Taco Bell Meat Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the Taco Bell meat made from? ›

We use 100 percent USDA premium beef in our seasoned beef. We prepare it much the same way you prepare taco meat at home: after simmering, it is drained of excess fat and pre-seasoned with our signature blend of 7 authentic seasonings and spices.

Taco Bell's primary meat mix consists of 88% USDA-inspected premium real beef. The remaining 12% is made up of a signature recipe that includes water, spices, and a blend of oats, starches, and other ingredients to enhance the flavor, texture, and moisture.

Does Taco Bell put fillers in their beef? No, it's 88% beef by volume, then water, salt, spices, oatmeal starches, and an emulsifier to keep the meat from clumping together while cooking. There aren't many things that go into it.

It then is slow-cooked and simmered with proprietary seasonings and spices to provide Taco Bell's signature taste and texture. Our seasoned beef recipe contains 88% quality USDA-inspected beef and 12% seasonings, spices, water and other ingredients that provide taste, texture and moisture.

The British Food Standards Agency said Taco Bell's products contained more than 1% (pdf) horse meat. “We apologize to our customers and take this matter very seriously as food quality is our highest priority,” a spokesman for the chain said.

Lean finely textured beef (also known as Pink slime or LFTB, finely textured beef, or boneless lean beef trimmings or BLBT) is a meat by-product used as a food additive to ground beef and beef-based processed meats, as a filler, or to reduce the overall fat content of ground beef.

If you want to keep your Taco Bell order as healthy as possible, registered dietitian Yelena Wheeler, RDN, says to steer clear of the steak grilled cheese burrito, which she says is the absolute least healthiest item on the menu.

Taco Bell's newest creation is instead filled with a “proprietary” vegan beef (made from pea protein and soy), plus “cool vegan blanco sauce and warm vegan nacho sauce.” The chain has long been known as one of the few big fast-food operations where vegetarians could easily eat, but this is the company's first fully ...

Then they are put through a centrifuge to separate the fat tissue from the muscle tissue. The muscle tissue is sterilized with ammonia (which is commonly used in food production and safe in small amounts) and the resulting product is called “lean finely textured beef,” or pink slime. Or… err… “ground beef.”

Where do your ingredients come from? We buy many of our ingredients for our restaurants from the same brands that you see in the grocery store and your kitchen: for example, lettuce from Taylor Farms, tortillas from Mission, Hass avocados and poultry from Tyson.

What did Taco Bell remove from its menu? ›

The four menu items that have officially been discontinued are: the chipotle ranch grilled chicken burrito, beefy melt burrito, fiesta veggie burrito, and classic combo. As for the fifth item, the cinnamon twists will be leaving the value menu but will be available on the “drinks and sweets” section.

Cocoa powder and caramel color (caramelized sugar) are both on the ingredient list, and according to Taco Bell (via ABC News) they're only there to give the meat a little added color richness. The saying goes that the first bite is with the eye, and that's true in the fast food world, too.

Chef Jamie Oliver injects "pink slime" into the lexicon in an episode of his TV show, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, blasting its use as a food additive. A USDA microbiologist is credited with coining the term. McDonald's, Taco Bell, and Burger King announce they no longer use pink slime in their menu items.

Taco Bell is at the center of a class action lawsuit alleging that the fast food chain isn't be honest with its ads. Customers in New York are accusing Taco Bell of misrepresenting the amount of meat and beans in several menu items.

When we committed to serving 100 percent whole cage-free eggs in all U.S. Taco Bell restaurants, we said we'd do it by the end of 2016. And we did, at record pace. We're proud that our eggs come from hens raised in an open environment where they can feel comfortable and display their natural behaviors.

Every one of our McDonald's burgers is made with 100% pure beef and cooked and prepared with salt, pepper and nothing else—no fillers, no additives, no preservatives. We use the trimmings of cuts like the chuck, round and sirloin for our burgers, which are ground and formed into our hamburger patties.