Liz Matthews, Taco Bell’s chief food innovation officer, told me that fans have been clamoring for more chicken items after the debut of the chain’s cantina chicken menu. She knew she wanted to release a new bowl for the lunchgoers, but she wanted to make it more exciting.
Enter the Queso Cracked Cantina Bowl, featuring a crackable layer of cheddar cheese atop seasoned rice, slow-roasted chicken, black beans, lettuce, purple cabbage, sour cream, pico de gallo, cotija cream, and a sprinkle of chile lime seasoning. The crackable cheese is designed to be broken into crispy chips.
I’m frequently singing the praises of Taco Bell’s cantina chicken burrito, which is my go-to order, so I was very excited to see this bowl. It has the same crispy freshness as everything else on the cantina menu, with satisfying layers of flavor and texture in each bite. As I wrote in my notes at the time: “Fresh, crunchy, healthy, zingy — everything you need in a salad!”
My one note is that the cheese shell on top was much softer than I was expecting. It wasn’t crispy enough to lift the salad, and it didn’t really achieve the promised chip effect.
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