- Taco Bell has a sour cream gun. So what I’m saying is they have their munitions figured out for the revolution. (upbeat music) For the fourth meal-loving community, for those of us just trying to Live Mas, today marks a sad day. Taco Bell discontinued 12 items, a largest purge, the largest act of aggression against its own community that we have ever seen. They have bent us. They have bowed us. They have not broken us, but today the cheesy Fiesta potatoes, the seven layer burrito, the grilled steak soft taco, the triple layer nachos, the Nachos Supreme, all loaded grillers, all chips and dip are all gone because Taco Bell, they don’t care about you or I, but me? I do, the power is in our hands, the power to bring back the items that we love, the items that they have sullied, the reputation that they have tarnished, that is in our hands. You have the power to make cheesy fiesta potatoes. So let’s do it. They’re good. And if you’re following along at home, you can snag the time codes for the recipe right there. Taco Bell doesn’t want you to make this dish. I do. Let’s get cooking. (upbeat music) So Taco Bell has discontinued a ton of menu items in the past and they’ve brought them back, but this is the first time they’ve just discontinued like an entire ingredient that you can add to any menu item. And that was the strength of these Fiesta potatoes. You could add them to a Crunchwrap Supreme. That was my single favorite menu item. Spicy potato soft taco was a great vegetarian option, but no more. So we are now putting the power in your hands to make their potatoes. Now, the thing about Taco Bell Fiesta potatoes is that they were like super overcooked and fudgey on the inside, and they had this kind of crispy coating on it that all steamed together, and it seems something that would be impossible to make at home, like they’re made in a factory because they are. But today you are the factory. The worker’s revolution starts today. Whoa. So we’re going to take our potatoes and we’re going to do is we’re going to kind of square them off just to make sure you get nice, even cuts on them. And I cut these into about half inch cubes. So we’re going to actually boil them first and then we’re going to make a sort of crispy, heavily, heavily, heavily Taco Bell-spiced coating to put on them. Instead of frying them, which is likely what they do, but a lot of people I know do not like to fry, so I’m gonna teach you how to bake them and make them absolutely perfect just like Taco Bell. So we have our water about to boil and we are going to heavily heavily salt that, and then we’re actually adding baking soda. What this does, it creates an alkaline solution. So it’s actually going to break down the outsides of your potato more which is going to allow more of that heavily spiced coating to stick into it. Shout out to Kenji Lopez at Serious Eats for that trick. So we’re just going to drop the potatoes in the water, being careful not to splash yourself to scald yourself. You might be asking, why did Taco Bell do this? Why now? No one knows. Are there conspiracy theories? Yes. Is it responsible to spread them? No. Is Taco Bell the one that taught Coco the gorilla what death is? Maybe. So we have the potatoes in the water and we’re just gonna let those boil for about seven minutes and then we’re going to drain them and then we’re going to get on our spicy crispy coating. (relaxed music) So our potatoes are out of the water and they’ve been strained. And if you see some of the kind of potato starch coming out of the outside, that is all thanks to that baking soda that we put in there. And so that’s gonna help the batter stick to it. So we’re going to toss it into a bowl and then we’re going to get about a quarter cup of oil into there. You can just eyeball it, the point you want the oil to fully coat the potatoes. We’re going to let that cool for a sec, ’cause that is going to scorch my hands. But then, you know, maybe that’s like a reminder of like the scorching feeling inside you that Taco Bell has burned into your psyche. You know, it’s like a little bit of pain is good to remind you sometimes. What the hell? So we’re going to add a quarter cup of flour and two tablespoons of corn starch to a bowl. Now, if you look at the ingredients list of the Taco Bell Fiesta potatoes, they’re not even call it Fiesta potatoes. I keep calling them, they’re called like potato bites, but that’s stupid. They’re called Fiesta potatoes in my heart. And that’s what matters, but it doesn’t matter to Taco Bell. So if you look at the ingredients list, you’ll see like tapioca starch, maltodextrin, stuff like that. People don’t necessarily have those in their homes for good reason. So all we’re gonna use is flour and cornstarch, ’cause those are two commonly found things are going to get you the same exact result. And then we’re going to add a bunch of salt to that because if you know anything about Taco Bell food, it is hella salty, and now we got our spices. We have white pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, chili powder, and a little bit of turmeric just for color. So we’re just gonna whisk all that together, and now we’re going to take the potatoes that have been coated in oil and just give them a light toss with your hands, and then these are going to go right into the flour. I like using my hands for this because you want the potatoes to be nice and kind of overcooked and fudgey, but you don’t want them to break up. And so you’re seeing, we’re getting all the potatoes kind of coated in that flour, and then we’re going to add some oil on top and they’re going to crisp up in the oven. So I like to take a little thing of oil and just kind of slightly coat the bottom of my pan. Then I’m going to take these potatoes and we’re going to spread them out evenly. So we want these to get crispy. We don’t want them to steam together. So you want a lot of room in between each potato. You know what the funny thing is, they probably discontinued the potatoes because no one was actually eating them. And so there’s gonna be like eight people that were like, yeah, screw Taco Bell. And one of them is me, like three of them are me, like one me and two burner accounts, but I feel strongly and I’m on the internet! So we’re going to take another quarter cup of oil and now we’re going to take this and we’re gonna roast it at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. We’re going to pull it out. We’re going to give it a little shimmy shake around and then we’re going to throw it back in for another half an hour. (upbeat music) So our potatoes have been roasting for about 50 minutes. We’re going to take them out of the oven, and look at these crispy golden nuggets of delicious. Holy crap, they look exactly like Taco Bell Fiesta potatoes. Like you see, they got that kind of like very shiny yellow, shiny coating on them. Oh that’s hot, give me a second. Whoa. Oh my God. The rush of Taco Bell flavor like really does hit you. We’re not done because we’re actually gonna teach you how to make some of those Taco Bell menu items that have been discontinued. So the simplest one are the cheesy fiesta potatoes. This is one of my OB favorites at Taco Bell. I remember when I was a kid, they came out and I remember getting them for the first time just being like these potatoes are magical. It is literally a bowl of potatoes that is covered in cheese and sour cream. So all you’re gonna do is layer those potatoes in a bowl. Then we’re gonna take nacho cheese. This is nacho cheese that is straight from a store can. I could teach you how to make a nacho cheese sauce, but it’s never going to be a silky as all the delicious flavor chemicals they got in the factory. So there’s going to take a nice dollop of this nacho cheese. Honestly, it tastes really similar to what they have at Taco Bell, and we’re just going to lovingly ladle that over our potatoes. Loving, the opposite of the feeling Taco Bell has towards you. Why would they do this? Why did good things happen to bad people and why do bad things happen to good people? I’ve switched that. Nacho cheese on the potatoes. Now, simple dollop sour cream, stir it up. Boom. Those are your cheesy fiesta potatoes, a lovely side dish that you can now make yourself. Item number two, spicy potato soft taco, an OG vegetarian delight. What we’re going to do is we’re going to take mini flour tortillas, always grill your tortillas, especially flour, it’s going to make them extra, extra pliable. You can take a spatula and act like you’re doing something by doing this. You’re not doing anything, but it’s still fun. These are nice and pliable and griddled. Throw them in a little taco holder, get a couple of potatoes in there. And then now the secret to the spicy potato soft taco was the creamy jalapeno sauce. And so there’s a lot of ingredients to it, but the closest and easiest thing you can do at home is you take Arizona Gunslinger hot sauce. This is actually a huge key to this ingredient. You can order it online. It’s my favorite hot sauce of all time, except for Tabasco. I think the thing that makes it great for recreating creamy jalapeno sauce is that it is a majority just straight red jalapeno puree. And then just a little bit of chili powder to add that kind of like, you know, sort of dusky, dry spice hit. Whisk this up. Oh, I splashed mayonnaise on myself, it happens. And then you gonna take that creamy jalapeno sauce. You’re going to ladle it over the tacos. The secret to most of Taco Bell’s success is mayonnaise and emotional neglect. And then we’re going to take some shredded iceberg lettuce, pack that on top. And then of course, plenty of shredded yellow cheddar, just like they do at the Taco Bell. Boom, spicy potato soft tacos done. Item number three, loaded cheesy potato griller, why? They were a great inexpensive way to just get a tube of burrito in your face. Literally all it is are the cheesy fiesta potatoes shoved into a burrito, which is part of the beauty of Taco Bell is they were able to make so many items with so few ingredients. Now there’s cutting out an entire main ingredient in so many of those items. So our tortilla, it’s pliable, we’re going to get a nice base of nacho cheese down, and then we’re gonna add our potatoes on top of that, just a few, it’s just a snack sized burrito, perfect thing to eat in your car. And I’m going to put a few drops of sour cream on there. Taco bell has a sour cream gun. So what I’m saying is they have their munitions figured out for the revolution. And so now we’re just going to roll this up. Just a little griller, you know, nothing major. They’re going to sear off the folded side. I’m trying to think of if there’s like a menu item that Taco Bell could take off that would just like completely crush the entire community. For me, that’s the Crunchwrap Supreme. That’s the thing that took every quintessential Taco Bell menu item and smashed it all together into a hexagon. They’ve taken so much over the years in lost menu items that they know they can get rid of the potatoes, but once they come to the bigger menu items, I think that it’s really on. I think it could happen, like McDonald’s for so long. Like they were resisting the idea of all day breakfast. Then people finally demanded it. Taco Bell sales were down. They ran through like three CEOs in five years. Then finally all day breakfast came, and now we can get a hash Browns at any point in the day. What I’m saying is your voice does matter. I think. All right, so the burrito is nice and griddled, and then what I do is I take it and I wrap it in tinfoil because that is the key to Taco Bell burritos, that they sweat inside the wrapper. So you’re gonna let that sit. So these are three Taco Bell menu lines. You got the cheesy fiesta potatoes, the cheesy potato loaded griller, the spicy potato soft taco. Let’s get to eating. (upbeat music) I’m going to dig into this. It looks very Taco Belly, including and how sloppy the presentation is. I’m just going to go ahead and kind of throat the entire thing. That’s a dead ringer. (slapping) Tastes like freedom from the yoke of Taco Bell, but it doesn’t exactly matter what I think. It matters what my friends think, my friends love Taco Bell. Annalise, how much do you love Taco Bell? – [Annalise] I love Taco Bell. – We love sharing food with our friends, but more than that, we love violent feeding weapons. So that’s why I’m going to take my six foot long pole with a spork on the end of it and feed Annalise some potatoes. Annalise, you ready? – Uh, long time listener, first time sporker. – This is, you’re the sporkee right now. Stab some, scoop it up, and I’m just kind of turning it into a mashed potato bowl. Oh, that’s a good bite. – Oh my goodness. – You gotta give me a good William Wallace freedom cry. – What does that sound like? – Freedom! Oh, I hit puberty. – Freedom! – That’s three out of 10. All right. Open up. How is it? – You can taste the freedom. – Yeah, right? – It tastes good. I’m so sad because this is my favorite Taco Bell item, the spicy soft taco. Can you spork me that? – Yeah, I’ll try. Get next to the edge of the table and just kind of, I’ll kind of push it towards you. Yeah, there you go. Now you got it. You’re doing great. Do you want me to try and anchor it? – No, that worked. That worked legit. – That actually worked shockingly well. – That was good, thank you so much, Josh. – Bringing back the nostalgia? – You brought back the spicy potato soft taco for me for the last time. – Thank you, and that is what really matters today, is that Annalise is happy. Ah, thank you so much for stopping by the Mythical Kitchen. We got new recipe videos every week and new episodes of our podcast every Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts, don’t forget to hit us up on Instagram at Mythical Kitchen with pictures of your mythical dishes. And don’t forget to tweet at Taco Bell telling them to bring back the dang potatoes. See you next time. Rock it with a spark in your pocket. Get the spork tee now at mythical.com.