11 Discontinued Fast Food Items Our Editors Still Miss (and Probably Will Forever)

Besides the bean burrito, this was the first Taco Bell menu item I ever truly fell in love with. It started on clandestine drive-thru runs with my dad. He would pick me up from swim practice, and I, reliably ravenous after a long workout, would dig into this mix of shredded chicken, evenly doused in fiery Lava sauce, lettuce, tomato and sour cream, layered with a crunchy tostada shell, wrapped in a flour tortilla and grilled for portability. I’m a fan of the beef version too, but it doesn’t hit quite the same. Hopefully there’s a future crispy version awaiting us, perhaps made with Taco Bell’s unexpectedly divine chicken nuggets.

Listen, it was no Cheesecake Factory cheesecake. But in a sea of vanilla soft serves and chocolate chip cookies, Popeye’s had this—and we need to give them their roses for that. Sure, the graham cracker crust was always a bit soggy and crumbly, but the filling was creamy, tangy and crowned with green, purple and yellow sugar sprinkles that always bled swirls of colors across the top. I’d order it without hesitation if it made a comeback. The same goes for those popcorn chicken bites that had Buffalo sauce baked into the breading for a mess-free take on chicken wings. (Does anyone else remember these?! Google is gaslighting me and I can’t find any trace of them, but my dad and I were mutually infatuated with them for their entire limited run.)

It’s 2025, so now we have McDonald’s newly revamped McCrispy Strips to satisfy our craving. But they don’t have the same nostalgia factor as the BK tendies from the ’90s, which came complete with little ridges in the exterior that remind me of char marks. (I assume this was an aesthetic nod to Burger King’s flame-broiled rep, but they also likely helped hold more ketchup per dip.)

“Original Burger King chicken tenders were SO good,” PureWow VP of news and entertainment Philip Mutz raves. “They were my go-to in a kids’ meal and carried over into adulthood. Until they were taken away from me...”

Not gonna lie, I made not one, not two, but three different trips to Wendy’s for these the week they launched. The burger consisted of a quarter-pound of fresh beef, Muenster cheese, Applewood smoked bacon, smoky honey mustard, warm beer cheese sauce, crispy fried onions and pickles. In case that wasn’t drool-inducing enough, the pièce de résistance was the soft, pillowy, malty, salty pretzel bun. As someone who typically likes a simple burger (I’m talking cheese, raw onion and mayo), I was shocked by how much I enjoyed this fleeting delight.

If I’m honest with myself, I know what the deepest, darkest crevice of my gremlin brain craves in a Taco Bell entrée: something meaty, something cheesy and something crunchy. This delight, which cost less than $2 when it was still on the menu, checked every box, considering it was an ample mix of ground beef, nacho cheese and crispy red tortilla strips, tucked tightly in a flour tortilla and grilled for a snappy exterior. With a side of sour cream, I’d argue this nixed handheld is one of the GOAT.

PureWow contributor Lizzy Rosenberg has never gotten over the loss of this meatless fast food breakfast sandwich and referred to it as her “hangover staple.” It came on an English muffin with egg, American cheese and a Beyond Meat sausage patty. I’m more of a Dunkin’s hash browns person, but I do recall how uncanny Beyond’s veggie burgers are, complete with bits of “fat,” a surprisingly on-point pink color and a sizzling quality on par with real beef. Give the people what they want, will ya?

This gem—a pillowy pita piled high with chicken, lettuce, Caesar dressing and Parmesan cheese—hit menus in 1997, along with three other Fresh Stuffed Pitas. After all these years, Gen Xers and millennials alike are still longing for their revival.

“The Wendy’s chicken Caesar (or garden ranch chicken) pita deserves a comeback,” PureWow VP of editorial Candace Davison writes. “The pita was so thick and fluffy, the greens and chicken so thoroughly coated with dressing...it was the best thing on their menu, and to this day, I don’t understand why they took it away.”

This is one discontinued fast food item that Davison and I are chomping at the bit to taste again. Like I said, Taco Bell’s refried beans hold a special place in my heart (the bean burrito was the first thing I ever ate there, and little me was sold at first bite). Here, they were used as edible glue for wrapping a standard hard shell taco in a soft tortilla. The chain now offers a Double Stacked Taco that skips beans in favor of nacho cheese and loads the filling up with Fiesta strips…but I miss my frijoles slop!

“It saddens me that Taco Bell doesn’t sell the Double Decker taco anymore,” Davison adds. “They have all the ingredients on hand at any given time to make it, but they refuse! It’s cruel! It’s unusual! It’s...OK. I’ll order a Crunchwrap because it’s basically the same thing, and sub in refried beans. Fine.”

These are so deeply early aughts-coded. Remember the commercial with the bouncing Burger King store, filled with kids dusting bags of fries with neon-orange cheese dust and jumping up and down to coat them? Remember when a “flavor boost” only cost 25 cents? Remember when kids still knew who Bart Simpson was, and the punny advert that showed him inquiring “what’s shakin”? Remember when this was experiential dining? Take me back!

As far as fast food desserts go, the Oreo McFlurry is unmatched. (I used to order them with extra Oreo pieces so they would be at the top and bottom of the cup, but now that the shockingly adorable mini size exists, you can nail the perfect ratio and save yourself the upcharge—thank me later.) But this was my O.G. favorite, both at McDonald’s and all other chains. The sauce was always generously applied, and it had minimal strawberry pieces strewn about. (You want some, but not a ton, YK?) I used to dig into the middle to eat as much plain soft serve as possible, saving as much tart-sweet berry goop as I could for the end. TBT, friends.

Taco Bell, you loco for this one. Instead of being filled with a protein, the Chalupa shell itself with a thick, crispy slab of seasoned fried chicken. Inside were all the standard fillings (shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, cheddar cheese) and a hefty dose of avocado ranch dressing. Initially, I was wondering if this discontinued fast food item was a product of the keto craze…but I’m betting the chicken’s breading was too high in carbs to apply. Taco Bell did this just because, and I love that for them (and us).