited-time offering with no specified end date, and only available while supplies last.

Orders can be placed in-store at the counter, kiosk, or drive-thru, where available. Advance orders for dine-in, pick-up, or delivery are available through Taco Bell's app or website. A 5-piece Crispy Chicken Nuggets rings up with the suggested retail price of $4.49, or $9.49 for a 10-piece. Combos are also available starting at $9.49, which includes drinks and other items. A 5-piece comes with one free sauce, while the 10-piece includes two. Additional sauces are available to order à la carte at $0.25 per cup. Prices will vary per location, and prices may be higher for delivery orders or those placed through third parties.

The Hidden Valley Diablo Ranch Sauce is made from a laundry list of ingredients. Its primary components are soybean oil, water, and low-fat cultured buttermilk, along with salt, distilled vinegar, egg yolks, and sugar. It also contains 2% or less of items such as spices, dried garlic, dried onion, natural flavors, extractives of paprika, buttermilk powder, red jalapeno peppers, torula yeast, onion juice, yeast extract, vinegar solids, soy sauce, and dried parsley.

A single serving of the sauce — which is 0.88 ounces — nets a dipper 120 calories, 13 grams of fat, 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 120 milligrams of sodium, 1 gram of total carbohydrates, and less than 1 gram of protein.

The previous iteration of this sauce — Hidden Valley Fire Ranch — came in a flashy red cup topped with a cool blue label. This new one — Taco Bell Hidden Valley Diablo Ranch — has a more laidback appearance. The white cup and label allow its name, along with the Hidden Valley Ranch and Taco Bell logos, to take center stage. I peeled back the lid and found the sauce within looked very similar to the older version. It's a creamy sea that resembles Thousand Island Dressing, pepped up with the colorful array of seasonings that usually adorn a Cool Ranch Doritos chip. I leaned in for a smell test, and the aroma was a straightforward one: Cool whipped ranch, the kind one would expect to find inside a bottle from the Hidden Valley Ranch-hands.

Before introducing additional food items into this taste test, I wanted to try the sauce by itself. When it touched down on my tongue, my first reaction was noticing its cool temperature. That was quickly pushed aside by a pungent and bitter dose of vinegar. I barely had time to contemplate that taste before a rush of heat quickly followed through, delivering the signature flavor of this sauce. I tasted several forkfuls of this very creamy sauce, which begins with a peculiar taste, but is encapsulated and punctuated by a nice splash of heat. This new version of the sauce certainly ups the ante in the spice department, but it seems to lose a touch of its ranch attributes in the process.

Before drawing my conclusion on Hidden Valley Diablo Ranch Sauce, it was time to employ it as Taco Bell intended — as a dip. I started with the Crispy Chicken Nuggets, which didn't allow the sauce's strengths to fully shine. The sauce worked a lot better when dunking the Crispy Chicken Strips, as the strips have more chicken on the inside than Taco Bell's nuggets, and Hidden Valley Diablo Ranch was able to provide its intended kick when slathered on that tender, juicy meat.

I also wanted to test the Diablo Ranch against other, similar sauces on the menu. I ordered cups of Chipotle Sauce and Creamy Jalapeño Sauce, and went through several tasting rounds for them to prove their worth. Creamy Jalapeño Sauce proved the superior sauce among all three, but the other two were fine, spiced-up dips on their own. Trying it alongside the others, the Diablo Ranch stood out for two things: That odd, vinegary opening statement, but also for providing a touch more coolness than its brethren. Even then, the devil is in the details, and this dip just wasn't cool enough. It's missing too much of that usual winning ranch flavor to be properly labeled as a ranch sauce.

When I last encountered the Hidden Valley Fire Ranch Sauce, I noted it was "nothing potent, but a nice overall sauce that plays both cool and hot in a solid level way with the nuggets." To me, it was truly fine as is. As they say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I concluded my review by looking forward to even more new dipping sauces, but alas, the sauces basically remained the same for this return, despite one getting a spicy boost. Playing with fire is on brand for Taco Bell, but losing that cool ranchiness in the process is perhaps a valley that should have remained hidden. I look forward to Hidden Valley Fire Ranch Sauce returning the next time around, but how about with something new, like Sweet & Sour Patch Kids dipping sauce?