Taco Bell’s Fried Chicken Shell Is Launching Nationwide

Taco Bell, the fast food chain that brought us the Waffle Taco and Fourth Meal, has officially outdone themselves in the guilty pleasure department. For their latest achievement in greasy decadence, they’ve devised a way to replace their chalupa shell with a folded slab of fried chicken.

As Eater reports, Taco Bell is preparing to launch their Naked Crispy Chicken Shell Chalupa at locations nationwide after testing the product in California and Kansas. The crispy casing is fried in a special contraption to give it its curvy shape and comes with shredded cheese, lettuce, diced tomatoes, and avocado ranch sauce inside.

While not quite as heavy as KFC’s double down, which featured bacon, cheese, and Colonel’s sauce between two chicken filets, the chalupa is far from healthy. A few of the item’s earliest consumers have reportedly thought otherwise.

“We were getting feedback like, ‘It’s so healthy. It’s so fresh,’” Kat Gatcia, Taco Bell’s senior manager of marketing, told BuzzFeed in May. “That really surprised us because it’s fried chicken.” Despite the feedback, Taco Bell promises they won’t be marketing it as a health food. Adventurous fast food eaters can expect to see the chalupa in restaurants sometime next year.

[h/t Eater]

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