Hidden Valley Diablo Ranch Sauce adds a devilish touch of heat to Taco Bell’s nuggets

It looks like I wasn’t done eating Taco Bell this week. After consuming the entire new Luxe Value Menu on Monday, I returned to the fast food chain on Thursday to test out the new Hidden Valley Diablo Ranch Sauce.

“Over the past year, our crispy chicken has built a loyal fanbase faster than we could’ve imagined — and we're just getting started,” Liz Matthews, Taco Bell's global chief food innovation officer, said. “Bringing back Crispy Chicken Nuggets while leveling up our collab with Hidden Valley Ranch is our way of doubling down on what fans are clearly craving: big flavor, bold heat, and unexpected twists that only Taco Bell can deliver.”

I’m on record as being a big fan of Taco Bell’s Crispy Chicken Nuggets (and the more substantial Crispy Chicken Strips), giving them my endorsement when they first hit stores in December 2024. I haven’t been able to keep track of how they’ve left and returned to Taco Bell’s menu, but they seem to wind up being my lunch every time they’re back.

When Crispy Chicken Nuggets first debuted, one of the sauces exclusive to their launch was Hidden Valley Fire Ranch Sauce. By Taco Bell math, the new Hidden Valley Diablo Ranch Sauce should be one step spicier than the previous iteration.

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The cost

There are four different ways you can try Hidden Valley Diablo Ranch sauce, with Taco Bell offering a 5-piece Crispy Chicken Nuggets for $4.49, a 10-piece Crispy Chicken Nuggets for $7.49 in addition to a 10-piece Crispy Chicken Nuggets Combo (the nuggets, fries and large drink) for $9.49 and the Nugget Deluxe Combo (a 5-piece nuggets plus a Beef Chalupa Supreme, a Crunchy Taco, fries and a large drink) for $11.49.

The pics

The thoughts

I picked up the 10-piece Crispy Chicken Nuggets Combo to get my first taste of Hidden Valley Diablo Ranch Sauce. (I got a second sauce with the combo and went with the always good Bell Sauce.) The new sauce promises to turn “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.”

And, yeah, I’d say it delivers on that promise. It’s a ranch with a kick of heat. It’s been over a year since I had the Fire version of the ranch sauce, so I can’t really mentally compare the two. I’d say that Hidden Valley Diablo Ranch Sauce is less spicy than Taco Bell’s actual Diablo sauce (and definitely less spicy than the Mike’s Hot Honey Diablo Sauce that Taco Bell released last year) while at the same time offering more flavor than Diablo sauce does when compared to Fire sauce.

The snack score

🍪🍪🍪🍪 (4 out of 5 cookies)

Hidden Valley Ranch Diablo Sauce was provided to Snackology for this independent review.