You might be surprised to hear that Taco Bell actually has one of the healthiest fast food menus. Yep, in my Ultimate Guide to Macro Friendly Fast Food, I covered a handful of healthy options to get you started. But overall, they have a ton of options and room for customization. That being said, I was inspired to make a healthier Cheesy Gordita Crunch remix because it’s one of the more difficult menu items to improve nutritionally.
Taco Bell even has a nifty nutrition calculator on their site if you decide to check out my guide and add a few quick fixes to your food arsenal. Plan ahead!
If you’ve never had the original, it’s essentially a hard shell taco with a creamy drizzle that’s been wrapped in a chalupa-style soft tortilla with cheese melted in between the shells. My mouth is watering just typing that.
But as you can imagine, the calories add up fast in the original version. So, I’ve done my best to keep all the deliciousness of the original Cheesy Gordita Crunch while removing a ton of calories, increasing the protein, and decreasing the fat. I think I’ve done it, but I’ll let you be the judge.
How to Make A Healthier Cheesy Gordita Crunch
You actually have a lot of customization with your own copycat Cheesy Gordita Crunch. I’ll briefly touch on a few potential ingredient swaps and things to consider for macros and nutrition facts.
Taco Meat
The world is your oyster when it comes to meat selection for your cheesy gordita crunch. I kept it simple with the base recipe, but you could definitely make improvements by using other ground beef seasonings. Check out my cheesy baked beef tacos, Tex-Mex ground beef and rice skillet, or ground chicken enchiladas for a few ways to add a little diggity to your filling.
The Cheesy Gordita Crunch Taco Shells
I’m in love with Joseph’s Bakery pita and lavash bread. They’re unbelievably soft and full of flavor for 60 and 100 calories per serving, respectively. In the case of this cheesy gordita crunch copycat, we’ll be using a pita bread as the outer shell.
This accomplishes that soft and chewy exterior you expect from a chalupa with a fraction of the calories. You’ll then use some melted cheese to bind a crunchy interior taco shell.
As for the crunchy shell, you have a ton of options. The recipe calls for hard taco shells to save time, but I originally made this recipe with extra thin corn tortillas from Mission like I use for my baked chicken tacos and low calorie tortilla chips. This is a way to save a few extra calories.
Just bake them on their own until crispy (about 6-8 minutes at 400ºF) and place on top of the melted cheese. They’ll probably crack as you fold to fill, but the outer shell keeps everything in tact.
The Creamy Sauce
The recipe calls for my tried and true Greek yogurt salsa, which is 2:1 blend of plain fat free Greek yogurt and salsa mixed with a tiny bit of ranch seasoning. If you don’t have ranch seasoning on hand, I originally added some garlic and onion powder, lime juice, and black pepper to the sauce. You could go that route.
To up your game a bit, pair these with another copycat recipe in my Chuy’s creamy jalapeño ranch dip.
All right, I think that’s about all you need to know in terms of ingredients. You’ll find the full recipe card below. And if you’re a Taco Bell fan, you’ll be happy to hear I recently made a Taco Bell Mexican Pizza copycat since they’re removing it from the menu.
Healthier Cheesy Gordita Crunch
Ingredients
- 6 Joseph's Pita Bread
- 6 Hard Taco Shells, I used Stand 'n Stuff
- 6 oz Shredded Mexican Cheese
- 1 lb Ground Beef, 96/4
- 1 packet Taco Seasoning
Toppings
- 1/2 C 113g Fat-Free Greek Yogurt, plain
- 1/4 C 60g Salsa
- 1 tsp Ranch Seasoning, optional
- 1 oz Shredded Mexican Cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400ºF.
- Cook the ground beef with the taco seasoning and set aside. Mix the Greek yogurt and salsa together and set aside.
- While the beef cooks, place the 6 pitas on a large baking sheet and spread 1 oz (28g) of shredded cheese around the outside edges of each pita. Bake for 3-5 minutes or until the cheese is fully melted.
- Remove the pitas from the oven and carefully place the taco shells inside the pitas. Press one side of each taco shell into the cheese before folding the other side over. The cheese should adhere to both sides of the taco shell. (Optional: Place the shells back in the oven for 3-5 minutes for a crispier inner shell.)
- Fill the shells with the cooked beef and top with the yogurt, salsa, and ranch seasoning mixture and a pinch of the remaining shredded cheese.
Notes
Nutrition Facts Notes
- Each Cheesy Gordita Crunch copycat has 10 WW SmartPoints (blue).
- For a reduced fat version, omit the additional cheese on top and/or use baked extra thin corn tortillas instead of taco shells.
I was so surprised at how easy this was to make! This is my favorite item from taco bell so being able to make a healthier version was amazing. I was able to find some whole wheat pita’s at Aldi and they were an amazing addition!
This was awesome! One of my favorites! I added Trader Joe’s sweet & spicy jalapeños and corn and chili salsa! I love the mix of crunchy and soft!
This is the first Mason recipe I made and I am blown away! They were so good!! A few things I did:
– I did the extra thin corn tortilla method. I placed it in a metal taco holder and cooked for about 5 minutes on 400 then flipped it over and cooked for another 4-5 and that made it super crispy.
– I used reduced fat Mexican cheese so it didn’t really melt too well on the pita (meaning the shell didn’t really stick) but it all tasted the same in the end and it was delicious.
– I didn’t have salsa so I made the sauce by your recipe but swapped the salsa out for some Fire sauce I had laying around and it was perfect!!
These are definitely going to be on my regular rotation! So craveable and guilt-free! Thanks so much for the recipe!
Great idea on the taco holder for making crispy shells!
We are huge Gordita Crunch fans! & to have found a healthier version through Mason has been a lifesaver. We use our own homemade chipotle ranch on top (with fat free/lite ranch, usually Kraft, and chipotle peppers) it’s a great touch!
Chipotle ranch sounds good. I’ll have to give that a go!
So these are on the menu again for this week. So delicious. I will now be searching through the rest of his recipes because he has gained my trust with this one.
I am a HUGE fan of cheesy gordita crunches so I have high standards lol and this recipe MEETS AND EXCEEDS those standards. I couldn’t find Joseph’s brand so I swapped for a store brand pita, but still absolutely wonderful macros and ultra-delicious.
Will be blessing Taco Tuesdays with these for years to come.
Ok not exaggerating at all, Taco Bell cheesy Gordita crunches are the ONLY fast food I crave. Period. I don’t know why. I just love them. I am also a bikini competitor so I only have Taco Bell like 1 time a year haha. When he posted this recipe the other day I knew I had to try it! It did not disappoint! The first time I made it i didn’t have ground beef so I did fajita meat and it was soooo good! Definitely saving this one and I’ve already already eating it back to back nights 🤣
This replaced my Taco Bell cravings. My kids love this and ask for it often. Extremely easy to make and I usually have all the ingredients on hand. I’ve used ground turkey in place of the beef and it’s great too. Quick and easy to make for busy families!