Is Taco Bell Kosher?

If you like to keep kosher, it may be easier to make food at home. But things happen, and you might not always have time to cook.

Before you go without food, consider if you can find something at Taco Bell. Then, you can follow your diet without having to rush to cook something at home.

Does Taco Bell Have Kosher Options?

Taco Bell has kosher options, but some items aren’t inherently kosher. If you want to order food from the restaurant, you can customize most things. Then, you can increase the chances of your order meeting your dietary needs.

As with any restaurant, be careful when keeping kosher at Taco Bell. There’s always a chance of cross-contamination, and you don’t know the source of things like meat.

Kosher Rules

If you want to keep kosher at Taco Bell, you should understand the rules surrounding kosher meals. For one, you can’t eat pigs or shellfish, so you’ll need to avoid things like sausage.

You also can’t eat fish that don’t have fins or removable scales. Birds of prey also aren’t kosher, but you shouldn’t have to worry about that at Taco Bell.

Regardless of the meat you eat, you can’t eat it with dairy. That means you’ll have to choose between meat or cheese on your burrito or taco.

Fruits, vegetables, beans, legumes, and nuts are all kosher. So you should be able to find something kosher to eat if you’re craving Taco Bell.

How to Make Your Taco Bell Order Kosher

Knowing what foods are or aren’t kosher is one thing. But it helps to know what you can do when placing your Taco Bell order.

You might not be able to fully control your meal, but it’s worth a shot. Here are some tips to follow to reduce your chances of consuming food that isn’t kosher.

Avoid Eggs

If you want to get some breakfast at Taco Bell, you’ll want to avoid eggs. In many cases, eggs are fine to eat if you want to keep kosher.

However, the eggs have to come from kosher animals. You don’t have control over that, and the restaurant may not know the history of the eggs they use. Eggs also can’t contain blood, which is another thing that’s out of your control.

It’s best to stay safe and avoid the various breakfast burritos. You can easily enjoy things like hash browns. Cinnabon Delights may be okay, but the icing may come from animals that aren’t kosher.

Avoid Meat or Dairy

Another major restriction in a kosher diet is that you can’t have meat and dairy together. You can choose one or the other, and avoiding meat is probably easier at Taco Bell.

The chain already has a lot of vegetarian items or items that you can make vegetarian. If a menu item contains meat, you can ask for no meat on it.

Then, you’ll still be able to eat things like tacos or burritos. If you choose to avoid dairy, you can get other items, but you might not have as many choices. Plus, vegetarian customizations are pretty common, so they may be easier for the restaurant to accommodate.

Avoid Flour Tortillas

During Passover, you’ll want to avoid flour tortillas. Even though they’re thin, they’re still a leavened bread product.

You should be able to eat corn tortillas without any issues. But you don’t have to worry about that for most of the year.

Ask for an Accommodation

When you go to Taco Bell, mention that you’re kosher. Ask the employees to use clean utensils when preparing the meat or dairy products for your order.

Using the same utensils for meat and dairy isn’t kosher. If you want to make sure the workers do this, order in person rather than online so that you can explain your situation.

Alternatively, you can avoid meat and dairy and get a vegan meal. You can usually ask to remove both the meat and cheese, and you can make most items “Fresca” to add some flavor.

Can You Keep Kosher at Taco Bell?

You can keep kosher at Taco Bell, but it will take some planning. The safest way to keep kosher is to get a vegan meal item. Then, you won’t have to worry about cross-contamination between meat and dairy products.