Taco Bell Joins Chicken Sandwich Wars With New Taco

First, it was Popeyes and a killer viral marketing campaign. Then came the others — one by one, fast-food restaurants revamped their chicken sandwich offerings to join in on the craze. Now, Taco Bell is getting in on the insanity with its latest offering: the Chicken Sandwich Taco.

The new item is exactly what it sounds like, a chicken sandwich turned into a taco. For the meat, all-white-meat chicken is marinated in jalapeño buttermilk before being seasoned with signature Taco Bell seasonings. It’s then rolled in a tortilla chip breading. The chicken is then placed into a taco “shell” made out of a new bread item the chain is calling “puffy bread.”

Taco Bell’s Chicken Sandwich Tacos will be available in two different ways — regular, and spicy. Both kinds include the restaurant’s signature creamy chipotle sauce while the spicy variant includes sliced jalapenos.

Starting March 11th, Taco Bell will be testing the item at select Taco Bell locations in Nashville, TN and Charlotte, NC. The items will then receive a national rollout at some point later this year as the fast-food restaurant looks to make its mark on the ever-growing chicken sandwich market.

On that front, a Taco Bell spokesperson tells us the Chicken Sandwich Taco won’t be the only chicken-based offering released by the company this year. That much was confirmed earlier in the year by the company’s chief innovation officer Liz Matthews.

“I love watching the competitors,” Matthews told Business Insider in January. “I think a lot of players out there are doing a great job, but what I will say is that we will interrupt that with what we’re going to do on chicken.”