Review: Taco Bell's New Flamin' Hot Grilled Cheese Burrito Is Straight Fire (Even If It's Not That Spicy)

For over a decade, Taco Bell has been encouraging diners to "Live Más." The Mexican fast food chain is constantly innovating new ways to enjoy food inside a tortilla, and the chain's latest creation takes that tortilla and packs it full of spice and cheese. The Flamin' Hot Grilled Cheese Burrito is here, and its name isn't the only thing that's a mouthful.

Taco Bell teamed up with Frito-Lay to bring the fan-favorite Flamin' Hot flavor to this dish not once, but twice. First, there's the new Flamin' Hot rice, which is infused with that addictively spicy, bright red Flamin' Hot flavor, along with a seasoning blend of red peppers, cheddar cheese powder, garlic, paprika, and lime. The rice is folded into a tortilla with seasoned beef, sour cream, nacho cheese, chipotle sauce, a three-cheese blend, and, of course, a handful of Flamin' Hot Fritos, then everything is wrapped up and grilled with an extra layer of cheese.

The new burrito is only around for a limited time, so Mashed sent me to Taco Bell the day it dropped (October 16) for a taste test. Read on to find out if this spice-laden, cheesy creation is worth ringing the bell for or if it's simply too many flavors all in one place.

The Taco Bell menu is filled with items that are only around for a limited time, but there's no set date on when any of them, including The Flamin Hot Grilled Cheese Burrito, might disappear. This is one of the more expensive options on the menu, though, coming in at $6.49 (prices vary depending on location). That's 50 cents more than a standard Grilled Cheese Burrito and $2 more than a Beefy Five-Layer Burrito.

In addition to being the most expensive burrito on the menu, it's also the most calorie-dense, clocking in at 730 calories in a single burrito. Add in 41 grams of fat (more than half the daily recommended value) and an eye-popping 1,570 milligrams of sodium (63% of your recommended daily intake), and it's safe to say the Flamin' Hot Grilled Cheese Burrito is not a health food. At least it contains 26 grams of protein, so that should help keep you full for a while.

This is a nice-sized burrito with a lot going on, but it all works. The layer of melted, crispy cheese on one half of the outside is fun and gets the flavor party started right away. Inside, the crunch of the Flamin' Hot Fritos is the first thing you notice, followed by an ooze of creamy queso. The beef, same as you'd get in any other Taco Bell item, brings a ton of flavor as one of the two non-spicy filling items. The other item is the three-cheese blend, which is surely there, but doing more work as a binding agent than anything, because that queso is front and center in the cheese department.

From a spice level, I expected more, but that doesn't mean I need more. The Flamin' Hot rice adds a nice kick that brings a uniform spice to every bite, but it's not over the top. The same can be said of the Fritos and queso, which offer a pleasant heat, but the multitude of spicy components doesn't build on one another so much as ensure consistent spice throughout the burrito. I enjoyed a nice burn on my tongue and in the back of my throat, but I never threatened to break out in a sweat. If an in-mouth inferno is your goal, this burrito is a good start, but you'll need to grab some Diablo Sauce to really crank up the heat.

This is absolutely a very good burrito, it's just not as spicy as I was expecting. Part of that might be my fault, as the words "flamin' hot" tend to conjure up images of extreme heat rather than the salty, spicy kick that Frito-Lay has made popular across a wide line of snacks. I would absolutely order it again, but if Taco Bell wants to really bring the heat, it might need to be the next fast food chain to sign up for a Hot Ones collaboration.

I visited my local Taco Bell on the day the Flamin' Hot Grilled Cheese Burrito was released and ordered one through drive-thru. I then popped over to the nearest parking lot and photographed the burrito in the back of my car before diving in for my taste test. My evaluation was based on taste, texture, and overall cohesiveness. Taco Bell was not aware of the review when preparing the food.