Brach's Late Night Taco Truck Jelly Bean Taste Test Comparison

Happy Tuesday! Whenever we can do it, Tuesdays are Taco Tuesdays and today we've got a special taste test to go along with it! 

Brach's has decided that they can take an entire Taco Truck meal and capture it in jelly bean form. Let's certainly hope they can improve on that Thanksgiving Dinner Candy Corn they made back in 2020. Those were nasty!  

Just like I couldn't find the Brach's Thanksgiving Candy Corn myself and Patrick had to find them for me, Megan (always with an eye out for tacos) spotted these and grabbed a bag for all of us to try. 

What goes into a Taco Truck meal? There's 6 different flavors of jelly beans today. Margarita, Churro, Salsa, Guacamole, Beef Taco, and Horchata. Now we could just try these by themselves, but that's not how we do things here. We're going to compare all of these to the real thing! 

Patrick, Megan, Theresa, and I all had a part in getting the food ready for tonight. I made my favorite recipe guacamole, a Chipotle copycat, with fresh avocados, onion, cilantro, jalapeno, lemon and lime juice, and salt. 

Theresa makes a fantastic restaurant style salsa, and with a food processor blended tomatoes, jalapenos, onion, garlic, cilantro, and other spices. The flavors really come together well after a couple hours in the fridge, just like the guacamole above. She uses this recipe for Restaurant-Style salsa if you want to try it yourself. 

I've made Churros from scratch before, but today we'll let Costco make them. Patrick picked up a few from their food court on his way over for dinner. 

Megan was also busy on a mission of her own, picking up Horchata from a nearby Mexican place called Taco Star. No ice. We don't want these to be watered down. 

While they were on the way, Theresa and I got the rest of the meal prepared. 

Once Megan arrived, she got started on her second job. The Margaritas! Squeeze those limes and salt those glasses. 

Then it goes into the blender! 

The oven kept the churros and taco shells warm until we were ready. This is going to be good!

What do you think Megan? Is that an entire taco meal in a bowl? 

She got to work splitting up all the jelly beans into different bowls for me to take pictures of. 

Let's eat! 

Theresa - We have so much good stuff. And then dinner!

First up, the hot foods that are going to get cold. 

That means Churros!

The color of the jelly beans looks good, with speckles of white representing the cinnamon and sugar crystals. 

The taste of the jelly beans though...

Ian - Nowhere close. 

Theresa - That doesn't taste like a churro. I only taste sweet and if they all taste like that, we're going to be good. 

Joe - You think they'll all taste like that?

Theresa - No, I said IF. I don't think they will. 

Patrick - It tastes waxy. 

Megan - It tastes like cinnamon to me. 

But the churros themselves were delicious! Fried dough coated with cinnamon and sugar. Yum!

Ian - That's a classic churro! So good!
Avery - Yum!
Theresa - Compared to the jelly bean, it's way better. 

Second to be eaten are these tasty Beef Tacos. Our homemade tacos are simple. Tortilla, seasoned beef, and shredded cheddar cheese.

The Beef Taco Jelly Beans look a bit pale compared to the yellow shells of our crunchy tacos. The splotches of brown here give it an unappealing look. 

Let's start with the jelly bean again. 

Ian - Close to the flavor. 

Patrick - Really? I don't think so. 

Theresa - I have no idea what that tastes like, but it's not a taco. I'm getting a citrus something. Like a mango citrus. It's better than I expected a taco jelly bean to taste like. 

Megan - I taste cumin. 

Theresa - Trying a second one. Eww, now that's nasty. That one was more brown. It was gross. 

Ian - The jelly bean comes nowhere close to being as good as a real taco. 

Alli - Mmm. 

Sheila - Nothing like the jelly bean. 

Next it's time to drink the cold things that are warming up. 

Add a little bit of ice and our Horchata is ready to go. 

The Horchata Jelly Beans don't have to do much to match the drink. Both are a pale white color. 

Horchata is a Mexican drink made from cinnamon and rice. 

Theresa - I like the jelly bean!

Alli - Ten thumbs up!

Joe - That's a good jelly bean. 

And now the drink. 

Joe - The drink is delicious. 

Megan - I love Horchata. It's really good to cool you down when you have spicy salsa. 

Theresa - That jelly bean tasted a lot like the drink. 

Avery gives it a thumbs down. Huh. Can't please everyone. 

Next we're going to try the Margarita Jelly Beans. They are much more green than a real margarita. I suppose they're trying to capture the lime color. 

Let's eat the Margarita Jelly Beans first. 

Ian - Mmm! This is good! I'm getting lime out of this. 

Alli - It's good!
Avery - I give it 8 thumbs up. 

Sheila - So far that's the best jelly bean. 

Cheers!

These were of course virgin margaritas (made with limeade and orange juice). They thought they were delicious, and loved having the salted edges of the cup. 

Next we're going to try the Salsa Jelly Beans. 

I don't know that I've ever seen salsa the color of those jelly beans. They are a very bright orange compared to the deep reds of traditional salsa. 

Sheila - Is the jelly bean going to be hot?

Theresa - Ooh! Ohh! Nastiness!

It was so bad that Theresa and Ian spat theirs out into the trash can. 

Avery - Yum! Ten thumbs up!

Megan - Really? Eat another one. 

Sheila - That's awful. 

Ian - That's disgusting. 

Alli - I give the jelly bean a zero. 

Mickey - I'm with Avery. I like it okay. To me it tastes like salsa. 

But Theresa's homemade salsa, now that's something that we can all enjoy. 

Avery - Ten thumbs up for the salsa too!

Megan - You can have unlimited salsa with dinner then. 

Ian - Unlimited salsa? I want unlimited guacamole!

Speaking of that...

The Guacamole Jelly Beans were next. They are a light green color with mottled green specks on them. 

Joe - Those taste green. Weird. 

Patrick - Ugh. It tastes like grass. Bertie Botts. 

Theres - Eww. Dirt. 

Megan - Maybe some onion in it. 

Mickey - I don't get the guac flavor. Even with a second one. 

My homemade guacamole though is fantastic. You can never make enough of it. 

There were varying opinions on how well each of the jelly beans matched up with their respective flavors. Everyone agreed on the Horchata matching up the closest. 

Theresa - I'm not sure what taco truck they were emulating, but they need a new taco truck. 

As far as favorite Brach's Taco Truck Jelly Beans overall. 

Margarita - Sheila, Avery, Alli, Ian 

Horchata - Mickey, Patrick, Theresa, Joe

Churro - Megan

So it's a tie between the lime flavored Margarita and the cinnamon flavored Horchata jelly beans. 

I wouldn't say that Brach's did a great job capturing a taco truck in their Jelly Beans. A few of them were okay, but most of them were a bit off. I'm glad they weren't nearly as bad as the Thanksgiving Candy Corn. 

But best of all, after we were done with the taste test, everyone got to dig in to the tasty Tuesday taco night dinner we made! 

That was fun! Thank you Megan for finding them for us!