Review: Taco Bell And Frank's RedHot Give Us The Spicy Collab We Didn't Know We Needed

Let's be real — food is really just a vessel for sauce. Like many Americans, I often judge a meal based on its ability to be smothered in condiments. And if there's one sauce-focused chain famous for cranking out meals and snacks that can take a heavy-handed slathering, it's Taco Bell.

As of October 16, 2025 — and for a limited time only — the iconic Mexican-inspired fast food chain is unveiling a collab that we didn't know we needed. Frank's RedHot has teamed up with Taco Bell to introduce a brand-new sauce; a mash-up of Frank's iconic Buffalo-style hot sauce and Taco Bell's renowned front-runner of spice, Diablo Sauce. The new two-in-one sauce is paired up with four returning menu items: the Crispy Chicken Burrito, Crispy Chicken Soft Taco, Chicken Nacho Fries, and Crispy Chicken Strips.

I got my hands on the four returning menu items and plenty of the brand-new sauce to give an honest, tell-all review of the sauce itself and how it matches up with the crispy chicken items and nacho fries. I'll dive deep into the spicy red depths to disclose the sauce's heat level, dunkability, and flavor, especially compared to plain ol' Frank's and regular, unadulterated Diablo sauce. So grab plenty of napkins and prime your taste buds for some heat — let's get dipping.

There's no doubt in my mind that the return of the Crispy Chicken Burrito, priced at $5.49 a pop, will be welcomed with open arms by Taco Bell fans. There's a lot to love about this straightforward yet flavor-packed snack: It's got an extra-large strip of crispy chicken, pico de gallo, crunchy purple cabbage, lettuce, and cheddar cheese wrapped up in a flour tortilla. And, most importantly, now it has a healthy drizzle of Frank's RedHot Diablo Sauce.

This is a particularly hearty burrito — much more substantial than Taco Bell's shrinkflated Double Dipping Burritos. The chicken makes up the bulk, but the veggies and cheese give it a light flavor and texture lift without obscuring the meat or the sauce. I snagged an extra side of sauce, in typical condiment-lover fashion, but the burrito really didn't need it. There was enough sauce on it to coat the majority of the chicken. The shredded cheese inside gave it an extra boost of creaminess, while the crispy veggies added even more crunch to the chicken.

The sauce itself made this burrito a winner. It had all the butteriness of classic Frank's RedHot with a double dose of heat from the Diablo Sauce. Normally, I find Frank's alone to be lacking a bit in the heat department, but it turns out that the cure for a too-mild hot sauce is a dash of Diablo. Who knew.

The Crispy Chicken Soft Taco with Frank's RedHot Diablo Sauce, priced at $2.99, is a solid option when you're craving just a wee snack as opposed to a hefty meal like the aforementioned burrito. It's got all the same fixings as the burrito, but wrapped up in a slightly smaller package. Like the burrito, there was no shortage of crispy chicken, plenty of (but not too many) veggies, and lots of cheese to up the creamy factor.

It probably won't come as a surprise to anyone who's ever indulged in both a taco and a burrito, but the taco was significantly harder to eat than the tightly wrapped burrito. I found myself scooping up the chicken and forcing it back into the flour tortilla more than once. This snack also needed a bit more sauce to make it truly saucy and spicy. If you prefer to dip your Taco Bell snacks rather than have sauce drizzled on top, the taco is much more dipping-friendly — just watch that all the fixings inside are secure.

Outside of being delicate, the taco featured all the same flavors as the burrito — plenty of crunch, heat, and lots of creaminess without tasting oily and heavy. I was actually pleasantly surprised by the crispy chicken's lack of grease; most fast food chains are famous for their oil-drenched chicken, but Taco Bell really stands out with much fresher, lighter-tasting offerings.

Now here's where things really get interesting. Taco Bell's nacho fries are a sorely missed favorite, but they're back (albeit for a limited time) with the chain's Frank's RedHot collab in — dare I say — one of their greatest iterations yet. This substantial dish of nacho fries, covered in their famously addictive seasoning blend, is absolutely loaded with slow-roasted chicken, cheese sauce, shredded cheese, pico, and a drizzle of Frank's RedHot Diablo Sauce for just $4.99.

Cheese is certainly the main feature on these nacho fries, so much so that it tends to drown out the small chicken chunks. So if you're looking for something with a little more of a protein punch, consider ordering yours with extra chicken. There's enough Frank's RedHot Diablo Sauce to complement the peppery seasoning and give the fries a little kick of heat, but an extra drizzle wouldn't hurt. But be warned: the fries are sitting in plenty of soupy nacho cheese sauce, so don't go buck-wild with extra hot sauce and risk turning the fries to mush. Speaking of mush, even after letting them sit for a bit and allowing them to lose a bit of their crispiness, the nacho fries and all their toppings still taste delicious.

When the craving for chicken fingers hits, your first instinct probably isn't to take a trip to Taco Bell — but I implore you to step outside your fast food comfort zone. Taco Bell's chicken strips, priced at $6.99, which includes two sides of sauce, stand out in a crowded sea of fast food chicken fingers with their tortilla chip-based coating. It gives the meat a unique crunch and slight salty-sweet corn flavor, but eat them fast, because the breading seems to get soggy faster than the coating on traditional chicken strips. The tortilla chip-based crunch coats extra-juicy, all-white meat chicken that's almost as soft and delicate as slow-cooked chicken breast.

Taco Bell's Crispy Chicken Strips automatically come with Spicy Ranch Sauce, but I swapped it out for Frank's RedHot Diablo to see how the sauce held up against a plainer, simpler backdrop compared to the burrito, taco, and nacho fries. It's certainly bringing to mind Buffalo sauce, with its silky texture and classic reddish-orange hue, but it packs in more heat than standard Buffalo sauce. I grabbed a side of the Spicy Ranch as well to see how Frank's RedHot and Diablo Sauce fared with a third dip in the mix. For those who find Frank's RedHot Diablo Sauce a bit too spicy, this is the perfect solution. The ranch adds some tang to the smoky heat for a complex chicken dip that doesn't need anything fancy to be a meal on its own.

Frank's RedHot Diablo Sauce does an excellent job at being the focal point of this limited-time menu. All four of the items I tried are drastically improved with the heat, creaminess, and complex flavor that the sauce offers. Honestly, this sauce can probably find a home in just about every Taco Bell menu item.

My only qualm with the crispy chicken featured in three of the four returning items (the nacho fries feature slow-roasted chicken) comes down to a light layer of breading, which gets soggy quickly, especially after dousing the meat in hot sauce. But the harmonious flavors and superb texture of the chicken mean that most probably aren't waiting around to finish these snacks — if anything, they're polishing them off before the sogginess can even think about setting in.

The spice level is an obvious area of interest when it comes to this marriage of two classic hot sauces, considering that Diablo Sauce is Taco Bell's signature extra-extra-spicy condiment offering. On its own, Diablo is heavily smoky, but paired with Frank's, it gets a much-needed dose of sweetness and tang. Meanwhile, Frank's can use a little added heat, plus some layers of savory, smoky flavor. Ultimately, it feels like the union of these two sauces was written in the stars.