Review: Taco Bell's New Nacho Fries Are A Carnivore's Dream

This summer, Taco Bell is jazzing up its menu and adding several new limited-time items, including this extra special spin on a beloved classic. The Shredded Beef Nacho Fries are the new fully-loaded version of the fan-favorite Nacho Fries. But you're not just dipping fries into nacho cheese sauce anymore — it's so much more than that. In fact, these new nacho fries may be more nacho–y than the original, given the way that they're served. 

While the original Nacho Fries lean more into the "fries" aspect in terms of presentation, Shredded Beef Nacho Fries are much more nacho-like. They're served in the same type of container as a Nacho Supreme and are covered in shredded beef, a three-cheese blend, nacho cheese, pico de gallo, and jalapeño sauce. Basically, they look more like a proper nacho situation than the original nacho fries. And seriously, these guys are absolutely loaded — Taco Bell does not skimp here. But how do they taste? And more importantly, how do they compare to the original nacho fries? It was time to find out.

Taco Bell reached out to me about trying their new limited-time menu items at the Taco Bell Cantina in Hollywood a few days before their nationwide release. I arrived at the restaurant and was served the Shredded Beef Nacho Fries, as well as a few other menu items (including the equally new Cantina Chicken Mexican Pizza, which achieves the impossible by somehow managing to improve upon the classic menu item).

I took a few photos, sipped on my Mountain Dew Baja Blast, and then it was time to dig in. All opinions on this menu item are entirely my own — and I can always be trusted to have authentic opinions about Taco Bell (for example, I'll be the first to tell you that its Y2K Decades menu was a millennial's dream).

This variation of the Taco Bell Nacho Fries is honestly a welcome one. While the original dish is delicious in its own right, the Shredded Beef Nacho Fries are on another level entirely.

The creamy jalapeño sauce jumped out at me first. You might recognize the sauce from menu stars such as the Taco Bell Chicken Quesadilla and the Cheesy Bean and Rice Burrito. This sauce is downright delicious on the fries — in fact, if the fries were just covered in that, it would be a guaranteed perfect snack. It gets a little lost when combined with the nacho cheese, with the two sauces blending together to form a new spicy cheese sauce. While part of me thought, "Hm, this might be too much sauce," another part of me said, "The sauces have combined to form a super sauce and my life is now perfect." Overall, I'd say that it works.

The shredded beef itself is super tasty, especially if you get some pico de gallo in the same bite. Honestly, every single ingredient on top of the Shredded Beef Nacho Fries is amazing. Taco Bell has really outdone itself with this one. As time goes on, parts of the dish do get a little mushy, but not in a totally off-putting way — everything just melds together into one tasty bite. Plus, that's what the fork is for (and trust me, you will need a fork to eat some of this).

If you hadn't already put this together, I am in love with Taco Bell's Shredded Beef Nacho Fries. In fact, it might be one of my favorite additions to the menu in the last few years. This is truly the Nachos BellGrande of Nacho Fries, and I think it might be the dish I've been waiting for my whole life. You'd think I was joking, but, well, I'm not.

The ingredients are piled on and, while there are a lot of them, they work well together. Every single one adds such a punch of flavor. Honestly, this menu item is a lot — both in terms of ingredients and sheer quantity. It's dramatic in the best way possible, and if you order this menu item, you're truly getting your money's worth. It's nice to have a more nachos-like Nacho Fries experience, and it's arguably enough to constitute a full meal. Grab a fork and have a nice time — hope you like cheese (there's a lot of it).

The Shredded Beef Nacho Fries are available at Taco Bell restaurants nationwide starting on May 21. They're priced at $5.49. Unfortunately, they're only available for a limited time, but when they do go away, I plan to petition Taco Bell to bring them back ASAP (feel free to join me).