Taco Bell and Mike’s Hot Honey Release a Fiery Sauce

The temperature of your next Taco Bell order has just been cranked up a notch. 

Mike’s Hot Honey is coming to the California-based chain, enhancing their partnership with an even hotter spin on the newly launched crispy chicken. Taco Bell relaunched its wildly popular crispy chicken nuggets in mid-April, and today announced its collaboration with the condiment brand on a brand-new sauce that has never been seen before: Mike’s Hot Honey Diablo Sauce.

The new “devilishly sharp” sauce cups will hit menus on May 22, as the brand reveals in today’s press release. They’re available with any 5- or 10-piece order of nuggets, or on their own for just a quarter apiece. This sauce won’t last for long, though; Taco Bell confirms it’s only sticking around while supplies last. 

“We didn’t just drop a new sauce; we unlocked a totally new way to experience nuggets with an entirely new take on hot honey,” Liz Matthews, Taco Bell’s global chief food innovation officer, says in the announcement.

Taco Bell first teased this exciting new collaboration with Mike’s Hot Honey at Live Más Live, the second annual conference to unveil the company’s upcoming launches. 

Beyond this nationwide launch, Taco Bell is teasing new crispy chicken innovations for a select few. Residents of Charlotte, North Carolina, can grab Crispy Chicken Tacos and burritos at select locations — a test rollout for “what could become the next menu icon.” The brand plans to make crispy chicken a permanent menu item in 2026, but it remains unclear exactly which version will earn their long-term commitment. 

Who isn’t partnering with Mike’s Hot Honey these days? If you follow fast food releases, you might recall the brand’s recent savory collaboration with KFC, or its honey-drizzled Jersey Mike’s cheesesteaks. And of course, it’s hard to forget their polarizing — yet somehow, irresistible — Hot Wing Sauce-flavored collaboration with Truly Hard Seltzer. This marks the first time that Taco Bell has teamed up with the viral brand, but something tells us it won’t be the last. 

As a refresher, Mike’s Hot Honey line of chili-infused condiments was born in 2010 from a small pizza joint in Brooklyn. (Founder Mike Kurtz says it was inspired by a pizzeria on a study abroad trip to Brazil.) Since then, the brand has gained national recognition through in-store launches and restaurant collaborations. The brand describes the flavor profile as a “one-two flavor punch of sweetness then heat,” which is just what we needed to refresh Taco Bell’s fan-favorite chicken nuggets. 

The biggest takeaway: Whatever your heart desires, it might be improved with a drizzle of hot honey.