Taco Bell is feeling spicy with its Frank’s RedHot Diablo Sauce menu

It’s a spicy day over at Taco Bell.

The fast-food chain rolled out its Frank’s RedHot Diablo Sauce menu on Thursday, introducing a whopping four items that feature the classic hot sauce.

If you’re not familiar with Frank’s RedHot, the sauce played a key role in the formative lore surrounding the creation of the buffalo wing, with the classic version of that sauce mixing Frank’s RedHot with butter. (You can also get a buffalo wing version of Frank’s RedHot, if you really want to nail that flavor.)

Over at Taco Bell, they’ve mixed Frank’s RedHot with the chain’s own Diablo sauce to deliver “a creamy mashup of the original Buffalo flavor, Taco Bell’s signature Diablo sauce and spicy ranch.”

If you want to add a kick to your favorite Taco Bell items, the Frank’s RedHot Diablo Sauce menu includes Frank’s RedHot Diablo Crispy Chicken Burrito, Frank’s RedHot Diablo Crispy Chicken Soft Taco, Frank’s RedHot Diablo Chicken Nacho Fries and the ability to add Spicy Ranch and Frank’s RedHot Diablo sauce to a four-piece Crispy Chicken Strips.

“For decades, our sauces have become a core part of the Taco Bell experience,” Liz Matthews, Taco Bell’s global chief food innovation officer, said in a statement. “Crispy Chicken is our stage for flavor innovation, with every new sauce collaboration breaking new ground. We take our sauces seriously — they’re the hero of our continued success and reinforces there’s no limit to how we reimagine the classics.”

But that’s not all!

Taco Bell also introduced the Flamin’ Hot Grilled Cheese Burrito on Thursday. This item isn’t part of the Frank’s RedHot Diablo Sauce menu, instead making “Flamin’ Hot Rice, prepared with Fritos Flamin’ Hot chips,” the centerpiece of the item.

I’m sure I’ve already set a record for the number of times I’ve used the word “hot” in a Snackology review, but let’s dive into the food ...

What they cost

OK, deep breath ... the Frank’s RedHot Diablo Crispy Chicken Burrito goes for $5.49, the Frank’s RedHot Diablo Crispy Chicken Soft Taco for $2.99, the Frank’s RedHot Diablo Chicken Nacho Fries for $4.99, a four-piece Crispy Chicken Strips with Spicy Ranch and Frank’s RedHot Diablo sauce for $6.99 and the Flamin’ Hot Grilled Cheese Burrito for $5.49.

My thoughts

Is this the biggest Taco Bell haul I’ve ever done for Snackology? It’s definitely the spiciest. (While the Popeyes/Hot Ones collaboration takes the title of hottest, I wouldn’t exactly say everything on that menu is edible ...)

We’ll start with the Frank’s RedHot Diablo Sauce menu items before jumping over to the Flamin’ Hot Grilled Cheese Burrito ...

Frank’s RedHot Diablo Crispy Chicken Burrito

First up is the Frank’s RedHot Diablo Crispy Chicken Burrito. I only recently became a convert when it came to Taco Bell’s burritos. I always thought they were a bit unwieldy, with the tendency to quickly get soggy. The introduction of the Crispy Chicken Strips changed that for me, though, giving Taco Bell’s burritos a structure they had been missing.

In addition to the chicken strips and Frank’s RedHot Diablo sauce, this burrito is stuffed with shredded lettuce, purple cabbage, pico de gallo and cheddar cheese.

This is a very good Taco Bell burrito. I’ve said this before over here at Snackology, but I think the purple cabbage/pico mix lends a freshness to the chain’s foods that really helps to elevate these items. The Frank’s RedHot Diablo sauce adds the perfect amount of zing to this burrito too.

Snack score

🍪🍪🍪🍪 (4 out of 5 cookies)

Frank’s RedHot Diablo Crispy Chicken Soft Taco

The Frank’s RedHot Diablo Crispy Chicken Soft Taco is the exact same thing you get in the burrito but in a soft taco instead. Unlike the burrito, the proportions of this taco are off. The single chicken strip sits at the bottom while a mountain of lettuce, cabbage, cheese and pico fill up the rest of the soft tortilla.

Snack score

🍪🍪🍪 (3 out of 5 cookies)

Frank’s RedHot Diablo Chicken Nacho Fries

The Frank’s RedHot Diablo Chicken Nacho Fries are fantastic. I needed to stop myself from shoveling them into my mouth so I could focus on some of the other items in the Frank’s RedHot Diablo Sauce menu.

Taco Bell’s Nacho Fries are their secret weapon — why would you expect a taco place to have good fries? — and when you add “slow-roasted chicken, nacho cheese sauce, a three-cheese blend, pico de gallo and a drizzle of Frank’s RedHot Diablo” to them, they’re irresistible.

Snack score

🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪 (5 out of 5 cookies)

Crispy Chicken Strips with Spicy Ranch and Frank’s RedHot Diablo sauce

I’m on record as being a fan of Taco Bell’s Crispy Chicken Strips. Here they’re paired with Spicy Ranch and Frank’s RedHot Diablo sauce, both good dipping options.

This is actually the second crossover we’ve gotten with the chain’s iconic Diablo sauce this year, but unlike with June’s Mike’s Hot Honey Diablo Sauce, the new Frank’s RedHot Diablo sauce doesn’t come in its own branded dipping cup.

Snack score

🍪🍪🍪 (3 out of 5 cookies)

Flamin’ Hot Grilled Cheese Burrito

Taco Bell wasn’t happy with introducing just the four above new items on Thursday. The chain amped up the heat levels with the Flamin’ Hot Grilled Cheese Burrito on top of its Frank’s RedHot Diablo offerings.

“We know how much love there is for the signature spice of Flamin’ Hot, and our fans are always looking for cheesier, crunchier menu items from us,” Matthews said in a statement. "The Flamin’ Hot Grilled Cheese Burrito brings all these elements together — taking the heat, the crispy Fritos crunch, and cheesy goodness on the inside and out of our classic burrito.”

This new burrito features “nacho cheese sauce, seasoned beef, creamy chipotle sauce, Fritos Flamin’ Hot chips, reduced fat sour cream, three-cheese blend, and a layer of melty grilled cheese on the outside for a boldly cheesy, spicy, crunchy bite” ... and it was my favorite item that I tried during my extensive Taco Bell trip this week.

I can’t explain the science behind “Flamin’ Hot Rice, prepared with Fritos Flamin’ Hot chips,” but whatever Taco Bell’s food scientists have done here, it’s delicious. I’m hoping the Flamin’ Hot Grilled Cheese Burrito sticks around for a while.

Snack score

🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪 (5 out of 5 cookies)

Frank’s RedHot Diablo Sauce items and the Flamin’ Hot Grilled Cheese Burrito were provided to Snackology for this independent review.