The Internet-Famous Ice Cream Taco Is Returning to Taco Bell, and It’s Already Causing a Buzz
Taco Bell is bringing back its viral Salt & Straw ice cream taco with a new churro twist. The limited-time dessert follows a 2025 release that sold out during launch weekend.
The ice cream taco that many fans missed is getting another shot.
Taco Bell is bringing back its popular collaboration with Portland-based ice cream maker Salt & Straw, introducing the Salt & Straw Churro Ice Cream Taco, a new version of the dessert that became a fast-food talking point after its 2025 debut. The original Tacolate sold out during its launch weekend, leaving some fans searching for another chance to try the unusual frozen treat.
Now, Taco Bell is hoping lightning strikes twice with a sweeter, more familiar flavor: churro.
The limited-time dessert arrived at Taco Bell restaurants nationwide on September 1, 2026, priced at $3.99 while supplies last.
A dessert that started with nostalgia
The original Tacolate was more than just another fast-food experiment. It tapped into nostalgia for the discontinued Klondike Choco Taco, a frozen treat that many customers remembered from years past.
Taco Bell and Salt & Straw created their own spin: a waffle-cone taco shell filled with cinnamon-ancho ice cream, coated in dark chocolate, topped with crispy puffed rice, and paired with mango jalapeño and wildberry cinnamon sauces.
The unusual combination quickly attracted attention because it blended familiar flavors with something unexpected: an ice cream taco that looked like a taco but tasted like a dessert.
That curiosity helped turn the Tacolate into a limited-time item that disappeared quickly.
The new Churro Ice Cream Taco takes a sweeter route
Instead of bringing back the exact same dessert, Taco Bell and Salt & Straw changed the flavor profile.
The new Salt & Straw Churro Ice Cream Taco keeps the signature taco-shaped waffle cone shell but swaps in churro-flavored ice cream. It is finished with a dark chocolate-flavored coating and puffed rice for extra crunch.
The idea is simple: take two crowd favorites, churros and ice cream, and put them into a format customers already recognize.
For Taco Bell, it is another example of turning familiar comfort foods into limited-edition menu moments.
There is also a frozen drink version, but only in select places
Fans in certain cities will get another way to experience the collaboration.
The Salt & Straw Choco-Waffle Chiller transforms the dessert into a frozen drink available at select Live Más Café locations in Southern California, Dallas, Houston, and Las Vegas.
The drink combines:
- Vanilla ice cream
- Churro crumbles
- Waffle cone pieces
- A crackable chocolate shell
- Whipped cream topping
It starts at $4.69 and is available for a limited time.
Why Taco Bell keeps chasing limited-time menu moments
Fast-food chains have increasingly turned limited releases into events. Instead of simply adding a new item permanently, companies create urgency by making customers feel like they have to try something before it disappears.
The Tacolate’s quick sellout showed Taco Bell that customers wanted unusual collaborations and nostalgic flavors. The company is now expanding that idea by bringing the new ice cream taco to more locations nationwide.
The strategy also gives fans something to talk about beyond the traditional burger, taco, or chicken sandwich battle.
Fans may want to act quickly
The Salt & Straw Churro Ice Cream Taco is available nationwide, but only for a limited time and while supplies last.
Taco Bell is also giving Rewards members another chance to get involved through a September 8 promotion featuring a limited-edition Salt & Straw x Taco Bell cooler giveaway with 100 available prizes. Each cooler includes three Churro Ice Cream Tacos.
After the Tacolate disappeared so quickly the first time, the biggest question may not be whether people will like the new dessert.
It is whether everyone who wants one will get there before it is gone.
Bottom line: Taco Bell is betting that nostalgia, novelty, and a little bit of scarcity can turn an ice cream taco into another fast-food phenomenon.
