Here's What Taco Bell's Steak Is Actually Made Of

If you're anything like me, the less you think about what goes into your fast food order the happier you'll be. But sticking your head in the sand isn't exactly the best advice, even if . If you find yourself at the Taco Bell drive-thru grabbing a bite to eat, you may be tempted to order something with steak, but is Taco Bell's steak made of beef and beef alone? Nope, not even close.

To its credit, the first ingredient listed on for its steak is in fact beef, but the list doesn't stop there. The steak is made of beef, water, seasoning, and sodium phosphates. That doesn't seem so bad, except for the fact that the seasoning itself has some 18 different ingredients and that's not to mention the sauce the steak comes in, which itself has a lively seasoning mix.



Some of the ingredients in the seasoning are fairly innocuous, including salt, brown sugar, cocoa powder, onion powder, tomato powder, garlic powder, and lemon juice powder. Other ingredients have us scratching our heads a bit more, like carrageenan, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, corn syrup solids, and the unnervingly vague ingredient simply labeled as "spice." If you want to eat less-processed meat, stay away from Taco Bell steak A common rule of thumb for people looking to eat healthy is to gravitate toward food whose ingredients are commonplace and easy to pronounce.

If this is what you're looking for, Taco Bell steak probably isn't for you. Some of the ingredients in it have been linked to negative health outcomes. Carrageenan, for example, has been linked to inflammatory bowel disease by a study in the journal .

Corn syrup solids are another ingredient that caught my eye since it calls to mind . Whereas high fructose corn syrup takes regular corn syrup and adds fructose, corn syrup solids are made by dehydrating corn syrup -– essentially giving you a pure glucose additive in powder form. In other words, it's added sugar.

I could go on, but I think you get the point. Taco Bell's steak is with over a dozen additives curated by food scientists to ensure your taste buds enjoy themselves to the max when chowing down. This isn't exactly surprising, since most fast food companies aren't known for selling natural, whole foods.

If Taco Bell steak's ingredient list scares you away, you might be better served by cooking steak at home. Recommended.