The 13 best discontinued Taco Bell menu items

Truly a great amongst fast-food vegetarian options, the 7-Layer Burrito was one of our consummate go-tos when we didn't feel like beefing up. The strata of refried beans, guacamole, cheese, onion, lettuce, sour cream and tomatoes at least felt a little lighter than its cheese-and-potato counterparts and could be even further improved by subbing in black beans.

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While we’re not keen on the word “beefy” to describe most things, we welcome it when it’s Taco Bell—and especially when it’s followed by “crunch burrito.” As with many of the Bell’s menu items, this has been an on-and-off item, returning briefly in 2023 a full 12 years after it was discontinued. Here is a flour tortilla stuffed with—of course—beef, rice, nacho cheese sauce, sour cream, and—for the crunch—Fritos Flamin’ Hot corn chips. It was peak Flamin’ Hots era, but honestly, the era never really ended. Maybe that’s why a majority of voters pushed the Bell to give it a limited-run return. And just like that: gone again.

The Meximelt was a beloved and longstanding Bell favorite, reliably on the menu for three decades until, in 2019, it wasn’t. The Meximelt was a flour tortilla filled with ground beef, pico de Gallo, and the three-cheese blend, designed as a cross between a soft taco and a quesadilla. A quick trip into the steamer produced melty, beefy perfection. As a staple item for many fans, its sudden demise was shocking and immediately prompted online petitions to resurrect the classic. But as of this writing, the Meximelt has not returned—and while fans can hack their way close by adding beef to a Cheesy Roll Up, Taco Bell no longer serves one crucial element: the pico de gallo. 

Long live the Gordita. This version of the signature taco—really, a “warm flatbread” per Taco Bell—encased an interior of ground beef, shredded lettuce, a three-cheese blend, and a no-longer-available fiesta salsa. (Real ones knew to sub in grilled chicken for the ground beef.) Over the years, Taco Bell shifted its emphasis from the Gordita to the Chalupa, prioritizing the -lupa’s fried shell over the -dita’s baked, fluffy, pita-like counterpart. Yes, you can still get a Gordita—the Cheesy Gordita Crunch, which includes a hard shell taco layer—but those prime food court days of a Baja Gordita are sadly over. 

The Loaded Griller menu included three variations: The Beefy Nacho Loaded Griller (sometimes referred to as the Beefy Nacho Griller) consisted of ground beef, crunchy red strips, and nacho cheese wrapped inside a tortilla and grilled using a grill press. The Chipotle Chicken Loaded Griller comprises chicken strips, reduced-fat sour cream, and chipotle sauce, wrapped inside a juicy tortilla and grilled. And finally, the Loaded Potato Griller was made up of potatoes, reduced-fat sour cream, bacon and nacho cheese sauce. In July 2020, Taco Bell removed all loaded grillers from its menu.

When it was first launched many years ago, the original Grilled Stuft Burrito, which was made with a grill press, featured a flour tortilla packed with ground beef, beans, rice, cheddar, Pepper Jack, mozzarella, creamy Pepper Jack sauce and Fiesta Salsa. Since then, the recipe has expanded to include the Chicken Enchilada and Chicken Caesar variations...and the all-important Nacho Crunch Grilled Stuft Burrito. It consisted of two portions of beef or chicken, nacho cheese, beans, green onions, tomatoes, sour cream, and crunchy red tortilla chip strips. And it was delicious.

Most know Taco Bell is big on thinking outside the bun, but once upon a time—we're talking well into the '90s—you could head to the Bell for a very bun-based meal. In a fast-food world full of classic hamburgers, the Bell Beefer was a south-of-the-border–inspired option that leaned more toward the Sloppy Joe; ground taco beef provided much of the heft to this long-time favorite, lightened by lettuce and diced onion, and it could gain shredded cheese with a 'supreme' upgrade. Decades later, fans are still calling for its return.

For roughly a decade, you could hold fall in the palm of your hand—not by going apple picking, but by heading to Taco Bell for an empanada. McDonald's might have cornered the market on apple turnovers, but Taco Bell's apple empanada contained something special: a smooth, not-too-thick caramel sauce that coated the apples and tasted a little like autumn year round. We guess we'll settle for the Cinnabon Delights. If we must.

Taco Bell has riffed on the Enchirito's format with smothered burritos over time, but they could never touch their fabled Enchirito. This burrito was the wet burrito of our fast-food dreams, stuffed with ground beef, refried beans and diced onions, then basking in a pool of red enchilada sauce so hot that the cheese instantly melted into gooey puddles on the surface. After a mid-'90s hiatus, the Enchirito fell off menus in 2013—until a brief return in 2022, after Bell fans voted it the menu item they'd most like to bring back. Then in summer 2023, the knife-and-fork behemoth came back again for a limited time.

Originally, the Grilled Steak Soft Taco featured a lime sauce with lettuce, cheddar cheese, and tomatoes. In later variations, Avocado Ranch sauce was added, which is the one most people remember. This was a steak alternative to the Ranchero Chicken Soft Taco—with the exception that the Ranchero Chicken Soft Taco offered fiesta salsa and not tomato. It was actually quite delicious and the steak was better than you'd imagine. Too late now, though. 

The Double Decker Taco is actually still available in some countries, like Australia and the UK, but just not in the USA. (We missed our shot in 2022 when it took second place to the Enchirito in a vote on which discontinued item to bring back.) It consists of a soft flour tortilla wrapped around a traditional crunchy taco with a layer of refried beans serving as a mortar between the two tortillas. It was introduced as a limited-run promotional item in 1995 and was advertised in a series of commercials featuring Shaquille O'Neal and Hakeem Olajuwon, before becoming a permanent menu item...and then being permanently removed.

The Black Jack Taco was an odd menu item, its most defining feature was, obviously, the black taco shell and it proved to be a polarizing feature: Some folk liked it since it was an unusual color and didn't really change the meal in any way...and other folk hated it because it was an unusual color and didn't really change the meal in any way. The filling had the same seasoned ground beef, shredded lettuce, and shredded cheese you will find in most items on Taco Bell’s menu, but it also came with a white pepper jack cheese sauce. However, the slightly spicy cheese sauce does provide some flavor, but it’s not as tasty as Taco Bell’s nacho cheese and Volcano sauces.

Before the bright shell on the Fiery Doritos Locos Taco, there was the neon red Volcano Taco, which launched in 2008 and brought the heat (at least in comparison to the rest of the menu). Touted as the Bell's spiciest taco yet and part of a heat-loving Volcano menu, fans lined up for a taste of the ground beef, lettuce, and shredded cheddar doused with lava sauce: a spicy, creamy take on nacho cheese and a discontinued topping that's still mourned across social media years after its demise. Fans got a brief reprise in 2023 when, in partnership with "that's hot" Paris Hilton, to bring the Volcan Menu back for a limited time. Alas, lava sauce's return was short-lived, and no amount of Fiery or Flamin' Hot tacos can sate our cravings for it.