Taco Bell is launching a new taco that uses a fried egg as its shell across America - here's what it's like
On Tuesday, Taco Bell announced that the Naked Egg Taco would launch nationwide on August 31. The new taco sticks potatoes, bacon or sausage, and cheese inside a fried egg shell, and will cost $1.99.
For customers who find a fried egg shell to be too unorthodox, Taco Bell is also offering a "dressed" version, wrapped in a flatbread.
Business Insider had the chance to visit Taco Bell's test kitchen earlier this year and taste the new taco ourselves.
The new menu item's biggest problem is similar to the primary struggle with the successful Naked Chicken Chalupa: greasy fingers.
A carrier helps prevent undue greasiness or spillage - but keeping the carrier on means hiding the egg yolk that proclaims to the world, "yes, I am eating a taco with a shell made out of a fried egg."
When it comes to flavor, the Naked Breakfast Taco is on the right track.
It's hard to go wrong with fried eggs, potatoes, breakfast meats, and cheese (in both the shredded and melty nacho variety).
The nacho cheese helps alleviate one of the problems with using the egg as a taco shell: it needs to be cooked too much to allow for a nice, drippy yolk. And, while the Gordita Flatbread is slightly too big for the task assigned to it, the dressed version is a more portable and carbo-loaded choice.
"We think it will pique people's curiosity... People are going to be really passionate one way or another about it," Missy Nelson, Taco Bell's dietitian and product developer, said. "I think once you taste it, you're going to want it again."
If you want to taste the Naked Egg Taco before August 31, you may be in luck. Taco Bell is allowing customers to reserve tables at "Bell & Breakfast" events in New York; Laguna Beach, California; Austin, Texas; and Chicago in late August to try the new menu item before it rolls out nationally.