Taco Bell's Head of Innovation Just Revealed the 2 Biggest Sleeper Hits on the Menu
If it seems like Taco Bell is debuting new menu items every few weeks, you’re not wrong. The crunchy taco and cinnamon twists sure have a lot of company these days. In fact, during a recent episode of “The David Chang Show,” Taco Bell’s senior manager of food innovation, Brett Pluskalowski, confirmed that the popular Tex-Mex chain launches multiple new items every four to five weeks.
To make this possible, a team of 60 individuals collaborates in the Taco Bell Test Kitchen to try to invent the next Cheesy Gordita Crunch or Chalupa Supreme. Although the pace of new menu drops is staggering, this figure pales in comparison to the 3,500(!) new ideas the research and development staff dream up annually.
Throughout the podcast, Pluskalowski offers a fascinating look behind the test kitchen curtain; disclosing details about what works, what doesn’t, and what he wishes might find its way into the “best seller” category.
How Taco Bell’s Test Kitchen Creates New Menu Items
Over his 11 years with Taco Bell, Pluskalowski and his team have discovered that for a new menu item to have the best chance of long-term success—as well as viral appeal on social media—it ideally should be “cheesy, spicy, crunchy, and saucy,” he says. “If you hit three out of four of those, you kind of know it might be successful before we even go any further.” In a perfect scenario, it should also “solve a problem, fill a menu gap, or bring something new to the world.”
One example of this at play? The crunchy, cheesy, and saucy Big Cheez-It Crunchwrap and Tostada. The idea for this fan-favorite was inspired by a trip through the grocery store, Pluskalowski admits, where he came upon a child “screaming to her mother that she wanted a box of Cheez-Its.” By the time he reached the checkout, Pluskalowski witnessed a group of high schoolers eating (you guessed it) Cheez-Its, which alerted him to the craveable, crowd-pleasing nature of the baked snack cracker.
So Pluskalowski returned to the aisle, stocked up on all of the flavor variations, and set out for the Test Kitchen, where he developed a taco shell made from Cheez-It crackers. Stuffed with Taco Bell’s seasoned beef, Pluskalowski says he knew at first bite it was a winner. “It was the perfect blend of texture and flavor,” he says.
But there was a problem: In taco shell form, the cheese dough kept shattering. Pluskalowski would not be deterred, though. Taco Bell eventually landed on the flat shape that could be enjoyed tucked inside a Crunchwrap or tostada-style, topped with sour cream and nacho cheese sauce. When the collaboration finally launched, “we were selling 1,000 per day, people were waiting in the drive-through for hours, and the police had to come to navigate traffic. That’s when you know something is good,” Pluskalowski says.
Not so successful? The “BLT Taco,” which featured taco filling stuffed inside a bacon taco shell. “People just thought it was weird,” Pluskalowski says, which surprised him since the Naked Chicken Chalupa featuring a fried, marinated chicken taco shell was a hit when it was on the menu sporadically from 2017 to 2023.
The Best Sleeper Hits on the Taco Bell Menu
With all the classic and new recipes available, it can be daunting to decide what to order. But “everything is delicious on the menu,” Pluskalowski says. “We wouldn’t launch it if it wasn’t delicious.”
Still, if he was forced to choose just a couple favorites—perhaps the items he thinks deserve more time in the spotlight than they receive—Pluskalowski would pick the Cantina Chicken and Crispy Chicken.
“We spent like three years on that chicken,” he says, referring to the Cantina Chicken, a seasoned, slow-roasted shredded chicken that’s available in bowls, burritos, tacos, and quesadillas. During the development process, the R&D team discovered that “people love the visual of white meat, but they prefer the flavor of dark meat. Cantina Chicken is both. That’s why it’s so delicious.”
As for the Crispy Chicken, which used to be sold as nuggets and is now available in tender format, Pluskalowski calls it “one of the most amazing things.” Noting that “a lot of nuggets are very similar,” so, the Taco Bell crew set out to break the mold. “I sent my team out to all these restaurants in Orange County that had nuggets. We’re just eating them and dissecting them, looking at the breading, the coating, [and the] breading-to-meat ratio.”
The recipe developers got to work, and after many tests, landed on a product made with chunks of chicken breast marinated in a jalapeño buttermilk brine, then dusted in a Mexican-seasoned Panko and crumbled tortilla coating.
“We all knew that when we tasted this, it was so good. When we launched it, the test was supposed to go for five weeks and we sold out in two,” he says.
With promises that Crispy Chicken will be joining Taco Bell’s permanent menu in 2026, and even more Cantina Chicken creations currently being tested, we can’t wait to see what Pluskalowski and company dream up next.