Taco Fries Are Back, but You Can Make Them Yourself

Earlier this year, Taco Bell made a glaring mistake by removing all of its delicious potato dishes from its menu . Since then, the company has seen its mistakes, and cheese potato tacos et al. Will soon be available again for fourth flour. But you don’t need Taco Bell’s pity, and you don’t need to wait – because we’ve already told you how to make your own versions of these starchy foods at home. This original post follows. I’m not vegetarian but ordering Taco Bell. I always go for caesarito (no beef, add beans, add potatoes), spicy potato soft tacos, and cheese potato burritos (no beef, add beans). Other items come and go , but these three are forever – well, until August 13th, when all individually will be discontinued .

According to a July 17 press release , the pending menu update “will leave room for new fan favorites” and “continue progress in categories like plant-based diets,” both are cool I think. But Taco Bell potatoes are so popular that stopping them seems deliberately vicious – especially for vegans and vegetarians, whose fast food options are severely limited outside Bell. No matter what new mouth-watering meat-free dishes we look forward to, they will never replace a plate of salty, soft, fatty potatoes drenched in liquid cheese and sour cream.

Fortunately, making taco sweet potatoes at home is easy: all you need are regular reddish brown potatoes, butter, and a simple condiment mixture. While researching this recipe, I learned that the secret to Taco Bell is not MSG or cumin, although they are definitely present, but flour . A dash of all-purpose flour will give the chips the crisp crunch that is needed among the braggart. (It also helps their ground beef thicken to a characteristic slurry consistency, but we’re not talking about that right now.)

To make Live Más Dust, you will need 1 rounded teaspoon (5-6 grams) of each of the following ingredients:

• Ground cumin
• Granular garlic
• Dehydrated Onion Flakes or Onion Powder
• Smoked paprika
• Cayenne pepper or any other red chili powder
• Dry broth (I used chicken) or nutritional yeast
• white sugar

Combine all of the above with 2 rounded teaspoons (10-12 grams) of adobo (I like the Iberia brand because it contains monosodium glutamate) and 2 rounded tablespoons (about 20 grams) of all-purpose flour. You should have 1/4 cup of the spice, which is enough for at least 3 batches of potatoes.

Feel free to experiment with spices; if you don’t have adobo, garlic or seasoned salt is great. I ran out of both onion flakes and onion powder, so I crushed some French fried onions and used that instead. (No regrets about this if you can believe it.)

To cook potatoes, heat the oven to 475ºF with a wire rack in the top third. Cut 1 lb. unpeeled russet potatoes into 1/2 inch cubes and toss with about one-third of the Live Más Dust. Heat a large, oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat, then add enough neutral vegetable oil to cover the bottom. Add the seasoned potatoes to the hot oil in one layer and simmer for 3-5 minutes without touching. Turn them over with a spatula and transfer to the oven. Roast for 10-15 minutes, turning potatoes once or twice, until golden brown and crispy.

While they’re cooking, open up some canned nacho cheese and fried beans, mix your favorite hot sauce with bottled ranch dressing (I swear ranch is the secret to all their creamy sauces) and toss some Live Más Dust into the cooked ground beef – or crispy tofu crumbs … From now on everything will be in the assembly.

For the full experience, I recommend checking the descriptions of your favorite foods on the Taco Bell website . You won’t find detailed recipes, but you will find a list of the ingredients that go into each item. I recreated my usual order, plus a plate of fiesta potatoes for good measure. Days of “tacos” for driving across the road. Bulgarian potatoes may be numbered, but they continue to live (and live más) in my kitchen – and now in yours.

This post was originally published in August 2020 and was updated on January 14, 2021 to add context regarding the return of potato dishes to the Taco Bell menu.