The Taco Bell Meat The Workers Don't Eat

When satirical news outlet The Onion lampooned Taco Bell with the August 2025 headline, "Nutritionists Warn Taco Bell $3 Steak Burrito A $3 Steak Burrito," it joked that a typically costly meat priced so low was an inherent red flag. Yet the tongue-in-cheek article hit on a real point of contention among Taco Bell employees: the nature of the franchise's steak. Current and former Taco Bell employees have warned people to stay away from some of its meats, with steak frequently listed as an offender. 

Taco Bell's steak is polarizing amongst fans. Some lambast it for being over-salted and chewy to the point of having a gelatin-like texture. Many Taco Bell employees also have disdain for this suspiciously low-cost meat. In one Reddit AMA (ask me anything) posted on the r/tacobell subreddit, u/Chlo_b3ar, a Taco Bell manager, wrote, "I would NEVER eat the steak, my crew calls it deer ankles." They're not the only employees with an aversion. In a separate r/tacobell post, another employee claimed they will flat-out not eat the steak. When asked why, they gave a cryptic reply, "Just trust me."

Should you trust the employees? The good news is the steak is not dangerous. On another r/tacobell AMA, a former worker explained, "Taco Bell steak comes in vacuum-sealed containers cooked in a machine called the 'rethermalizer.'" The rethermalizer functions like a large-scale sous vide machine that cooks meat in water at specified temperatures. It's a sanitary process, albeit one that does not yield prime cuts where Taco Bell is concerned.

This is not the only issue impacting texture or freshness. An employee on one r/tacobell thread claimed, "Steak is usually the least selling out of the meats." As a result, it often "marinates in the juice from the previous day and gains a soft texture and horrible salty taste."

Lastly, there's the issue of quality. As The Onion stated, $3 steak is a bit iffy. While rumors circulate online about shady sourcing, the truth about Taco Bell steak is that it is 88% beef. What makes up the other 12 percent? Taco Bell is a little cagey about this, but the facts can be inferred from other ingredients, including an 18-ingredient seasoning blend. Such enhancements are generally reserved for economical cuts with a coarser texture. Although steak ranks among things you should never order at Taco Bell, some would argue that you get what you pay for, and it tastes perfectly fine for what it is. The steak has its fans, so if you're one of them, continue to enjoy.