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Salt & Straw and Taco Bell have resurrected a legendary sweet treat in time for Halloween.
The Tacolate—a redux of the ChocoTaco, the taco-shaped ice cream treat Klondike discontinued in 2022 that sells for between $150 and $500 on eBay—is ice cream stuffed in a waffle cone taco shell and dipped in chocolate that launched in the Portland ice cream company’s parlors and in its online store on Oct. 3.
The Tacolate is not the ChocoTaco 2.0, however. This collaboration reflects both Salt & Straw’s and Taco Bell’s signature approaches: reimagining flavors and ingredients to create something uniquely representative of both brands. Salt & Straw founders Tyler and Kim Malek developed the Tacolate to include his company’s hand-pressed, extra-crunchy waffle cones filled not with basic vanilla ice cream, but a cinnamon and ancho chile ice cream. And because Portlanders take their chocolate seriously, the Tacolate is dipped in single-origin chocolate and dusted with toasted brown rice. Taco Bell lent its packaging for two sauce packets: Mango Jalapeño and Wildberry Cinnamon.
The Tacolate arrives after more than five years in the making. Salt & Straw first experimented with an ice cream taco at its short-lived food hall concept, Wiz Bang Bar, back in 2019. The company brought it back in 2022 as a limited run that sold out in minutes.
That’s when Taco Bell took notice.
The Mexican-inspired national chain announced its project during its inaugural Live Más Live event (the fast food equivalent to Apple’s annual launch event, in case you missed it) in February 2024. Taco Bell CEO Sean Tresvant and the Maleks saw an opportunity to bring Tacolates to Portland in a way that felt authentic to both the iconic small-batch ice cream shop and the seminal fast food giant. They detailed the Tacolate’s complexities with The New York Times, stopping short of sharing trade secrets.
“It has been a dream to collaborate with Taco Bell to bring this product to life,” said Salt & Straw co-founder Tyler Malek. “We’ve developed a reimagined version of the nostalgic treat, and we could not be more excited to share it with ice cream and taco lovers alike.”
