hello everyone this is running on empty Food review well hello ladies gentlemen and everyone
watching welcome one and all to this newest edition of The Running on Empty Food review
series I'm your host the report of the week thanks for checking in well I'll admit I didn't expect to
get my hands on this item quite this easily that's that's the uh that's the honest truth right here
Taco Bell has brought back they're crispy chicken wings and I got so many requests to try these out
now I'd like to get into a little bit of a real quick story because it ties directly
into the review and I'll try to share some facts about the item while I go ahead with it
you may remember if you pay attention to this sort of stuff that a year ago Taco Bell first
released their crispy chicken wings and they made they made a lot of people talk about I mean people
were just going crazy about it and it was in the news there was just so much hype about this item
well the thing about it though is that it was very exclusive Now by that I mean you had to
essentially go through hoops to even attempt to get it it was for a very limited time at limited
locations you had to download the app and all of that and even still you weren't necessarily
guaranteed to even get your hands on these wings I believe they sold out within the first few days
I wasn't even able to try them out that's why I was never able to review them
I looked far and wide for them I went to probably like six seven maybe even eight different Taco
Bells they were all sold out or there was just one logistical issue after the next I personally don't
like having to download some sort of app just to get a get an item like this that's just that's
just my opinion though and anyway it wasn't an easy process and it just didn't work out on my end
so when I saw that Taco Bell was bringing them back for 2023 I thought I bet this is just going
to be a repeat of uh what what was going on last year right because why wouldn't it be it seems
like so many places want you to have to download this that and the other thing to get your item and
there's always availability issues ETC but in this case sure enough I checked all the Taco Bells had
this in stock no app required no download required you could just order this as you want any other
item from Taco Bell which is nice to see so I think maybe they realized yeah may as well make
them a little bit more readily available this time around so people at least can try them so
I was able to get my hands on them I'm personally curious as to what they taste like if they're any
good or not wings from Taco Bell I have a feeling they're either gonna be really good or really bad
and I for some reason don't think there's going to be any middle ground but who knows I've yet to try
them so we shall see I should also mention that this is a typical uh observation I don't think
that the amount of hype this time around in 2023 is anywhere near as great as what we saw in 2022
what I always see in terms of releases be that from Taco Bell or any establishment for instance
when Taco Bell brought back the nacho fries for a second time or when Popeyes brought back their
sandwich the chicken sandwich for good where when Wingstop brought back their chicken sandwich for a
second time the amount of interest when something returns again for the second time never even comes
close to that initial height but never does I think some people will still be interested in
trying these out but are you going to be seeing that level of demand that there was the first
time absolutely not that's probably why I was even able to get my hands on these uh in the
first place so I don't think that there's a ton of Interest with these but really I like wings I just
want to try them out and I could say I had them and I could say if they're any good or not so you
could get these as a five piece that's all that they come in five Wings they are bone in wings
you cannot choose whether you want the drumsticks or the flats as they call them so you're going to
be given a random variety of bone-in Wings again as the name implies they are crispy
they say that they have a Mexican queso seasoning and as a dipping sauce they have spicy ranch
dressing that you can dip the wings in or I guess if you want you can be a bit Brazen and you could
pour the ranch dressing over the wings or if you really want to go there now you have to be
almost a devilish to do this you could eat the wing and then you could sip on the sauce as well
but anyway as far as price goes oh and I should mention also there is no sauce on the wings
themselves they are dry they essentially have um well they say anyway that the spice and the
flavor and all of that is in the breading and the seasoning on the wings so there is no sauce on
them as you'll see in a moment all right now price wise for These Wings I know Taco Bell is generally
noted for the inexpensive meals I know that a lot of people that's why they like Taco Bell you
might not be guaranteed a five-star quality meal but you could get as they say Cheap Eats this on
the other hand don't expect your typical Taco Bell prices for a five piece of These Wings I paid nine
dollars But Wings in and of themselves especially bone-in Wings aren't known for being the cheapest
things on the planet to begin with but I think some people will expect a cheaper price from Taco
Bell so to see nine dollars for just the wings no drink no side nothing nine dollars just for
the five Wings themselves although I did get a Baja Blast but I just got this independently
because why not so with that this is what they put the wings in you can see oh look
at that we've got seepage right there got that seepage action wheel we all love to see so much
this is what they normally put it in this looks like the Mexican pizza box I'm pretty sure
but that's what it came in
and let's see what we have okay five Wings right there and you can see the sauce now
take a look at them as you can see quite clearly they look well seasoned well breaded and crispy
as the name of course implies but they are not dripping in sauce and the sauce is there
on the side look like your standard winds bone in as mentioned let's get a close-up
looks like in my case I got four drum sticks and one flat wing
decent size I remember last year someone was calling these pigeon Wings because they were
so small apparently though these seem to have a bit more bulk to them than they were initially
portrayed a year ago again crispy again as the name implies and here's that look of the the flat
crispy well-seasoned looks like got the sauce right here so what I shall do
is uh I'll simply try them out let you know what they taste like try them with the sauce
and then that'll be that so the crispy chicken wings from Taco Bell going in
I think I'll take two more bites
uh one more for the heck of it I'll get rid of that part
as far as Wings go they're actually not that bad and I am very pleased to say that
at least in the case that I had right here I think as you could see the wings themselves were
not small they had a good amount of breading but a good amount of meat on them as well
and uh from Taco Bell as I mentioned sometimes they don't necessarily have the reputation for
the highest quality but I will say in terms of How These Wings Are in terms of how they taste
they're totally fine and as you could see again good amount of meat on them the meat itself it
was tender it was juicy flavorful last year I remember seeing people were making a comparison
because again I wasn't able to try out these wings but I did some research on them and I was you know
trying to figure out what were people even saying about them at the time and last year people were
saying that they were very dry they were very small and uh you know if you you ate it they
would just be really tough and it was almost like a jerky well at least based on what I tried here
it seems like it's the opposite of all those sorts of of observations that were mentioned a year ago
as you could see the meat was again tender it wasn't tough or anything it wasn't dry it was
flavorful quality wise I would say these are your restaurant quality Wings it's not like this is
you know the lowest bottom of the barrel slop that you know some people may associate with Taco Bell
it's of decent quality and that's good now only other thing to mention these are not I would not
consider these to be hot wings at all so if you are eating these and you are looking for hardcore
spice right you're looking for something that's going to make your face turn red and your tongue
is actually going to it's not going to be able to process the spice of course it's going to detach
itself and it's going to fall out of your mouth and you're going to have to retrieve it from the
floor because it does happen sometimes and you know you want that sort of physical reaction
don't don't go looking for it here because you're not going to get it
the amount of spice that I detected from these is um minimal if not non-existent the flavorful
though I would say I like the balance between the crunchiness of the breading and again the tender
juiciness of the meat that's good they are very salty Wings though now I personally don't take
objection to that it's not to the point where the sodium level is anything unbearably High I mean if
I were to look at the nutritional information you know you might not like what you see but
they're salty but they hit the right balance where I would say it's not excessively salty
but it's one of those things if you don't really like salty foods at all if you just want to cut
down on the sodium perhaps then this might not be for you but the salty Wings maybe there's a
tiny little bit of spice but generally speaking these just seem like your standard fried wings
good quality restaurant quality I'd say maybe get them I mean honestly I would get these again
I think they're pretty good some people may just treat them as a novelty you know to say hey I got
wings from Taco Bell but all things considering all things considered I should say they're pretty
good for what they are but again don't go looking to these for spice and likewise all right I taste
the saltiness in the uh the breading but they mentioned queso I don't really get any sort of
um queso impression here really again it just adds a little bit of saltiness to it but quality wise
they're totally fine and I don't have a single problem with the way that they taste and again
the good news now if you're looking for something a little different well they have the spicy ranch
right here I'm going to try it out real quick I'm just going to dip a little bit of this next
Wing into the ranch dressing we'll see what it contributes spice wise and then that'll be that
but so far so good at least I'm happy to say you can see it right there coated all right let's see
not bad
the good thing about the ranch
has this sharpness to it that if you're eating these and you may just think they're fine as they
are I mean I personally do again I haven't any objection whatsoever toward their taste or quality
however you may find though it gets a little bit monotonous maybe the the saltiness of them
just gets a bit excessive Etc well the good news is that the sharpness of the ranch sauce really
cuts through that it balances things out and it definitely does give a little bit of a spicy kick
now it's not overwhelmingly spicy again this ranch sauce isn't something that's going to make you
um suddenly become an absolute miserable wreck or anything it contributes a very a mild flavorful
spiciness but it just adds another characteristic to These Wings and you'll get that initial note of
the spice and then it'll give a mild aftertaste that still lingers on I kind of feel it in my
tongue a little bit but it's nothing incredible it's nothing incredibly spicy but it gives it
some might say it gives it a little bit of spicy character perhaps and it definitely
adds to it you're not paying any extra for this sauce I would say if you want to get these make
sure you get that spicy ranch sauce on the side it comes with it make sure it's there it'll just add
to these but they're totally fine on their own but again it'll just take it up to that next level but
all in all I am pleased to say that these wings I am pleasantly surprised by them I'm impressed by
them I think especially for Taco Bell the quality is a bit better than what I was anticipating and
what I was expecting yeah they are expensive now you could say all right they are a novelty wings
from Taco Bell Etc and at least they're of good quality but of course yeah ideally I wish these
were into nine dollars for just a five piece by themselves but all in all they might be a
bit pricey but they're so good for what they are they're four out of ten I'm going to be giving the
crispy chicken wings from Taco Bell and 8.9 out of 10. pretty good all things considered Taco Bell I
think they did a good job with this novelty it may be good execution a bit crazy but everything else
is totally fine that's all that I have for you and until next time that's all that I have I'm your
host the report of the week I think I'm repeating myself so I'll shut the camera off now take care