Taco Bell Canada is turning up the heat ahead of the summer, with a new scorching menu that puts your spice tolerance to the test.
The restaurant chain is introducing its new Diablo Chicken menu nationwide, and Now Toronto had the opportunity to dive into it alongside Marketing Director Meera Patel. This one’s for the spice lovers who want flavours with actual depth, and not just a pointless burn.
At the centre of it all is the Diablo sauce, a smoky, layered new addition to Taco Bell’s lineup of hot sauces. It’s the kind of heat that builds up rather than overwhelms straight away, with a noticeable tang cutting through the richness.
“It’s probably the top sauce that we’ve ever created, in my opinion,” Patel insisted.
Infused into the menu’s new buffalo sauce offerings, Patel says this particular take on Diablo sauce has been a decade in the making before landing in Canada.
“Canadians have been asking for it,” she explained. “It’s like, why not? Like, let’s just do it. Let’s just bring it to Canada! It took a long time to come, but honestly, we’re listening to our fans, this is what they want.”
Canadian exclusive items like the Diablo Buffalo Crispy Chicken Burrito, Loaded Chicken Diablo Buffalo Nacho Fries, and Crispy Chicken Crunchwrap are where the sauce really comes through. Across the board, the crunch holds up against the heat, and nothing gets lost under the spice. But the standout for us might be the Crispy Chicken Tenders paired with buffalo sauce, finished with a dab of Diablo on top — it’s indulgent, simple, and honestly one of the more unexpected highlights on the menu! Chicken tenders aren’t typically the focus at Taco Bell, which makes this feel like a surprisingly intentional and successful move.
And just when the heat began to creep up, there was the Baja Midnight drink to offer a taming counterbalance. The dark purple tropical-forward sip cut through the richness of the food without feeling overly sweet. For Patel, she said the difference between its counterpart, the signature Baja Blast, is that the latter tastes like “surfing.”
“Like down on the beach, like surfing in Southern California,” she laughed as she took a sip of the Baja Midnight. “Okay, then you try this one and it has like a passionfruit-hibiscus flavour to it. It’s very good — I need this to combat the heat in my mouth”
While the rest of the menu is already out for Canadians to enjoy, the Baja Midnight is slated for a rollout sometime in July, and it’s easy to see it becoming a go-to pairing.
Lastly, for those who need something sweet to complete the meal, dessert doesn’t get left behind either. Chocolate and salted caramel empanadas are the final addition to the new menu, an addictingly soft and decadent finish to a menu that leans hard into fiery boldness. Breaking it right into the centre — the best way to truly enjoy it from the inside out — the chocolate is reminiscent of a brownie mousse, while the caramel is that classic dulce de leche golden goodness.
What’s interesting is how this launch sets up what’s coming next. Patel tells us that Taco Bell Canada is already teasing additions coming later this year, including the triple double Crunchwrap, nuggets with a jalapeño honey mustard on the side, and the return of the Quesarito — a burrito wrapped in a quesadilla that has long had a cult following.
Overall, the Diablo Chicken menu is sure to be a hit among the late-night crowd, is still unmistakably Taco Bell — but with a sharper, hotter edge.
