Copycat Taco Bell Stacker Recipe

The Taco Bell Stacker is a flour tortilla with seasoned beef, nacho cheese sauce and a three-cheese blend, folded in thirds like a letter and grilled until the outside is crisp and the cheese has melted. Four take 25 minutes: half a pound of beef, two tablespoons of taco seasoning, half a cup of nacho cheese and a cup of shredded cheese.

What Taco Bell's Stacker is

Taco Bell launched the Stacker on 21 December 2017 as a $1 item. Brand Eating described it at the time as a three-cheese blend, nacho cheese and seasoned beef folded inside a flour tortilla and grilled. It has come and gone since: a 2023 test in Tucson brought it back at $2. On 1 October 2026 the specialties menu carries one Stacker, the Avocado Ranch Chicken Stacker, and no beef version.

FastFoodNutrition.org lists the beef Stacker at 390 calories, 18 grams of fat and 1,050 milligrams of sodium. The version here carries more beef and cheese, and its figure in the recipe card is higher.

This is a reconstruction of the menu item from what is in it. MakeFoodLovely is not connected with Taco Bell.

Recipe

Taco Bell Stacker

A reconstruction of Taco Bell's Stacker — seasoned beef, nacho cheese sauce and a three-cheese blend folded into a flour tortilla and grilled. Four Stackers in 25 minutes.

5.0 (1)Print

Prep

10 min

Cook

15 min

Total

25 min

Serves

4

Cuisine

Mexican-American

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound ground beef (80/20)
• 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
• 1/4 cup water
• 4 flour tortillas (8-inch)
• 1/2 cup nacho cheese sauce
• 1 cup shredded three-cheese blend of cheddar, Monterey Jack and mozzarella (4 ounces)
• 1 tablespoon butter

Instructions

1. Brown the beef in a skillet over medium-high heat, breaking it up with the spoon until it is a fine crumble with no large pieces, 5 to 6 minutes. Tip off the fat.
2. Stir in the taco seasoning and the water and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes, until the liquid has cooked down to a glossy coating on the meat.
3. Warm the tortillas for 20 seconds in the microwave under a damp paper towel so they fold without cracking.
4. Spread 2 tablespoons of nacho cheese sauce down the middle third of each tortilla. Top with a quarter of the beef and a quarter cup of the shredded cheese.
5. Fold the left third of the tortilla over the filling, then the right third over that, like a letter, so you have a rectangle with the seam on top.
6. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Lay the Stackers in seam side down and press each one flat with a spatula. Cook 2 to 3 minutes a side, until golden and crisp and the cheese inside has melted. Rest 1 minute, then cut in half.

Nutrition

Calories:

505

Calculated from the ingredient quantities above using the USDA FoodData Central database, then divided by the number of servings. It is an estimate and will vary with the exact products you use.

The beef and the nacho cheese

The filling is spread, not piled, so the beef has to be a fine crumble in a little sauce. Break it up while it browns, drain the fat, then simmer it with the seasoning and a quarter cup of water until the liquid has reduced to a glaze. Wetter than that and it soaks the tortilla. The Taco Bell seasoning on this site is the mix to use; a supermarket packet works in the same quantity.

The nacho cheese sauce does two jobs: it flavours the filling and it glues the fold shut. The Taco Bell cheese sauce can be made ahead; a jar from the chip aisle is the shortcut.

Folding the Stacker in thirds

Folded in half, a tortilla is a quesadilla: two layers with an open edge all the way round, like the Taco Bell cheese quesadilla. Folded in thirds it is three layers with the seam underneath, and the seam stays shut on the grill.

Three things keep it from leaking:

• No more than 2 tablespoons of nacho cheese per tortilla.
• Filling in the middle third only, with a clear margin at both ends.
• Medium heat. On high the tortilla browns before the cheese in the centre melts.

Press with the spatula for the first 30 seconds on each side so the layers fuse, then leave it alone.

Variations that change it

• Chicken: Taco Bell describes its current Stacker as "grilled all-white-meat chicken, Avocado Ranch Sauce, three-cheese blend, lettuce, and tomatoes". At home, use 1 1/2 cups of diced grilled chicken in place of the beef and a tablespoon of avocado ranch dressing per tortilla in place of the nacho cheese, and tuck in a little shredded lettuce and diced tomato before folding.
• Spicy: a tablespoon of chopped pickled jalapeños per Stacker, mixed into the beef. The 2023 test included a spicy version with pickled jalapeños.

Burger King's Stacker is unrelated: it is a burger, and its Stacker sauce has its own recipe.