Taco Bell Beefy Crunch Burrito - Fun with Fritos but Not Fun-Tasting

The Beefy Crunch Burrito is the latest faux-Mexican concoction from the fiery fast food franchise, Taco Bell, which describes it as "layers of seasoned ground beef, rice, warm nacho cheese sauce, reduced fat sour cream, and Flamin' Hot Fritos wrapped in a warm, flour tortilla."

The burrito costs 99 cents but is not part of Taco Bell's "Why Pay More?" menu -- maybe if will be added later.

The seasoned ground beef is the standard beef used in most Taco Bell menu items. I'm not a fan of their ground beef and am surprised the carne asada steak or chicken upgrade is not available. The ground beef isn't too bad here because the full flavor is partly masked by the toppings.

The rice is pretty much the same as Taco Bell's Mexican Rice side dish. The flavors blend together, so the rice is not as detectable as it is on its own.

The nacho cheese sauce is the usual but I try to avoid it at Taco Bell. However, it's actually one of the better ingredients here because it masks the beef flavor and Fritos. There is only a small amount of nacho cheese with almost nothing on one end and a big blob of it on the other.

The Fritos Flamin' Hot flavor corn chips are a very odd and unique ingredient but not too out of place because they are corn chips after all. They do add a grainier texture that is real as opposed to Taco Bell's usual smooth-textured tortilla chips without the dark specks seen in most corn chips . But I don't like the grainy texture in this particular burrito. I barely detected the heat but ten packets of hot sauce helped make up for it.

There is very little crunch because the heat from the beef and nacho cheese sauce steams the crunchy Fritos, making them soggy. It looks absolutely nothing like the pictures in the ads.

The reduced fat sour cream is great and blends well with the nacho cheese sauce.

The flour tortilla was way too big and doughy. I know burritos have a lot of tortilla due to being wrapped and folded several times but it seemed even more than usual here. The filling seemed much too small for the size of the tortilla.

Taco Bell's Beefy Crunch Burrito seems like something thought up by a group of inebriated fraternity members at a Friday night party. Fritos on a burrito just seems like an odd ingredient, one used by single men who can't cook and have enough free time on their hands to find new ways to use junk food -- what's next, Cheetos or Cracker Jacks?

Nutrition

Serving Size 220 g
Calories 510
Total Fat 22 g
Cholesterol 30 mg
Sodium 1250 mg
Carbohydrates 61 g
Dietary Fiber 5 g
Sugars 5 g
Protein 15 g

The sodium is high but I didn't really notice it as being too salty taste-wise.

Overall, the Beefy Crunch Burrito isn't great but is not completely awful either. It's basically what you would expect from Taco Bell. The price is cheap and it's worth about that price but there could be a bit more filling, which might just be an employee judgment call. If heat is your thing, this will not satisfy you, so grab a bunch of hot sauce packets. Fritos are definitely a unique addition so give this a try but I won't buy this again.

Rating: 2/5