Taco Bell Big Cheez-It Menu review: We tried the Big Cheez-It Crunchwrap Supreme and Big Cheez-It Tostada

After months - nay, years - of teasing, the Big Cheez-It has finally arrived at Taco Bell. Or rather, it has if you are a Taco Bell Rewards member on the app, as “Early Access” is now open for the Big Cheez-It Crunchwrap Supreme and Big Cheez-It Tostada. I’ve tried both of them, and I’d recommend one over the other.

However, I would not recommend running 10 blocks, eating two enormous Cheez-Its covered in sauce, cheese, and meat, and then running 10 blocks back home to write a review of these items. That would be a terrible idea, and anyone who did that would probably have an enormous stomach ache right now.

Personal foibles aside, what are the Big Cheez-It items all about? The key ingredient, and you can probably figure out from the name, is an enormous Cheez-It that is about 16x bigger than a regular Cheez-It. Otherwise, you’re getting the Tostada and Crunchwrap you know and love, just served with an enormous cracker.

For the Crunchwrap Supreme, that means beef, nacho cheese sauce, sour cream, lettuce,and tomatoes inside a flour tortilla that has been grilled – with the Cheez-It ostensibly in the middle separating the beef and nacho cheese from the other ingredients, like a latter day McDLT. The Big Cheez-It Crunchwrap Supreme is 570 calories, and at least here in New York costs $6.49.

The Big Cheez-It Tostada, meanwhile, costs $4.69 here in New York (they do like to mix the numbers “4” “6” and “9” around, don’t they folks?) and is a scant 230 calories. It comes with beef, sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes and cheddar cheese, and is served on top of the Big Cheez-It.

One thing I do want to note here before we get to the review proper… In tiny little disclosure language in the app is the note that these items carry a sodium warning. It reads: “Sodium content higher than daily recommended limit (2,300 mg). High sodium intake can increase blood pressure and risk of heart disease and stroke.” It surprisingly does not add “don’t be an idiot and eat two of these followed by a brisk run, Alex Zalben.” But joking aside, seriously, these are enormous salty Cheez-Its on top of Taco Bell’s usual salt-heavy food, so be aware before you chow down.

One other note… I don’t know about you, but I pictured a Cheez-It as big as my head for some reason. It’s not that large… It’s still a pretty large Cheez-It, but it’s more in line with the size of a Taco Bell tortilla (weird how that happened), than a cracker your kids could put in their bed to fool you while they sneak out for a night of partying.

That all said, how do these items taste? Like I mentioned before, one is the clear winner here… And it’s not the Crunchwrap Supreme. To set a base level of expectations, if you’re already a fan of Taco Bell, you’re going to like both of these items since they are the same, basic thing you expect (with customizations allowed), only with a little more cheesy, salty taste.

The “issue” I have with the Crunchwrap Supreme is that the Cheez-It essentially completely evaporated between everything else. It’s entirely possible that happened when the tortilla was pressed, or the nacho cheese soaked right through it. Either way, I ate both of these items fresh in the restaurant, so it wasn’t like the Crunchwrap had been sitting for a while. It was hot and toasty, but I could not taste – and barely saw – the Big Cheez-It. Instead, the predominant taste was the nacho cheese, which, if you’re buying something for a large Cheez-It is pretty disappointing.

On the other hand, the Tostada was exactly what I wanted out of this. Not only was it fresher and lighter thanks to the increased amount of lettuce and tomatoes, as well as the lack of nacho cheese, but the Big Cheez-It added a very different sort of crunch than a tortilla would. You could definitely taste the iconic Cheez-It cheese flavor, and a nice (and perhaps health-damaging) amount of salt.

I was also concerned that eating it would be impossible, given you’ve got a large Cheez-It at the bottom there instead of a crunchy tortilla. Not so! The Cheez-It broke perfectly without crumbling, and in fact perhaps even better than a tortilla would. By the end, I was able to break off little chunks and eat the remaining greens and beef like nachos, which was pretty great, too.

My overall estimation? If you’re going to order a Crunchwrap Supreme, don’t worry about the Big Cheez-It, as it’ll get lost in the process. But definitely add the Big Cheez-It Tostada to your order immediately. And Taco Bell? Let’s get some Cheez-It Nachos, while we’re at it.

The Big Cheez-It menu is available for early access until June 5, and then joins the full menu for a limited time on June 6.