Taco Bell Wild Sauce

Taco Bell Wild Sauce

by Liv | Published on November 25th, 2006, 5:52 pm | Food

On the weekends I allow my family and myself to indulge by bringing home lunch from somewhere. Today I had an itching for some Taco Bell. Technically I don't crave Taco Bell, I crave their sauce.

Certainly it's a lesson in futility as every single time I go to Taco Bell, I'm greeted with the most incompetent bunch of non-Mexicans to ever grace a tortilla; but I love torture.

So I get up to drive-thru #1 and discover it's a vacant box void of any human presence. I wait about 2 minutes, and then pull forward. As I do, a lanky black man reaches out the window, and yells "Mam, Mam". At this point I was at window #2, and a 10 car line had followed up behind me when a chunky lady with dreads yells "Look lady, you've gotta go back to window #1 and pay."

It's at this point I normally drive off and get really pissed off, but I was abnormally patient and advised the woman that unless my car grew a fork-lift on the rear-bumper that might be impossible.

You should have seen her face.

She snatched my debit card and waddled back into the void of Taco Bell between window #1 and #2.

The rest of the whole deal went pretty smooth, although she seemed a bit upset that I asked for both Fire and Hot sauce. Which brings me to the point of my post.

I'm still a little upset that Taco Bell doesn't offer "Wild Sauce" anymore. Technically that stuff was like God's gift to Americanized Mexican Food, but today we're still left with an unbelievable decision of 3 unique blends of Hot Sauce. Those being Fire, Hot, & Mild.

I used to be a hot person, but with the demise of Wild, I can honestly say Fire is my new addiction. The difference between the two seems to not only be the Scoville quotient, but also the tang, or sweetness of the two.

Hot seems to be a sweeter, more bitter taste, while the fire seems to be more of a tomatoish taste. I'm guessing the difference is that hot is primarily a vinegar based hot sauce, while Fire appears to be more of a tomato based salsa.

I think comparing the two is very difficult. For me a combination of 2 to 1: fire to hot ratio seems to be the perfect compromise in tastes.

I personally would love to see the day Taco Bell offers Pico De Gallo like the little Taco Stands down in California, but I guess that's asking for too much. Hey I'm just trying to make do until some local person wises up and sets up a taco cart on some street corner here.

Yes, I know, no one has ever given this much thought to Taco Bell hot sauce.

Related Recipes:
Salsa Recipe
Chimichangas Recipe
Jalapeno Poppers Recipe
Fajita Recipe
Albondigas Rice Recipe
Chile Rellenos

You're wrong - I think about Taco Bell sauces all the time. I found this blog whilst trying to search for their Wild Sauce, which I miss more than my mother.. well, a little less.. I wrote to the company to ask about it, if I could get some of it, if they could tell me what kind of peppers they used, if they had a recipe or even a list of the ingredients they used. Let's cross our fingers..

- steve in FL
[email protected]

Yes, I'd love it if they brought back "Wild Tacos"... but I did notice they now have a "Fresco" menu with pico de Gallo offerings... coincidentally.

Hi Liv, its me again.. I have been working on creating a clone for that wonderful Wild Sauce and I believe this is as close to what I remember it tasting as I can get.. Let me know if you try it, and what you think..

Taco Bell Wild Sauce

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
3 cups water
3 tablespoons vinegar
3 tablespoons finely minced pickled jalapeno pepper
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon dried onion flakes
2 teaspoons Tabasco sauce (no substitutions!)
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1. Combine the tomato paste and water in a saucepan; whisk until smooth.
2. Add the remaining ingredients to the tomato mixture; bring to a boil, and stir for 1 minute.
3. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Store in refrigerator.

They do have pico and have had it for some time, because it comes on the Beef Meximelt.

I will definately have to try it... Although I did get a burrito in Camden Town while in London, I'm itching for some Taco Bell.... I'll have to make it this next week.

The wild tacos were the best, but I guess I don't see mixing fire and hot, I remember the wild tacos being real spicy, but maybe I've gotten used to the fire, I still get questionable comments from their employees when I ask for jalapenos and fire sauce. Come on they're tacos, mexican food is supposed to be spicy.

I've never tried to get Jalapenos, I'll have to ask....

Yes, the lady on highpoint road flips out when I ask for "Fire sauce"....

one time she stated "You sure like them hot? doncha?"

I'm like "Oh yeah."

After they discontinued Wild SAuce, I asked T-Bell for the recipe. They gave it to me on a printout. That was back in like 1997. Well, I haven't tried the one above yet, but there are some missing ingredients, and I'm mad 'cause I lost the recipe I had. Unfortunately, it seems two necessary ingredients would be: cilantro and soybean oil. They were listed on the recipte. They use the soybean oil in a lot of their stuff. It adds a special flavor. Trust me the cilantro has to be there too, because I've stumbled on some other foods that tasted like Wild sauce and I asked the people: "what is in that sauce?" Both times it was cilantro. I had a Lean Cuisine meal with rice and cheese, peppers and fish (and I noticed the Wild sauce flavor). It has cilantro, and soybean oil, and of course most of the ingredients listed above as well.

Wow... not to many restaurant would hand out proprietary recipes in this day and age... If you ever find it let me know.

Ok folks. So I tried the recipe and tasted it. I felt something was missing, so I added my cilantro and soybean oil. YOu may find this hard to believe, but the Cilantro is the key ingredient that adds that special hidden tangy "Wild Sauce" flavor. Use about 3 Tablespoons of the oil and chop up the cilantro as fine as you can, or even blend it with some of the mixture. The key is to blend in the Cilantro AFTER the full mixing and boiling and stirring of the "Wild Sauce" has been done and it's cooled off for about 20 minutes. The Cilantro has to be fresh, not boiled, or it loses the Wild flavor.

Then I took some of the "Wild Sauce" and made another recipe with it. My friends like really hot, so I made them some Habanero salsa. Here's how:

Take a regular size can of diced tomatoes with green chilis (I use "Muir Glen" brand), add half a cup of the "Wild Sauce" and another small handful of cilantro and even some diced onions if you like. Add 2 Habaneros (I added 4, because I'm crazy!!!!) Blend them together to whip up a salsa. Don't blend too long or it's runny. I use a "Magic Bullet" and blend for about 3 seconds, then I shake it and blend another 3 seconds, and it's perfect.

How much Cilantro did you use. I LOVE Wild sauce and occasionally send Taco Bell and Email requesting its return. We can not be the only ones that loved that stuff. I would literally eat at TB 3 or 4 times a week when they had their Wild menu. Wild Bean Burritos were to die for.

I used a lot of Cilantro. For the recipe listed above, use like a whole cup of it. I'm not sure, but more is better. I tried it and it was pretty good. But realistically, there seems to be something still missing...? I won't give up.

for a small diff in price, they will put " Volcano sauce" on anything they sell. I was very pleasantly suprised - and impressed to find it has some HEAT. I think you'd like it but need to let you know it's nothing like their usual sauces in the little packages.

steve in FL wrote:Hi Liv, its me again.. I have been working on creating a clone for that wonderful Wild Sauce and I believe this is as close to what I remember it tasting as I can get.. Let me know if you try it, and what you think..

Taco Bell Wild Sauce

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
3 cups water
3 tablespoons vinegar
3 tablespoons finely minced pickled jalapeno pepper
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon dried onion flakes
2 teaspoons Tabasco sauce (no substitutions!)
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1. Combine the tomato paste and water in a saucepan; whisk until smooth.
2. Add the remaining ingredients to the tomato mixture; bring to a boil, and stir for 1 minute.
3. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Store in refrigerator.

Alright Steve, it took me a long time to get to it, but I finally made it tonight. You have a fine salsa on your hands there. There is a tinge of "Wild" in it, and although I haven't put my finger on whats missing... it was really good...

I did add the cilantro per everyone's suggestion, also 1/4 teaspoon of paprika and 1 teaspoon of lemon.... Thank you so much, It was wonderful on our burritos tonight.

While close, there is room for improvement. Cilantro was an improvement. I just wish Taco Bell would bring wild sauce back so I can grab a few hundred packets. Perhaps Todd Wilbur could make a copy kat recipe. He seems to do some pretty decent cloning of foods.

Shan thinks this would make a wonderful enchilada sauce though...

Cilantro and soybean oil, 'eh? I'll have to try that, thanks.. soybean oil being not very hard to find - its what 'vegetable oil' is, 100%. Thanks again, and you know how many people hate you right now for losing the original recipe?? LOL..

Thanks again..

It's amazing to find fellow WildSauce junkies... we should petition Spielberg to make another Jurrassic Park so they'll release the awesomeness of that sauce from bondage.

Taco Bell is all about the sauce. I live in Berlin & why there are NO Taco Bells in Europe remains a bizarre mystery, but anytime I get care packages from the states, I make sure they include handfuls of the packets of TB hot, & fire sauces. The store bought bottles IMHO are not as good as the time-tested foil packets, god bless them.

I will try the Wild Sauce recipe on here & see what happens.

Thanks for this topic

fezwrecker wrote:It's amazing to find fellow WildSauce junkies... we should petition Spielberg to make another Jurrassic Park so they'll release the awesomeness of that sauce from bondage.

Was there a connection between the two?