Taco Bell Grande Soft Taco
Calories & Nutrition

Written by Sky Taylor, Diet Bites

Soft Flour Tortilla Tips

The soft taco menu items available at Taco Bell make use of a flour tortilla shell.

The corn versions contain fewer caloric values; a hard shell - whether used to prepare a tasty taco or a chalupa contain about 50 kcals each while flour shells generally contain from 80 to over 200 kcals each.

We have researched numerous nutrition labels for soft tortillas over the years and to date have not discovered any that are under 80 kcals. And of course, the larger the shell, more than likely - the more caloric content it will contain.

On this note, opting for the smaller sizes can assist in keeping caloric values down. While the flour tortilla is an excellent source from the healthy Grain Group, we don't need to go overboard.

However, if you have an aggressively active job - the larger shells will work just fine; they will count towards two Grain Group servings.

We like to place the nutritional focus on the contents of the taco, filling it with a mix of healthy sauteed vegetables that have been prepared on the stove top using zero calorie cooking spray.

A fantastic mix includes onions, cilantro, bell peppers and garlic.

Add chunks of vine-ripened tomatoes and cubed white lean chicken breast (cooked) rather than fatty red beef. Or - opt to use drained black or pinto beans in the place of animal proteins.

When you use a healthy mix of foods, you can feel great about eating them - and you'll even have room to add other side dishes such as whole grain rice to your meal plate. Or, add a few reduced fat ingredients to your taco such as sour cream and shredded cheese.

Let's review the caloric content of the Taco Bell Grande Soft Taco, and then we'll continue with our tips for this menu item below.

The Nutritional Stand Outs

For 450 kcals, this will need to be a one-hand meal - and actually, it's quite substantial and filling. The sodium mgs are far above what we consider an excellent choice, and the Trans fat grams are exceedingly steep in this menu selection.

In addition, the total fat grams are also more than we'd like to see. On a more positive note, there is a good dose of protein, calcium and iron benefits - but these are more or less canceled out by the cholesterol content along with those naughty fat grams.

We recommend that you order the regular version of the soft taco instead - and you'll still have enough calories to add a side of Mexican rice or beans from the menu.

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