Taco Bell’s Mexican Pizza isn’t the only long-gone menu item fans of the Mexican-style fast-food chain are missing. More than nine years after it disappeared from the menu, the Enchirito – a mashup between a burrito and an enchilada – is still dearly missed, with some fans even calling on Taco Bell to return to the Enchirito to the menu.
Boasting a soft flour tortilla stuffed with beef, beans, and onions and topped with cheddar cheese and red sauce,the Enchirito first debuted on menus at five Taco Bell restaurants in the 1960s before having a nationwide rollout by 1970, according to HuffPost, which noted that the enchilada-burrito hybrid was promoted as “practically a meal in itself.” Over the following decades, the dish became a fan-favorite, though even its cult-like following wasn’t enough to keep Taco Bell from axing it from the menu in 1993 amid a full menu revamp. Amid some outcry and a bit of menu hacking allowing customers to customize menu items into unofficial Enchiritos, the fast-food chain brought back the dish in 1999 until 2013.
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The Enchirito has been absent from the menu ever since that final showcasing, and while nearly a full decade has passed, fans are still reminiscing about the dish. A recent Reddit post about the Enchirito garnered hundreds of upvotes and more than 100 comments, with one person declaring the Enchirito their “top missed item” as somebody else shared that they “think of this every day.” Somebody else wrote that the dish is one of their “favorite dead menu items,” with another sharing that “it was one of my top 3 fast food items of all time…still can’t believe they retired this after it being a staple for decades.” Several people wrote that the Enchirito “needs to come back!”
Although Taco Bell hasn’t made any indication that the Enchirito could one day return to the menu, fans can still order the dish thanks to a menu hack. According to Thrillist, customers can create an unofficial Enchirito by ordering a Smothered Burrito with extra beef and extra cheese and asking for extra sides of red sauce, sour cream, and nacho cheese sauce, and two sides of the three-cheese blend.
As for the chain’s Mexican Pizza, it appears to be making a comeback. After teasing a potential return for months, and after plenty of fan upset surrounding its removal from the menu in 2020, Living Mas, citing “three credible sources,” reported in late December that the “beloved menu item will be returning in 2022.” Taco Bell has not officially confirmed the dish’s return.
