Review: Taco Bell's New Dirty Sodas Didn't Leave My Mouth In The Gutter

Dirty sodas are seemingly everywhere. Of course, there are whole soda shops devoted to these drinks, like Swig, for instance, but more widespread chains are also getting in on the action. Taco Bell is the newest to enter this territory with its own collection of dirty sodas.

Dirty sodas are a mixture of soda fountain drinks, creamer, and sometimes syrups and other mix-ins. Taco Bell's dirty soda collection includes dirty versions of lemonade, Mountain Dew Baja Blast, Mountain Dew Baja Midnight, and Pepsi. Each of these flavors gets an addition of vanilla creamer, like the kind you might put into your morning coffee. Though these are the soda flavors advertised as the dirty options, you can order any of the other sodas made dirty too. In the Taco Bell app, it's as easy as clicking the customize link for your drink and selecting the check box for "Make It Dirty," adding 30 cents to your drink order. I set out to try these drinks to determine if they are worth your time.

To sample these dirty sodas, I headed to my nearest Taco Bell location for lunch to ensure I got the full Taco Bell experience. Going in, my goal was to determine, based on taste, if you should try these dirty sodas. I expected the drinks to look different from typical soda, so I didn't want that to sway my opinion too severely. Instead, I made my decision based on how enjoyable they were. I also wanted to see how these drinks would pair with my typical Taco Bell order. If these were options I would recommend, they should be ones that were enjoyable to drink as a tasty addition to my Taco Bell go-to order.

I wondered how the preparation of these dirty sodas would go. Typically, ordering a soda at Taco Bell means pulling the drink from the soda fountain yourself. The Taco Bell crew prepares these dirty sodas behind the counter instead of having the customer pour it themselves. On the day I tried these dirty sodas, my Taco Bell location was out of lemonade, so I was unable to try that flavor. Instead, the server asked what I wanted to replace it with, and I chose Dr. Pepper, my favorite soda.

The drinks were a combination of soda and vanilla creamer. When I had the drinks in hand, the very first thing I noticed was that the creamer was just hanging out at the bottom of the cup, leaving speckles of creamer falling in its wake. The first sip of each drink revealed a sweet, creamy taste in every instance. Notably, these were much more enjoyable than Mountain Dew's dirty cream soda I had the opportunity to sample previously.

Mountain Dew is a notoriously fizzy soda, but that cream really helped tamp down some of that fizz, even if the addition made for a separation-prone drink. With some swirling of the liquid on occasion, this was easily remedied. Just don't look at it for too long.

I have no doubt that dirty soda lovers will enjoy these new Taco Bell dirty soda drinks. Although I've tried my fair share of dirty soda offerings, I'll admit that I'm still new to the dirty soda world. Of the dirty sodas I've tried, these are some of the best, even if looking at the speckled creamer in the drink just doesn't look very appetizing.

Though each of them was sweet and the perfect amount of creamy, my absolute favorite was the Mountain Dew Baja Blast dirty soda Freeze. The frozen texture of the soda made for a smoother integration of the creamer. Although I don't think I would make a special trip to Taco Bell exclusively for these drinks, they would most definitely be my drink of choice when ordering my go-to from the Bell. Though all sodas aren't listed as dirty soda offerings, it is easy enough to order any soda as "dirty," and I highly recommend the dirty Dr. Pepper if you're feeling adventurous.

I ordered the smallest size of each drink, so this collection of nutrition stats reflects those small dirty sodas. The Mountain Dew Baja Blast dirty soda Freeze contained 190 calories, 1 gram of fat, 48 grams of carbohydrates, and 47 grams of sugar. Mountain Dew Baja Blast dirty soda's single serving was 270 calories, 1 gram of fat, 68 grams of carbohydrates, and 66 grams of sugar. The zero version of the drink had 50 calories, 1 gram of fat, 8 grams of carbohydrates, and 7 grams of sugar. The Baja Midnight dirty soda varietal had nearly identical numbers to the typical Baja Blast but with an additional gram of sugar. Pepsi dirty soda had fewer calories at 250, 1 gram of fat, 64 grams of carbohydrates, and 62 grams of sugar. Though I didn't get to try it, the Tropicana dirty lemonade on the menu had 110 calories, 1 gram of fat, 25 grams of carbohydrates, and 23 grams of sugar.

I was curious how much the vanilla creamer added to each drink's nutritional information. I found the difference between the typical Baja Blast and the Baja Blast dirty soda's single serving. A regular Baja Blast clocked in at 220 calories, 0 grams of fat, 59 grams of carbohydrates, and 59 grams of sugar. This meant the creamer, all on its own, had 50 calories, 1 gram of fat, 9 grams of carbohydrates, and 7 grams of sugar.

Taco Bell has long been a fast food restaurant with some of the most unique drinks, but these certainly up the ante. Unfortunately, they are listed as a limited-time offering, but just because they have a temporary status doesn't mean they won't return. In fact, the Mountain Dew Baja Blast Dream and its frozen version were part of Taco Bell's tasty, dreamy menu at the start of 2025. While I agree the frozen Baja Blast twist should be on Taco Bell's permanent menu, its popularity clearly keeps the drink coming around.

In 2025, these drinks donned a dreamy name rather than a dirty one, but the drink is the same. In fact, the drinks are so identical, the Taco Bell website lists the Mountain Dew Baja Blast dirty soda's nutritional information as Dirty Mountain Dew Baja Blast Dream Soda, clearly a holdover from the drink's first release in 2025.