The Choco Taco Is Making Its Comeback This Summer

Summer 2024 can't come soon enough.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that humanity had to endure one of the darkest days in modern history in the summer of 2022 when the ice cream overlords at Klondike announced that they would be discontinuing the iconic Choco Taco. “Over the past two years, we have experienced an unprecedented spike in demand across our portfolio and have had to make very tough decisions to ensure availability of our full portfolio nationwide,” a Klondike representative told Food & Wine at the time, adding that discontinuing “a beloved item” was a “necessary but unfortunate part” of the process.

There have been taco-shaped holes in our hearts and holes in our freezers ever since — but our long, Choco-less nightmare may soon be coming to a close. Kind of. During Taco Bell’s recent Live Mas Live event, the chain announced a collaboration with Portland-based ice cream maker Salt & Straw, and the two of them have plans to bring a version of the Choco Taco back into our lives.

According to an Instagram post from Salt & Straw, the new version will involve a taco-shaped waffle cone filled with cinnamon ancho ice cream that has been dipped in a single-origin chocolate sauce. Each taco will be served with three different sauces and a cheesecake dip. “This is the most delicious thing you will eat in your entire life,” Salt & Straw cofounder Tyler Malek told The Oregonian. 

Related: Klondike Is Giving up on the Choco Taco

Malek additionally told the outlet that Salt & Straw had been perfecting its Choco Taco-inspired recipe for several years, and it previously sold its own chocolate ice cream taco at Wiz Bang, its now-closed soft-serve shop.

He added that the team has been trying to develop a way to keep the waffle cone taco shell from getting soggy too quickly — and that's something that Taco Bell has helped with. "There's a lot of food science that we had to do," he said. "They really have this army of both chefs but also food scientists."

This isn't the first time that Taco Bell has been connected to the Choco Taco. In February 2022, Taco Bell and Klondike collaborated on a test that brought the beloved frozen dessert to 20 Taco Bell restaurants in Los Angeles and Milwaukee. The trial never rolled out elsewhere in the U.S., perhaps since Klondike killed off the Choco Taco just a few months later.

Regardless, the Taco Bell x Salt & Straw Ice Cream Chocolate Taco is expected to be available at Salt & Straw's locations later this year, and it should also be available for online ordering through Salt & Straw.

"One of humankind's greatest mistakes was discontinuing this treasure," one Reddit commenter wrote about the current lack of Choco Tacos. Again, that doesn't really feel like an exaggeration. 

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