Taco Bell brings back Caramel Apple Empanada after 5-year break to join Decades Menu

Anthony Robledo, USA TODAY
·2-min read
Taco Bell is bringing back the Caramel Apple Empanada nationwide on Nov. 21. The item was a fan-favorite when it was on menus in the early 2000s. The golden-brown empanada is filled with apple pieces and a creamy filling with caramel notes.
Taco Bell is bringing back the Caramel Apple Empanada nationwide on Nov. 21. The item was a fan-favorite when it was on menus in the early 2000s. The golden-brown empanada is filled with apple pieces and a creamy filling with caramel notes.

Taco Bell is ready to revisit the start of the 21st century with a classic treat.

The food chain is bringing back its Caramel Apple Empanada after a five-year hiatus.

Discontinued in 2019, the crispy dessert makes its anticipated return to menus on Thursday, Nov. 21. The empanada surrounds caramel creamy filling and apple pieces with a crispy golden-brown exterior.

The treat will join the Taco Bell's newly launched Decades Menu, a series of five items priced at under $3 each representing a different decade of the chain's 62-year history. Among the nostalgic items are the Meximelt − which includes seasoned beef, pico de gallo, and a mix of mozzarella, cheddar, and Monterey Jack cheese in a tortilla.

"The Decades Menu helps unite generations of fans who fondly remember these menu items, with a new era of fans who have yet to experience the delight of a savory Tostada, taste the legendary Green Sauce Burrito, or take their first bite of a Meximelt," the company said in a news release last month.

Decades Menu items and prices

Taco Bell is bringing back the following five items each introduced in a different decade and priced at under $3.

  • '60s: Tostada priced at $2.19 and available now. This item layers refried beans, red sauce, crispy lettuce and shredded cheese over a corn tostada shell.

  • ‘70s: Green Sauce Burrito priced at $2.49 and available now. This burrito from the 1970s is filled with refried beans, onions, shredded cheese and green sauce made with green chili, peppers, tomatillos, jalapeño and spices.

  • ‘80s: Meximelt priced at $2.99 and available now. This item introduced the 1980s combines pico de gallo, seasoned beef and a three-cheese blend of mozzarella, cheddar and Monterey jack wrapped in a tortilla.

  • ‘90s: Gordita Supreme priced at $2.99 and available now. This item from the 1990s wraps a flatbread over seasoned beef, reduced-fat sour cream, crisp lettuce, diced tomatoes and a three-cheese blend of mozzarella, cheddar and Monterey jack.

  • '00s: Caramel Apple Empanada priced at $2.99 and available starting Nov. 21. Launched in 2000, the sweet treat surrounds apple pieces and a creamy caramel filling with a golden brown, crispy exterior.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Taco Bell's Caramel Apple Empanada is back, on nostalgic Decades Menu