12 Ordering Tips For A Better Cheesy Gordita Crunch At Taco Bell

If you're a fan of the Cheesy Gordita Crunch at Taco Bell, you already know it's one of the greatest fast food menu items the chain has ever dreamed up, but there are ways to make it taste even better. The outside layer of a Cheesy Gordita Crunch is a soft and pillowy flatbread, while the inside layer is a classic crunchy taco. The flatbread is secured to the taco with a layer of melty cheddar, pepper jack, and mozzarella cheeses, keeping your taco from falling apart and dumping ingredients in your lap. 

Combining the two best shell types at Taco Bell is already genius, but the chain goes one step further by adding Spicy Ranch to the seasoned beef, cheddar cheese, and lettuce already inside a regular Crunchy Taco. Still, there are ways to upgrade Taco Bell's Cheesy Gordita Crunch to improve upon the original. Not only that, but some options are also cheaper.

There are some unwritten rules to know about ordering at Taco Bell, like not adding too many sauces to your order and ruining a good thing. However, there are several tried-and-true ways to improve a Cheesy Gordita Crunch that will have you wondering why you've only been ordering it the way it comes without doing a little experimentation. Use these ordering tips to create the Cheesy Gordita Crunch of your dreams.

Prices are as of the date of publication and may vary based on region.

Cheesy Gordita Crunches are already pretty thick, thanks to their fluffy flatbread layer. The name "gordita" in Spanish already implies that it's plump. However, you can round it out and bulk it up even more by adding a few extra items that taste delicious when combined with the ingredients that it already has. Then, you'll have something that's even more satisfying without purchasing another menu item.

So, what you want to do for the más gordita version of the Cheesy Gordita Crunch is to add seasoned rice and potatoes. Seasoned rice adds 50 calories, and potatoes add 100 calories. These extra 150 calories make this menu item far more filling than it would be alone. Plus, this upgrade costs less than a dollar, which is less than adding another full menu item to your order.

You can go one step further by adding reduced-fat sour cream. It adds only 20 extra calories on top of everything else, but it provides creaminess and enhanced flavor. Just keep in mind that it's almost a dollar to add the extra sour cream. Still, customers on social media find it worthwhile when bulking out their order.

There are two ingredients that make Taco Bell menu items like a Cheesy Gordita Crunch "Supreme" at Taco Bell: sour cream and tomatoes. The Cheesy Gordita Crunch filling of seasoned meat, shredded cheddar cheese, and shredded lettuce is the same as the filling in a taco. The addition of sour cream and tomatoes makes a supreme taco taste that much better. So, it should be a no-brainer to assume that a Cheesy Gordita Crunch would taste even better with the add-ins.

The trick is to order it wisely to keep the cost down. If you add tomatoes and reduced-fat sour cream separately, you'll end up spending a bit under $2 extra. However, you can ask to "make it supreme" instead for less than $1. Thus, the "supreme" upgrade costs almost half the price of adding those ingredients individually. This is an option you can ask for when ordering in person at the drive-thru or front counter, or if you order online, with the app, or using the kiosk indoors. Just look for the "make it supreme" option when ordering digitally, or remember to say the magic words "Supreme Cheesy Gordita Crunch" to get the price break when ordering orally.

We're about to blow your mind by showing you how to make an even tastier, meatier, and more robust Cheesy Gordita Crunch that's even cheaper than ordering it the normal way. The only catch here is that it's a DIY sort of menu item. However, you get two kinds of meat and an additional sauce, which makes it all the better.

So, you already know that the middle crunchy part of a Cheesy Gordita Crunch is just the Classic Crunchy Taco, right? Well, something you may not have realized is that there's a Luxe Value Menu item, the 3 Cheese Chicken Flatbread Melt, that uses the same flatbread as a gordita. The melt contains the same three-cheese blend as the cheese layer between the flatbread and the taco in a Cheesy Gordita Crunch. However, it also includes grilled chicken and chipotle sauce. Do you see where we're going here? You can use the flatbread melt for the outer layer and put a Crunchy Taco in the middle for a two-meat chipotle Cheesy Gordita Crunch.

At the time of writing, the Cheesy Gordita Crunch costs $5.79. Meanwhile, it's only $2.29 for a 3 Cheese Chicken Flatbread Melt and $1.99 for a Crunchy Taco. So that's a savings of $1.51 to make it yourself. Plus, you get chicken and the added flavor of smoky chipotle sauce.

There was a hack from an employee that went viral a while back for turning a Cheesy Gordita Crunch into a Doritos Cheesy Gordita Crunch by asking for a Nacho Cheese Doritos Locos Taco in the middle instead of a classic taco. This hack was so successful that it became an official menu item: a Doritos Cheesy Gordita Crunch. Now, imagine having a two-meat chipotle Cheesy Gordita Crunch (like we explained how to make above) with a Doritos Locos Taco in between. Not only do you get the flavors of a regular Cheesy Gordita Crunch taco, but you get the nacho cheese taco shell flavor, chicken, and chipotle sauce. This is a favorite a lot of people have discovered, and it's an order they make on repeat.

Now, to make it yourself, start by ordering a 3 Cheese Chicken Flatbread Melt. Then you order a Doritos Locos Taco. Once you have them both, you open up the flatbread melt and slide the taco inside. Suddenly, you have both seasoned beef and grilled chicken in your gordita, along with the added smoky chipotle sauce flavor and the salty cheesy goodness from the Doritos Locos Taco shell. This is a flavor and textural experience you won't soon forget.

While a traditional Cheesy Gordita Crunch includes seasoned ground beef, that's not your only meat option for this menu item. Subbing out the meat provides a different flavor experience. However, you'll want to keep in mind that upgrading to a different meat costs a dollar or more.

Switching out the seasoned ground beef for a different meat is an easy change you can make while ordering at the counter or drive-thru, or digitally through the website, app, or kiosk in the restaurant. The cheapest substitution is the normal grilled chicken, which adds less than a dollar to the total cost. Plus, customers say that it has a good texture and is less greasy than seasoned beef. However, if you opt for slow-roasted chicken or steak instead, the added cost will be over a dollar more. One customer on social media mentioned especially liking it with steak and Avocado Verde Salsa.

One meat option we've seen on social media that you can't officially make with a digital order is getting it with crispy chicken. Although, you could always order your gordita without meat, order a 5-Piece Crispy Chicken Nuggets, and then add some nuggets to your gordita. However, that's a fairly expensive upgrade, with the 5-piece nuggets edging toward $5.

The flatbread in a Cheesy Gordita Crunch is, in our opinion, the very best wrapper that you can get at Taco Bell. It's ultra-soft, pillowy, and everything you ever wanted in a bread. However, we've found that it can be disappointing and sometimes even hard if it's not well steamed. You really get the sense of its full potential when you experience it in the 3 Cheese Chicken Flatbread Melt, which is always well-steamed to make all the cheese nice and melty. However, the same doesn't always happen when you order a cheesy gordita crunch. So, you have to take control and make sure that all-important steaming happens.

Something to note is that there's no way to make a special request like steaming when you do a digital order. So, to ensure this happens, you need to either order in person at the counter or order in the drive-thru. If you manage to get the employee making your order to thoroughly steam your gordita, the results are well worth it. The flatbread will be soft and warm, while the cheesy layer between the flatbread and the taco will be extra melty. In the words of a Redditor who has learned to ask for this, "When it's done right, it's nirvana."

Another way to upgrade your Cheesy Gordita Crunch is to fill it full of fresh ingredients. If you love fresh ingredients like pico de gallo and guacamole on your tacos, you'll also love them on your Cheesy Gordita Crunch. Both of these options are under a dollar each, but they serve to brighten the flavor profile.

While there are several fresh ingredient add-on options available, we want to focus on ones that are tried-and-true. Customers have had good results adding pico de gallo and guacamole without upsetting the flavor balance. Taco Bell's guacamole includes creamy fresh Hass avocados, which customers say pair perfectly with the texture and flavor of the melted cheese in this menu item. Meanwhile, the pico de gallo includes tomatoes, onions, and cilantro, which provide fresh flavors that can help elevate the flavor profile of the Cheesy Gordita Crunch. Honestly, there aren't many dishes that pico can't improve, and it's a good bet for your gordita.

If you've been a frequent customer at Taco Bell the last few years, chances are that you've developed an affinity for one sauce — likely after trying items that have cycled through the menu. If you haven't, then you owe it to yourself to experiment with the sauces on the Cheesy Gordita Crunch. The original version comes with Spicy Ranch, but you can change the sauce, too.

Keep in mind that changing the sauce isn't a free swap. Depending on the one you choose, you could be looking at as little as a $0.10 increase to nearly a dollar increase in the price. We've already mentioned guacamole as an option for adding fresh flavors, reduced-fat sour cream as an option for bulking it up, and how nice and smoky the chipotle sauce tastes with it. However, there are other options. Some swaps that we've seen customers on social media recommend are Avocado Ranch or Nacho Cheese replacing the Spicy Ranch. 

Experiment with the other sauces, such as the red or green sauce, Creamy Jalapeño Sauce, and even the Mexican Pizza Sauce. Nobody on social media seems to be talking about these substitutions, so try them at your own risk.

Unlike at most fast food restaurants, there's not really a supersized option for Taco Bell menu items. However, Taco Bell posted a creative way on TikTok to make a giant Cheesy Gordita Crunch. You might not have access to the Taco Bell kitchen, but you can still Frankenstein one yourself with some creative ordering and just a little extra work on your part.

To make it, you need to order three items. For your giant gordita shell, order a cheese quesadilla (no chicken unless you want an extra meat layer). Then, you'll need to order two Crunchy Tacos (original or Doritos-style) for the crunch part.

After you get your order, you'll open the quesadilla, place the tacos inside, and fold the quesadilla again with the tacos inside. If it's not cheesy enough for you, you can also order Nacho Cheese for dipping or for drizzling inside. Without the Nacho Cheese, this order comes out to a little over a dollar cheaper than buying two Cheesy Gordita Crunches. However, if flatbread is the draw of the gordita for you, like it is for us, this menu hack might not be for you since you'll be sacrificing the soft flatbread for an extra-large flour tortilla.

We've already mentioned two ways to make your Cheesy Gordita Crunch extra cheesy: swapping out the sauce in it for nacho sauce or ordering some nacho sauce for dipping on the side. However, adding extra cheese between the layers makes it even better. We saw one person on social media who tried ordering a Cheesy Gordita Crunch this way to increase the cheese quotient; after seeing how much he loved it, we think you're going to want to try it, too, if you're a cheese fan.

Getting extra cheese between the two layers is fairly simple. However, you'll have to order it in person at the counter inside or at the drive-thru window because you'll be asking for something specific that you can't get through a digital order. All you need to do when you order is to ask for extra shredded cheese in the layer between the flatbread and the taco shell. You might also want to remind the employee taking your order to steam it a little extra; the extra cheese needs to be nice and melty so it doesn't fall out when you're eating your gordita. 

One of the best things about Taco Bell is that you can make anything vegetarian, including the Cheesy Gordita Crunch. There are a few substitution options you can do online, in the app, or on kiosk menus. This menu item usually includes seasoned beef as its main protein. However, instead of the seasoned beef, you can order a non-meat option. Luckily, it's a straight swap that doesn't cost you anything extra. 

However, it does change the listed calorie content. One of the most popular substitutions we've seen customers talk about on social media is to switch out the seasoned beef for potatoes. Another tried-and-true version that maximizes flavor is to switch out meat for potatoes and add tomatoes. Of course, if you want a vegetarian substitution that provides more protein, you can opt for beans or refried beans instead. The results are just as delicious as vegetarian versions of a regular taco. However, you have the added bonus of extra cheese and a cloud-soft flatbread layer on the outside.

Our final ordering tip for getting an upgraded Cheesy Gordita Crunch is to add a Cheesy Roll Up to the outer layer. This upgrade reminds us of the turducken creation that became a thing starting in the 1970s. To make turducken, cooks create an edible Russian nesting doll out of a turkey stuffed with a duck and then stuffed with a chicken (all deboned except for the turkey wings and legs). This food layering technique actually has medieval roots, and it's just as intriguing today as it ever was. At Taco Bell, you can use a Cheesy Gordita Crunch as the base for another fun layered dish that we're going to call a gorditacroll. In keeping with the tradition of a turducken, if you're eating at Taco Bell for the holidays, this should definitely be your order.

So, this is what you do to make a gorditacroll. Start out by ordering a Cheesy Gordita Crunch the way you like it best. Already, you have a three-cheese flatbread melt stuffed with a taco. Now, you're going to add one more layer: a Cheesy Roll Up. The best way to do this with the least amount of mess is to unroll the Cheesy Roll Up and wrap it around the outside of the Cheesy Gordita Crunch. Tah dah! Gorditacroll!