Food & Beverage

The chicken fight continues ... Taco Bell enters the ring

It's a taco! It's a sandwich! No, it's a sandwich taco! (Photo provided)

February 22, 2021

The QSR Chicken Wars are heading into taco territory with Taco Bell debuting a Crispy Chicken Sandwich Taco on March 11 in Nashville, Tennessee, and Charlotte, North Carolina. The California-based chain said via email that a national rollout would come later this year but did not provide dates.

As most QSR industry insiders know, last week was a chicken sandwich free-for-all, with McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's and Popeyes announcing new fried chicken offerings and taking jabs at one another via social media.

Taco Bell's chicken offering includes all-white-meat crispy chicken, which is marinated in jalapeño buttermilk, seasoned with Mexican spices and rolled in a tortilla chip coating. The taco/sandwich is folded into a puffy bread, shaped like a taco, and filled with the chicken and a creamy chipotle sauce, the company said. It costs $2.49.

Taco Bell, which told QSRWeb that the taco wasn't its only crispy chicken innovation arriving in 2021, also said it has been in the chicken battle for quite some time, debuting the Crispy Chicken Chickstar (2015), Naked Chicken Chips (2017) and Naked Chicken Chalupa (2017).