10 Taco Bell Menu Items From The 1990s You Probably Forgot About

We can't quite explain it, but Taco Bell just feels like the '90s. This was the decade, after all, that saw the fast food chain get its most famous mascot, Gidget the Chihuahua, in the fall of 1997, bringing the phrase "Yo quiero Taco Bell" into the world. It was also the decade that its menu exploded. In the 1990s, Taco Bell started taking more and more risks with its output, bringing in burritos, tacos, and nachos that had ever more outlandish flavors and concepts behind them.

Predictably, not all of these menu items have survived to this day, and some of them are almost forgotten by history. They haven't been entirely lost forever, though. Scores of people online have devoted hours to documenting Taco Bell's 1990s history, praising the funky interior design of its restaurants at the time, its advertising, and, above all, its menu. Well, why should they get all the fun? We decided to take a deep dive into the '90s and unearth some of those long-lost classics -- and, in doing so, hopefully nudge Taco Bell to bring some of them back.

Read more: The Ultimate Ranking Of American Fast Food Restaurants

‌Bell Beefer

Taco Bell's sloppy joe-inspired Bell Beefer was a bit of a strange move, considering the chain's Mexican-focused menu. What made it even stranger was how long the Bell Beefer lasted. This burger was on the original Taco Bell menu way back in 1962, then called the Chili Burger, and was included as a way to acclimatize American consumers to a restaurant that traded largely in Mexican cuisine. It was a kind of taco-burger hybrid, with ground beef piled into a burger bun, topped with taco sauce, and then garnished with onions and lettuce. Customers could then choose to upgrade their burger by adding sour cream and tomatoes.

Over the years, this burger went through a few rebrands and landed on the name Bell Beefer in the late 1970s. Eventually, though, the Bell Beefer retreated into the background. Taco Bell's menu gradually became more diverse, with the restaurant investing more in its tacos and burritos, and in the 1990s, the burger was discontinued. The Bell Beefer did reappear momentarily in the 2010s, brought back by the restaurant -- but it didn't last long.

Bacon Cheeseburger Burrito

If you're a beginner ordering at Taco Bell, a burrito's a pretty safe bet. In the '90s, though, things could get a little weird burrito-wise. That fact is arguably embodied most clearly by the sheer existence of the Bacon Cheeseburger Burrito. This menu mash-up was introduced in 1995 and rode on a bacon wave, with competitors like Burger King, McDonald's, and Arby's introducing bacon-including items around the same time, and Taco Bell simultaneously bringing several other bacon-y offerings.

The Bacon Cheeseburger Burrito was, essentially, a bacon cheeseburger transformed into burrito form, with a few key differences. Instead of classic mayo or mustard, it had a creamy, jalapeño-tasting sauce with a hint of smokiness and a barbecue-like quality. Rather than strips of bacon, it included crumbled bacon pieces. It sounds like something a bored college kid would dream up, and that might be why it didn't last long and was relegated to the fast food graveyard. That hasn't stopped people from praising the Bacon Cheeseburger Burrito online and calling for its return, with some starting petitions to bring it back to the menu and Facebook pages popping up in praise of the item. ‌

BLT Taco

The BLT Taco appeared on Taco Bell's menu in 1995 as part of a trio of items that included bacon, with the Bacon Cheeseburger Burrito and the Chicken Club Burrito arriving with it as part of its Sizzlin' Bacon Menu. It was all part of that classic '90s obsession with bacon, but we've gotta say, we're not surprised it didn't stick around.

The BLT Taco was exactly what it sounded like: bacon, lettuce, and tomato shoved into a soft-shell taco and topped with some of that famous Taco Bell cheese and a mayonnaise-like sauce. The main selling point for this taco was the price, and at just 99 cents per taco, it was an attractive offer. Indeed, people who tried the BLT Taco back in the day still have fond memories of this menu item, with forum posts routinely popping up praising it. However, after a brief moment in the sun, this taco disappeared for good. There are a lot of foods you might want to reconsider ordering at Taco Bell, and to be honest, if this one was still on the menu, we'd reconsider ordering it, too.

Enchirito

The Taco Bell Enchirito is the stuff of legend. This menu item originally made its way to the masses way back in 1970 and was popular enough to stick around until 1993. The Enchirito was a pretty messy affair, but no less delicious for it: Chefs would take a soft tortilla and fill it up with beef, refried beans, and onions. After placing it in a container, they'd then cover it in red sauce and sprinkle it with cheese.

Sounds delicious, right? Customers thought so -- and when it was discontinued for the first time, they didn't quit. Reports went around of hungry patrons continuing to order the item, and because the restaurants still had all of the ingredients to make them, some places would happily oblige. This led to an underground Enchirito culture that eventually Taco Bell could no longer ignore. In 2000, the restaurant brought back the Enchirito and kept it around until 2013 before taking it off the menu again. Fast-forward to 2022, and the restaurant held a poll for its fans, asking them which item they wanted the chain to bring back -- and, you guessed it, the Enchirito won, reappearing in stores for a few weeks toward the end of the year. Will Taco Bell hurry up and just make it a permanent item again, already?

Volcano Burrito

We've gotta talk about the Volcano Burrito, guys. This menu item arrived on the back of a flashy ad campaign that featured footage from the 1995 film "Congo," tying it into the release of the movie. Complete with dramatic music and images of volcanic eruptions, the ad was clearly designed to evoke the raw power of this burrito, which featured a "fiery red sauce," as well as seasoned beef, beans, rice, and a cheese blend.

The Volcano Burrito caused quite a stir when it came out, with people falling in love with the wrap (which was probably helped by its 99-cent price). So when Taco Bell removed it from the menu, people didn't go down without a fight. The good word of the Volcano Burrito continued to spread, and it was brought back in the 21st century -- before being cruelly snatched away again in 2012. In 2023, however, Taco Bell resurrected the Volcano Burrito for a limited-time spin. Interestingly, as of this writing, it's a standard feature on the Taco Bell U.K. menu, where you can grab it as part of a meal deal, with some seasoned fries and a drink.

Chicken Club Burrito

Taco Bell has always put Mexican cuisine at the forefront of its offerings, but it's never been afraid to try new culinary creations. Its short-lived Chicken Club Burrito was proof of this. This item launched in 1995 at the comparatively high price of $1.99, alongside Taco Bell's other mid-'90s bacon-filled offerings. The Chicken Club Burrito was pretty much what you'd expect it to be, combining chicken and bacon with tomato, lettuce, cheese, and a ranch-like sauce, wrapped in a flour tortilla. The restaurant acknowledged its ordinary flavors by using fajita chicken instead of regular, unseasoned breast, which in our mind makes a flavor clash -- but hey, each to their own.

In 1996, Taco Bell's Chicken Club Burrito was accompanied by an ad campaign in which the burrito and its fellow bacon-containing items were served as part of a black-tie dinner. Whether this was an attempt to make them appear more classy or not, we're not sure, but it didn't secure a long-term audience for the burrito. After a short while, the Chicken Club Burrito disappeared from Taco Bell's menu for good.

Extreme Nachos

Ever thought nachos just aren't extreme enough? You'd have loved Taco Bell in the 1990s. In 1993, Taco Bell released the Extreme Nachos, a take on its regular nachos, which were available for $1.49. The Extreme Nachos were aimed at an audience who liked the taste of spice and came with a central tortilla bowl, into which it piled beans, sour cream, cheese, and guacamole. On top of this was a "Wild Sauce," presumably a super-spicy take on salsa, and to each side of the bowl was a pile of red nachos.

It's a menu item that felt quintessentially '90s, with its bright colors and vaguely overpowering flavor combinations -- and it was launched with a quintessentially '90s ad campaign, featuring broad-brushstroke characters and some slapstick comedy. However, the Extreme Nachos didn't last. The brash appeal of the nachos wasn't enough to keep them on the menu, and they soon faded away. That hasn't stopped people from being nostalgic for aspects of it, though. Wild Sauce enthusiasts online still call for Taco Bell to bring it back. ‌

Gordita

Appearing toward the end of the 1990s, the Gordita caused quite a stir when it arrived at Taco Bell. This take on a taco was pretty dissimilar to a regular gordita, which is made with masa flour and is more like an arepa. Instead, the Taco Bell Gordita was more like a flatbread taco, with a soft shell surrounding a pile of beef, sour cream, tomatoes, cheese, and some other fillings.

The Gordita arrived with a lot of fanfare and was backed up by a promotional campaign that allegedly cost more than $60 million. The concept behind the Gordita was that it would be a revolutionary product, and this is evident in its advertising. One fairly unsettling commercial from 1998 featured a minor key national-anthem-style song with Gidget the Chihuahua standing at attention and a choir singing in praise of the Gordita. It also ended with Gidget saying, "Bless you, Taco Bell" -- honestly, it's pretty weird, folks.

The Gordita itself didn't quite land the way that Taco Bell might have hoped, but a version of it still lives on. The Cheesy Gordita Crunch, a hybrid version of the Gordita featuring a soft shell enclosing a regular taco, is a regular feature on its menu.

Big Border Taco

Taco Bell has never been afraid to go big, and in 1996, it put this ethos to the test with its Big Border Taco. This taco was, for all intents and purposes, just like its regular tacos -- but way longer and bigger. Each taco shell had a much larger surface area (they were about 1.5 times bigger than the normal tacos), and this allowed Taco Bell to stuff in a larger amount of ground beef and cheese and pile it higher with more toppings.

The Big Border Taco was only ever destined to be a limited-time offering, and almost as soon as it was introduced, it was taken from the menu. However, that doesn't stop people from sharing fond memories of it online. Much like other limited-edition menu items from other fast food joints, there remains a strong desire for Taco Bell to bring it back one day -- and who knows, maybe it'll make an appearance a few decades later.

The Border Lights Line

Oh, boy. Where do we begin? The Border Lights food line at Taco Bell, which consisted of five different low-fat tacos and burritos including the Chicken Soft Taco, was a huge endeavor for the restaurant. The fast food chain poured millions of dollars into the launch of the products, including adverts during the 1995 Super Bowl. These items were designed to have roughly half the fat of normal Taco Bell items, and lower calories overall, and were part of a very '90s food culture.

At first, the Border Lights line seemed to be a winner: Customers reported liking the products and stated that they were unable to tell the difference between the low-fat tacos and burritos and the regular ones. However, that goodwill didn't last forever. People started to take issue with the menu line's name and imagery, stating that it alluded to the tensions at the U.S.-Mexico border, and criticized the company for its poor judgment and taste. Taco Bell also failed to reach the high sales standards it set for itself, and while the Border Lights items didn't perform terribly, they didn't do particularly well, either. After just a year on the market, Taco Bell cut its Border Lights menu, and they were never spoken of again.

Read the original article on Daily Meal