Taco Bell's Toasted Cheddar Street Chalupa Is Okay, But Too Pricey For What You Get

I love Mexican street food. And I also love Taco Bell. Normally, there isn't much overlap between those two. That is, until now with the introduction of the limited-time Toasted Cheddar Street Chalupa to the fast food chain's menu. I couldn't wait to try it, especially after hearing all the hype. "The Chalupa has taken many delicious forms over the years, but with the Cheesy Street Chalupas, we set out to create a new flavor-rich way for fans to enjoy the beloved menu item," said Luis Restrepo, vice president for product innovation at Taco Bell, in a press release. "The fresh onions and cilantro atop layers of cheese and premium proteins seasoned to perfection adds a different flavor profile and is our playful nod to the street taco that we all know and love."

As a street taco lover — and someone who enjoyed Taco Bell's fan-favorite toasted cheddar chalupa when it was on the menu way back when — I was eager to try this out. As you can tell by the headline, the dish didn't quite live up to my expectations. But there's a little more to it than that. Here's what I think of the new Toasted Cheddar Street Chalupa.

The Toasted Cheddar Street Chalupa comes with two filling options, but the price stays the same, no matter which one you decide to enjoy. What does impact the final price of the item is the store you are buying it in. At my Taco Bell, both the chicken and beef options are $5.99 plus tax, but in some stores, the same order would be $6.99. This likely has to do with product availability and vendor costs, but a dollar doesn't make much difference. Just a note, the beef option is more like a fajita steak and less like the infamous Taco Bell ground beef.

This dish is only available for a limited time at participating Taco Bell locations in the Houston, Texas area. Be sure to check the menu of your closest location before heading out to avoid disappointment. There is no official word from Taco Bell about when the chalupa will be officially taken off of the menu. It's just while supplies last, which could be a few days or even a few weeks! But if you really want to try them, be sure to get in quick so you don't miss out.

There are 570 calories in one serving of this dish. This includes two small Toasted Cheddar Street Chalupas. The calorie count can increase, depending on modifications you make to the dish, like adding jalapeños or guacamole or swapping the sauce. These are all an extra charge, as well. There are quite a few allergens listed for this dish, including gluten, milk, wheat, and soy. Those who react to these ingredients should avoid the Toasted Cheddar Street Chalupas. For more information about specific allergens, Taco Bell lists each ingredient present in the Toasted Cheddar Street Chalupas on its website.

There are 37 total grams of fat in this dish, with 11 grams of saturated fat and zero trans fats. For those with special dietary needs, there are 36 grams of carbs, 55 milligrams of cholesterol, and 590 milligrams of sodium. There is plenty of protein in this dish, at 23 grams, and just 3 grams of sugar.

I was really put off by this dish's presentation. When I first opened the tin foil wrapping, the cheese on the exterior of the shells was melted in a way that attached the chalupas to the cardboard sleeve they came in. Because of this, it didn't seem very appetizing. Yet as a fan of Taco Bell, I know that while the food doesn't always look the best, it typically tastes okay ... if not great in some cases.

I figured that this fusing of cheese and cardboard was likely due to how quickly the chalupas cooled off. To keep this from happening, I recommend eating them in the Taco Bell dining room so you don't give the cheese time to merge with the cardboard. If you aren't going inside, maybe just park nearby and enjoy the chalupas ASAP instead of driving all the way home. I think my 15-minute journey — although short in the grand scheme of things — was enough time for the cheese to cool and get a little stringy. In fact, some of it was so stringy that when I peeled it off to detach the chalupas from the cardboard, it felt (and looked) a bit like dried hot glue. Not the most appetizing. Plus, there were definitely some similarities to the recently-launched Cheesy Street Chalupas – but these were just different enough. 

This is where the dish started to redeem itself. When I finally got the package open, I noticed that it smelled really, really good. The main scent wafting out was the Chile Lime Crema Sauce — it smelled sharp and tangy. Luckily, the sauce tastes just as good as it smells. And there is a lot of it, too. It's smooth, creamy, and zesty, which I loved. Besides the sauce, the best part of this dish was the relatively fresh ingredients inside of the chalupa. There was chopped onion and fresh cilantro. Their inclusion made this feel like something I could get at a casual sit-down Mexican restaurant, instead of fast food. I appreciate this because I once ranked 21 other menu items from Taco Bell and struggled with the same ingredients being repeated over and over across the dishes. This was just different enough.

There was plenty of chicken at the bottom of the chalupa, but because of how it was loaded, it was hard to get a bite that wasn't just chicken or just toppings. The chicken was grilled, not fried, but still somehow managed to taste like a chicken tender. I think it was from all the burned cheese and crunch of the shell — this all contributed to making it taste battered. Although "toasted cheddar" is in the name of the dish, I think the texture and taste of the burned cheese along the outside of the shell takes away from the overall experience. It would have been better without it.

Overall, at more than $6 with tax, these two small chalupas are kind of expensive for what they are. I didn't feel full when I was finished eating. A more typical $6 experience at Taco Bell means loading up your cart and getting more than halfway toward covering the cost of a combo, including a side, plus a drink. If I'm going to spend $6 on the chalupa equivalent of a mini-slider, I would rather spend $12 to $15 and get a full meal with unlimited chips and salsa at a sit-down Mexican place.

Don't get me wrong, the Toasted Cheddar Street Chalupa tasted just fine. But that's it: It was just, well, fine. The sauce was good, the smell was good, but the portion was stingy and the cheese way too burned. If pressed, I would have to give it three out of five stars. This means that I would eat it again if it was offered as a snack. However, I wouldn't seek it out to order on my own or add it to my normal Taco Bell rotation. And I can't help but to wonder if this will soon be another forgotten menu item.