Taco Bell’s avocado verde salsa isn’t always free

The fast food chain will charge customers 20 cents for each pack of the new condiment if it’s not ordered in conjunction with an order from the cantina chicken menu. (And even if you order from that menu, you’ll be limited to just one free salsa packet per item.)

Taco Bell tells Fox Business the avocado verde salsa, which is now a permanent addition to its menu, is viewed as being on the same level as nacho cheese sauce and guacamole—a premium addition to menu items that comes with an extra charge.

You will get a little more value for that upsell. The salsa package is about twice as big as the free hot sauces the chain distributes—and it contains half an ounce of the condiment. (If you get it, Taco Bell suggests using it promptly or keeping it chilled.)

Avocado verde salsa is, in the grand scheme of Taco Bell, a mild (sorry) addition to the brand’s offerings. The chain typically turns heads with more unusual new products. In February, for example, Taco Bell announced plans to collaborate with Portland’s Salt & Straw ice cream company to offer what it calls “a gourmet take on the dearly departed Choco Taco”.

Here’s a look at some other past offerings:

• The Big Cheez-It Tostada, an oversized Cheez-It cracker (16 times as large as the ones you get in the box) covered with seasoned beef, cheese, diced tomatoes, lettuce and reduced-fat sour cream.
• In 2017, the company teamed up with Kit Kat to put the candy bar in a quesadilla.
• The company’s Nacho Fries, a recurring menu item, have found a loyal cult audience.
• Bored with regular tortilla chips, the company rolled out a line of chips infused with the flavor of its hot sauces to grocery stores in 2018
• In 2016, it convinced customers to pre-order a mystery menu item without announcing what it was. (It turned out to be the Quesalupa, a chalupa whose shell was stuffed with melted pepper jack cheese.)
• In 2021, it entered the chicken sandwich wars.
• And, right before the pandemic, it launched The Bell, a pop-up hotel and resort which included branded bathrobes, toiletries, blankets, notepads, pillows, and a no-charge minibar stocked with Mountain Dew and tortilla chips.