What to Order at Taco Bell: Every Item, Judged

$2.49 avg · 350 cal

Still the smartest $2.49 on the menu. Beans, cheese, onion, and red sauce in a warm tortilla — 350 calories, no seasoned-beef upcharge, and it has held its price while everything around it crept up. Add potatoes for pocket change if you want it to eat bigger.

$1.39 avg · 230 cal

The best thing under $1.50 they make. Crispy potatoes, chipotle sauce, lettuce, and cheese for 230 calories — meatless and better for it. Order two and you've still spent less than one Crunchwrap.

$2.49 avg · 420 cal

The value burrito nobody talks about. Rice, beans, nacho cheese, and chipotle sauce — 420 calories for $2.49, and it reheats the next morning without turning to paste. Reach for it when the Bean Burrito feels too plain.

$4.99 avg · 500 cal

The rare Taco Bell item that's more than the sum of its parts. A crunchy taco wrapped in a griddled, cheese-lined flatbread, 500 calories, and the soft-meets-shatter texture earns every one. At $4.99 it's the splurge that's actually worth it.

$5.69 avg · 530 cal

Engineering as much as food, and it holds up. Everything sealed in a grilled hexagon that survives a car ride without leaking — 530 calories, no fork required. The tostada shell inside keeps it from going soft, which is more than the Mexican Pizza can say.

$1.99 avg · 170 cal

The default order, and a fine one — just not a thrilling one. 170 calories of seasoned beef and shredded cheese in a shell that shatters on the first bite, sometimes into your lap. Buy it in threes or let the Supreme version do the heavy lifting.

$5.49 avg · 540 cal

Beloved, and I get it, but the price quietly climbed past its ceiling. Two crispy shells, beans, beef, sauce, and cheese at 540 calories — great for the first four bites, soggy by the last. Worth it on nostalgia, a stretch at $5.49.

$4.49 avg · 350 cal

The fried flatbread shell is the whole appeal, and it delivers — chewy, a little greasy, better than the soft taco it's built on. But $4.49 for 350 calories buys a fairly small object. Good once in a while, not a staple.

$4.99 avg · 510 cal

Perfectly fine and perfectly forgettable. Grilled chicken, cheese, and creamy jalapeño sauce, 510 calories, cut into triangles that leak filling from the open ends. People order it for the sauce; they don't reorder because of the portion.

$5.99 avg · 740 cal

The saddest way to spend six dollars here. 740 calories of chips built to fail — the ones on top hog the beef and cheese, the ones underneath go soggy and bare. Impossible to share, worse to finish alone. Get a burrito.

$1.99 avg · 170 cal

Air with a dusting of cinnamon sugar. They're puffed pasta wheels, 170 calories, tasting like the idea of a churro without the payoff. Put the $1.99 toward a second Spicy Potato Soft Taco instead.