This is not a drill. Taco Bell’s collaboration with Cheez-It is here.
This seemed like a social media prank when it made the rounds online a few years ago. Massive, hand-sized Cheez-Its inside Taco Bell dishes? It looked like something out of an Onion article at best, or an AI conception at worst.
But it is now no longer a joke. Taco Bell and Cheez-It have joined fromage forces for a pair of menu items — the Big Cheez-It Crunchwrap Supreme and Cheez-It tostada, which both arrived in stores on Thursday. The new dishes are available only through the Taco Bell app until June 6, when they will become widely available.
The Big Cheez-It Crunchwrap Supreme is a classic Crunchwrap with a massive Cheez-It cracker (16 times the size of a normal one) instead of a tostada. The Big Cheez-It Tostada, meanwhile, is essentially the Crunchwrap without the tortilla — seasoned beef, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese and sour cream all atop the same massive cheesy cracker.
You can cynically chalk this taco tag-team effort to corporate synergy if you’d like. Couldn’t be me. I love Taco Bell far too much to not see this for what it is: the Bell breaking from the Mexican mold. Even the most devout Taco Bell-lover would admit that their menu items are mostly just slightly different combinations of meat, cheese, sauce and veggies packaged in slightly different tortillas.
Throwing a Cheez-It into the mix, and a massive one at that, is completely unexpected and inspired. What snack food has a higher approval rating that Cheez-It? They’re absolutely delicious, and add a completely different flavor and texture to Taco Bell’s arsenal. This move had the potential to be the most innovative Taco Bell dish since the Doritos Locos Taco.
I’m here to tell you, this collaboration isn’t as good as the Doritos Locos Taco. It’s better.
I was excited for the Big Cheez-It Tostada for the shear novelty of holding a massive Cheez-It in my hand. While such a massive cracker was a touch fragile, it held up better than I expected and was predictably tasty. I thought the seasoned Taco Bell beef paired with a salt-heavy cheese cracker might make this a sodium bomb, but it just tasted like cheesy, beefy goodness.
But the Big Cheez-It Crunchwrap Supreme? Dear reader, this beautifully cheesy concoction is already on my short list of favorite Taco Bell menu items ever. And I assure you, that is not an easy list to crack. Crunchwrap Supremes are already one of Taco Bell’s best inventions (an underrated one, honestly) but adding the Cheez-It elevates it even further. The toasty, almost smokey cheesiness compliments everything else in the tortilla and every so often you’ll get a delightful bite that’s extra heavy on the Cheez-It. The texture of the cracker, with crispiness but also a little bit of give, makes the whole thing feel more substantial.
I didn’t know I needed this in my life. But Taco Bell did. And that’s why I’ll always love it. Even if every other crazy combination Taco Bell comes up with in 2024 falls flat, I won’t care. Because this Big Cheez-It Crunchwrap Supreme is an all-timer.
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Jeremy Schneider may be reached at jschneider@njadvancemedia.com and followed on Twitter at @J_Schneider and on Instagram at @JeremyIsHungryAgain.
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