In December, 2024, Taco Bell joined the rest of the fast food universe in their offering of chicken nuggets as a meal option. And I tried them. And I am not changed.
Getting chicken nuggets on Taco Bell's menu makes them competitive with McDonalds, Wendy's, Chik-Fil-A, and Burger King, while moving them further from their original mission statement of "we serve you Mexican food." It's a pure "me-too" act on their part. But hey — fast food is fast food. Money is money. If your fast food restaurant can prevent a family of four from placing half an order at Taco Bell (for the grown-ups) and driving down the street to buy McNuggets (for the kids), you've successfully made 100% more than you'd be doing otherwise.
What I'm trying to say is, Taco Bell nuggets aren't the next cronut.
I've had them twice and I'd rank them above McDonalds' "thin disk of chicken paste between massive amounts of batter" and below Wendy's "delicious and perfectly spiced how-are-these-so-good" offerings. I haven't had Burger King's in forever so I can't really compare, and I don't eat at Chik-Fil-A because I like homosexuals more than I like mass produced chicken foods.
Taco Bell's nuggets don't have all that much flavor. The chicken itself is tender and juicy, but the coating around it is fairly dry and chunky. My body recognizes it as "food product" but not "addictive food product I want more of." The sizes aren't consistent either, so in your 10-piece container you might have a few that are substantial size (about the length of your thumb) and a few that are little pee-wees (about the size of a gumball). All count towards that 10-piece number you're paying for.
The sauces are interesting. Three are being offered with the chicken nuggets, and I haven't tried the Jalapeño Honey Mustard because I'm just not a fan of honey mustards in general. The Bell Sauce and the Fire Ranch Sauce are good options, with the Fire Ranch Sauce being the better of the two for the Taco Bell nuggets.
HOWEVER…
The Bell Sauce, which is a bit of spice and a bit of red bell pepper, works best when you're kitbashing your dinner with Popeyes. I'm lucky in that the Taco Bell that I go to is down the street from a Popeyes, who has chicken nuggets of their own, but calls them boneless wings. Believe me when I tell you, BELL SAUCE GOES BEST WITH POPEYES TENDERS. With the Taco Bell nuggets, they're just OK, especially compared to the Fire Ranch. But with a 5-piece Popeyes tenders? My god, I cleaned out two containers of the Bell Sauce before I had realized it.
Maybe the Taco Bell chicken nuggets stick around and become part of the standard menu. Maybe they don't. The sauces that I tried are like 10 times better than the nuggets themselves, so I'd fight for the sauces over the nuggets if push came to shove.
While I like Taco Bell well enough, if I want chicken there's a Popeyes and a Wendy's just down the street to scratch that itch — both of which are the chicken champs in my eyes. But that Taco Bell sauce…damn. My orders just got more complicated.
