Taco Bell is rolling out a chicken version of its Mexican Pizza, adding slow-roasted Cantina Chicken to the chain's long-running menu staple. The Cantina Chicken Mexican Pizza goes on sale nationwide on May 21 for a limited time, priced at $6.49.
Between two crispy tortilla shells, the new pizza is built around slow-roasted Cantina Chicken and black beans, with green chile sauce and a three-cheese blend inside, then finished on top with shredded purple cabbage and pico de gallo. The pizza is served with packets of a new Jalapeño Citrus Salsa and the existing Avocado Verde Salsa.
Red jalapeños, guajillo chiles, and citrus are the building blocks of the Jalapeño Citrus Salsa, a sweet-and-spicy sauce making its menu debut with the new pizza. Throughout the promotional window, every Cantina Chicken order across the menu will come with a packet of each salsa. Individual packets are available for 20 cents each, according to USA Today.
Members of the Taco Bell Rewards loyalty program can order the item through the Taco Bell app starting May 19, two days before the general launch.
Liz Matthews, Taco Bell's Global Chief Food Innovation Officer, attributed the concept to a desire to honor the original rather than overhaul it. "The Mexican Pizza is iconic for a reason. It's that perfect layering of crispy, saucy, cheesy nostalgia that fans have loved for years, so we didn't want to reinvent it, we wanted to build on it," she said. She added: "And because we know our fans are serious about sauce, we made sure the Jalapeño Citrus Salsa brings the extra spark that complements the Cantina menu."
At Taco Bell's Live Más Live event in March, the Cantina Chicken Mexican Pizza was one of more than 20 announcements, a slate that also featured Diablo Dusted Crispy Chicken Nuggets and the permanent addition of Nacho Fries.
According to Allrecipes, no new Mexican Pizza flavor has hit menus since the Cheese Jalapeño and Triple Crunch versions, making this chicken iteration the first such addition in some time. Other Mexican Pizza spinoffs teased at the March event — among them Mexican Pizza Empanadas and the Strawberry & Cream Mexican Pizza Bite, described as the format's first dessert entry — are still without confirmed release dates.