Taco Bell Testing Plant-Based Taco

Vegan and plant-based meat alternatives have been enjoying increased popularity in recent years, hitting more and more store shelves nationwide as well as showing up on restaurant menus. Now, Taco Bell is exploring their own, plant-based options and the fast-food chain is testing their new Cravetarian Taco at a Taco Bell location in Tustin, California now through April 29th while supplies last.

The Cravetarian Taco is a vegetarian version of the chain's Crunchy Taco Supreme, featuring a proprietary plant-based meat alternative made from a blend of peas and chickpeas made in the chain's test kitchen. The taco also comes with lettuce, diced tomatoes, reduced-fat sour cream, and shredded cheddar cheese in a crunch corn shell. The taco is priced at $2.19 Additionally, customers can substitute the plant-based protein in other menu items at no additional cost during the test, per Chewboom. While the Cravetarian Taco itself isn't vegan -- the cheddar cheese and sour cream both negate that -- the plant-based meat alternative itself is AVA-certified vegan.

This isn't the first time Yum Brands, Taco Bell's parent company, has tested a vegan meat alternative. In 2019, KFC tested Beyond Meat's vegan chicken, called beyond Fried Chicken, in one of its Atlanta locations. The test ended up being wildly successful, with customers lining up at the test location at 8 a.m. The location sold out of the Beyond Fried Chicken in under five hours. KFC's Beyond Fried Chicken was available as nuggets in six or 12-piece combo meals or as boneless wings in a six or 12-piece option tossed in one of three sauces, Nashville Hot, Buffalo, or Honey BBQ. At the time it was noted that customer feedback on the test of Beyond Fried Chicken will be taken into consideration by KFC to determine if they want to do a further, broader test of the plant-based offering or, potentially, even an eventual nationwide rollout.

Outside of test items, Burger King rolled out its first plant-based burger, the Impossible WHOPPER in 2019 as well. The Impossible WHOPPER remains available on Burger King menus nationwide.

Taco Bell's plant-based Cravetarian Taco, featuring a proprietary plant-based protein, is available exclusively at the Taco Bell located at 14042 Red Hill Ave in Tustin, California now through April 29th while supplies last.

Would you want to try a plant-based Taco Bell taco? Let us know in the comments.