Review: Subway's New Doritos Hot Honey Nachos Are Shockingly Good

They say the only two things that can live through a nuclear blast are cockroaches and Twinkies. Well, I'd like to add one more item to that list: Subway. The chain has been around for the moon landing, the collapse of the Soviet Union, Y2K, the 2008 financial crisis ... you get the idea. Subway's origin story starts way back in the 1960s, and since then, it's become America's most ubiquitous fast food restaurant. Yep, not McDonald's, not Burger King — Subway is the chain you're most likely to spot on every city block and inside every strip mall. But it didn't get that way by slinging the same old sandwiches it's been serving since the swingin' '60s. Even though the chain's iconic green-and-yellow logo is so commonplace that it's become part of the woodwork, it still manages to keep up with trends.

This summer, Subway is bringing back some fan-favorite items centered around one of my personal favorite food trends of this decade. The chain is getting swicy with hot honey on two new saucy sandwiches, plus a Doritos partnership to give us the Doritos Hot Honey Nachos we didn't know we've been craving all these years. I got my hands on all three versions of these spicy-sweet nachos — steak, chicken, and extra cheese — to give a tell-all review. I'll dive deep into their flavor and freshness with a focus on the star of the meal: Subway's hot honey sauce. Let's see if Subway does right by the swicy condiment and the humble nacho's good name, or if it should stick to subs for good.

Some recommendations are based on firsthand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer.

To judge these new Subway items fairly, accurately, and without bias, I tried each in-store when it was hot and fresh. I let Subway's employees craft the nachos how they were intended to be eaten, without any additions or substitutions. Although Subway is all about customizing things the way you like them, I wanted to see how they tasted with only the toppings Subway decided were worthy of these nachos.

I didn't factor any of my personal taste preferences into my judgments. Instead, I stuck with objective observations based on freshness and perceived quality. Are the toppings mushy and bland, or crisp and flavorful? Is the cheese rubbery and tough or melty and tangy?

Of course, I focused a lot of my taste test on the returning Subway sauce, hot honey, which is the headliner of these items. Although I judged it primarily as a standalone condiment, I also loosely compared it to similar trendy fast food sauces, like McDonald's hot honey, and those you can find at the grocery store. I dove into the sauce's quality and taste and how everything — hot honey, veggies, cheese, and meat — works as a cohesive snack paired with the iconic flavor of Doritos. Price and nutritional content didn't play a role in my judgments whatsoever, although I did consider how good a value I thought the items were.

I tried the steak nachos first, so this was my initial experience with Subway x Doritos Hot Honey Nachos. Before I dive into the steak topping specifically, let's break down what's on top of this concoction: All the nachos come with jalapeños, red onion, tomato, shredded Monterey cheddar, and Subway's signature hot honey sauce, all piled on top of classic Doritos.

Now, let me tell you, there's no shortage of the sauce here, so you better make sure you're a hot honey fan if you tack these nachos onto your Subway order. The sauce isn't quite as thick as pure honey; it's more like the consistency of pancake syrup. It's infused with a touch of chili and something that gives it a barbecue sauce-like taste, but without being overly smoky. The sticky, sweet sauce worked well on savory steak chunks, which were extra-tender and melt-in-your-mouth. However, the bold sauce and plenty of cheese crowded out any umami meat taste, so the steak kind of existed more as a texture enhancer.

I wasn't disappointed in the amount of meat on these nachos. Let's be honest — most fast food restaurants skimp on the beef in dishes like this, but Subway didn't shy away from it, making it more than worth its price.

It only took one or two bites to decide that the chicken nachos were my absolute favorite. Not only were there plenty of extra-tender bits of shredded chicken, but the hot honey sauce was destined to be paired with poultry. The barbecue-y, spicy flavor had chicken written all over it, and the sauce even clung to the meat chunks like they were star-crossed lovers finally reunited. This didn't come as much of a surprise, since so many hot honey recipes involve chicken in some way, shape, or form. Meanwhile, in the steak nachos, the sauce and meat were more like two tasty ingredients who just happened to find themselves in the same dish. 

While the steak chunks were somewhat crumbly, the shredded, rotisserie-style chicken had more of a satisfying bite while still being soft, so — paired with crunchy veggies and creamy cheese — there was a bit more textural interest at play. The milder meat taste was also a better pairing with the famously bold, cheesy dust on Doritos chips. Generally, the chicken tasted like it was higher quality than the steak; in fact, I would believe you if you told me that Subway whole-roasted its own chickens in the back. All told, these nachos had a great mix of savory, sweet, hot, and creamy, all meshing together into one deliciously cohesive snack.

Who says nachos need to have meat? I spent many years as a vegetarian, and I always appreciate it when a fast food restaurant offers meat-free versions of new or classic dishes. Heck, I even still find myself opting for veggie-forward fast food items pretty often. In the case of this Subway snack, the chicken or steak is swapped out for extra cheese, so it isn't just the same dish sans meat.

There are a lot of people who say "everything's better with extra cheese." I'll be the square peg here and disagree. The two meat options came with just the right amount of cheese, so the double load of dairy here was a little bit overkill. Had the tortilla chips been plain, unseasoned chips, it probably would have worked. But the Dorito flavor and tons of cheese managed to drown out the hot honey sauce a bit despite the fact that it was really piled on.

Don't get me wrong — if I didn't eat meat, I'd order up these nachos and enjoy them down to the last bite. However, the meat versions offered a lot more balance, which ultimately made for a better snack. Still, the bright, crunchy veggies added plenty of variation to this creamy, dairy-forward Subway item. In fact, I felt like I could enjoy the hot honey sauce on the veggies a little more here without the meat getting in the way (the sauce on the jalapeños was particularly delicious here).

I was really impressed with Subway's Doritos Hot Honey Nachos. They're the quintessential comforting fast food items; they incorporate an iconic chip, are smothered with cheese and fresh-tasting toppings, and the quantity-to-price ratio is on point. It almost takes me back to the old days, when you could leave a restaurant with a belly full of satisfying hot food even if you just had a few bucks in your pocket.

The metaphorical cherry on top of these nachos was easily the Doritos, not the hot honey. Well, it was more about how the two played so well together. With regular tortilla chips, I'm convinced that the viscous, super-sweet sauce would have been too rich and sugary. But that classic umami essence in Doritos really grounded the sauce and made the snack as a whole an explosion of different flavors that were all perfectly integrated.

As for the sauce itself, it stays true to hot honey's roots (that is to say, it tastes mostly like spicy honey), but it still has a distinct smoky touch that makes it unique to Subway. Even though I would have liked a little more spice in the sauce, the jalapeños that topped the nachos more than made up for it in heat. One of the employees at my local Subway explained that, last year, the hot honey items sold out faster than most other seasonal items, and I don't find that hard to believe.

You can get Subway's hot honey items — which include the nachos and two Italian-style subs featuring the sauce — starting on August 20, 2026. The menu is expected to be available until October 26, but if your local Subway runs out of the sauce, the menu will disappear earlier than that (and you can expect many locations to run out fast). According to some Subway employees in a Reddit thread, some locations only receive one case of hot honey, and they aren't able to restock when it runs out. One employee claims their high-volume location ran out in a mere three days.

At my local Subway, the Doritos Hot Honey Chicken Nachos cost $4.99, and the steak version costs $5.99. The price for the double cheese nachos wasn't listed on the app, but I think it's safe to assume that it costs the same as (or maybe slightly less than) the chicken nachos. These prices come from a Subway location in rural Pennsylvania, so you can expect to pay a slightly higher price if you're visiting a location in a major city.

I wasn't able to track down the nutritional content for each individual version of nachos, but I did locate the nutrition facts for just the hot honey sauce. In one 14-gram serving (which is about how much sauce comes on a 6-inch sub), the hot honey has 30 calories, 120 milligrams of sodium, 8 grams of sugar, and is fat-free.