Taco Bell asked Philly chef Reuben Asaram to reinvent the Crunchwrap Supreme. Here’s what he did.

If you were asked to reinvent the Crunchwrap Supreme, would you?

That’s a question Philly chef Reuben Asaram has had to ponder for the last seven months. Asaram was one of three up-and-coming chefs Taco Bell tapped earlier this year to reinvent the iconic hexagonal menu item as part of its inaugural TBX culinary incubator.

After several rounds of recipe testing and a flashy launch party in Las Vegas, Asaram’s creation was unveiled alongside the other iterations Tuesday evening at a tasting in Manhattan, where food influencers posed with Crunchwraps on a step-and-repeat and got Taco Bell-themed manicures.

Asaram, who is Indian American, said his version is meant to mimic his go-to buffet order as a child in Queens: a heaping plate of butter chicken and rice. That translated into a grilled tortilla stuffed with roasted chicken drenched in an aromatic and tangy tomato curry, Mexican rice, a refreshing cilantro-mint sauce, pico de gallo, and the classic tostada that gives the Crunchwrap — well — its crunch. Vegetarians, Asaram said, could easily swap the chicken for crispy potatoes.

» READ MORE: Taco Bell asked this Philly chef to reimagine the Crunchwrap Supreme

“There’s a huge Desi following for Taco Bell,” said Asaram, 33. “I hope I made them proud.”

Taco Bell has long been beloved by South Asian immigrants for its vegetarian-friendly menu to the point that Indian Americans are often credited with bringing the chain’s Mexican pizza — coincidentally Asaram’s favorite — back after it was discontinued.

The partnership with Taco Bell is a natural one for Asaram, who regularly mixes Mexican and Indian flavors at pop-ups and at Sunny’s Table, his two-year residency in the dining room of Kampar, where he riffs on queso fundido with naan instead of chips, samosa chaat dusted with blue Takis, and chai-spiced tres leches.

He’s also a Taco Bell superfan. Asaram used to turn the location at 11th and Chestnuts Streets into a private table service restaurant for third dates, though he said his current girlfriend was not treated to the experience.

“All those crazy dates happened when I was a young, young chef,” said Asaram.

Asaram’s Crunchwrap Supreme was joined by two others: a crispy Thai noodle version from San Antonio’s Jennifer Hwa Dobbertin and an ode to Southwestern-style hot chicken from Phoenix’s Lawrence Smith, who stuffed his Crunchwrap with spicy nuggets, a crisp cabbage slaw, and a buttery Oaxaca cheese.

» READ MORE: Review: At Sunny’s Table, Chef Reuby goes back to basics

The Crunchwrap trio will be available to try at tastings in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and Washington Square Park later this week, which will inform which Crunchwrap Supremes — if any — will launch in stores in 2025.

“We can’t make any promises,” a Taco Bell spokesperson said in a statement. “Our TBX chefs know better than anyone that the most delicious dishes emerge from a wealth of trial, error and innovation.”

Asaram said he tried several Crunchwraps before landing on his love letter to Indian buffets. His favorite failure was filled with brisket and bone marrow curry and drenched with vibrant blue and Barbie pink cremas. It tasted good, he said, “but when we opened it, it was a jumble of crazy colors. It was not appealing to the regular eye.”

The toughest part proved to be nailing the crunch. Asaram said he originally wanted to swap the tostada for papadams — a salty and light Indian cracker — only to find out Taco Bell was unable to source them at scale.

But Asaram said his mother, Ruby, sometimes wound up being the most difficult to please. The two work together four nights a week at Sunny’s Table, with Ruby acting as sous chef, shaping perfect pockets of naan, while Asaram mans a pizza oven retrofitted into a tandoor.

“We always clash in the kitchen … She’s the one who I learned my Indian food from, and my grandfather‚” Asaram said. Ruby was constantly asking “Why can’t they put this or that in the sauce?”

At first, “I found the cinnamon in the butter chicken to be a little extra,” Ruby Asaram said at Tuesday’s event, where she waited in line behind a gaggle of influencers to try her son’s creation from a food truck. “Now, I love it.”

It was an important moment for Asaram, who dropped out of medical school against his parents’ wishes to pursue cooking; he said he used to dream of having his face on a billboard or a bottle of sauce in a grocery store. The former, at least, came true when Taco Bell covered an industrial window in Soho with a photo of Asaram in his signature bright pink snapback.

» READ MORE: A potentially boozy Taco Bell is opening in Rittenhouse Square later this year

“My parents wouldn’t stop taking selfies with it,” Asaram said. “They’re so proud of me.”

Should his Crunchwrap Supreme land in Taco Bells nationwide next year, Asaram already has an idea of how he wants to celebrate.

He’d throw a party at his local Taco Bell in Cherry Hill. “With tequila, too,” Asaram said.